Difference Between MacBook Air and iPad 2

MacBook Air vs iPad 2

Given a choice, anyone would love to lay his hands on both iPad2 as well as MacBook Air as both are stunning gadgets full of features and provide a virtual feast of form and function. While MacBook Air is the latest offering from Apple in the field of notebooks (some prefer to call it the thinnest laptop), iPad2 is the ultimate tablet available in the market. This article attempts to find out the differences between these two gadgets to enable readers to go for the either depending upon their requirements.

MacBook Air

MacBook Air is an ultra thin and ultra portable notebook in the Macintosh series of computers from Apple. Launched in 2008, it is today most popular among high flying executives and those on the move as one computing gadget that is capable of multitasking and complex computing jobs at the same time being so light and thin that one feels as if he is carrying no more than a tablet with him. It is available in two models, with 11 inch and 13 inch monitors respectively with flash memory from 64 GB to 256 GB. While both models have Core 2 Duo processors, 11 inch models have 1.4 GHz processors while 13 inch models have 1.86 GHz processors. Both however have a RAM of 2 GB which is sufficiently high. As far as GPU is concerned, they employ NVIDIA GeForce 320M that makes graphics processing a breeze.

As far as resolution of screen is concerned, one gets a resolution of 1366×768 pixels with 11 inch model while the resolution of 13 inch MacBook Air stands at 1440×900 pixels. Both have Mac OSX10.6.x and are preloaded with Windows7. Both are Wi-Fi models employing Bluetoothv2.1+EDR. Both have full flash support and have a single webcam. While the 11 inch model does not have provision of SD cards, users can make use of SD cards with the 13 inch model. Battery life of 11 inch model is 5 hours while users can enjoy the 13 inch model for up to 7 hours on battery. While 11 inch MacBook Air weighs 2.3 oz, 13 inch model is slightly heavier at 2.9 oz. As far as price is concerned, 11 inch models are available from $999 to $1199, while 13 inch models are priced from $1299 to $1599.

iPad 2

iPad2 is one tablet that has been a darling of millions of users worldwide and it happens to be much more than a computing device as it has become a status symbol for its users. It has stunning features such as a huge display of 9.7 inch that has a resolution of 1024×768 pixels, operates on iOS 4.3, has a fast 1 GHz Apple A5 dual core processor, and packs a solid 512 MB RAM. It is available in three models with 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB memory as there is no provision to expand internal memory using SD cards. It is available in both 3G and 3G + Wi-Fi models. It does not support flash but makes use of Bluetooth v2.1+EDR, has 2 cameras, a digital compass, a Gyro sensor and comes packed with standard Li-ion battery that provides a talk time of 9-10 hours.

As far as suitability is concerned, iPad2 is ideally suited for those who surf the web frequently but are not heavily dependent upon typing and emailing. On the other hand, MacBook Air is perfect for emailing and doing heavy work what with a physical keyboard being present. Thoug one can watch light videos, type documents, and send and receive photos on iPad2, multitasking and doing complex computing would necessitate MacBook Air.

iPad is very light as compared to MacBook Air and one can easily move having it inside jacket pocket while one needs to carry MacBook Air in sling bag