11" Ultimate Owners : Buy Again ?

[bcaslis]

Thank you for the prompt reply. I will also have an iMac desktop to use along with the MBA. Did you find much of difference in the display resolution between the two??

Difference between the 13" and 11"? Yes, the 13" feels like it has much more display area and the pixel density is a bit less on the 13" so small items are easier to see. However, after a while you adapt to the 11". Turn dock auto-hiding on and the display area isn't bad. The top to bottom distance is the tightest but that is primarily because it's 16x9 instead of 16x10 on the other laptops. However HD TV shows look really good and have no letter-boxing.

I've been using Apple laptops since the PowerBook 100 (I also had a Macintosh Portable too, but let's not talk about that). While the 11" is really a future direction (16x9, SSD based, etc...) to me it also feels like a blast to the past. The early laptops weren't nearly as thin and light but they also were smaller in other dimensions compared to today's MBP. The 11" reminds me fondly of the PowerBook Duo, 1400, and 2400. It feels like a return to the laptop's origins while also reaching to the future with the high-res display, fast SSD, and battery times.

 

[wirelessmacuser]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, so far my 11" MBA's been fine. The first, and second 13" MBA's I bought failed completely. Now on my third 13" I'm a bit gun shy. Once they demonstrate some reliability, I will be satisfied.

 

[SiskoKid]

I would buy a second one tomorrow if I could. I am dead set on updating my 11'6 every year from now on. I sold my MacBook Pro 2009 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo model to buy this computer instead. I have a Mac Pro at home so I never used the MBP at home and taking it to work was cumbersome and heavy and would barely fit on my desk. Being an editor, I am ridiculously surprised at how I can still edit with this little bad boy with Final Cut Pro and even use Photoshop to make alterations to pictures. During large renders on my machine at work, I now hop onto my MacBook Air, and it works surprisingly well to do minor to medium sized projects on the side, reply to emails, discuss over IMs, present in meetings, etc.

I think this machine is beyond amazing. I am a huge fan of this machine. I've been telling everyone at work to buy one because I love it so much.

Yes, I'd buy it again in case you didn't catch that

P.S. I haven't even heard what the fan sounds like on the machine yet, and I've had Apple Mail, Outlook, Things, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, iChat, and Work running at the same time. I don't even feel it get hot. Maybe a tiny bit warm, but compared to my MBP, it's ice cold.

 

[teski]

I had a 11 ultimate for 2 weeks, returned it cause I thought the smaller screen was too much of a compromise. Ordered a 13 online. Now that I received it, I regret the decision. The 13 is not noticeably any more portable than my 13" MBP. I wish I had stuck w the 11. I haven't used the 13 at all. The 11 was stuck to me non stop for two weeks.

The 11 is much more portable than the 13, runs much cooler, is silent vs the jet sounds of the 13. Battery life isn't as good, maybe 30% less, but still pretty good.

Jet sound? What the heck are you doing with your 13? Mine runs silent unless I put it through a lot (multiple office apps, Photoshop, streaming video, etc. at the same time).

Also sounds like you need to do some pre-purchase research before plunking down a lot of money, so you know what you want/need.

 

[coelacanth]

I had base model + 4GB RAM for about 10 days. Had problems (loose bottom panel, damaged screw by "genius", etc) and had to get replacement but they couldn't do cross shipping or advance exchange so decided to return and buy at a local store.

I was happy with base model other than 2GB RAM. I bit the bullet and got the ultimate model. I'm glad I did it. It's actually noticeably quicker to do certain "pure CPU" tasks and extra SSD space is a plus though not a must for me personally. I do pretty much everything from daily online tasks to Photoshop/Illustrator design works. I'd do buy the ultimate again.

I was gonna keep my 13" MBP when I had the base model, but now I'm selling the MBP and promoting my 11" ultimate to my main laptop. (I have Mac Pro at work and Mac mini as media center at home.)

 

[HardLuckStories]

Very Happy

Yes I'd buy again, went from couple of month old 15 mbp to ultimate 11 mba. Does everything i require, very quickly. I travel for work the mbp sat on windowledge unused, too cumbersome and battery life much less than advertised, found myself reaching for ipad but with this always compromising on day to day tasks (printing, flash, complete programs). 11 mba perfect companion, was worried about screen size, however managed adequately with ipad, and due to the 11's screen resolution its comparable to the white macbook (also used for couple of years) so its like a 13 in 11 size. Do hope Apple include full screen browsing in Safari though, too much wasted screen with menu bars.

10/10

 

[jksu]

love the 11.6...

went for the ultimate 1.6/4/128 to replace a 2gz coreduo/2gig coreduo blackbook.

was concerned with smaller screen and while pixel wise you're not losing much, i had to upsize font sizes in browsers and used autohide for the dock. but after a few days, i got used to it.

the performance (no beach balls, instant launches), compact size/lightness (true portability) and amazingly cool/quiet operation is totally worth any trade offs.

reliability is up in the "air" (pun no intended). i'm on my 2nd mba due to a overly bright section of the display (backlight bleed?). this replacement is perfect...well, it's not an ips display, but at least no defect.

jksu

Just wondering those of you who opted for the 11" Ultimate config...

Would you buy it again, or opt for a different model, why ?

Comments actual battery life, good enough , too short?

Ever annoyed with fan noise, or its silent ?

 

[dmelgar]

Do hope Apple include full screen browsing in Safari though, too much wasted screen with menu bars.

10/10

try chrome.

 

[bcaslis]

Jet sound? What the heck are you doing with your 13? Mine runs silent unless I put it through a lot (multiple office apps, Photoshop, streaming video, etc. at the same time).

Also sounds like you need to do some pre-purchase research before plunking down a lot of money, so you know what you want/need.

Not trying to knock the 13" but it's way easier to get the fan spun up on the 13". Just erasing and reinstalling the OS on the 13" will bring the fan up to full speed. It doesn't on the 11". And at full speed the fan on the 13" is way louder than the 11". I agree during normal running on the 13" it should be silent.

 

[happyslayer]

Now question, I would buy it again. Hell after having it, I would probably paid more for it if I had to replace it for some reason. (You know, like if aliens came down and took it or something.)

The size is perfect for my needs!
The weight is excellent. (2.3 lbs of carry it everyday, everywhere I go, bliss!)
It rarely heats up compared to my last Air (RevB)
It gets incredible battery life - 5-6 hours all the time. (I've even gotten 7+)
Sleep mode is great.
The ll.6 screen is very crisp and the text amazingly sharp.
I can run all the apps I care about with no issues.

** I did miss the backlit keyboard for a while, but the other positives far out-weigh that negative for me. I've just gotten used to making sure at least one light is on when I'm using at night.

Total winner from Apple in my book.

 

[navanod]

My 2 cents.
I have a 15" MBP, 11" MBA and a iPad 3G.

The MBP is my office system with a Cinema Display. I have the iPad and was using it for meetings and web browsing at home until I bought the MBA. Now that I have the MBA I use it almost for everything! I primarily use CS5 and Office 2011 while at work and in meetings I use Mémoires. The 11" MBA is extremely portable. I recently got back from a multi-city business trip in Asia and traveling with this puppy is night and day compared to my MBP. The iPad is getting neglected now with the exception of my son using it while in the car. Previously I have owned the MBA 13" revA and rev3 and the 11.6 IMHO is way more stable.
Back to the OP...
Would I buy this again? In a heartbeat! I've had several Mac's in the last 20 years and this is by far the best I have owned! Zero regrets and extremely happy!

Now if this thing had 3G or 4G I would be in heaven!

 

[Cavman]

Just picked up the "ultimate" 11.6" today

Went back and forth between the base model and the "ultimate".

Main desire was the 4gb of ram, not the processor uptick. Didn't have the luxury of ordering a CTO as am heading out of town on business and wanted the MBA for the trip.

The "ultimate" handles 1080p hd video tests on YouTube (full screen) without any hiccups while a few of the base test models in the apple store choked on the nvidia test clip.

Have been playing with it all afternoon and only once has it used more than the 2.0gb of ram even though the system has 4gb available. Has not "paged out" at all yet.

Only heat (very modest) radiates from the top of the keyboard and out the back/bottom near the hinge. Much cooler than MBP 13" and that is with the MBA charging, xferring 60gb of media and other browsing simultaneously.

While am probably still in the honeymoon phase, am very happy with the "ultimate" edition and would purchase it again.

Think the base 11.6" MBA would probably be fine for most things but got the "ultimate" to provide insurance and help "future-proof" the laptop a little bit.

Would probably get the memory upgrade first via CTO but the "ultimate" is a nice combination if people are capable of paying the upcharge.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

 

[Over Achiever]

After using the "ultimate" for a few weeks, I think if I had to do it again, I would save $100 and buy the 1.4/128/4 instead of the 1.6/128/4. I don't think I would miss/notice much of a difference in processing power, and I would get slightly better battery life as well. That's not to say I'm not fine with the battery life I'm getting (5+ hours with usual work, 2-3 hours with Netflix/Skype)

Fan noise has not been an issue at all.

That's not to say I'm not happy with what I have so far!

 

[teaneedz]

':1,.s/yes/ABSOLUTELY/g'

Yes

 

[Dammit Cubs]

I love my macbook air. I mean, its seriously the best laptop i have ever owned. I would like a bit better battery life, but I shouldn't be complaining, its just chugging along.

I'm on a plane right now using the in flight wifi for southwest airlines. I only had 80% of battery life heading into my flight. I was able to watch "how to train a dragon in 720p". Browse the internet, chat with friends and still have 25% left. It also helps that because its a night flight, i can keep the display dim at 1 notch and still get good lighting. I have an 1hr left until my flight lands and my battery estimation says 1hr and 30 mins.

Amazing. I have been using this computer for the past 2 weeks for vacation and it has been a dream. Its so good, it made me think about returning or even selling my mac mini and getting some cheap settop box to manage my torrents on my tv and just dedicate all my time to this computer. It's simply awesome!!!!!!!!!!

 

[iMav]

No regrets and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I was fortunate to find an Apple store near me that had the "ultimate" in stock. Replaced a 13.3" MBP w/ 8GB of ram (moved my "mobile VM lab" solution to my work-provided Dell laptop...so didn't need the extra ram and hdd space anymore).

Much more capable then I thought it would be. Meets my netbook and primary OS X machine needs quite nicely.

 

[Dammit Cubs]

yeah seriously, I have been in the tech industry for years and people are just in love with specs. It's about the eco system in which your hardware performs in. People like to compare it to netbooks. I went computer shopping for my dad (I had to get him a windows laptop). everything was bulky and even though it was running on a faster core-i3, it felt slower and it was 4x thicker.

And people keep comparing this to atoms. Can that stop? every website i go to things just putting a SSD in the atom netbooks will make it faster than this macbook....then i started laughing.

 

[fouraadfproa]

I would buy it again with absolutely no reservation.

 

[Walter Bell]

I went back and forth between the ultimate 11.6 and the 13.3 1.8/4 since the laptop came out. I went to the apple store probably a dozen times looking at both models and doing all the geek tests to try and decide (use both, measure, set them side by side, etc). After each time, I left wanting the 11. I think the main reason why is because I was in love with my 12" PB and have been waiting for something like that for awhile. I need a truly ultraportable laptop and the 11" is the way to go.

Also regarding specs, I think people get way to caught up on them. Sure my tasks arent done nearly instantly (and this is usually due to network lag rather than the laptop) but it gets done pretty damn fast. Everything else is blazing fast and having the full size keyboard is definitely a big plus.

I would buy this laptop again in a heartbeat. Also this is my ONLY computer I have. I use it with an iPad and an iPhone 4.

 

[jeff.avery]

Without question

The only regret I had was buying it with 2GB of RAM. It was plenty fast but I was just worried about requirement creep. I traded up.

I have never heard the fan, the battery lasts 4 to 5 hours as stated and it is lighting fast to start up.
Love it!

-Jeff

 

[gb1631]

I'm very pleased with my MBA 11" and would buy it again!

 

[negatv1]

After I purchase a new machine I consider it my right, if not duty, to say what sucks about it. But, I have to say that I am completely happy with my 11inch MacBook Air (1.6GHz/4GB/128GB).

Depending on ones' circumstances, I'm not sure I'd recommend it as their sole machine - but as a portable, that is truly portable - it's awesome.

 

[Ronnoco]

in a heartbeat.

+1 :d

 

[Ronnoco]

My 2 cents.
I have a 15" MBP, 11" MBA and a iPad 3G.

The MBP is my office system with a Cinema Display. I have the iPad and was using it for meetings and web browsing at home until I bought the MBA. Now that I have the MBA I use it almost for everything! I primarily use CS5 and Office 2011 while at work and in meetings I use Mémoires. The 11" MBA is extremely portable. I recently got back from a multi-city business trip in Asia and traveling with this puppy is night and day compared to my MBP. The iPad is getting neglected now with the exception of my son using it while in the car. Previously I have owned the MBA 13" revA and rev3 and the 11.6 IMHO is way more stable.
Back to the OP...
Would I buy this again? In a heartbeat! I've had several Mac's in the last 20 years and this is by far the best I have owned! Zero regrets and extremely happy!

Now if this thing had 3G or 4G I would be in heaven!

I have almost this exact same setup...15" i5 MBP connected to a 27" ACD, and the 11" MBA (no iPad)...I am debating getting an iPad 2 but I just don't know when I would use it as I take my 11" MBA everywhere with me...

 

[rrl]

Buy again?

Lightly sleeping Mac OS X on a 2.3 pound silent, maxed-out work of art.

A no brainer.