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Anyone else regretting buying the MBA?
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What a pile of B.S., if you don't get automatically upgraded you don't fly enough? Man, you are even more arrogant that I thought. As for the 11", apparently nothing is good enough to justify buying it. Why don't you just used a tricked out MBP 17" all the time? Seems like that wouldn't even be good enough for your ego.
I think a lot of people are jumping to a conclusion here. I don't believe anyone said the 11" is what you want if you fly coach. I also disagree that if you fly often, you automatically get upgraded to coach+ / business class.
The bottom line is... Apple does not give you the luxury to buy a product, try it out, and then return it without a fee. Right or wrong, it's just not a luxury we have. So getting opinions from one another is a invaluable source of information in order to make the right decision. Some of us are fortunate enough to have the flexibility to swap it without the restocking fee. But that is the one time get out of jail card.
The 11" is an engineering beauty that provides plenty of power for at least 60% of the people out there. Having more capacity on the 13" (256GB) is a luxury that unfortunately is not available on the 11". I initially purchased the 11" anticipating the Photofast 256GB upgrade. Now it's been a little over a week, and I have ran into problems where certain things are demanding a larger screen cause text is wrapping to the next line too much, and Photofast's press release is a broken link on their web site (did they back out of it?)
I would agree with this statement. If my company provided me my own macbook, I would be happy with just my IMAC. I just can't stand the Dell laptops they give us. The plastic feel, and small trackpad. Since they came out with the larger glass trackpads, and multitouch features built into OSX, I find myself not even needing an external mouse.
Silly, totally silly.
"The 11" MacNetbook will be better on an airplane"
-IF- you fly lowest-rate coach fare.
-OR- if you are stuck flying while seated in something like this:
Funniest thing i've seen on here!
I agree.I bought my 11.6" air because it's a super-deluxe netbook. I wanted a netbook. I have a mbp which is my main computer and main laptop, and I wanted the air for its super portability. It is an enhancement computer, not a replacement computer.
That being said, I was very pleasantly surprised by how powerful the 11.6" is. I was expecting far more of a compromise than I ended up having.
Great, someone else who 'gets' it!
The 11" Mac netbook is absolutely, unequivocally, the best modern netbook money can buy!
I've been setting up the new 11" for my assistant this weekend...typing this reply on it in fact. Its a fantastic netbook, really....best netbook I've ever used.
Wow, you really are having a meltdown there buddy.....amusing, but still......
Because effective October 2011, the 11" MBA now sets the standard for the netbook market.
Its already starting.....just watch how many other netbook manufacturers up their game to try and compete now.
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Again, I have to agree.
If someone had told me even a couple of months ago that I would be able to do photoshop on a netbook, I would have laughed at them. But I have done some photoshop and illustrator work on my 11.6" air and had no crashes, lags or beach balls, which is amazing when you think about it.I also like the fact that I have a full sized keyboard.
But, as said in my earlier post, the air really is a super high end netbook because of the size of the screen, the slower processor, and the limited storage.
The question I would ask other posters is why do you assume that the word "netbook" is an insult? I don't take it that way at all.
To me they've set the standard for the ultraportable market.
IMO netbooks are limited to a subset of machines that run Atom-like CPUs (mind you the Atom has been updated several times over the years) and typically have 10" or smaller screens. They are mostly an Internet consumption device, and the Apple answer to netbooks is the iPad.
11.6"/12.1" PC ultraportables have existed for quite a while, they were even available prior to there being any "netbooks".
I think the dividing line between netbooks and ultraportables has been blurring for awhile now. The $3,000 sony ultraportables were called ultraportable for their storage and processors. (and their price) But many other computers that were called ultraportables were not much better than maxed out netbooks.
Having too terms at this point ("ultraportable" and "netbook") seems redundant and meaningless to me.
My answer to your question is a qualified yes. On the MBA, I run Windows 7 and at least a couple of Windows apps in VMware Fusion's Unity mode simultaneously with about half a dozen OS X apps. This setup runs about as well on the MBA as it did on the MBP.
Despite the MBA having replaced the MBP for most purposes, I still use the MBP to copy CDs into iTunes, which is something I do a lot. I could, of course, do the same thing with the MBA and a Superdrive but I prefer to stick with the MBP for the time being.
I recently purchased a mac mini which is more powerful than my 11'' macbook air and yet, i hate hate HATE!!! using my mac mini compared to my air.
that SSD does wonders. The mac mini feels slow...ridiculously slow.
that SSD does wonders. The mac mini feels slow...ridiculously slow.
There's a difference between a sub-compact and a compact car. You'd probably think that redundant as well, but for those who understand proper criteria in categorizing anything, its a useful distinction.
But you could already get an ultraportable with everything but the graphics power, already.
its like a pink shirt. If you have issues that other people have issues with you wearing a pink shirt, then obviously you shouldn't of worn the pink shirt.
I agree.
That being said, I was very pleasantly surprised by how powerful the 11.6" is. I was expecting far more of a compromise than I ended up having.
Couldn't agree more, well put !
I now have the 11.6 ultimate, for me the smaller size was a non-brainer - mainly due to air travel ( I usually fly economy plus or business
).For me size is paramount when I travel, so is weight, but each his own - that's why there are two sizes, right ?
I don't think you can call it sub-notebook, most of those have Ethernet, more USB ports, some even FW, proper display ports, and fast hardware - in other words, they are fully equipped mini computers .
It's a netbook by my standards, because of the limitations mainly of the ports, and then the CPU, but what a netbook it is !
The lack of Ethernet bothers me the most (another adapter for that one hotel without free wifi), and FW would quadruple usabilty for me, but it's an amazing little thing still.
Best gadget ever by Apple !
It's going to take a whole year ?
Wait, I thought it was going to be next year ? The fact is, this premium 11.6" laptop market has been around for a while, Apple is not the first to ship one.
I think you just like fanning the flames by calling it a netbook and seeing how people react. Really, you should just stop, it causes anger and bickering on the forum and doesn't really matter in the end. I wouldn't have said anything if your post didn't have the word netbook 4 times in it. You actually try waaaaay too hard to plug the word.
Are there crash bugs in Photoshop and Illustrator ? Running them on underpowered (what you perceived the netbooks as) computers doesn't cause crashes, bugs do.
Yes, because why use a 0.5 lbs, 79$ drive when you can use a 5.0 lbs 1200$ computer. No seriously, what you just said here doesn't even start to make sense.
Wait, so all MacBooks for the last few years have been netbooks because of the ports ? Proper display port ? No seriously, out of all the arguments I've heard on this ridiculous debate that doesn't matter (a rose by any other name...) this one is the worse yet. Mini display port is one of the best ports out there. It supports more bandwidth than even duallink DVI and carries audio. It can be converted to anything. It is the best there is out there right now.
And the Air has plenty of USB ports (2) and I use Ethernet on mine, through a USB adapter.
Oh and :
No, they are not a mini computer. A desktop PC is a micro computer, a mini computer would be about fridge size and with 2010's technology, would probably have around 1200 processing cores. It would run something along the lines of OS/390, OpenVMS, some big iron Unix or host different Linux installations through virtualization technology.
I think you meant it's a mini PC, a mini micro computer. Which is not a category in and of itself.
Nitpicking, I know, but still for people arguing about terminology, you need to learn a thing or two about computer terminology.
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Ugh, typo. 2010 is what I meant.
Well I'll only use it 3 times per post from now on so I get by your "must reply" filter, ok?
How about you just stop trying to start flamewars ? You don't need to poke at the wound some people have so much. Just call it a netbook when the occasion actually calls for categorising it, instead of just insisting on using the term ad nauseum all the time.
How about you just quit looking for malice in my posts when none is intended? That way I'm not busy trying to guess at what words upset you and I can just post here without running things by you first? Seems like this makes life easier on both of us.
Drop in a 256gb sandforce ssd and enjoy the speed. Or if you bought the server edition you get the best of both worlds storage and speed.
I purchased the MBA 11 with 4GB and 1.6 CPU in store, the 2nd weekend after it was released. Absolutely satisfied.
I just wish they had managed to make the bezel thinner and fit a larger screen (at least 12.1) in the same form factor.
I think people who regret their MBA 11 purchase simply misestimate their needs. Unless you need more than iPhoto or iMovie, play recent FPS, and don't like using external drives for backup and media collections, it's actually more than enough for most users.
In my case, it's my only computer (gave my old MBP13 to my brother) and I use it for Office, Skype, iLife, light gaming and web-browsing.
Screen size is irrelevant when at home because I use it in clamshell mode with a 23" external display. When on the go, 11.6 has been enough so far for Word and Excel on the plane or in a taxi. It only feels too small when I have to make last minute edits to Powerpoint presentations.
128 GB is enough for my needs. I've Windows 7 installed on a 32GB bootcamp partition. About 10GB of music and 5GB of pictures stored locally with 50GB of free space left on the Mac OS partition. The rest is stored on two 320GB external drives.
I use bootcamp for programs that my employer doesn't support under Mac (such his custom versions of Citrix and Lotus Notes) and older games (such as EVE or LOTRO), all of which run very smoothly. e.g. I get a consistent 30+ FPS on LOTRO even at ultra-high. EVE runs fine as well except in fleet warfare, but then again I've never had a computer that ran well enough under these conditions. But I just can't justify buying a dedicated gaming machine or sacrificing mobility for a game that I play 3 hours a week at most.
So far it outperformed my 2009 MBP 13 in every department (except when installing Windows 7: I had to buy an external optical drive and return it the next day): portability, speed, heat, noise, and gaming performance.
I just wish they had managed to make the bezel thinner and fit a larger screen (at least 12.1) in the same form factor.
I think people who regret their MBA 11 purchase simply misestimate their needs. Unless you need more than iPhoto or iMovie, play recent FPS, and don't like using external drives for backup and media collections, it's actually more than enough for most users.
In my case, it's my only computer (gave my old MBP13 to my brother) and I use it for Office, Skype, iLife, light gaming and web-browsing.
Screen size is irrelevant when at home because I use it in clamshell mode with a 23" external display. When on the go, 11.6 has been enough so far for Word and Excel on the plane or in a taxi. It only feels too small when I have to make last minute edits to Powerpoint presentations.
128 GB is enough for my needs. I've Windows 7 installed on a 32GB bootcamp partition. About 10GB of music and 5GB of pictures stored locally with 50GB of free space left on the Mac OS partition. The rest is stored on two 320GB external drives.
I use bootcamp for programs that my employer doesn't support under Mac (such his custom versions of Citrix and Lotus Notes) and older games (such as EVE or LOTRO), all of which run very smoothly. e.g. I get a consistent 30+ FPS on LOTRO even at ultra-high. EVE runs fine as well except in fleet warfare, but then again I've never had a computer that ran well enough under these conditions. But I just can't justify buying a dedicated gaming machine or sacrificing mobility for a game that I play 3 hours a week at most.
So far it outperformed my 2009 MBP 13 in every department (except when installing Windows 7: I had to buy an external optical drive and return it the next day): portability, speed, heat, noise, and gaming performance.
I think the 11.6" air is a netbook because of the slower processor, the port limitations, the memory limitations, and the hard drive limitations.
That being said, I would never have been able to run adobe cs5 on an atom based netbook without having huge issues. It runs on the air fine which really surprises me.
Also I don't feel any compromises in terms of keyboard and i/o bottlenecks on the air which I would expect to feel on a low end netbook.
When I think of "ultraportable", I think of a $4k maxed out sony. The air is not in that class of machine (price wise or feature wise) in my opinion.
I love my air anyway, and think it is much more useful than my now-sold ipad.
Couldn't agree more, well put !
I now have the 11.6 ultimate, for me the smaller size was a non-brainer - mainly due to air travel ( I usually fly economy plus or business
For me size is paramount when I travel, so is weight, but each his own - that's why there are two sizes, right ?
I don't think you can call it sub-notebook, most of those have Ethernet, more USB ports, some even FW, proper display ports, and fast hardware - in other words, they are fully equipped mini computers .
It's a netbook by my standards, because of the limitations mainly of the ports, and then the CPU, but what a netbook it is !
The lack of Ethernet bothers me the most (another adapter for that one hotel without free wifi), and FW would quadruple usabilty for me, but it's an amazing little thing still.
Best gadget ever by Apple !
I totally agree.
I travel a lot too, and even though I have decent premier status on a couple of airlines, there is never any guarantee I am going to get upgraded to first class. The 11.6" allows me to actually do something useful when I am stuck in coach. And as for the weight and size when walking around locally, It is so light I don't even feel that I am carrying it. The ultra portability of the 11.6" air really makes the compromises in functionality worth it in my opinion.