Anyone using MBA with 27" Cinema Display? Come in please :)

[Rains.]

Hey guys, this is my first post, please go easy on me

I have my eyes set on the upcoming 13" MBA and planning to use it with 27" ACD. I am just having a few concerns after some extensive research:

• I have read that some people reporting weak WiFi performance after turning on Bluetooth to use the Wireless Apple Keyboard. Is this issue still ongoing? Is there a fix?

• Will the speculated HD3000 be able to play some videos on the MBA while I browse the internet with a few webpages on the ACD?..or this is pushing the Intel IGP?

• Will I be able to have a screensaver (yes, Fliqlo ) on the MBA while I do my work on the ACD? Is this possible? An app perhaps?

• Will I see a high increase in temperature when I use the MBA with ACD? I am fine with a few degrees Celsius, but if it's more than that, I might have to reconsider the ACD addition.

Yep, I guess those are my concerns having the Cinema Display plugging in the MBA since some people are fine using the same setup while others reporting various issues. Please note that I have done extensive research for my concerns but most are posted in 2009 so I just wanted to get a more updated info.


Thank you very much guys

 

[Cheffy Dave]

I just mounted an ACD on an ergonomic arm yesterday and I am running it hooked to an 11'MBA,4/360 (OWC)SSD. I have ZERO issues with 3 of the four concerns you have. I use the MBA closed in clamshell mode, when hooked to the ACD, so can't address the screensaver question.
If the 11" MBA can handle it, i am sure the 13 will not have an issue.
We have 3- 11" MBA's in the family, none have any issues.

 

[superpalmtree]

I have my 13" macbook air connected to a 27 apple led. it works great, but the performance resizing windows and doing normal tasks is not as smooth as it is with all my other macs/pcs. it's definitely usable though.

 

[ljmac]

I am using 13" MBA, 27" ACD, Apple USB keyboard with numeric Key-pad and Magic Trackpad via BT with no issues

 

[SammySlim]

I use my MBA with the 27 Cinema display, along with bluetooth keyboard, mouse and track pad. All work fine. MBA drives display great and bluetooth performace seems fine - have not noticed any issues. Love the combo, BTW.

I also use my ACD when the MBA is in clamshell mode so I don't have any screensaver experience or issues - simply have not tried.

Cheers

 

[jcasix]

I have my 13" macbook air connected to a 27 apple led. it works great, but the performance resizing windows and doing normal tasks is not as smooth as it is with all my other macs/pcs. it's definitely usable though.

Agreed. I have the 27icnh Cinema Display and have observed the same behavior. It's absolutely usable though and I have had no real problems (once again small initial stutter) when browsing forums that are image heavy.

 

[jayo123456]

I have my 13" macbook air connected to a 27 apple led. it works great, but the performance resizing windows and doing normal tasks is not as smooth as it is with all my other macs/pcs. it's definitely usable though.

i been saying this for the longest time.....with tonnes of disagreement

if you can't detect the laginess, your eyes are messed.

 

[chrismacguy]

I've had my 11" hooked up to my 27" quite a lot - while its graphics are obviously not as smooth as my Mac Pro (ya know, since it has Dual 5770s vs a 320M), they are at least workable. Although I kinda got used to it, since I had my PowerBook G4 hooked up to a 30" Cinema for a while (And that had similar issues on occasion), so I don't mind it (Especially as all Im using my MBA for is text (Research, papers) and the web over constant FCP (Even though I *do* have it installed...))

 

[Rains.]

Thanks for the replies, guys!

Looks like it works fine for some and not so much for the rest. Hmm, I am still having doubts whether I should go MBA+ACD, or MBA + 27" iMac so that I don't get any problems with the displays.

Oh, I forgot to ask one more thing

When you guys connect the MBA to the Cinema Display, do you have to plug in the power cord from the display? Reason I ask is the cables look silly and messy when you have to separate the three cables from both sides of the MBA. Does it work if you just plug in the display port and USB port from the display to the MBA, and use MBA's own Magsafe straight from the power outlet?

 

[mac&cheesey]

I have the 13" 2.13/4/256 MBA with the 27" ACD. No issues whatsoever.

And, to answer your last question, no, you don't have to use the power from the ACD.

m&c

 

[Rains.]

Thanks for the fast reply m&c

Good to know about the cables!

 

[BornAgainMac]

According to the Buyer's guide, it is approaching a refresh. I can see a Thunderbolt hub, HD Facetime camera, less cables for ThunderBolt Macs, and maybe another surprise or two. Hopefully it is backward compatible unlike the iMac Minidisplay port with non-ThunderBolt Macs.

 

[gwerfr]

Issues I experienced

I have one issue with regards to the 27" ACD. I have the maxed out 13" MBA. When it is connected (even in clamshell mode) to the ACD and I watch 1080p video files full screen, it is choppy. Youtube HD full screen is choppy, but 720p local files are good. This issue is only when I put it in full screen mode, as windowed mode at the files native resolution is fine. I'm at the point of about to sell my MBA because of this, but the size and speed of it is what is keeping me from doing so. The new 15" MBP is looking very good, as I connected my wife's mid-2009 MBP to the ACD and did not experience any of those problems. Just a FYI to help out.

 

[s.hasan546]

Hey i know this is slightly off topic, but does anyone hook up their mba in clam shell mode to dual monitors? Also how would you do that?

I have two older syncmaster t220s i want to use with a dual monitor setup at work.

i have the mbp 13" right now but when the air gets refreshed i wanted to get that to replace it. Will the air be able to handle this? i do watch 720- local files and some 1080p streamed files, while running complex spreadsheets and pos system.

 

[superpalmtree]

i been saying this for the longest time.....with tonnes of disagreement

if you can't detect the laginess, your eyes are messed.

I agree. I think for some of us that are used to 30" screens and high end towers with 16gb ram, ssds in raid, gpu's with 2-3gb ram, we have become accustomed to how good things can be so when we notice minor little glitches with a laptop using a core 2 cpu it bothers us more. but with that said i've been running my business the last 3 weeks on a core 2 mba with a 27 acd just fine. quickbooks, outlook with huge pst files, photoshop, i run all these programs at once and it works well. i use win7 64bit 90% of the time.

 

[torbjoern]

I use my MBA with another ext monitor (24-inch) on VGA at home, and it works like a charm. I notice a bit lagging sometimes, but I couldn't care less about that. After all, I also use an under-specced Dell with Windows on a daily basis at my workplace, which really puts things into perspective...

 

[Mode-III fan]

Thanks for the replies, guys!

Looks like it works fine for some and not so much for the rest. Hmm, I am still having doubts whether I should go MBA+ACD, or MBA + 27" iMac so that I don't get any problems with the displays.

Oh, I forgot to ask one more thing

When you guys connect the MBA to the Cinema Display, do you have to plug in the power cord from the display? Reason I ask is the cables look silly and messy when you have to separate the three cables from both sides of the MBA. Does it work if you just plug in the display port and USB port from the display to the MBA, and use MBA's own Magsafe straight from the power outlet?

Yep, that works fine. I just tried this out with my 13" MBA. Another good reason to do this is that the power cord from the ACD only just reaches around the 13" MBAs. Its a tight fit, but I guess not an issue for the 11" versions.

 

[flynz4]

Thanks for the replies, guys!

I am still having doubts whether I should go MBA+ACD, or MBA + 27" iMac so that I don't get any problems with the displays.

Since you raised the question...

I think that a 27" iMac and a MBA (I like 11.6") is the ideal situation if you are willing to spend the money. My rationale:

• There is no way (for me), that the MBA could possibly be my single computer.
• There is no way that I want to travel with anything larger than an MBA
• With the 2TB drive on my iMac... 100% of my data "lives" on the iMAC. 0% "lives" on my MBA
• By using dropbpx (and MM)... 100% of the data that I want whenever I am traveling is with me on my MBA whenever I am away from home.
• By using IMAP email... I get the exact same email state irrespective of which machine I am using.
• Any data edited or created on my MBA automatically syncs back to my iMac
• My iMac is on 24/7, and it is double backed up continuously (crashplan+ to the cloud, and Time Machine locally). This means that my data is continually safe irrespective if I am home or not... and my data is also 100% protected for disaster recovery (theft, fire, etc).

/Jim

 

[EasyRider]

Thanks for the replies, guys!

Looks like it works fine for some and not so much for the rest. Hmm, I am still having doubts whether I should go MBA+ACD, or MBA + 27" iMac so that I don't get any problems with the displays.

I am thinking of dong the same setup and have concluded iMac+MBA is the best option.

If you buy the refurbished i3 27" iMac ($1,269), that makes it only a few hundred more then just the ACD. To me that is a great bargain... so for about $300 more you get the ACD + a great computer