Can the MBA handle YouTube vids/Movies??

[phatjoe]

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Hello:

I had the original MBA. It wasn't very good at playing YouTube vids. A lot of buffering, and the fan would kick on all the time. Have these issues been resolved with the newer models? Any issues playing movies, YouTube vids, MS Office etc? Any overheating issues while multi-tasking?

At the end of the day,is the MBA a better machine than the original?

Thanks,
P

 

[solaris7]

Dude, the MBA is a VERY CAPABLE machine! Yes, it will handle youtube easily!

On a side note, what is with the sudden outburst of "Can the MBA handle this?" threads, recently there was a "Can my MBA handle Microsoft office?"!
And, yes, it can play crysis.

 

[chrono1081]

Dude, the MBA is a VERY CAPABLE machine! Yes, it will handle youtube easily!

+1. My Macbook air runs Maya, Unity, ZBrush, Houdini, Xcode, Photoshop, and all the other crap I run just fine, it will have no problem running youtube.

 

[Zeov]

my macbook air 13 ultimate owns youtube videos.. and everything else.

 

[Lord Appleseed]

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As all the others said: the MBA can handle Youtube with ease. Even 1080p works great.

 

[HiddenGem]

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Hello:

I had the original MBA. It wasn't very good at playing YouTube vids. A lot of buffering, and the fan would kick on all the time. Have these issues been resolved with the newer models? Any issues playing movies, YouTube vids, MS Office etc? Any overheating issues while multi-tasking?

At the end of the day,is the MBA a better machine than the original?

Thanks,
P

My old 2007 MBP 15" 2.4 C2D 4GB handles youtube videos and movies! it has a slower bus speed and smaller L2 cache than an MBA.

 

[yly3]

^ Exactly. Some people think the Air is some sort of iPad in a laptop form. Even decent 2005 machines can handle YouTube well. The 2010 Air is a good (impressive most of the times) machine for it's configuration. The 13 Ultimate can easily be considered a MacBook Pro in my opinionm or the standard 13 a 2008 Pro

 

[johnhalsted]

A 400 mhz pentium 2 with 128mb of ram and 8mb graphics card could handle youtube >.> (just make sure you have the new flash installed)

The Air can handle practically anything you throw at it (software side) but it will always run better on a better machine e.g. photoshop works lovely but when your working with huge images or using complex filters it may run a bit slowly, compared to a power machine that will steamroll through everything

Regarding games its more complex, usually you can find reviews on the forums, like wow and starcraft run well but assasins creed 2 is awfull (cant understand why though, graphics arent that good to warrant such bad fps!! i blame bad engine!!)

hope this helps

 

[stockscalper]

I watch YouTube on mine all the time with absolutely no problems.

 

[hansano]

Despite not owning the new Macbook Air yet, I think it is very capable in playing YouTube videos.
I have had the rev. A Macbook Air and it was a pain (Fans kicking in..). With the new Airs however you have the Geforce 320M, which is supported for QuickTime H.264 hardware decoding (http://www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html). This is also utilized by the recent Flash Player.
I have tested the Airs in a shop and I think they are a much better for things like YouTube videos than the first Airs. Even 1080 videos are no problem. That's why I ordered one myself. Waiting impatiently... Cheers.

 

[2IS]

Seriously? A single core celeron can handle youtube videos. I don't think it's even possibly to buy a computer that cannot handle a youtube video.

 

[major7]

I wish to know where those myths come from!

There should be a Stickie thread saying:

"MBA is a computer! Handles everything that ordinary computer do!"
Period.

I can only hear the fans when playing through steam but so do all my friend's pc's.! It doesn't mean it can't handle, just that it has to breath....lol

 

[Gemütlichkeit]

MBA isn't a netbook.

 

[gglockner]

OMG can this topic be made a sticky for the MBA board? It gets asked about once per week.

 

[phatjoe]

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Thanks everyone for the responses. I purchased a 13" MBA today

 

[pyroo]

Glad you decided to get the MacBook air, it is indeed a very capable machine, even the 11.6 is very fast...but I can see why the OP is concerned, the original MacBook airs were horrible displaying flash contents, heats up like there's not tomorrow

 

[X2468]

Mine runs them fine, you just have to accept it's gonna run warm to hot, and heat is the enemy of electronics. But Apple knows nothing will break until your out of warranty and then it's not their problem.

 

[BENJMNS]

if you guys are talking about youtube 1080p vids, the 11 ultimate does not handle them without dropping frames on 27" ACD full screen. 13 ultimate is fine. i have both units.

 

[akdj]

Glad you decided to get the MacBook air, it is indeed a very capable machine, even the 11.6 is very fast...but I can see why the OP is concerned, the original MacBook airs were horrible displaying flash contents, heats up like there's not tomorrow

I think pyroo hit the nail on the head. The original MBAirs had issues...serious, performance related issues.

To the OP, congrats. Excellent choice, excellent computer. I've got the 11" ultimate, and love it....I bought it for my wife, as I need more screen and grunt for FCP. However, if these SSD prices continue to slip and there's a way to put the new SB procs in the Airs...I'm going to buy one. Just picked up the new 17" MBP a couple weeks ago, and it gives my '08 MP twin quad 3ghz machine a serious run for the money...just as with the new line of Airs....there is hardly a similarity between it and it's older brothers and sisters.

Awesome little machine and every bit of what most folks need for daily computing...and in fact, for MOST tasks done by most folks daily...email, surfing, tunes, and youtube...it actually is faster than it's higher priced "Pro" siblings...as it does have an SSD. All others come stock with a HDD. IMHO, after the use of this new MBA...there is NOTHING that can touch the speed improvements of upgrading from HDD to SSD....proc speed, more RAM, software improvements...nothing matches the noticeable difference of adding solid state drives to the mix.

J

 

[Muscleflex]

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Thanks everyone for the responses. I purchased a 13" MBA today

now i am jealous!!!

 

[jonnysods]

No issues for me, just kills my battery life while the vid is running.

 

[BENJMNS]

I think pyroo hit the nail on the head. The original MBAirs had issues...serious, performance related issues.

To the OP, congrats. Excellent choice, excellent computer. I've got the 11" ultimate, and love it....I bought it for my wife, as I need more screen and grunt for FCP. However, if these SSD prices continue to slip and there's a way to put the new SB procs in the Airs...I'm going to buy one. Just picked up the new 17" MBP a couple weeks ago, and it gives my '08 MP twin quad 3ghz machine a serious run for the money...just as with the new line of Airs....there is hardly a similarity between it and it's older brothers and sisters.

Awesome little machine and every bit of what most folks need for daily computing...and in fact, for MOST tasks done by most folks daily...email, surfing, tunes, and youtube...it actually is faster than it's higher priced "Pro" siblings...as it does have an SSD. All others come stock with a HDD. IMHO, after the use of this new MBA...there is NOTHING that can touch the speed improvements of upgrading from HDD to SSD....proc speed, more RAM, software improvements...nothing matches the noticeable difference of adding solid state drives to the mix.

J

bingo was his name-o

 

[Onimusha370]

My ultimate eats YouTube for breakfast.

 

[tom vilsack]

my pos acer netbook handles these np...these little macbook airs fly...no worries!