A POSITIVE Review! 11" "ultimate"

[gwsat]

I honestly do NOT understand why statements such as this are made, pure non-educated criticalness. Remember these are NOT the same as the prior MBA! Totally different type of system (i.e.,flash based and NO HARD DRIVE) UGHHHHHHHHHHHH --got back to a PC is you want with 5x specs on paper but guarantee it will perform NO where NEAR the MBA.

I love my MBA but can't resist observing that the old 2.13Ghz model had an SSD drive, which was the functional equivalent of the new MBA's flash storage.

By the way, posting above a post from which you are quoting is regarded by most as bad form.

 

[entatlrg]

Geez everyone. I was joking about it being called ultimate, but I obviously understand the context here.

I love the MBAs, and I can joke about their lack of great specs in fun...

Point well taken

I think we're all just a little defensive about our new MBA's, I'm still drooling over mine.

Scottsdale - which one are you using the most, the 11 or 13"?

 

[Scottsdale]

Point well taken

I think we're all just a little defensive about our new MBA's, I'm still drooling over mine.

Scottsdale - which one are you using the most, the 11 or 13"?

The 13" for sure. I love the build quality, the solid feel, and the speed and performance capabilities. I also LOVE the fact that the 27" LED ACD now can be run down to the left side of the MBA and the cable doesn't have to split to go to power on one side and USB/sound on the other as the prior MBAs required. I haven't read that in a single review, and to me it's an incredibly simply yet pleasing change to the MBA. I don't use the extra USB, SD card, or anything on the right side of the MBA, and I don't like the holes in the side of the MBA especially the SD card slot.

I am very disappointed about the loss of backlit keyboard. Even though I type pretty fast and do well when typing, it's the location of the first key in the dark that ticks me off... and even though there are two bumps on keys to let your hands know where they should be, I don't type that way.

Other than that, I think the display on the 13" MBA is incredible. I love the 1440 x 900 resolution. I don't care for the display on the 11" MBA, and I really don't like the 16 x 9 aspect ratio on a display that small. It's just too small to be that short too.

I have tried to use both for typing, and I think the 11" would be great on a plane, but everywhere else the 13" is the clear winner in my eyes. I have written a full review of both, and am considering making some videos too... I am working on a new project that will finally be launched in a few weeks and will include the reviews. Anyone that wants my review can send me a PM and I will send them a link.

cheers everyone

 

[zedsdead]

The 13" for sure. I love the build quality, the solid feel, and the speed and performance capabilities. I also LOVE the fact that the 27" LED ACD now can be run down to the left side of the MBA and the cable doesn't have to split to go to power on one side and USB/sound on the other as the prior MBAs required. I haven't read that in a single review, and to me it's an incredibly simply yet pleasing change to the MBA. I don't use the extra USB, SD card, or anything on the right side of the MBA, and I don't like the holes in the side of the MBA especially the SD card slot.

I am very disappointed about the loss of backlit keyboard. Even though I type pretty fast and do well when typing, it's the location of the first key in the dark that ticks me off... and even though there are two bumps on keys to let your hands know where they should be, I don't type that way.

Other than that, I think the display on the 13" MBA is incredible. I love the 1440 x 900 resolution. I don't care for the display on the 11" MBA, and I really don't like the 16 x 9 aspect ratio on a display that small. It's just too small to be that short too.

I have tried to use both for typing, and I think the 11" would be great on a plane, but everywhere else the 13" is the clear winner in my eyes. I have written a full review of both, and am considering making some videos too... I am working on a new project that will finally be launched in a few weeks and will include the reviews. Anyone that wants my review can send me a PM and I will send them a link.

cheers everyone

I agree completely, except for the ports. The MiniDisplay port IS on the right side, so the cable does have to still be split IF you want to keep it powered at the same time. Otherwise you can just run the USB and MiniDisplay Port to the right side.

I also type the same way, and I look first to get my fingers in place. It is def. the biggest thing lacking in the computer. I also miss the IR sensor for keynotes, but I have since migrated over to the Keynote app via the iPhone.

 

[koobcamuk]

I agree completely, except for the ports. The MiniDisplay port IS on the right side, so the cable does have to still be split IF you want to keep it powered at the same time. Otherwise you can just run the USB and MiniDisplay Port to the right side.

Yeah, what is he talking about? :

 

[zap2]

glad to here about another happy 11'' Air owner. I'm in love with mine...its the perfect work horse for a college student. Not to mention, its FAST. It handles Word, Safari, iTunes, Pages and running XP in VMware. I've been blown away.

 

[MikePA]

glad to here about another happy 11'' Air owner. I'm in love with mine...its the perfect work horse for a college student. Not to mention, its FAST. It handles Word, Safari, iTunes, Pages and running XP in VMware. I've been blown away.

I have most of the software you mentioned plus OfficeMac 2011 (Outlook version) plus Parallels running Win7 Ultimate so I can run Quicken2011 and I still have 90gigs free on my 128gig SSD all in a form that's just a little larger than a piece of tablet paper and just a little thicker.

 

[gwsat]

glad to here about another happy 11'' Air owner. I'm in love with mine...its the perfect work horse for a college student. Not to mention, its FAST. It handles Word, Safari, iTunes, Pages and running XP in VMware. I've been blown away.

I have most of the software you mentioned plus OfficeMac 2011 (Outlook version) plus Parallels running Win7 Ultimate so I can run Quicken2011 and I still have 90gigs free on my 128gig SSD all in a form that's just a little larger than a piece of tablet paper and just a little thicker.

Do either or both of you run your Windows apps in Fusion's unity mode, or the Parallels equivalent, so that you can run them in tandem with OS X apps? That's what I do. If you do run Fusion in Unity mode or its Parallels equivalent please tell us how much RAM you have and how Unity mode is working out for you on your 11 inch MBAs.

As appealing as the 11 inch 1.6Ghz 4GB MBA was, I finally had to give up on it because there was no conceivable way I could get by with only 128GB of storage. My Windows 7 virtual machine alone takes up nearly 16GB. By the time I got everything installed on my 13 inch MBA with 256GB of flash storage I had used 126GB of the storage.

I have the 13 inch 2.13Ghz 4GB MBA with 256GB of flash storage. How are your 11 inch MBAs configured?

 

[MikePA]

Do either or both of you run your Windows apps in Fusion's unity mode, or the Parallels equivalent, so that you can run them in tandem with OS X apps? That's what I do. If you do run Fusion in Unity mode or its Parallels equivalent please tell us how much RAM you have and how Unity mode is working out for you on your 11 inch MBAs.

Yes, I run Quicken2011 in Coherence mode. When I do, Parallels is using 86.0 MB of RAM while Quicken is using 5.7 MB. I have 4 gigs of RAM, 128 gig SSD and the 1.6 CPU.

 

[gwsat]

Yes, I run Quicken2011 in Coherence mode. When I do, Parallels is using 86.0 MB of RAM while Quicken is using 5.7 MB. I have 4 gigs of RAM, 138 gig SSD and the 1.6 CPU.

Thanks for your prompt response. If you have iStat would appreciate it if you could look at its Memory section and tell us how large your Swap File is, how much of it is in use, and how many Page Ins and Page Outs you have had since you last rebooted. My 13 inch MBA currently has a 2GB Swap File, not quite 1GB of which is in use. Since my last reboot, 3 days 13 hours ago, I have accumulated not quite 4 million Page Ins and about 12,000 Page outs.

 

[kyleen66]

I'm completely in love with my little "ultimate" too!

It took me about half a day with the migration assistant to get old air onto to new air, then fighting a bit with VM Fusion, which I decided to upgrade as that was likely my problem. I run XP home edition -I only need Internet Explorer for windows for our Client's online project tracker.

I got the HDMI plug for my external monitor for the home office. Everything has been more than spiffy so far and everything I'd hoped it would be (and more!)

This may well replace my all time favorite computer being the 2400c.

::Happy smile::

 

[netdog]

13" loaded.

Zero issues.

 

[MikePA]

Thanks for your prompt response. If you have iStat would appreciate it if you could look at its Memory section and tell us how large your Swap File is, how much of it is in use, and how many Page Ins and Page Outs you have had since you last rebooted. My 13 inch MBA currently has a 2GB Swap File, not quite 1GB of which is in use. Since my last reboot, 3 days 13 hours ago, I have accumulated not quite 4 million Page Ins and about 12,000 Page outs.

I need a magnifying glass to read the iStat data. Hopefully, I got the following correct. The Gray on black doesn't help with reading the field names.

Swap File Size - 1 gig
Swap File In Use - 432 mb
Page Ins - 1.1 mil
Page Outs - 25

My last reboot was about a day or so ago.

 

[Scottsdale]

Yeah, what is he talking about? :

Well that sucks. Obviously I need to actually connect it before running my mouth off about it. I originally thought that when Jobs showed it and it has been wrong in my mind even since. Now I'm ticked they didn't fix that too! Along with the loss of backlit keyboard, light sensor, it stinks! Why Apple?????

 

[happyslayer]

Love mine!

I'm voting for MacBadAss as well.

Ultimate is OK, but remember they referred to the top of the line Windows Vista as Ultimate and, well, it really wasn't.

 

[gwsat]

I need a magnifying glass to read the iStat data. Hopefully, I got the following correct. The Gray on black doesn't help with reading the field names.

Swap File Size - 1 gig
Swap File In Use - 432 mb
Page Ins - 1.1 mil
Page Outs - 25

My last reboot was about a day or so ago.

Your swap file numbers look terrific. As noted in an earlier post, I have a 2GB swap file. Not quite 1GB of it is in use after 4 days and 13 hours of uptime since the last reboot. During that period I have had about 5 million Page Ins and about 75,000 Page Ins. As noted, the Page Outs have caused no discernable problems with either the stability or speed of my setup. My battery life has been surprisingly good, too.

On Thursday I decided to see just how far I could get on a single charge of my MBA, starting at a little after 7:30 AM. I used it normally during the day but was gone for a couple of hours during that time. I didn't get the red warning indicator in the battery indicator until after 9:30 PM. Obviously, I didn't really get 14 hours our of the battery but I think I did get at least 8 or 9 hours of use out of the battery during the day. I will almost never use any computer continuously for more than a couple of hours so I don't think the MBA's battery life will be a problem for me.

 

[bcaslis]

I picked up an 11" "Ultimate" yesterday and the form factor just makes this thing pure fun. Still trying to decide but I'm leaning heavily to returning the 13" "Ultimate". I do wish the screen were bigger and it had more storage and it had an SD card slot but the form factor just makes for so much. It also feels much more solid than my 13". Every time I look at it all I can think is "too cool for school".

 

[a2applegirl]

What's amazing to me about my ultimate 11.6" is that it runs photoshop so well. I am getting better performance out of my cs5 on my ultimate air than I did on my 13" macbook pro (entry level) that I bought last year as my portable computer. I don't even use that macbook pro anymore and am going to sell it, but the performance on the air is much faster with much fewer beach balls when using photoshop and illustrator.

 

[gwsat]

I have little doubt that the 11 inch Ultimate MBA has the power to do everything it is asked to do. The main thing that made me chose the 13 inch Ultimate instead was its 256GB of flash storage. Because I run Windows 7 and a bunch of Windows apps in a 13GB VMware Fusion virtual machine plus OS X and a bunch of programs for it, I needed at least 125GB of storage immediately. As I type, my MBA has already used 127.5GB of its storage. Obviously, my need for an extraordinary amount of storage eliminated the 11 inch from my consideration. Frankly, if the 11 inch Ultimate MBA had come with 256GB of storage I'm not sure that I would have been able to resist its appeal, despite wanting my MBA to be an everyday machine.

 

[a2applegirl]

I have little doubt that the 11 inch Ultimate MBA has the power to do everything it is asked to do. The main thing that made me chose the 13 inch Ultimate instead was its 256GB of flash storage. Because I run Windows 7 and a bunch of Windows apps in a 13GB VMware Fusion virtual machine plus OS X and a bunch of programs for it, I needed at least 125GB of storage immediately. As I type, my MBA has already used 127.5GB of its storage. Obviously, my need for an extraordinary amount of storage eliminated the 11 inch from my consideration. Frankly, if the 11 inch Ultimate MBA had come with 256GB of storage I'm not sure that I would have been able to resist its appeal, despite wanting my MBA to be an everyday machine.

I totally agree with you. I am having to watch my storage carefully and post my photoshop photos to cloud storage and keep them off my laptop unless needed. I would have loved 256gb of storage and I am predicting the next upgrade to the 11.6" will have that available and the 64gb will be gone next round.

 

[sushi]

Frankly, if the 11 inch Ultimate MBA had come with 256GB of storage I'm not sure that I would have been able to resist its appeal, despite wanting my MBA to be an everyday machine.

Interesting.

I still have a couple of years left in my MBP15. When the time comes to upgrade, I will definitely consider an MBA for a replacement -- maybe even the 11 inch model.

 

[gwsat]

Interesting.

I still have a couple of years left in my MBP15. When the time comes to upgrade, I will definitely consider an MBA for a replacement -- maybe even the 11 inch model.

I suspect that my superannuated eyes are the main reason for my having even noticed a difference when I moved from a 17 inch display to my MBA's 13 inch. My 17 year old college student grandson has had a 13 inch MBP since last summer and has had not the slightest difficulty dealing with his 13 inch display. The moral of this story is probably that there is no substitute for young eyes.

 

[teski]

What's amazing to me about my ultimate 11.6" is that it runs photoshop so well. I am getting better performance out of my cs5 on my ultimate air than I did on my 13" macbook pro (entry level) that I bought last year as my portable computer. I don't even use that macbook pro anymore and am going to sell it, but the performance on the air is much faster with much fewer beach balls when using photoshop and illustrator.

This is interesting to hear. Are you processing RAW files on your 11.6? I'm getting the 13" but am really interested in the 11 but am worried about screen real estate and processing with it.

 

[milan03]

Blame Apple store workers... They call them "ultimates"

They should be the last to blame. LOL. You think all Apple stores "workers" around the world "decided" in unison to call them Ultimate.

 

[a2applegirl]

This is interesting to hear. Are you processing RAW files on your 11.6? I'm getting the 13" but am really interested in the 11 but am worried about screen real estate and processing with it.

Yes, I am processing raw files on photoshop cs5, but not storing them on the air once processed. (for obvious reasons. ) I just switch the view in adobe to zoom out, and then zoom in on sections of the photo. Because of the high resolution of the 11.6" air, I have not had a problem viewing things both up close and at a zoom out to see the "whole effect".