Why the 13" MBP is better than the 13" MBA... IMO Obviously

Posted by justinhub2003 on February 6, 2012 10:32 am 16

I am the proud owner of an early 2011 13" Macbook Pro. I have 8gb of ram installed and a 500GB Momentus XT Hybrid HDD installed on it and its an amazingly fast machine.

That said, when I bought it in July, I received a lot of flack not getting the 13" MBA Air instead. People don't me the MBA was a much better computer for the Standard SSD and higher resolution screen. I however stand by my decision and its mostly because of upgradability.

I will be kinda upset if Apple decides to do away with the 13" MBP and have the 13" MBA replace it.

13" MBA VS 13" MBP:

13" MBP key features over the 13" MBA:

  • Ram is upgradeable. Right now I have 8GB of ram in my MBP, however I can actually upgrade to 16gb for 185$. The MBA is stuck at 4gb. No more no less.
  • HDD/SSD upgradeable. Right now I have a hybrid HDD w/ 4gb SSD built in. My system boots in 24 seconds and my favorite apps launch instantly thanks to SSD caching. On the MacBook Air, I am again locked in with whatever size SSD comes default with the system.
  • No Firewire. I need firewire as most of my external drives use FW 800.
  • DVD/Space for extra SSD/Optibay. I dont use the DVD drive but its awesome that you can pop in an SSD/HDD with the use of an optibay.


Basically my reason for preferring the MBP is that I can upgrade it over time to become faster than it was the day I bought it. The Macbook Air, is a very fast machine. But its the fastest it will ever be. No upgrades No storage increases. It will be the same machine in 3 years running on 4gb of ram. My macbook Pro can grow with me and my needs. Increasing to 16gb and a Full blown SSD will allow my machine to feel brand new even 3 years down the line.

What do you think? MBA or MBP? and should Apple replace the 13" MBP with the MBA line