Macbook air as family PC or other?

[Ashes]

I suppose this is the obvious place to ask. Computer advice on a 4wd forum :) Couldn't bring myself to hit whirlpool with this as I was after some real world advice :confused:

I'm looking at replacing a near dead Dell 1525 Vista laptop and near dead Windows XP PC with a 13" macbook air.

I am considering a docking station so it is more comfortable to use for homework, lengthy tasks and also as a workstation for homework and kid web access in a room that is easy to supervise. Kids will use Word, excel, powerpoint, itunes but aren't into heavy games or video editing so I don't need a high end machine (if this changes, I'll tackle that with another solution in the future). I'll also attach some storage via the docking station for documents, music, videos and other files instead of keeping them on the laptop. I also don't use many grunty apps on my laptop or desktop so don't need a massive amount of computing power. Multiple user accounts is necessary for separate email and itunes etc.

I'm considering the macbook air as I'll also use it for web browsing/email away from the docking station and also take it on trips etc. Light and compact would be good for these. I also wouldn't need access to stored documents and music while undocked.

Does this sound like a reasonable approach? Is there a reason why I should consider a macbook pro instead? The other option I'm considering is a mac mini as the main PC which won't be too much dearer than a docking station.

Thoughts/advice?

thanks

[weeds]

i will get in before all the apple knockers take over

i switched to apple a few years ago. i am a computer numpty and the constant problems i was having with PC's used to drive me nuts. since having an apple my IT issues have disappeared 100%.

re: mini mac, this is what i upgraded to from my PC. great little machine and it has done everything i have need although it just about at capacity. i only surf the net, email and store photos and video maybe a little bit of word processing.

if your kids need to run office programs for school you will need to have dual boot or what ever it is called. although most basic documents that i send from my wrk PC to the apple seem to open with few errors, but than again it's never anything important.

i too was looking at a pro but am leaning towards an air.........not overly helpful but i am sure the apple perts will be along with more info

[Ashes]

Thanks Weeds. I have Office for Mac so no need for a dual boot. I don't intend to run Windows on it.

I also should have added that I'm not interested in starting a Apple vs PC or Windows vs OS-X debate so thanks for adding that at the start.

Mostly interested in whether an Macbook Air is enough for non video intensive grunty work.

[MLD]

Hi Ashes,

I'm a Apple user. In my family of 2 persons I have 2 x 27" iMac; 1 x 13" Macbook Air; 1 x 11" Macbook Air (MBA); Apple TV; 3 x iPhone. Now that i've committed it to paper I understand why Apple never question my complaints and just replace with a new model.

The MacBook Air is a great little machine. Light, certainly powerful enough to do what you described. I do a lot of photo editing and i'm yet to stall iPhoto (although I do have a windows PC built specifically for photo editing with Photoshop and lightroom).

If it's going to be a communal computer then memory will be an issue for the MBA unless you start adding external drives. As a communal computer personally I think it is too small. Great for travelling and working on the go. Adding a dock to it means adding a monitor. The Apple monitors are about $1200 for the 27" screen. For $1500 you can buy the iMac 27". You will be confronted with the lack of monitor with the Mac mini so factor that in if that's on the cards too (also $200 for a keyboard and mouse).

I love the size of the 27" screen. I can open 2 full sized documents side by side on the screen. I do a lot of drafting of documents so to have a source document and the working document on the same screen at the same time is an essential pleasure. Another bonus, your kids won't be hiding what is on the screen. Not knowing your room layout and location of the computer the iMac may not be practical.

Have a look at the Apple web page. Click "store" and on the bottom left there is a link to refurbished macs. Both my iMacs and the 13" MBA are refurbished and yet to have a problem after several years. Generally a 20-30% saving over list price, however the refurbed models are generally 6 to 12 months old. For your needs you won't notice the difference between the new super dooper model and the recent superseded model.

You can buy microsoft office for Mac. Buy the student edition which gives you word, excel and powerpoint. The mac version does not have all the super dooper functions of the microsoft version for PC but if you are merely drafting documents and don't venture into high end publishing style editing you won't notice the difference. I'm yet to find myself saying, wish i had this or that function in either of word or excel.

When i bought my wife her iMac she hissed and spat at me. She is a convert and thinks it's the ants pants.

go and play with them in-store.

cheers MLD

[Ashes]

I will definately have a dock for it when using as a communal computer. I have a spare 22" screen, spare keyboard, mouse etc. so shouldn't have any costs here. A shiny new 27" Apple monitor would be nice but not needed at the moment. I will definately be using external storage at the docking station or a NAS solution at home so happy to only have a 128GB or 256GB SSD on the actual machine. When it is out of it's dock or way from attached storage I really don't need to carry round more than a few documents.

I definately need a new laptop and want to avoid the expense of buying both a desktop and laptop if I can avoid it.

[mike_ie]

It really does depend on what you intend to use it for.

I use a Macbook Air 11" as my main (and only) computer while travelling. The constraints for me were that it had to be lightweight and portable, and robust enough to throw in a rucksack with the rest of my gear. For the most part, it's held up pretty well.

Word, excel, web browsing, etc, it does without problem, and I also run some reasonably intense image editing software for my photography - photoshop, lightroom, etc. IT gets through the editing, albeit with a distinct lag over my desktop PC at home, and every other application grinds to a halt in the process.

If this is to be your main home setup, you'll probably find it more worthwhile to grab a mac mini and some cheap peripherals, and use your macbook air away from the home. My $0.02 at least....

[rar110]

I've recently bought a 13" MBP i5. While very happy with it I'm looking forward to fitting a SSD.

It travels in a backpack most days. For the $ I still think it was better value than the MBA. The price difference was about $700. If they were closer in price I would have bought an MBA.

Unless you need portability go with a iMac or mini. If you do then a laptop. If you carry it often and are prepared to pay the difference then a MBA i7 with 8G of RAM and 256 SSD to ensure it meets your needs further into the future. Otherwise a MBP i7.

[Ashes]

I sort of assumed that there would be docking station options out there for the Macbook Air but they seem to be few and far between. I see a offering by Belkin and Matrox are coming out soon.

Might have to rethink some of this. Mini for the family machine and something else for me.

[d@rk51d3]

Agree that the air is good for a mobile/travelling machine. I'd be hesitant to use it as a family pc.

[rar110]

I think so.

A new Mac mini quad core with 8G ram for $1k + refurbed MBA 13" July 2011 model with 256 SSD for $1389 would be a pretty good package that would last for quite a few years.

[Turtle61]

I have been using Macs since... well... since Performa computers, Mac VI, purple iMac with hokey puck mouse...
Currently we have:
iMac 24
MBA 13
iPad 2
2 x iPhone
one dead MBP 15 replaced by work's MBP15

For what it's worth as d@rk51d3 said I would not use the MBA as a family computer. It has power, true, it's energy efficient, true but the solid state HDD is small and I would argue that the MBA might be struggling with external monitor and a number of user profiles. It was designed to be ultra-portable with long lasting batteries and solid state HDD to extend battery life even more. It is not meant to be a light-weight substitute for MBP.
We use the iMac as everything, wife is using her MBA for whatever she needs including business travel, I work on MBP and use the iPad for travel and email and whatever I want. We travel with the iPad as opposed to MBA for two main reasons : built in GPS and WiFi/3G network (in NZ we just bought a sim card and we were off and running connected to the world in 5 minutes - you can connect the iPad to a camera as well to download your pix).
Previously we used the MBP for everything and it was great before it's death. We had it hooked up to an external monitor, mouse and keyboard and it was fine. So unless you really need a very portable computer I'd go for MBP as it does have more grunt and bigger HDD and (I think) more video RAM to run external monitors and the like. Bit heavier but more grunt.
As for kids not using it for games... well it will change and even the online stuff my 8yo plays (MoshiMonsters, Club Penguin...) they will soon get used to the performance and need more.
To be honest I'd suggest an iMac (we got ours refurbished) as a communal computer and MBA for YOU. I am of the opinion that MBA and MBP are truly 'personal' whilst desktops are, well, communal. On the other hand, iMac and iPad are a good combo as well. My iPad is MINE. It is personal and I do lots of emails and surf the net on it (and watch iView). Yes, it does have games for the kids, but it is mainly my personal assistant.
My sister (who was converted by me) has 2 x iMac, MBA, 2 x iPad, 3 x iPhone and my brother in law now has MBP for work and Apple TV. Totally Apple household. The iMacs are communal, the laptops are personal. works well for us and her.
Anyway, back to AngryBirds ;-)

[Didge]

I've had a Fujitsu, Compaq, Dell, Acer and I finally flipped to the dark side 18 monts ago and bought a Macbook pro 17" with i7 quad 2.2gHz processor, etc, etc. I give mine an absolute hiding using them for hours nearly every day of the year.
Dell was the most robust machine (dropped it numerous times) but they're hard to buy from and strangely really good on after sales service.
Everyone told me Macs were the ants pants for all graphical, photographic, movie work, etc, blah, blah, blah. Have a good look at what the Mac advertisements always promote - it's never wordprocessing, spreadsheets, databases, CAD programmes, work programmes, etc - it's always cool young things sending or posting pics of their latest enviro hiking, canoeing, travelling the world holiday or extreme sport, etc. Cool stuff but not what we do everyday.

And they do tend to be easier to use and the ease of use always seems really cool, once you're used to doing things totally differently. eg you learnt to drive an auto car here and then moved to Europe and had to drive a small manual bus on the other side of a dirt road at night with one headlight. You know you should be able to do it but it takes quite a while to get used to it and to find out how to do things differently.

The Macbook pro also has a very annoying front edge that is quite sharp and not ergonomically nice - should be filed off. Don't know if the Air has this same "feature".
Macs start up amazingly fast, have great battery life and look well built although I've had 3 screws fall out the back of mine and then they quibble over whether its a warranty issue.
Using programmes like Excel and Word etc is also different and there are lots of inefficient keystrokes that are required in osx that aren't required in Windows systems. eg to delete info in cells in Excel in a Windows environment, click on cell and hit delete key. On a Mac, click on cell, hold down function key and hit cell. Multiple cells can be frustrating to delete. Programmes native to Windows aren't exactly the same in Mac osx and take time to learn and are not always as intuitive. There is no backspace key on the Mac so you have to move the cursor and then delete - little frustrations all over the place.

It's also a bit like betting with the devil - you start to lock yourself into the whole Mac world - can only connect iphones to Macs, can't find much freeware, etc unless you run Windows as an alternative operating system (which is a pretty cool option to have up your sleeve). But then you have to buy Windows for around $100+.

Personally, considering the Macs are easily twice the price of the windows machines I'd be looking at two windows machines, one for the kids and one for you unless you're a graphic designer.
My 2 bobs worth - good luck

[Ashes]

Thanks for the responses guys.
Think I'll probably dip my toe in the water with a mac mini for the family and reuse as much of my existing gear as I can. If I hate it, I'll sell it.
We can use the Mr's laptop while we are on holidays to backup photo's etc. I need to make a decision on what I want for my own browsing. Tablet, laptop or other....

[rar110]

Probably a good plan. You can save money by doing a ram upgrade later. A very easy job to do.

[Ashes]

Made a quick decision on my personal browsing needs....
32GB + Cellular "Refurbished" Ipad 3 for $649. Looks like the apple stores are clearing all their existing stock because of the new model. I can live without the lightning connector.
Went the cellular so I can use GPS on it. Won't be a video or music machine so 32GB should be plenty.

[Turtle61]

Personally, considering the Macs are easily twice the price of the windows machines I'd be looking at two windows machines, one for the kids and one for you unless you're a graphic designer.
My 2 bobs worth - good luck

That's what the bean-counters at one of my jobs thought until they saw that my Macs had no issues, repair bills, down-time and kept going for a long time.
I was once involved in the electronics industry (STBs) and what you paid for is what you got. The bottom-line products had a optimistic life-span of 2 years. Top of the line at least 2 or 3 times that.
I like Macs for a number of reasons (especially since I am one of those pesky designers) but the key issue is quality: the product hardware and software were designed to work together by the same company unlike WinTel machines where the software needs to accommodate who-knows what type of chip/quality/setup. Just a thought.

[rar110]

Ultrabook type windows laptops are mostly about the same price as a MBA.

[Didge]

Turtle61, I hope you're right mate, because that was exactly the reason I thought I'd try a Mac. All the windows based machines I listed above basically did exactly what you said; lasted around 2 years before the colours started bleeding across the screen, or the peripheral hardware (card readers, DVD drives, etc) stopped working properly or they took an eternity to start up, if in fact they did start.
In retrospect, my previous post looks a bit anti Mac, which is wrong because I do love it. As I said, there are plenty of positives. For example I looked at a trip report from Wallaroo recently by tangus73? who did the whole video editing on imovie and it was sensational. :)

[Turtle61]

Didge, there are lemons everywhere but rarer in the Apple world I think. My MBP lasted 5 years of not very easy life, the iMac I am using now is pushing the same although it needs RAM upgrade. Our iPhones are the 3G models, again ageing but still functional.
In that time now he has a nice collection of door stops... Now he's happy as he has both Windows (on Parallels) and Mac OS on a good hardware platform (so do I - I need Windows for e-tax and ArcGIS).

My 8yo daughter and I started playing with iMovie recently as well - mainly because I tend not to take vids but she likes them so I have to now - and started putting together the "trailers" with are a lot of fun... but being me I was't happy with the "trailer" template so found a way of using a trailer as a base and filling in with photos and video media (when you set up a trailer and have it more or less like you want it, use 'convert to project' function and it will allow you to add photos and other things like subtitles and transitions).

I suggest you get the system to check for updates regularly - worked for me for years now and seems to keep the system ticking along just fine... sometimes the DVDs (on older MBs) refuse to read discs but a CD/DVD cleaning disc normally sorts it out. iMac was always OK but the slot-loading MBP had ... things ... entering the slot and therefore needing a clean.

Lots of fun with Macs. Good luck and I hope it will last.

[dirtdawg]

once you go mac you never go back lol, i love my imac i went from laptops to the imac as i have an ipad2 aswell so i have everything i need covered an imac is hands down the better desktop pc

[Ashes]

Once again, not looking for a pc vc apple debate but more a way to minimise and reuse devices.
I too have had many years of having to rebuild/refresh and reload PC gear as devices slowly grind to a halt with updates and incompatible drivers.
Time for a new start and a new experience.
Pretty much sold now on a Mac Mini as a base station/hub for the house and pairing that up with mobile devices. Looking at my needs in detail I can't think of a time when I really needed a laptop away from the house. 99% of the time email, browsing, banking are my main needs. The only thing I can think I would need a laptop out of the house for would be for the ease and speed of transferring files via card or USB drive.

[Didge]

Ah, you guys are making me smile again. As I said, I do really like it, not love it yet but that's because of some of these little frustrations. I was hoping it'd last me 5+ years easily. :)
No debate going on here Ashes, just expressing past experiences with both. Where would we be without either - takes a long time to do this stuff by hand. Basically all computers these days are super fast and versatile.
I also wanted to experience a different way of doing things but I just didn't realise how different they really are :)

[Turtle61]

Ashes,

If you want fast file transfer get a Drop Box subscription (free). My dad is finalising his second book and I am doing the layout and graphics. We both share the same files via drop box. Easy. Fast. Hassle free. No need for laptop and Drop box is supported on iPad as well as all other devices. Other than that Apple's iCloud ain't bad but Dropbox has better sharing capability.

For email and surfing while running around we use the iPad...