Apple Releases MacBook Air Software Update

[AidenShaw]

It's Steve, not Paul

Stevie and Otelini might have been kissing each others as sses off at the keynote but both delivered a very **** t ty product.

Since Otellini and Lenovo deliver a usable product in a similar form factor using the same chips - could it be Jobs?

Since Otellini and Sony deliver a usable product in a similar form factor using the same chips - could it be Jobs?

The MacBook Cube Air is the defective item, not Intel's chips.
__________

I've also been surprised to hear of the "core shutdown" problem since the beginning. Intel chips are proud to do "core slowdowns" to deal with heating issues, only Apples use "shutdown" as far as I know.

A not unusual refrain in our service department goes something like:

User: Laptop's crap, after half an hour or so simply crawls, can't run Office without lags, can't pay a DVD, ...

Tech: Let me look at it... (opens it up) What color is your sofa, is it blue?

User: Yes, how could you guess the color of my furniture?

Tech: Look at this big wad of blue lint between the fan and the fins of the heat pipe. Put a newspaper or magazine down to protect the laptop from the sofa.​

No "core shutdown", just a smooth slowdown to prevent overheating (I've seen Yonahs throttle down to around 200 MHz).

 

[ntrigue]

What it seems to do is it permanently locks the CPU to 800Mhz, and it seems like no matter what you run on the computer, it never goes above 800Mhz, no matter how much strain you put on the CPU.

You are wrong on so many levels. It took me less than 30 seconds to launch YouTube play one video and take a screenshot as attached. A moment later it went to 1600MHz. Two YouTube playing never went above 46C!

 

[Marconelly]

Well, apparently everyone else doens't have this problem. I know I don't. My CPU don't get locked to 800MHz, it just drops to 800MHz if I push the temps too hot. After it cools down to sub-70s, it regains 1200/1400/1600 speeds.

I made note of it and CPU temp was 52-56 celsius while I was testing this update. I don't know if that's too much as to lock the CPU to 800Mhz mode, but that's a pretty regular working temperature since the day I got MBA, so for me it would be unacceptable to have CPU at 800 most of the time I'm using the computer :\ Besides, looks like I'm not the only one who noticed this issue if this thread is anything to go by.

Keep in mind, I never had a core shutdown, before or after installing Coolbook (I used MBA for maybe one week before installing coolbook), but after this update, I got an equivalent of core shutdown (both cores locked to 800Mhz) the moment I started using the computer, and at a temperature that's not really very high.

You are wrong on so many levels. It took me less than 30 seconds to launch YouTube play one video and take a screenshot as attached. A moment later it went to 1600MHz. Two YouTube playing never went above 46C!

I am not wrong, and I'm describing step by step what I experienced. Your attached screenshot is not really proving anything to me, as it shows you are running coolbook (I'm running it too, and with it running there are no problems - computer works the same as before, just as I mentioned later in my post). It's without Coolbook running and with this new update installed, that I experienced the problem.

Can you point this URL so I can test it for you? I'm curious to see this. I do some very heavy Keynote presentations, and some effects ran awful on my MBA before the update -- and I cannot test them now because they are back in my office.

I don't have it online yet, it's still not complete enough so that I feel comfortable putting it online.

 

[mhnajjar]

You are wrong on so many levels. It took me less than 30 seconds to launch YouTube play one video and take a screenshot as attached. A moment later it went to 1600MHz. Two YouTube playing never went above 46C!

What is that 1800 MHz?

 

[unitysong]

This has got to be embarrassing for Apple

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf08/

Remember this? Skip to 56ish minutes to hear Apple's CEO talk smack about products similar to the MacBook Air and how they use slower processors (the example given is 1.2GHz) because their "thermal envelopes" can't support what the MacBook Air can.

Now that I've updated my MacBook Air, it runs stable without relying on third party software, at the cost of running at half the speed it was advertised at. I can't keep waiting for a legitimate solution like a service program or recall. This product needs a "thermal envelope" that can support the processor as advertised, and a response and acknowledgement in less than 6 months next time.

 

[jflamm]

Stick a running MBA inside a manila folder running Steve's keynote HD and watch it go up in flames: now THAT'S a thermal envelope!!

 

[103734]

just reading through this thread it seems like people that didn't uninstall coolbook before and people that did are having different results.

Just to clear things up can people state
1. if they uninstalled coolbook before the update
2. if they installed it after the update
3. the speed their processor is running at after the update

that way we can see if the coolbook affected the update at all, so far it seems like it may have.

 

[riwanami]

Life after Coolbook

I'm more of an amateur Mac user, so I don't know too much about CPU/Heat numbers, but I can tell you my experience since this spring. I've been having issues with my MBA since I purchased it earlier this Spring at an Apple Store in Tokyo, which is a Japanese 1.6Ghz version. I use it at home and in my office. In both locations, it is set up to a 22 inch Apple Cinema Display (the old plastic one) and Apple Bluetooth Keyboard/Mouse.

1. From March until June, I used my MBA without Coolbook.

3. In June, I installed the latest/registered version of Coolbook.

4. Last weekend, before doing the latest Software Update, I did the formal uninstall of Coolbook. (After the uninstall, I deleted the Coolbook program from the applications folder)

5. Afterwards, I installed the Software Update after Coolbooks was uninstalled and the system rebooted.


I have to say that before installing Coolbook, my MBA had serious symptoms of the Core Shutdown after playing a few minutes of Youtube video or downloading on Limewire. The mouse cursor would move wildly, the entire system would come to a crawl, and it would require a reboot to cure. It sometimes happened just by having more than 5 tabs opened in FireFox (with no other software opened). The symptoms would not happen as often when I was using it on the road without the external monitor.

After installing Coolbook, I experienced none of the above. However, startup did seem a bit slower than before (Although this may be due to more files and applications being installed as time went by)

This weekend, after removing Coolbooks and installing the Software Update, the symptoms appeared again, though not as bad as before installing Coolbook. As of now, I still have Coolbook removed. However, watching a 10 min youtube video seems to jitter the mouse cursor a bit.

Again, it's not as bad as when I first bought the computer. However for me, Coolbooks seemed to do a better job of containing the power management issue.

 

[aleni]

i used coolbook and set it to use only 800mhz for both adapter and battery settings. youtube never lags, the battery holds more time and the heat is never reach 70c.

i uninstalled coolbook and doing the latest software update, watched youtube video for 5 minutes and the video lags, mouse jumps everywhere but there's no core shutdown.

any idea? with coolbook, even i set both settings to 800mhz only, the youtube video doesnt lag and the mouse is smooth. i think the throttling setting in software update is making the lag and mouse jumping.

 

[yoavcs]

Well, prior to this update I only had core shutdowns while playing WoW.
Could watch YouTube or iTunes movies with ease.

Now, after this "recommended for all" update I am getting stuttering playback in iTunes and YouTube. No shutdown, but both cores are pegged at 100% and the fan is going full tilt.

The stuttering is annoying enough to make me stop the movie.

I am in the process of reinstalling WoW so we'll see how that plays in a few hours.

First time an Apple update has caused me trouble.

 

[aleni]

is there any way to undo this update, i will definitely do it and stick with my 800mhz coolbook settings!

curse the software update!

 

[seedster2]

The MBA in its current form is form over function.

I cannot understand how so many can say it's designed well when you virtually HAVE to use a 3rd party software in order to make it run as advertised.

Personally, I swapped mine ASAP for a Pro. I'd rather not pay to be a beta-tester

 

[AppliedMicro]

It's a shame that since the vast majority of us demanded a true utraportable with a SMALL FOOTPRINT like the powerbook g4 12

What's a small footprint really good for?

12" screens just don't cut it with OS X and many applications (say, for instance... MS Office in German), and without true resolution independence, 1600x1200 resolution is far from being a perfect solution. And it's still no widescreen, like every other Apple product. And at 13", the MacBook Air just fits into the same bags where ordinary paperwork does.

Honestly I think there's a heat guy at Apple who they should have fired years ago.

In my imagination, he would be just some poor guy at the lower end of the pecking order who is been told by a superior: "We're gonna built the thinnest notebook ever. Here, this is what it's gonna like. Oh... and did I mention a 1.8 GHz CPU has to go in there? Now go, come up with a proper cooling system that fits in. And stop arguing that we should make this book thicker, cause teh Steve said it's got to be that thin!"

I think, the problem is caused rather by Apple pushing the envelope in their case designs than by developing sub-standard cooling solutions.

Just hire someone from Sony or somewhere else who knows how to do it and fix the damn machine.

Well... who says they haven't actually done so?
As the rumors went...

https://www.macrumors.com/2005/07/30/apple-recruiting-sony-vaio-engineers/

 

[greenlightracer]

Stick a running MBA inside a manila folder running Steve's keynote HD and watch it go up in flames: now THAT'S a thermal envelope!!

Thats the funniest thing I'v ever read on here. lol

 

[dudup]

Well,

So today I'm back at my office, where I use a 17" external LCD with my MBA and was having lots of core shutdowns before when using Keynote and few other apps (Safari, Mail, iChat & Yahoo! Messenger).

Guess what? No core shutdowns so far.

BUT...

After watching a very long YouTube video (like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcQ7RkyBoBc), after 8 minutes, I got both cores at nearly 80% all the time. No core shutdowns, but the very same laggy mouse cursor response of before.

Can any of you guys reproduce it?

 

[Foxer]

Is it weird that since March I've never had a heat/performance problem with my MBA? I never installed Coolbook, and have watched movies in iTunes while travelling both on battery and while plugged-in. When at home, my wife uses it for hours on-end (OK- mostly web surfing and Flash animation stuff) without problems as well.

I saw these concerns before I bought, so I have been on the lookout. Am I the exeption, or are there just bad units out there? Or is it possible that my performance IS effected and i just don't know it?

 

[dudup]

I saw these concerns before I bought, so I have been on the lookout. Am I the exeption, or are there just bad units out there? Or is it possible that my performance IS effected and i just don't know it?

By judging what others are saying, I can't tell for sure. It seems that *most* of the early adopters are having this issue, but that's not a thumb rule.

At least, without an external display mine seems fine. The problem seems to be both displays on + lengthy flash videos.

 

[Marconelly]

Just to clear things up can people state
1. if they uninstalled coolbook before the update
2. if they installed it after the update
3. the speed their processor is running at after the update

I have uninstalled it, tried the update, wasn't happy with the update, installed coolbook back.

any idea?

Just install and use coolbook again. It works fine even after this update.

The MBA in its current form is form over function.

I cannot understand how so many can say it's designed well when you virtually HAVE to use a 3rd party software in order to make it run as advertised.

To make it clear, my MBA ran perfectly fine out of the box. I only installed CB because I wanted to generate less heat and prolong battery life, no matter by how little. It's only after this update that I'm actually forced into using CB as the CPU otherwise got stuck into 800MHz mode.

 

[CJSweatt]

Failed update...

I downloaded the update, but after the re-boot, my computer never came back on... Operating system could not be found. I use the Air primarily for school work (written assignments, and the like), have never downloaded third-party software as described in the update description. I use it for e-mail, light internet work, and assignments like I said before....

I've been trying to re-install the OS all day, and the disc does not work for some reason. I get to the disc utility, but it never completes. I am now trying to restore from my Time Machine backup. Hopefully this works. I'm at a loss as to why this happened. Thankfully, I use my Pro for all my web/graphic work, and its functioning fine!

**UPDATE** Time Machine backup did not work. Next step, customer support. Thankfully I purchased the extended warranty, in case this happens again.

 

[rageboi]

Silly Question...

Sorry for the stupid question, but how can I check the current speed that the CPU is running at? In System Profiler it never changes?

Thanks for any help!!

 

[wharrad]

Please don't flame me, I'm a newbie on these forums and made a mistake where I put this post earlier. I don't intend to litter the forums with my rambling over and over again, just clicked reply in the wrong tab... Sorry guys and girls...



Long time lurker... I just signed up to dismiss this car analogy people seem to be using, it's simply incorrect.

The top speed of a car and the rated speed of a processor are different.

The top speed of a processor is always above what Intel put on the tin... And actually the 1.6 and the 1.8 CPUs came off the same factory line, with the same parts and design. The reason they have a different speed is actually what Intel states the processor should run at all of the time - with the 1.8 chips being 'blessed'.

The top speed of these processors are much higher, probably closer to the 3.4 or so you can easily get from a desktop part. Intel test the CPU before stamping them to decide what speed they can run at constantly and sell it as that.

To better explain this... The 1.6 is what the CPU should be capable of running at, with full load for it's design life (10 years or so). The 'top speed' of a processor is actually what people can get out of the CPU by upping the FSB etc (overclocking). Now if you run your processor at above the rated speed, then yes, expect hiccups.

If car manufacturers were forced to put speeds or revs their engines can handle constantly, they wouldn't be so high as they currently are. In fact, I'll say a comfortable cruising speed for my car is 70 MPH, anything higher - up to and including the top speed of 120MPH - would be 'overclocking' the car and I can expect something to go wrong.



Now I am slightly annoyed as I didn't pay this much for a 1.2Ghz laptop, this one is not capable of 1.6 for more than 5 seconds (just shy of the 10 years Intel rate the CPU to).

I'm also slightly annoyed after paying so much cash, the only real solution seems to be a 'hack' which costs extra and will make the system less stable.


To those who ask 'who needs the extra power'. Well, maybe you don't, and that's excellent news for you. Unfortunately many of us picked the model that fits our requirements. My particular problem is that although I needed portability for simple work tasks, I also enjoy watching movies in my spare time. I went as far as finding a same spec laptop to make sure my h.264 encodes worked at this level. Thanks to this issue, they don't. I don't want the hassle of re-encoding my new blue-ray collection to make up for Apple's false advertising.

I put up with the other compromises, as I was fully aware of them when I purchased the laptop. I think it's a great laptop - if you need more ports and an optical drive then you want a desktop replacement. However, now I understand my inability to now play videos is a hardware problem and that sale of a 1.6 laptop is in fact a lie. The rating of 1.6 means constant use, not just the odd blip at that speed.


As for those which state it's normal to throttle down a CPU - yes it is, but only when you're not using it. It's a nice bi-product that it cools things down, but it's purpose is to save battery when idling. As soon as you want to use your CPU, it should throttle up to the maximum and stay there until it's done. Thermal protection (the original core shut-down issue) is the only technology which should be used to help prevent drastic overheating, and laptops MUST be designed so this is a very rare event (or you do something stupid like fold in bed).


Unfortunately, I think this is a manufacturing defect... Only Apple with a product recall can effectively address.

 

[kuehltruhe]

Hi folks!

I own my MBA (1.6GHz) since February and have been using it intensively every single day. My MBA has never had a core-shutdown yet, even though I use it to develop and compile software, watch videos, listen to music an manage my photo-library. To make it short: I haven't had any serious trouble with this machine so far.
The only thing that bothered my was the fan, so I installed coolbook (0.9V for all frequencies) which did the trick for me. The fan only goes up to max when the MBA is stressed heavily and connected to my cinema display (that seems to heat up the GPU).

To all the people that expect wonders from software-updates: The only way to make the MBA run cooler is by a) lowering frequency or b) lowering voltage. The latter option will _never_ be supported by any vendor, because they have to stick to the standards of the chip-manufacturer.
So... there is only option a), lowering frequency, left for Apple. And that is exaclty what they did. Apple simply changed the algorithm that decides which frequency to use under the given circumstances (depending on load, temperature and fan).

Cheers,
Dan

 

[BenjaminLo]

performace OK...noisefactor NOT OK

Hi,

I updated about an hour ago and ever since I rebooted my ventilator makes funny noises. It rattles...like a small moped motor. During the install process and before it did not do anything like this.
My question now would be: how do i remove the update. It's not showing in any folder.
Could I just remove the before mentioned files and hope for OS to replace them with the old ones on the next restart?

/System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext
/System/Library/Extensions/IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext

Thanks

 

[Sound Evolution]

Dear All,

This is my 5th macbook (after 4 which failed), and from day one this one was perfect without any core shut down. I never stressed the machine yet though. Today I installed the update and I had a skype conversation for more then 30 minutes (with voice call and cam) while watching some youtube movies. This was impossible on any of my former macbook airs (which I all got replaced with a new one). Unlike my other macbook airs, this time the machine didn't even get hot on the left side, and no stutter or core shut down. I think this update actually works.

I do believe some MBA's have building/mechanical issues and in that case this update won't help

I'm happy and my machine works like advertised for me

With kind regards,
Bas

 

[gcmexico]

just reactivated coolbook...this software is crap!!! MBA is now working fine again, Apple what gives?????