Another REV A Owner, now REV B review

[MazingerZ]

Got my Rev B, 1.8ghz & 128SSD and here's my initial review.

I had the original REV A with 1.6ghz and 80gb model.

Although the I tried to justify the Rev A, I just felt it was too inadequate as a regular laptop. Its great for taking notes, and surfing the net. It would crawl when parallels is running or connected to a external monitor. The fans were always at 6200 and coolbook worked once and never did.

Now, I just received my REV B yesterday and used it today when meeting a client. Same setup as the Rev B as I had used a time machine backup to restore my files.

My observations so far.
1. Its definitely snappier. Probably because of the SSD and the processor.
2. The fans are much more stable at 2499rpms. Only time it got to 6200 was last night when I was surfing the net and had it propped up on a pillow thus blocking the vents. It settled down to 2500 much more quickly than the Rev A ever did.
3. Using parallels is no much more tolerable. No lags or slowness.

I have not tried an external yet.

So far, I'm pretty happy with this one. It seems very solid and a much more useable laptop without the compromises.

One nice thing about the fan is the MBA is now quiet. I never noticed how noisy it is with the fan on all the time at full speed.

Apple should have released this model as the first Rev.

 

[Ironic]

Yep. much nicer then my Rev A

 

[Doju]

So, was the Rev A good enough for a non-stand alone laptop? Just for browsing and word processng?

 

[Ironic]

So, was the Rev A good enough for a non-stand alone laptop? Just for browsing and word processng?

Some had no issues, me the fans were crazy, and it was just too hot, othershad no problems at all.

 

[MazingerZ]

So, was the Rev A good enough for a non-stand alone laptop? Just for browsing and word processng?

Well, it was adequate. Meaning 70-80% of the time, its works great. Surf the net, watch videos etc.

Its just I always saw signs of core shutdowns and after the fix, core slowdowns. It felt like you were pushing the machine to its limits after only a few apps.

If I was multi-tasking like fixing code in Win XP using parallels, checking email with Entourage, and using safari, you would really notice things start to get laggy. Now, connect it to an external monitor, and forget about doing any meaningful work. I just got tired of the compromises.

I was actually hesitant to order the RevB, but a nice 25% EPP from a cousin pushed me to go for it. The REV A sold quickly on ebay too for 1100usd.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Aww I'm planning to purchase one soon. I'm getting more jealous by the day!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Well done, very interesting and thank you for sharing this with us. I am thinking of adding a SSD Rev B to my MBP in the near future, so I am always interested in reviews and feedback from new owners. Anyway, I'm impressed and envious. May you long enjoy your wonderful new MBA.

Cheers and good luck

 

[descartes]

thanks for the review

 

[fyrefly]

The Rev A hardly coreShutdowns with a "few apps" open. I routinely have Flock, Final Draft, Adium, Mail, MSWord, iTunes, (and probably preview on and off) and my 1.6Ghz Rev A doesn't skip a beat.

It can be a bit finicky with *multiple* flash videos all playing at the same time, but with the CoreShutdown firmware fix and Flash 10 installed, my Air just flies.

I've even watched HD iTunes trailers and had no problems.

 

[LinMac]

I wrote a series of posts talking about my first experience with revision A back in July.

First review - Just received it.

Second post - Core shutdown tests

Third post - Returned it

The Macbook Air just wasn't good enough for $1800 + the cost of an external superdrive, but I recently purchased a used (Rev. A) machine for less than half that with the external superdrive included.

The final post will note three problems:

1) CPU/HD speed

This might have been due to the unit or due to problems that were fixed via software updates between the time I returned that unit and buying this one. The Macbook Air is even better now as I can surf on it without the same issues I was experiencing. I think a SSD would improve things considerably and I want to look into putting one into it, but that is for another day.

2) Criminal lack of ports

This one is still true. This thing needs at least 2 USB ports and that is all there is to it.

3) Port positioning

I'm not sure this can be helped, but it is less of an issue with most thumb drives that I've tried to use with it this time around.

The pick up and go mentality is definitely there again. I can just pick this thing up and walk out of the room with it without even thinking about it very much.

I love the Macbook Air and I definitely want to take a look at the Rev. Bs when they are $700 with a superdrive. Until then I am happy with my Rev. A.

 

[GoCubsGo]

I love the Macbook Air and I definitely want to take a look at the Rev. Bs when they are $700 with a superdrive. Until then I am happy with my Rev. A.

You won't see it. They call that the MacBook without the price you wish for.
The portability of the Air depends on leaving that superdrive out of the mix. Plain and simple.

 

[descartes]

You won't see it. They call that the MacBook without the price you wish for.
The portability of the Air depends on leaving that superdrive out of the mix. Plain and simple.

I think he meant when the price drops on used machines to get a rev b mba and an external superdrive for the same price he bought his used rev a mba but I could be wrong.

 

[LinMac]

I think he meant when the price drops on used machines to get a rev b mba and an external superdrive for the same price he bought his used rev a mba but I could be wrong.

Nope. That is exactly right.

 

[ExcelonGT]

The Rev A hardly coreShutdowns with a "few apps" open. I routinely have Flock, Final Draft, Adium, Mail, MSWord, iTunes, (and probably preview on and off) and my 1.6Ghz Rev A doesn't skip a beat.

It can be a bit finicky with *multiple* flash videos all playing at the same time, but with the CoreShutdown firmware fix and Flash 10 installed, my Air just flies.

I've even watched HD iTunes trailers and had no problems.

I'm running Flash 9 on my revA. Was there a noticeable difference with Flash 10? I think the Mac Operating system (or Safari) is horribly inefficient with FLASH. Better optimization with flash would make youtubing a better experience on the Air

 

[justit]

IWas there a noticeable difference with Flash 10?

can't speak for rev A but macs in general, flash 10 and the new quicktime update did make a slight difference for me

 

[LinMac]

I'm running Flash 9 on my revA. Was there a noticeable difference with Flash 10? I think the Mac Operating system (or Safari) is horribly inefficient with FLASH. Better optimization with flash would make youtubing a better experience on the Air

Adobe made it use at least 30% less resources. Flash 10 is a dream compared to Flash 9 on a Mac.

Hopefully the move to write a 64bit version of Flash for OS X will involve a rewrite of some of the code. The 64bit version of Flash for Linux is a lot better.

 

[mhnajjar]

My 1.6/120 is way better than my 1.6/80 in everything except the SCREEN The thin horizontal grey lines are ruining my experience