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Archive 2015 · apple air 11 or 13"

  
 
SeBEx
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · apple air 11 or 13"


Hi guys

I am looking to get an apple macbook air for in the field tethered shooting so once I took a photo of the horse and rider and once it's on the laptop I can send it out to clients instantly over my mobile wifi device. But which is screen size should I get? I am only going to go for the standard Base model of either size as it will only be used for the purpose as stated above. I need it to be able to handle photoshop CS5 just so I can edit a few things on the fly.

So I would like some feedback on these laptops and if it's best for to go for the 11 or the 13", I know the 13 has longer battery life but I am really wanting maximum portability as I will be carrying it with two camera on me awsell.



May 04, 2015 at 06:42 AM
schlotz
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · apple air 11 or 13"


Both are quite light. My concern would be for editing on the 11". I personally have the 13" and while I can and do edit with it, the screen size and resolution isn't the best.



May 04, 2015 at 12:57 PM
mdude85
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · apple air 11 or 13"


If maximum portability is your concern then I would probably go for the 11". It is not just smaller but also lighter. I do all my editing on my 13"; I would say for basic editing you would be fine with the 11".

I would say just to go into the Apple Store and mess around with both of them to see which one you like better. I know that's not the advice you want to hear, but it's the best advice



May 04, 2015 at 01:14 PM
Surfnsun
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · apple air 11 or 13"


Have you had any of these sized laptops in the past? It sounds like the portability of the computer is a top concern. So consider what you've used in the past and make your best judgement. The 13" will obviously give you more screen, which makes editing and viewing photos a more enjoyable experience. But if you hate carrying it everyday, you'll be miserable.

Personally I love those little 11" MBA's. I'll probably add one just to have when I want something on the go. My main rig is a 2014 15" MBPr. Greatest computer I've ever owned. I am totally convinced about Apple and have drank the coolaid!

Also, don't overlook the new Macbook. It's smack dab in the middle at 12" and it's damn portable! I'm a fan of that thing as well.



May 04, 2015 at 01:16 PM
SeBEx
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · apple air 11 or 13"


The Macbook, the new one does look very good and seems to be quite light, however it's the size and weight that are my main priorities. I love the 11" due to its size and weight factor and all I would want to do on it is some very light editing work then send the files over, but the 13" does have the bigger screen and the better battery life, which I have to take into consideration when shooting tethered and using wifi etc. but its a little bigger to try and carry around with two cameras in toe too.

When I have some free time I will check all three of these laptops out at an apple store and see which would really be best for what I want.

Just wanted to hear some real world reviews with them rather than the apple genius tell me what I want to hear haha.



May 04, 2015 at 03:47 PM
Danner
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · apple air 11 or 13"


I have an MacBook Air 13", and when I get another, it will be an 11". The 11" fits in a lot more reasonably sized bags than the 13".

Neither of them is fun to edit on, but they are fine for basic image manipulation and Internet comm. Nice to have.



May 04, 2015 at 10:20 PM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · apple air 11 or 13"


SeBEx wrote:
The Macbook, the new one does look very good and seems to be quite light, however it's the size and weight that are my main priorities. I love the 11" due to its size and weight factor and all I would want to do on it is some very light editing work then send the files over, but the 13" does have the bigger screen and the better battery life, which I have to take into consideration when shooting tethered and using wifi etc. but its a little bigger to try and carry around with two cameras in toe too.



are you sure your looking at the correct Macbook ? the new 12" one .
its slap bang in the middle of the 2 airs and has at the retina display . its thinner and lighter as well .

but while the screen is great from what I have seen of the reviews actual screen real estate is less than the 13" air unless your set to 1:1 where things like menus can get very small .

if its a mac you want (don't blame you there) and its portability you want then the 11" is still the best option . but I doubt id want to do much work on it other than a quick look and send .
the 13" is still a great allrounder . battery like on the 13" is longer also
but I would say that id want to upgrade the memory to 8gig (and possibly the drive to 256 in which case your getting close to the 12" macbook price (at least over here in the UK) which has those as standard .

problem with the macbook at the moment is the wait time and the lack of USB C dongles (which add to the total cost anyway) .









May 05, 2015 at 02:55 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · apple air 11 or 13"


Also if you not fully committed to the Mac ecosystem then a couple of machines to look at would be the
Dell XPS 13 . That's a 13" ultrabook but about the same size as the 11" air .
Or the Lenovo yoga (11 or 13" ) . The original ones had screens of the same res as the airs but the later ones are higher (the pro range is much higher )
The ability to fold the screen over on itself on the yoga may be an advantage in the field .

There's also the surface pro 3 which is more tablet than laptop (but can be a decent laptop)



May 05, 2015 at 03:53 AM
irish-george
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · apple air 11 or 13"


Generally, Apple is an early adopter on technology. In WiFi, however, they've been laggards. I believe the current generation is all (finally) IEEE 802.11ac -- I'd confirm that as they do tend to continue selling old models, both new and refurbished.


May 05, 2015 at 04:50 AM
mabidally
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · apple air 11 or 13"


Went through the same decision some months back. I use an iMac 27 at home and decided on the 11" air as portability and weight was very important to me when travelling. The 11" air has worked very for me while on the road for quick process and checking etc.


May 09, 2015 at 04:07 PM
brett maxwell
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · apple air 11 or 13"


I love my 11", it's my main machine now, often connected to a large monitor in my home office, but when I take it mobile the size is a joy.

I think the 13" Air is currently in an awkward position. If your priority is mobility with quite decent power, the 11" is the way to go. If you're willing to give up some mobility for a larger and better screen, skip the 13" Air and go straight to the 13" Retina Pro, the cost, size, and weight are actually very close, and with a far superior screen and a few other nice little features.



May 11, 2015 at 08:10 PM
Savas K
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · apple air 11 or 13"


I've been using the 11 inch since 2011. It is still reasonably fast and goes with me everywhere. I have the pre-CC Adobe design suite premium on it plus DxO. The only plugin that is a hassle is Athentech, with a nonconforming dialog then goes below screen bottom. This is a machine that has staved off any desire for an iPad, the closest to it in size and weight, but no where near as productivity enhancing as the laptop.


May 13, 2015 at 02:11 AM
SeBEx
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · apple air 11 or 13"


I looked at the new Macbook 12" however I don't like it only have one port and if you running on the mains you have to take that out and put yr usb in via an adapter etc.. thats just too fiddly for me, However looking at the 11" and getting some feedback on it I am going to go with that one.

Thank you to everyone for your comments they came in handy !



May 14, 2015 at 09:16 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · apple air 11 or 13"


Yeah I see many comments on how the new MB 'sucks' cos its only got 1 port .

actually thats not really putting me off . I want to see one in the flesh to see how usable the screen is with stuff like LR and the ACTUAL screen res (Not talking about the retina resolution)

the 1 port thing could be drawback at times but I typically wouldn't be using it connected to anything for long periods anyway .
The way I use my Surface at the moment that also has only 1 USB port (OK its be powered via its own power port)
is to connect my eternal SSD drive and copy over my LR cat file and the files i need (usually smart previews) and then disconnect the drive .
that would be just the same on the MB .

the other thing I see about the MB is how expensive it is . well yes it aint cheap (no apple stuff is) , but spec a MBA 11" with 256gig and 8meg and its not that much cheaper . spec the 13" the same and its the same price (at least it is here in the UK)
and yes it runs a Core M against the Air's i5 but from what I've seen about real usage (not benchmarks) its not that bad . processor heavy stuff like exports in LR will take a hit but I'd do that on my iMac if its a big number .

looking at the windows stuff that ships Core M like the Yoga Pro 3 and the Ativ they don't seem much cheaper .

or the surface Pro 3 which still has 1 USB port and by the time you've bought the keyboard and added it to the 256gig 8meg version with i5 is about the same as the MB

Im getting royal hacked off with my surface Pro V1 . partly by the hardware (screen too small and battery life too short ) but also win 8 (Hate) . Win 10 may cure some of that hate but from what Ive seen online I'm not that hopefull

I'm currently looking at either a decent used MBA (probably 13" given how I find the 10" of my SP too small) or a used 13" yoga (not a pro) but if I was to buy New i'd give the MB a serious consideration (but I think id like to see a few cheaper 3rd party dongle options first )



May 14, 2015 at 11:58 AM
Xavier Rival
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · apple air 11 or 13"


Maybe a bit late, but I did not see the thread before.

Essentially, if the choice was for a "main computer", and between the two MBAs, I would take the 13", but for backup, sorting, and light editing and with another "main computer" at home, I would take the 11". Well, in fact, I use the 11" in that second configuration. It is perfectly adequate. Yes, screen real estate is limited (there is not so much space left for the picture being edited when LR menus and sliders use so much space), but it still works. In fact, I have often done not so light editing and 13"x19" prints using an 11" MBA. Not the most comfortable, but with such a low weight, nothing to complain about.

I also agree that the 12" MacBook, is not even close to work for photography, due to the lack of ports (and if we have to carry an additional hub, the weight and space gains are more than gone).



May 14, 2015 at 12:55 PM
NYCPhotog
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · apple air 11 or 13"


2012 Macbook Pro Retina. They can be had for $1k and beat the pants off of Air.


May 14, 2015 at 02:13 PM
bleep
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · apple air 11 or 13"


Get the 13" so you can use an SD card which the 11" can't use-especially if you are getting the smaller 128gb ssd drive.


May 14, 2015 at 02:37 PM
Chris Dees
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · apple air 11 or 13"


I choose a 13" MBA (I7 2Ghz 2core, 8Gb, 512GB) over a 11" MBA because it's faster, has better battery life and has an SD-slot.
The new Macbook is too expensive at the moment and is slow (same speed as an iPad Air 2) and only one new USB-C slot. In a few years that Macbook will be mature and everybody will forget its shortcomings the same as the first MBA's (no CD/DVD player)



May 14, 2015 at 02:56 PM
SeBEx
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · apple air 11 or 13"


Cheers for the comments, Im going to get the 11" with 8GB Ram and upgrade it to the i7 2.2 GHz but keep the 128GB ram as everything I transfer on it will only be on there for a day or so and then sent to my NAS drive anyway so it will keep that 128gGB clean plus I have a 128GB usb stick too if I need to store big files for longer or move big files off MBA , as I am only using it as a second computer it shouldn't get too clogged up.

Regarding SD slot that doesn't appeal to me at all as all my gear uses CF and I always transfer via the cameras data cable from camera to laptop so cards are never taken out.



May 15, 2015 at 05:43 AM
cbfount
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · apple air 11 or 13"


I think you'll like the 11. I purchased the 13 first and found myself leaving it at home. Picked up the 11 and carry it everywhere. Screen is a little cramped in Lightroom, but not too bad when you maximize the viewing area by hiding everything.

I stepped up to the i7 and am glad I did. I went with he 256GB and am regretting it. I have to be disciplined about clearing it off--but sometimes I like to download my huge catalog and do some image selecting/culling/etc and find myself running out of space. Then I have to break out the external. I picked up a Monster Digital external 256 SSD that is fast and compact. In the field I keep a copy of everything I download to the macbook--it can live in a shirt pocket.

If you haven't already made a purchase, I'd strongly recommend you consider at least 256GB. I purchased that and actually find myself wishing I'd ponied up for the 512. It doesn't take much to fill up that 256GB and the last thing you want to do in the field is rely on working with an attached drive.

Best,
Carl



May 15, 2015 at 11:43 AM
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