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1.6 HD vs. 1.8HD
- Thread starter younameit
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Waste of money.
It's about a 15% difference in clock speed - but the disk will slow this machine down a lot, so you'll never get that much speedup.
It's about a 15% difference in clock speed - but the disk will slow this machine down a lot, so you'll never get that much speedup.
Right, 15% clock speed for about 15% more money....sounds expensive.
So you are saying no speed gain at all?
Thanks
If you have the money to burn and you don't really care then yeah, you'll see a slight speed increase (there will be a speed increase but it won't be mind shattering). I didn't go for it though because I couldn't justify the price for the small speed bump.
I played with 1.6 and 1.8 hd airs in the store and I couldn't see any difference doing daily tasks. Admittedly I didn't try editing any photos or whatnot (which I do on my air occasionally) due to no photo editing app being installed.
Still, if you can't justify the expense the 1.6 is a fine machine. (And I wouldn't use the resale argument, if you want a laptop with the highest resale value buy a macbook pro.)
Still, if you can't justify the expense the 1.6 is a fine machine. (And I wouldn't use the resale argument, if you want a laptop with the highest resale value buy a macbook pro.)
I don't think you'll see a large difference in real world app's.
Take the money and get an Air Superdrive, enet/usb dongle and iWorks/Office. IMO, it'd be money better spent.
Trust me, the 1.6 is plenty fast and before you know it a new CPU will be put in the updated model. Then your 200MHz last gen. doesn't really mean anything because it's still old cpu only a wee little bit faster. Bitter truth.
The Air has been my favorite Apple product in years. 1.6 / 80
Take the money and get an Air Superdrive, enet/usb dongle and iWorks/Office. IMO, it'd be money better spent.
Trust me, the 1.6 is plenty fast and before you know it a new CPU will be put in the updated model. Then your 200MHz last gen. doesn't really mean anything because it's still old cpu only a wee little bit faster. Bitter truth.
The Air has been my favorite Apple product in years. 1.6 / 80
lol, so you agree with me then? haha. people rarely agree with me on the forums.
How flattering! I agree with a lot of your posts as well. Often I get flamed when i have rather "different" ideas on things, so this is a nice change
Ok, so back on topic - what will be the decision?
BTW, I have the 1.6, and in terms of "speed" it's pretty much the same as my (now sold) MacBook Pro and current iMac (24" White), with the iMac subjectively feeling faster than both by a little bit. The MacBook Air feels by no means slow (I do web browsing, e-mail, pages, MSN, etc.)
To be fair though I've never tried a 1.8 nor an SSD-based model so I can't comment on either.
How flattering! I agree with a lot of your posts as well. Often I get flamed when i have rather "different" ideas on things, so this is a nice change
Ok, so back on topic - what will be the decision?
BTW, I have the 1.6, and in terms of "speed" it's pretty much the same as my (now sold) MacBook Pro and current iMac (24" White), with the iMac subjectively feeling faster than both by a little bit. The MacBook Air feels by no means slow (I do web browsing, e-mail, pages, MSN, etc.)
To be fair though I've never tried a 1.8 nor an SSD-based model so I can't comment on either.
I think in general our posts are a bit too pragmatic for most.
Don't have a clue as to what he'll spring for, but as we both posted previously, Apple will probably update w. new proc. in 6-8 months and he should accessorize in lieu of the 200MHz upgrade. I'd love to have a SSD but todays prices and sizes can't be justified to me anyway.
The Air SDrive will cross into newer product as will the enet/usb dongle and in my eyes these are must haves. Maybe not to lug around but have for when you need them. A nice case that is tighter/smaller fit for the Air would be cool too. Mine just swam in my old briefcase and kept opening up and turning itself on.
Having gone through the product cycles so many times before I hate to see people ticked at making a decision on a product they really don't need.
My 1.6 is faster than my MBP 2GHz CD. I thought maybe there was something wrong w. the MBP but anandtech verified my tests. I can also set the Air on my lap comfortably. The absolute coolest running MAcLAppy I think I've ever had.
I think in general our posts are a bit too pragmatic for most.
Don't have a clue as to what he'll spring for, but as we both posted previously, Apple will probably update w. new proc. in 6-8 months and he should accessorize in lieu of the 200MHz upgrade. I'd love to have a SSD but todays prices and sizes can't be justified to me anyway.
The Air SDrive will cross into newer product as will the enet/usb dongle and in my eyes these are must haves. Maybe not to lug around but have for when you need them. A nice case that is tighter/smaller fit for the Air would be cool too. Mine just swam in my old briefcase and kept opening up and turning itself on.
Having gone through the product cycles so many times before I hate to see people ticked at making a decision on a product they really don't need.
My 1.6 is faster than my MBP 2GHz CD. I thought maybe there was something wrong w. the MBP but anandtech verified my tests. I can also set the Air on my lap comfortably. The absolute coolest running MAcLAppy I think I've ever had.
I didn't even need to buy the SD...I did a reinstall of the OS and it worked flawlessly over remote disk using the iMac, albeit slowly (overnight). As for the case, I'm using an incase sleeve for the macbook...it's a little loose but it's better than going naked in the meantime. I'll probably end up getting an airmail eventually, haha. The enet dongle I don't have a need for anyways, since it's wireless, but I think it's great apple has all these options available for people who "just need it sometimes".
If you offered me the SSD for free, I'd obviously take it, but I would never pay $1K more for it, no matter how much performance gain it gives. I understand that Apple is trying to offer the latest and greatest, and I think that's the good thing, but if you're someone like me, you won't go buy a $3000 laptop because I know sooner than later I'll want to upgrade to something newer. But hey, there's always a premium to pay for newer technology. I'm sure in the not too distant future more and more notebooks will be built to be as thin as the MBA, so right now we're paying a "premium" for it but I think the premium is well justified at this point.
If I were the OP, since he is obviously "willing" to upgrade if he thinks it's worth it, I'd, like you said, use the money for accessories, namely a case (which is a must), the super drive, etc.
Also, I've been having one major beef with the air and I hope it will fix it self. Whenever I'm typing in Pages my palm will rub on the touchpad and it will move the cursor, then i'll look down at the screen (I'm in a lecture, looking at the professor while typing), and when I look down, the cursor will have moved and i'll be inserting the newly typed text into some random part of the document. It's happened several times and it's super annoying. Hopefully my hands will adopt a new position in which this doesn't happen.
Also, there seems to be a problem with the build - the bezel is much too close to the base, and whenever I open the screen, the bottom of the bezel rubs against the base and it's already causing some "erosion" to the amount of a small chip. Other than that, the air I have is super quiet with no hard drive click and hte battery charges within a decent amount of time.
\blabbing
Hopefully my insight above will help the OP make a decision.
Tonight I bought a Wenger portfolio-lappy hybrid case that fits the Air like a glove. A mini briefcase that has well padded ultracompact PC pocket, calculator, three ring binder and many pockets for little things. I can get my Nano, Air, both chargers, Sennheiser earphones, cell, usb cables, and most of my paperwork in it. Really cool and 1/2 the size my last case. It will feel different lugging this. It has to be 6 pounds less than previous.
You may want to let Apple know about the fit issue just in case it gets worse later. All in all, mine has been pretty good. Only thing so far was after about a month, started to wobble and upper part w. keyboard started to come a bit loose. It happened after I left it in below freezing car for 1/2 a day. Took it apart and the screws had loosened a wee bit from battery to case. Only 1/2 a turn on each and like new. It's truly amazing the way they used the battery as skeleton.
The trackpad is another issue. I too sometimes would inadvertently brush it. I think it's just so much larger than previous models and seems to be more sensitive which I like except when I can't find my cursor. Getting used to it now and haven't had a mishap for the past week or so.
Me needs the sleep.
Hopefully OP can glean some info from our dialogue and make prudent decisions.
On both airs I had, neither wobbled. The first one had the HD click and took 10 hrs to charge. I think you're right about the size of the trackpad. Glad to hear you found a proper case. get some sleep!
This nails it down for me.
Taking also all the other comments into account, i will go for the 1.6 version
Thanks!
I tried both out side to side in comparison with my 2.4 mbp sept 07 edition.
Both are incredibly faster on just about everything, so don't let the clock speed fool you it is a very special chip. I got the SSD because parents bought one for my brother and I as graduation gifts into law school and my phd program and *luckily* they were sold out of the 1.6 lol.
In all honesty though, the 1.6 is MORE than enough to make you happy, my only complaint a week later is USB 2.0 sucks sucks sucks! I would sell this and pay a lil extra to get a model with an eSATA or firewire 800 port but that's prolly just cuse ive been spoiled with eSATA on the mbp this past semester. At any rate final cut express runs fairly well on the air, my iTunes library is far too large for the HD, so i bought the mini g-drive 160gb to house it, and its a portable HD that is USB powered so that works out well I suppose.
iPhoto I highly recommend keeping on the HD of your macbook air cuse over a USB hd, it just is slow like you wouldnt believe - besides iPhoto with all the photos I have (ALOT) is only 4 gb so I don't mind losing a lil space for some speed on photo viewing, editing and the like.
iMovie has a faster export of medium sized vids than my MBP by about 4 minutes sustained export of a 10 min documentary clip i edited, but I can't forsee me keeping iMovie on here once I get my MBP pro sold and buy an imac.
Hope this helps you and others in deciding, the SSD HD is great, but speeds were very comparable for everyday use with the 4200 hd and the 1.6 model stock from apple.
Both are incredibly faster on just about everything, so don't let the clock speed fool you it is a very special chip. I got the SSD because parents bought one for my brother and I as graduation gifts into law school and my phd program and *luckily* they were sold out of the 1.6 lol.
In all honesty though, the 1.6 is MORE than enough to make you happy, my only complaint a week later is USB 2.0 sucks sucks sucks! I would sell this and pay a lil extra to get a model with an eSATA or firewire 800 port but that's prolly just cuse ive been spoiled with eSATA on the mbp this past semester. At any rate final cut express runs fairly well on the air, my iTunes library is far too large for the HD, so i bought the mini g-drive 160gb to house it, and its a portable HD that is USB powered so that works out well I suppose.
iPhoto I highly recommend keeping on the HD of your macbook air cuse over a USB hd, it just is slow like you wouldnt believe - besides iPhoto with all the photos I have (ALOT) is only 4 gb so I don't mind losing a lil space for some speed on photo viewing, editing and the like.
iMovie has a faster export of medium sized vids than my MBP by about 4 minutes sustained export of a 10 min documentary clip i edited, but I can't forsee me keeping iMovie on here once I get my MBP pro sold and buy an imac.
Hope this helps you and others in deciding, the SSD HD is great, but speeds were very comparable for everyday use with the 4200 hd and the 1.6 model stock from apple.
This is a repost of my earlier reply to a similar question...
I struggled with the 1.6 / 1.8 HDD question myself and I finally went with the 1.6 in part because the cost/benefit analysis didn't seem to add up.
$300 extra for a part that, according to AnandTech (http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3226&p=10), costs Apple just $32 extra seems crazy, even by Apple's standards. We all know how inflated their RAM prices are for MB/MBP and the rest of the line...but at least with MB/MBP you can go the Crucial, etc. route to save some serious money.
I just couldn't see how the 1.8 would make any noticeable difference for what I'll use the MBA for...e-mail, web, writing, taking notes, Keynote...I'm putting that $300 towards the SuperDrive, a copy of Fusion, and a copy of WinXP Pro. In a few months when SSD's come down to reasonable price levels (and up to reasonable capacities) I'll follow the DIY instructions at AnandTech (http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3226&p=13) and swap in a SSD.
I struggled with the 1.6 / 1.8 HDD question myself and I finally went with the 1.6 in part because the cost/benefit analysis didn't seem to add up.
$300 extra for a part that, according to AnandTech (http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3226&p=10), costs Apple just $32 extra seems crazy, even by Apple's standards. We all know how inflated their RAM prices are for MB/MBP and the rest of the line...but at least with MB/MBP you can go the Crucial, etc. route to save some serious money.
I just couldn't see how the 1.8 would make any noticeable difference for what I'll use the MBA for...e-mail, web, writing, taking notes, Keynote...I'm putting that $300 towards the SuperDrive, a copy of Fusion, and a copy of WinXP Pro. In a few months when SSD's come down to reasonable price levels (and up to reasonable capacities) I'll follow the DIY instructions at AnandTech (http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3226&p=13) and swap in a SSD.
That's my plan too. Thankfully Apple left the drive in a somewhat easily accessible place, unlike the MBP.
Unless you don't go all out and get the 1.8/64GB SSD, then I would stick with the 1.6/80GB. Plus, if anything goes wrong with it, you can count that the stock model will be there in the store for an exchange and you won't have to wait a while for another BTO machine. I agree with the folks here that thevs. the performance boost will be minimal vs. the 1.8.