OK, I’d already settled on getting an iPad for Christmas. I think the elegant design, e book/mag capabilities, and most of all, size make the iPad an attractive laptop supplement. You see, I must travel with my work laptop, a boat anchor Dell machine. I do not like to run the blog, or do my personal shopping/banking on the work machine. I have my reasons. Right now, my personal machine is a Toshiba T-135. It’s a little over 3 pounds, and thin enough to fit in a folder flap in my briefcase. That said….it’s 3.5 more pounds strapped to my shoulder. My thinking was that the iPad would be an excellent substitute for traveling with both my personal and work laptops. I could do a little limited blogging with the iPad, same for banking and other personal business. And the iPad weighs a lot less then 3.5 pounds.
Enter the new Macbook Air. Specifically, the 11 inch screen version. TSA says it doesn’t have to be removed from your carry on. It’s light, thin, and does more than the iPad. Reviews of the new Macbook Air computers have been almost uniformly positive. Now I’m torn. Any readers have any experience with a decision like this? I’d love to hear your thoughts, and I’m sure other readers would to.
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If you have to have a Mac then it really depends on what you’re doing on it; I’m sure the iPad is great for games and watching movies and some general surfing, I’m sure any prolonged typing has to be tedios. A 13″ is a bit big, even though its thin, it takes up a lot of space. I actually had a similar quandry and ended up with a Packard Bell/Acer 11.6″ with 4gb of RAM and 320HDD, 5+ hour battery plus an extra battery and I can do real work or play around on it however I want.
@Matt: I was referring to the iPad being a brick with bad/no wireless connection
If you have to carry a work laptop I’d get the iPad for inflight/personal use. Great battery life and it’ll work for light duty computing for personal trips.
Currently I travel using a work issued 13″ with spare battery and was looking to lighten up the load for personal travel (did a couple two week euro trips this year) and thought of MBA 11″ or iPad.
I ended up with an iPad for a few reasons: Battery life watching movies (10 hr vs 4-5 hr for MBA) and not another computer to manage (that probably wouldn’t get much usage around the house). So the iPad means drop the extra battery, the kindle, and some paper work (didn’t work well on kindle). Still have to bring a magazine for take off/landing/etc (still need it with the kindle anyways).
As for bad WiFi or ethernet sometimes I carry an AirPort Express as it’s one of the smallest routers that does both WiFi AP and bridging (if someone knows a smaller one with both I’m all ears).
Macbook air. In terms of security it is the same as an Ipad. It isn’t much heavier. Anything you can do on an Ipad you can do on a mb air (blog, web browse, banking,games, music. and yu can download ereaders too plus it will be as easy as the app store in January when mac app store is launched and filled.
Couple things:
I have a Dell work laptop that never leaves my office. When I travel (or even at home), I always use my personal laptop. I don’t have to use any native apps for work purposes other than Thunderbird (email), Pidin (IM) and Firefox (web apps). That said, if my Dell work laptop wasn’t such a clunker, I could take it on the road and easily get all my personal stuff done as well. Web apps mean I don’t have to store anything locally. “Portable Apps” run off the USB stick means IT could lock down the machine, preventing me to install new apps, if they wanted to. External (USB stick) storage means none of my own data needs to live on the laptop. So I don’t quite understand why you can’t use your work laptop for blogging (you can use a web UI to do that, no?)
While the TSA says that you don’t have to take the 11″ Macbook Air out of your bag, the reality will likely be different. They said the same about the iPad. My wife and I each have an iPad. At least 25-30% of the time, if we leave the iPad in the bag, they’ll subject the bag to secondary screening. Sometimes they just take the iPad out after the X-ray machine and put it and the bag through again. Sometimes they take the entire bag apart and test it with their explosives detection swipes. I have pretty much come to the conclusion that it’s on average faster to just take it out (since I have to open the bag anyway to take out my laptop).
The iPad is great for couch surfing and inflight entertainment. Battery life is amazing.
You have a very lightweight laptop that’s a year old. Not worth replacing IMO.
People have been reporting display problems and freezing with the new Macbook Airs. Apple’s promised a fix, but I’d wait for it, to make sure it’s fixable purely by software.
Wait for 2nd generation iPad? (not announced yet, but surely coming at some point early next year)
Ok, more than a couple thoughts. Now, if you excuse me, I need to head to the Apple store to drool over the new Macbook Airs. 😉
I initially thought the same as “mowogo” but Apple sells an Ethernet dongle that plugs into the USB port. No word on its performance from actual users yet but that deals with same concern I had about being WiFi only.
Thanks so much!
The issue depends on the particular hotels you use. While the iPad is easier to use and carry, but if you are in a hotel that has poor/non-existent wireless signal, then it is a brick
Thanks for your comment Linda. I believe the 13″ Macbook Air must be removed from you carry on. It’s just a bit too large to pass muster from TSA.
As for my T-135, it is just over a year old, and already out of production. I believe the Toshiba T-230 would represent the closest current Toshiba to mine T-135. You can check it out at this link: http://us.toshiba.com/computers/laptops/satellite/T230.
I have a Dell laptop which I have grown to immensely dislike. I need to replace it for work. However I now only use my Acer netbook for travel. My husband loves his iPad and now uses it exclusively for travel. He loves this machine. I have tried to use his iPad but I am a good touch typist and find using it frustrating. I love my iPhone but feel the same way about the typing issue with that too. I am trying to decide whether or not to get the new MacBook Air as my regular work computer. Do you know if the 13″ version needs to be removed from carry on? Also tell me more about the Toshiba T-135.