Another one takes the leap

[ozmander]

After months of waiting I finally got the top of the line MBA. 1.8 with SSD at the new reduced price. Plus I got the academic discount.

I'm thrilled. The machine is gorgeous and so is OS X. I'm moving over from MS and loving it. The speed is great. Nothing mind blowing, but more than satisfactory. This is my first Core Duo, so it's a happy change.

Everything positive that's been said about the machine is true -- and most people have probably already seen it in person so I won't repeat the obvious. It is a work of art. Build quality is superb, including the drop down ports. The screen is heavenly.

I don't have any heat or other issues thus far. Fans running at 6200 and the temps around 52-60. It is a little noisy in terms of the fan, but nothing too bad. It does get warm, but nothing burning yet

I'm coming from a Toshiba R100, so I'm used to no CD and don't mind any of the drawbacks. Have to figure out how to reduce the install size (I guess Snow Leopard will do that..?)

However a couple of things which are odd: the power cord is very short, which limits movement; since the power tip is horizontal rather than a needle shape, the wire tend to go in one direction only. I wish there were dedicated page ups, downs, end buttons and also slightly larger cursor keys.

Overall though -- I love this machine. It's incredible. The 3G phone is next! I do worry that they're about to launch a 128 GB SSD and that the MBA 2 will be a much improved product that will cause heartburn but that's life I guess.

Am glad I took the plunge. Even more glad I have such a wonderful employer

Thanks to everyone at Macrumors -- this is a wonderful website. A huge help. Apple ought to support it. I probably wouldn't have bought it without seeing the user reviews here.

 

[EspressoLove]

Welcome & Congratulations!
I'm barely holding myself off of SSD MBA ))
Just hope come fall both MBA & my finances will improve .
(Yeah I need a wonderful employer too I guess )

6200 rpm is not normal. check with Activity Monitor is you have something consuming lots of CPU all the time.

Might like coolbook.se - beautiful app to cool/down/volt your CPU.

 

[NC MacGuy]

Hope you love it for a long time!

One thing though, your fan should be at 2500 during normal operation. If you don't have any apps open and it's running at 6200, that's not normal. Now it will kick up that high running flash vid's, indexing, handbrake or other proc/vid intensive tasks but normal email, safari (non-vid pages) and most other app's should keep it near 2500 rpm.

Good Luck and congrats!

 

[Olvenskol]

I agree that fans that high are not normal for a machine only web surfing.

I do seem to remember them running high for the first hour or so, I think while Spotlight does it's initial indexing. But if you still have high fans today, then I would definitely look for something amiss.

My machine running just Safari typically gets no warmer than 44 degrees and fans never leave 2900 RPM (except for flash / movie pages).

 

[brudy]

For the power cord issue, I can't remember if it came with the MBA or with my wife's macbook, but there's a sort of extension cord you can plug into the brick part by removing the pronged power tip, if that makes sense. It doubles the length or so.

 

[ozmander]

Thanks! I am keeping a close eye on iStat. The fan runs anywhere between 2200-6200 rpm depending on usage. The fans do seem to arrest the temp rise, which can run between 42-66.

I did the YouTube test last night, holding my breath. No stuttering, phew, but I was in an air conditioned room. Will try it outside later today. Last night the temp jumped from 52-65 in a few minutes, but then fans kept it down to 63 mostly.

(It is ridiculous -- you shouldn't have to do these kinds of tests for a notebook -- my old 1.1Ghz Pentium M could flash and everything, so the Air should too.)

In an air conditioned room, fans and temps stay low, but outside it can get up to 6200 even when running Safari Entourage and so on. But right now, for example, its at 2200. I will keep a tab on the Activity Monitor and report back.

Still very happy today, but keeping an eye on iStat!! So far no stuttering and hanging, which is a relief. That would drive me crazy.

 

[NC MacGuy]

Thanks! I am keeping a close eye on iStat. The fan runs anywhere between 2200-6200 rpm depending on usage. The fans do seem to arrest the temp rise, which can run between 42-66.

I did the YouTube test last night, holding my breath. No stuttering, phew, but I was in an air conditioned room. Will try it outside later today. Last night the temp jumped from 52-65 in a few minutes, but then fans kept it down to 63 mostly.

(It is ridiculous -- you shouldn't have to do these kinds of tests for a notebook -- my old 1.1Ghz Pentium M could flash and everything, so the Air should too.)

In an air conditioned room, fans and temps stay low, but outside it can get up to 6200 even when running Safari Entourage and so on. But right now, for example, its at 2200. I will keep a tab on the Activity Monitor and report back.

Still very happy today, but keeping an eye on iStat!! So far no stuttering and hanging, which is a relief. That would drive me crazy.

Sounds like you got as normal an Air as possible. Mine has pretty much the same operating characteristics as you've outlined. Flash & OSX isn't a real good mix. Hopefully it'll get fixed in the future.

 

[ozmander]

So it's been a little over a week. No problems yet I am glad to say. The MBA does get a little hot, but not at the battery exploding level. At times it goes into a tizz for no apparent reason, fans speed up and temp goes up, without my having launched anything new.

Youtube definitely is an issue -- the temp goes from 54 to 64 in a few seconds. I don't know why Apple haven't released a fix. Disappointing. However, fortunately, no core shutdowns or stuttering. I haven't watched more than 10-20 mins of video though.

Been using Entourage, Word and a couple of Safari windows open at the same time. It's been functioning great. Not having a HD spin is also nice The keyboard is wonderful -- nicely sized, actually even a little too big! The touchpad is excellent and the extra touch features have become second nature now.. OS X is great, relatively easy to use. It's frustrating to have to relearn keyboard shortcuts and use menus for everything

Build quality continues to impress. The immediate-on feature is very nice indeed. The screen is a complete joy. The machine draws looks, but thats not why I bought it. The screen could tilt back more, but its not proven a huge issue so far. Battery life isn't the best -- haven't run it down completely, but I reckon it will give me 2.5 hours tops.

Wifi connectivity has been excellent. No trouble at all, and signal picked up very fast. The camera is fun, haven't tried iChat yet. The sound quality is excellent, the backlighting is really nice. The machine is fassst.

Overall, still very happy. Keeping one eye on the Voodoo, but don't want Vista.

 

[ozmander]

For the power cord issue, I can't remember if it came with the MBA or with my wife's macbook, but there's a sort of extension cord you can plug into the brick part by removing the pronged power tip, if that makes sense. It doubles the length or so.

Oh! I need to check this. Thanks, this would solve a major headache.