So perhaps you've heard, Apple on June 11th basically refreshed the entire laptop line...
As some of you know, I've been keeping an eye on the MacBook Air line, specifically the 13" for travel. I already had an older MacBook Pro 17" which is to die for, but let's get serious - dragging this thing around the world on travel is less than optimal because of its size and weight. So then I picked up an iPad. Much better! It does most of what I need, which is to keep in touch through email, backup photos and of course, browse La Vida Leica. But the lack of RAW/DNG processing and the tiny JPEG previews in the DNG files means it's less than ideal. Well, this refresh was just the ticket!
I picked up a spanky-new MBA 13" last week and splashed out for the fastest CPUs (2x2GHz i7) and maximum RAM of 8GB since you can't really upgrade them down the line and to protect the investment for as long as possible. As with all of my Apple laptops thus far, I expect a 4-5 year lifespan at a
minimum.
Yesterday I finally got around to installing all the must-have software; Lightroom and Aperture, Photoshop, etc. I was immediately floored by how FAST things installed, let alone launched... Holy cow! The new CPUs, memory bandwidth and seriously faster SSDs in the new laptops are something else:
The CPUs represent a 15-20% speed increase, the SSDs 217% - over previous models!
I haven't actually had a chance to do any post-processing or even backing up, selecting or otherwise manipulating photos yet... It should prove to be interesting on several fronts. For one, I'm used to a biiiig screen w/1920x1200 resolution; though the Air isn't that far behind at 1440x900. Screen real estate is less, but still usable. I don't think I'd be happy at all with the 11" model, as much as I wanted to like it. Size and weight-wise, yes - but screen size and resolution? No way. Another perk of the 13" is the integrated SD card slot! One less cable (and/or reader) I need to drag around.
So far, I definitely give the MacBook Air 13" a
thumbs up as a svelte, speedy lil' travel solution! Truth be told, I'm in love with it already.
I'm trying very hard to ignore the new MacBook Pro 15" w/Retina Display! With a 2880x1800 resolution it must be INSANE for photo dorks like us.