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Apple Releases MacBook Air Software Update
- Thread starter bobsaget611
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That is simply because it is better. The air is a wannabe 12" PB replacement. I have both and the air struggles at best with the spinning ball of annoyance.
Pretty pathetic response from apple, stooping really low, both too little (800 mgz? what? a powerbook g4 would be a better option thus...) and too late...
I have to disagree. Instead of dropping one processor to zero and the other staying at 1600 MHz, they drop two processors to 800 MHz. This is similar computing power (more, in most cases) and handles the heat issue, which is the goal of either technique. It's a perfectly reasonable approach, one they should have adopted originally.
Tiny computers have heat management issues. It's the nature of things. Some manufacturers start by simply throttling the CPU speed in the first place. Others have more sophisticated techniques.
Everyone agrees the heat dissipation in the Air could be better engineered. But that means a hardware change. With software, your options are limited to alternate heat management strategies (which this update does) or undervolting the CPU (which Coolbook does). The heat management approach this update takes is better than the original one, so it's a good update (assuming it all works correctly). Nothing pathetic about squeezing more out of the hardware.
Agreed....the users paid for 1.6 or 1.8 ghz, not 800mhz. If they let it become bad enough I would think there would be a lawsuit or something.
Hello
I just installed mine. Found it using Software Update off the Apple-logo menu.
Technically, the update improves performance over the original software (since two cores running at 800 MHz is more computing power than one core running at 1600 MHz). In any case, many notebook computers using CPU speed management to help with heat issues, so I have a hard time seeing a lawsuit being successful.
I think the Air could have been better engineered in terms of its heat dissipation. My guess is that the prototypes ran ok, but the tolerances are tight and manufacturing variance (e.g. too much thermal paste) can easily push the heat management into the not-so-good zone for individual machines. Apparently lots of them!
However, the *software* update is reasonable. I think they should have gone with this approach in the first place. My guess is they didn't think core shutdowns would be as frequent or as long as they have proven to be for many people.
I had to look around to find it! Never done that before
Anyhow, in my log it's called:
2008-08-23 11:49:29 -0700: Installed "MacBook Air Update" (1.0)
Who does that? I have never heard of any laptop that throttles the CPU to avoid heat issues (except Macbook Air). I consider a laptop not running at the advertised speed to be a faulty laptop, unless it does so to conserve battery power and I can turn off that behaviour.
scroll to DFS here, and look it up
Though I admit you are right smarty, it probably wasn't there 4 years ago. Happy? Proud? Smart?
P.S. every arrogant DA should look up those, stop posting ignorant crap.
Totally agreed here Malcster, MBA's hotplate if indeed PofS.
Was even thinking about manufacturing copper one, but realized it won't sell being unholy for macheads.
pathetic you say ....
wow, just wow ... just cant stop wondering
)))Yeah, macsmurf put it better then others - YOUR IGNORANCE is not a bliss for others.
And it doesn't make industry change KNOWN
practices for you either.So, with all compliance with our freedom of expression, I call for you - stop expressing BS, and educate yourself.
P.S. Sorry, wasn't defending Apple or MBA, but tired or reciprocal stupidity & lack of effort to stop it. Hope wasn't too harsh - LOVE MR, and want it to be QUALITY resource, for a good of all of us.
P.P.S. done venting
Just wonder, what would you do guys to Apple (or to me)
If I'd tell you - it's not just MBA - for years you were getting "less computer", than you've "paid for"
)If I'd tell you - it's not just MBA - for years you were getting "less computer", than you've "paid for"
I fail to see, how that'd be "more computing power".
Actually, processing power doesn't proportionally scale with the number of cores - but it heat dissipation doesn't, too. Plainly put, 2x 800 MHz provides less performance than 1x 1600 MHz (depending on how "multithreaded" applications are) - but, generally, also less heat dissipation. So the improvement with this updates seems to come in terms of thermal characteristics - yet not with more processing power.
All this talk assumes, of course, that the pre-update MBA still ran one core at full 1.6 GHz if the other was shut down. I really don't know if that is the case - but I'd tend to doubt it, at least where people experienced severe sluggishness in their machines. But if those machines didn't, then the advantages with the update installed should be even greater.
I don't believe this has been a slip in engineering. I'd rather tend to think that they wanted to get the MacBook Air out in January at Macworld, even without processors really ready for primetime (=no 45nm Low Voltage CPU available). ULV CPU were out of the question for Leopard, hence the custom CPU provided by Intel - a deliberate compromising right from the start, IMO.
Yeah, macsmurf put it better then others - YOUR IGNORANCE is not a bliss for others.
And it doesn't make industry change KNOWN
It's not entirely clear if you're talking about my ignorance, but I'm going to assume that.
There is no doubt that it is possible to implement an OS that makes use of throttling to avoid heat issues. However, the real reason for using this technique is to conserve power, whether it be a server or a laptop.
To use the technique in laptops in order to make up for an inefficient heat dissipation system is, in my opinion, evidence of a faulty design.
I'm quite confident to claim ignorance and I ask again: Who does that (except for Apple)?
To my knowledge core shutdown's "management" is fully implemented on a chip itself. Which while not barres Apple form "messing" with it, is designed to implement it OS'independently, when CPU itself "senses danger".
A lot of functions being passed to BIOS/FW to manage overall thermal environment. Such as running fans, etc.
Unfortunately OS can not "lighten up" (or "sense" the need for it) computing load, so CPUs for a long time have been managing this themselves.
So, to your points : I don't know what Apple did with this update, but gut feeling it's only a patch from afar, not really addressing "core" issues here (both inefficient cooling "system" & often strange logic of shutdowns - when temps are not that high).
Still hope this patch does enough to push shutdowns enough from every day's experiences.
P.S. going to buy MBA before this christmas, so keeping fingers crossed
Call it "ignorance" or not... of course computers, especially notebooks have been known to throttling down in order to avoid heat issues. Just as 80 GB aren't really 80 GB of hard drive capacity, 5 hours battery runtime aren't always 5 hours of battery runtime, etc. etc...Yeah, macsmurf put it better then others - YOUR IGNORANCE is not a bliss for others.
And it doesn't make industry change KNOWN
But still... in these cases, vendors usually have their small asterisks, footnotes and fine print denoting (at least "hinting" at) these facts. So the question or claim of wrongfully advertising is not totally without validity...