Macbook air (2011) vs Macbook Pro (2011)

The MacBook pro will be the more versatile laptop. It has more hookups and is plenty quiet. Get a case to carry it and you’ll be fine.

I have the MacBook Air and love it. (or should I say, my husband has it and I sneak it away and use it when I can) When it cools it makes a bit of noise. The battery seems to last for ages, but it, like all laptops, overheats chronically when used for high end graphics like Second Life. It is so amazingly light. The built in sound is better than my crappy 3 year old Acer. Then again, everything about it is better than my crappy 3 year old acer.

I think there are plenty of USB ports on the Air. Only thing I miss with the MacAir is it has no CD drive. I use my Acer as a DVD player for my son when we travel and I’m too lazy to rip them onto USB drives. I guess the MacBook pro has a CD drive? I don’t know. I’m not really an applehead.

I can not say this enough times. CPU is no longer a good measure of speed. The bottleneck is the hard drive. Get a SSD in whatever you buy. And I would get the pro with a SSD.

It depends on the relative importance of your criteria. If you’ll be carrying it around a lot, being lightweight might be very important; and if so, the MacBook Air is the way to go. The last time I purchased a laptop, I had three options: the basic MacBook, the MacBook Pro, and the brand new MacBook Air. Because I didn’t need the Pro, and because the Air was so expensive at the time, I bought the basic MacBook.

I am quite happy with my computer, but I am glad that the MacBook Air is now Apple’s standard laptop. Next time, I’ll be able to get a lighter computer for a lower price. As I have started bringing my computer back and forth to school, the weight is a serious factor (since I carry my bag around with me all day). Few people actually need the computing power of a MacBook Pro. I’ve never missed it.

@SavoirFaire To be honest I don’t really carry my laptops around that much anymore (as I graduated from University) but I still want something compact that I don’t feel hesitate to bring it with me when I go outside
MPB is about 0.5kg lighter than the laptop I am using and not sure if that would make much a difference (MBA is 1kg lighter and that seems a lot lol)
After reading reviews I am considering MBP + SSD upgrade but not 100% sure

the spec doesn’t seems to be that different between MBP and MBA but MBA doesn’t feel like belong to primary laptop category (it is more like secondary laptop or iPad replacement)

If you’re not going to be carrying it around a lot, then the MacBook Pro might be best. I walk from classroom to classroom all day, so the weight of my bag is fairly important. If I was just going from room to room in my apartment or only taking my laptop outside once in a while, though, the difference wouldn’t matter much. I guess it just comes down to how much computing power you really need, then.