First 12 hours as owner of a mac.. It ain't good!

[Jophster]

UPDATE: YOU CAN READ ABOUT MY EXPERIANCES IN 48 HOURS HERE: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=9049726

UPDATE: FIND OUT HOW YOUR BATTERY COMPARES TO OTHERS HERE: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/844645/

Hi all
this is my first post and very glad to be a member of macrumours!

this morning I receieved my MacBook Air (revision a) from eBay for just £500!
As a result I was pleased to see I arrived in decent condition!
I have been an exclusive windows user for my entire life - and quite a proficent one at that often being subjected to crys for help from family and friends!

I love my iPhone and the whole ethos of apple and couldn't wait to get my first mac. Sadly my first 10ish hours with my mac have been dreadful. Read on to find out why...

When it arrived I noticed really bad shadowing on the screen. I went straight to the apple store who told me it would be a £300 repair. Thankfully it was down to post office negligence for which I am covered for!

Bad point number two was the complete inability to access my iTunes library on my windows 7 pc. It wouldn't recognise it on the mac at all!? Neither was it easy to simply access my shared folders.

I know I may be about to get shot down here as I'm sure a lot of people here will not be pleased I'm bad mouthing macs but I cannot comprehend why the red x and the orange - do virtually the same job!? I also don't understand why apple make it so hard to resize a window - I miss aero snap very much already!

I have also had the unit almost on constant charge all day an haven't come close to full charge!?

I haven't been able to install iLife as it quits half way through - something wrong with the package?

And after 10 hours of non stop struggle this laptop has completely ruined my enthusiasm for the product.

Can some one please tell me some of the benefits of having this laptopto take away some of the angst of today's disaster!!

I will inevitably calm down and try again tomorrow to set it up and start actually using it but today had been nothing more than a waste of time, energy and right now... Money.

Really dissapointed, I thought that from today I could call myself "a mac" as the term goes. Right now I'm considering tatooing PC to my forhead.

I will follow up tomorrow with how day two fares. It can't be any worse.

 

[mrkgoo]

Hi all
this is my first post and very glad to be a member of macrumours!

this morning I receieved my MacBook Air (revision a) from eBay for just £500!
As a result I was pleased to see I arrived in decent condition!
I have been an exclusive windows user for my entire life - and quite a proficent one at that often being subjected to crys for help from family and friends!

I love my iPhone and the whole ethos of apple and couldn't wait to get my first mac. Sadly my first 10ish hours with my mac have been dreadful. Read on to find out why...

When it arrived I noticed really bad shadowing on the screen. I went straight to the apple store who told me it would be a £300 repair. Thankfully it was down to post office negligence for which I am covered for!

Bad point number two was the complete inability to access my iTunes library on my windows 7 pc. It wouldn't recognise it on the mac at all!? Neither was it easy to simply access my shared folders.

I know I may be about to get shot down here as I'm sure a lot of people here will not be pleased I'm bad mouthing macs but I cannot comprehend why the red x and the orange - do virtually the same job!? I also don't understand why apple make it so hard to resize a window - I miss aero snap very much already!

I have also had the unit almost on constant charge all day an haven't come close to full charge!?

I haven't been able to install iLife as it quits half way through - something wrong with the package?

And after 10 hours of non stop struggle this laptop has completely ruined my enthusiasm for the product.

Can some one please tell me some of the benefits of having this laptopto take away some of the angst of today's disaster!!

I will inevitably calm down and try again tomorrow to set it up and start actually using it but today had been nothing more than a waste of time, energy and right now... Money.

Really dissapointed, I thought that from today I could call myself "a mac" as the term goes. Right now I'm considering tatooing PC to my forhead.

I will follow up tomorrow with how day two fares. It can't be any worse.

Is it secondhand? A lot of the experience of a mac can be lost if the computer is secondhand and left in a mess. For example, the average mac user never installs iLife, as it comes preinstalled on new machines.

There are ways to transfer your iTunes Library if you need to.

The red X is for closing a window (note, NOT the same as closing an application), the orange is for minimising to the dock. The window you minimised should shrink to the dock (if it hides behind the application icon, then a preference has been changed).

Resizing a window is certainly different in Mac OS X, and a major pain in the butt for people coming from windows. You either hate it, or learn to work around it. Personally, I don't mind.

As for AeroPeek, you have to think about Mac OS X's roots here. The dock and a lot of AeroPeek like functionality has been around since OS X came out (I think). It may not be as super refined as AeroPeek if you're thinking in a Windows frame of mind, but it works really well within Mac OS X. Hmm. Not sure what Aerosnap is.

The battery could be miscalibrated. Look up battery calibration and you'll get an idea. If it really is one of the frost MacBook Airs, and it has seen a lot of use, I would think the battery could be at the end of its useful life. That said, the power management unit of MacBooks are such that it tends NOT to charge if it has drained while plugged in, until it reaches about 95%. This is to prevent constant charging when it isn't necessary - so while plugged in it should hit 100%, then drain down to 95% before charging again.

Keep at it. The most important thing you can do is to not enter Mac OS X with a Windows frame of mind. Rather than wonder why it doesn't do something like Windows does, just learn more about the way a Mac does it. You'll hate some things for sure, but most of those things are just small preferential issues, nothing major.

 

[thecreativ1]

Sorry you're having such bad luck with your mac.

I can't comment on the Win7 iTunes sharing because I don't know the specifics of your network and Win7 computer.

The red button closes the window, and the orange one minimizes the window into the dock (the same location as the Windows taskbar would be on your PC). So they really are 2 different behaviors.

As for the battery not fully charging and the installer quitting--obviously that's not normal--Was the machine used? Perhaps you got a defective or mistreated computer? Maybe that's why it was listed for a lower price? My guess is that the factory warranty has expired, so you could look into getting a refund from the seller or from PayPal (if you used them).

 

[Jophster]

Tips an tricks

Hi both
thanks for the help! Im surprised I wasn't beat over the hea with a club or not praising all that is apple!
Yes the item was second hand and as you say, that may detract from being able to own such a pristine beautiful thing. Sadly there is no way I could afford an intel mac new.

It's in pretty good nick either way and I got a pretty amazing deal.
I think I might start from square one again. Clean install of SL, iLife and iworks and head into it all with a new frame
of mind.

The biggest issue which i overlooked when buying this is just how used to windows I am. I was 6 when I got my first pc and have used them ever since. It's a new feeling to be sat infront of a computer and not have much of an idea how to use it!

The main tangles like non installing software and the network problems really made the day slow and involved a lot of stabbing in the dark!
After I have a go at my second attempt if I hit the same problems I would be very grateful if I could get some guidance?

Thanks
joe.

 

[jimboutilier]

Assuming the MBA came with all its original install disk the first thing I would do would be to restore it to factory condition by booting from the OSX install disks, using disk utility to erase and repartition the drive and reinstall OS X and any other software with original media that came with the unit.

You never know whats on a used machine and I would never trust it until I did this. If you don't have a local DVD drive you can do this from a shared one or create an install image on an 8gb USB drive by using disk utility to RESTORE the original install disks to the USB drive (after reformatting the USB drive as HFS+ Journaled).

OS X is very different than Windows in many ways and there are "switcher" guides in many places to help you learn how to do in OS X many things you knew how to do in Windows. That should help a lot of your frustrations.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=393056


As to the battery you might want to download a copy of coconut battery and see what state the battery is in. As another user mentioned it may be at its end of life and need replacing. It may also need recalibrating (do a search for recalibrating your battery on a MBA).



Sorry you are having troubles and I hope you work things out. It may take a bit of time and effort but you may find the productivity the MAC offers worth the effort.

 

[gnasher729]

Right now I'm considering tatooing [sic] PC to my forhead [sic].

Photos, please.

Now the question: Did you post from a PC or from your Mac? In case you posted from your Mac, did you know that MacOS X has a system-wide multilingual spelling checker that works in Safari while you post?

 

[coast1ja]

Don't feel bad for not liking the Mac OS right away. I really like windows 7 and if I hadn't switched to OSX during the Vista days, I probably never would have. Believe me, once you get used to OSX you will like it just as much, if not better, than 7.

 

[ARF900]

First of all, do a complete restore of OS like said above.

Then download an app called cinch (Aerosnap for mac) (Free)

Now for your itunes library... win 7 is new so apple is still working some kinks with it I would assume. If you simply want to move the library to your mac, sync everything in your library to your phone, then press transfer purchases when prompted on the mac. If you have to big of a library just browse to the itunes place on your PC. I believe default location is

C:\Users\(YOUR NAME)\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\

At that location is a music folder, copy that in chunks, put it on something like an external HDD or flash drive, depending how big your drive is will depend how many trips you need to make. Any music that you did not purchase from itunes must be somewhere on your computer that you imported it with itunes. Same thing for these folders. Once you have these files on the mac, just put them in the music folder and add the whole folder to library in itunes.

Follow what im saying? P.S. dont use ebay for expensive purchases.

 

[mrkgoo]

Hi both
thanks for the help! Im surprised I wasn't beat over the hea with a club or not praising all that is apple!
Yes the item was second hand and as you say, that may detract from being able to own such a pristine beautiful thing. Sadly there is no way I could afford an intel mac new.

It's in pretty good nick either way and I got a pretty amazing deal.
I think I might start from square one again. Clean install of SL, iLife and iworks and head into it all with a new frame
of mind.

The biggest issue which i overlooked when buying this is just how used to windows I am. I was 6 when I got my first pc and have used them ever since. It's a new feeling to be sat infront of a computer and not have much of an idea how to use it!

The main tangles like non installing software and the network problems really made the day slow and involved a lot of stabbing in the dark!
After I have a go at my second attempt if I hit the same problems I would be very grateful if I could get some guidance?

Thanks
joe.

For sure there will be many differences. But think about the switch the other way - what would you say if I was concerned that I couldn't get used to Windows 'X' closing applications, and that they were on the right, or that the minimise/maximise is not what it's like on a Mac etc...

A lot of differences, but the small stuff is mostly preferential. The bigger stuff, like Time Machine and Spotlight will blow your mind.

 

[rdowns]

SOme good basic video here.

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/

 

[eRondeau]

So to review -- you bought a USED computer on eBay for a VERY LOW PRICE and now you're surprised that it doesn't work perfectly? Give me a break! Cavaet emptor, my friend. The previous owner could have dropped it in his hot tub for all you know. If you want the true Apple ownership experience, buy new. If you're willing to gamble your $$$, your enjoyment, and your satisfaction then by all means buy used -- but don't come crying to me that your used computer isn't new.

 

[rdowns]

So to review -- you bought a USED computer on eBay for a VERY LOW PRICE and now you're surprised that it doesn't work perfectly? Give me a break! Cavaet emptor, my friend. The previous owner could have dropped it in his hot tub for all you know. If you want the true Apple ownership experience, buy new. If you're willing to gamble your $$$, your enjoyment, and your satisfaction then by all means buy used -- but don't come crying to me that your used computer isn't new.

All part of the Apple user experience.

 

[thewireman]

All part of the Apple user experience.

Ha ha, thats true.

 

[ARF900]

All part of the Apple user experience.

are you reffering to people taking people having problems with apple products personally? lol

 

[Scottsdale]

Well, you bought the worst Mac shipped by Apple since the Intel transition. That MBA is full of problems, and in my opinion, it shouldn't have ever been released. Finally, read the forums for reviews before you buy anything. The truth has been spoken thousands, no tens of thousands of times, about the original MBA's failures. The worst part is, you haven't even touched on the failing parts of the original MBA yet.

I owned an original MBA, and I believe everyone should consider all of the negatives long and hard before buying that Mac. If I were you, I would get a refund and buy a v 2,1 MBA. Unless you bought it for email, simple typing as a word processor, and EXTREMELY light web browsing (meaning NO FLASH or video), the original MBA will fail you. And the original MBA doesn't act or perform like a Mac... it's pretty to look at but it will fail you if you expect much of any performance from it. And that's sad because the REV 2,1 MBAs are so AMAZING. It's too bad Apple ever distributed those things because people are still getting screwed over two years later!

The truth is people shouldn't go that cheap and expect much from a Mac. Apple's Mac computers are EXPENSIVE. And the MBA might be the best value it has ever been at $1799. So use that as your way to get an "inexpensive" MacBook Air. Apple has reduced the price from $3099, and you get a 128 GB SSD, Nvidia GPU, Penryn CPU, SATA-II drive controller, and 2 GB of DDR3 RAM. That's a $1300 price drop! Figure that as the baseline of what you should buy... but you could buy refurbished even cheaper... $1349 USD for a 1.86 GHz Penryn SL9600 CPU, Nvidia 9400m, 128 GB SSD, and etc...

I think that people shouldn't expect much when they go cheaper than the already ridiculously low priced MBA.

I truly wish you a much better experience than you're probably going to get with that particular computer. I hope with whatever claims you're entitled to that you can get an actual functioning MBA that truly works for normal Mac computing. Next time, buy an MBA v 2,1. If you cannot/or don't want to spend the money for a real MBA, buy a MacBook.

Best wishes.

 

[iDisk]

You made a bad choice.

WOW!! Just read your thread, I don't like hearing stories like this, but as I read further, I noticed this became less a Apple problem, but a YOU DIDN'T DO ENOUGH RESEARCH PROBLEM.

Like previous posters have said. You bought a SECOND HAND REV A MacBook Air... Here's the problem (based on the information provided):

• Not enough research done on what actual MacBook Air to buy. (You should have asked the members here before buying, or at least searched the forums or google)
  
• Buying off ebay
  
• Buying Second Hand
  
• Buying a Rev A (which would have been avoided if you did #1 )
  
• Buying cheap ( If a Macbook Air is cheaper then the normal on a used market, alerts should go off. Loose your I'm a cheap PC mentality when on the Mac Side)
  

Now how to remedy your situation.

Just take this as a learning experience due to your ignorance and lack of knowledge on what MacBook Air to buy.

If I were you I'd take your Rev A and make it into an experiment machine. Then buy a Rev B or C SSD model.

This is not the normal Apple experience and your frustrations are solely due to you. Don't blame Apple. Just know what to due next time you buy.

The MacBook Air is the FUTURE OF COMPUTING it's just Apple forgot to put in the Airs box when it was first released that this version REV A is the (beta) some will work insanely great, some will not.


Welcome to Macrumors BTW

iDisk

 

[macjunk(ie)]

Hi both


The biggest issue which i overlooked when buying this is just how used to windows I am. I was 6 when I got my first pc and have used them ever since. It's a new feeling to be sat infront of a computer and not have much of an idea how to use it!

I spent the last 3 days..installing win 7 on bootcamp, trying to convince myself that I can live on Win 7..(after all, most businesses speak only Microsoft ). At 2 AM yesterday, I deleted my bootcamp partition and came back to my sweet ol' Snow Leopard. It felt soooo good!!! I would marry it if it was possible..

And this, after using Windows all my life..from the age of 6 and still use Windows in the office. Note that I have been a Mac user from 2007 (just over 2 years now...)...and not to mention...I have had my share of problems with the Mac..(hence my user name )

The point I am trying to make is...most of us are resistant to change...but this change from Win to Mac is a good one...give it some time...you will grow to like it...like it so much that you will be willing to tattoo Mac all over your body

 

[ARF900]

Alot of people here are right, you cant look cheap to buy a mac. and honestly, you bought probably the worst mac that ever existed. compare the MBA to the 13 inch MBP. the MBP is twice as powerfull, cheaper, more ports, and its a about 1 cm thicker, thats it. the MBA is a total waste, and to buy a used first gen was a complete mistake. People who sell macs that cheap have something wrong or realized they shouldnt have bought it so they sell on ebay to get a chunk of money back, you shouldve post here before you purchased with a link to ebay, this wouldve been avoided.

 

[Jophster]

Reply

Hi All
Thanks for all the replies.
First I want to point out some little things that people may have side tracked:

1) The MacBook Air (Rev A) is currently the cheapest MacBook for purchase (using an Intel CPU) in marketplaces. (eBay, Amazon Used etc etc)

2) I understand that some people may think that to get the item for such a good price would most likely mean a fault with the unit. This is not the case, I have checked it out pretty thoroughly and it is in very good condition.

3) I understand it may not deliver the performance of the newer MBP but my plant was to buy the cheapest Mac I could find that I would actually want to use (Unibody only ). I didn't want a MacMini as I already have a very decent PC as my main computer.

I have been promised £1000 later in the year and I was setting extra money aside to buy the Core i5 27" iMac.
But before I put that kind of money into Steve Jobs' pocket I wanted to make sure that Mac OS X was the right thing for me.
This MBA is more like a simple stepping stone and a temporary one at that. I used to own a Desktop and a Netbook.
Now I have a PC Desktop and an MBA. I think that is a step up in any direction.

Regardless of whether the device is 2 years old or not, for a machine that £1200 new I would hope Apple designed it to work for a little longer. And the out of the box experience for me was poor - with regards to networking, I am sure I would suffer the same problems as with a new unit.

For me, this is my Netbook replacement AND a trial machine before I pay out big bucks for the stunning 27" iMac. (Which I will definitely get AppleCare with!)

The main reason for this thread was to vent my frustration, make my first post on MacRumours and premept some support when I need it come my second attempt at installation!

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions, I enjoyed reading them all. (Even if some did tell me to stop crying or to post pictures of the Windows Logo on my Forehead.)

Joe.

 

[Belly-laughs]

Nevermind the sceptics, do what other posters have said; start from scratch by reinstalling from the original DVD. Play around with it in "reblessed" mode to get a feel of what it's like at base level. Add apps and utilities one by one, little by little to prevent confusion as to which install may have caused a problem.

There's no reason a cheap Mac can't give you a good experience, especially if the hardware is sound. Just don't expect a speed demon, it never was.

Welcome to the Mac and MacRumors communities.

 

[JonTok]

I have to agree with iDisk; the Rev A Macbook Air was mostly rubbish and not fit for purpose. I sold my Rev A for about that much after 6 months; the fans were on all the time and it was painfully slow + playing videos on YouTube just was impossible + the battery took all night to charge. However, it was beautiful - I'll give it that much.

For £700 you could buy a new white MacBook (refurb store?) and be infinitely better off with a 7-hour battery that charges in about 80 minutes and a computer that plays videos and is twice as fast. For the £500 you paid blind, you've got a computer with no guarantee. I don't think I've read much on MacRumors that actually supports the Rev A MBA, and there are plenty of reasons for that. A cautionary tale here, folks.

 

[Gadgetman99]

Nevermind the sceptics, do what other posters have said; start from scratch by reinstalling from the original DVD. Play around with it in "reblessed" mode to get a feel of what it's like at base level. Add apps and utilities one by one, little by little to prevent confusion as to which install may have caused a problem.

There's no reason a cheap Mac can't give you a good experience, especially if the hardware is sound. Just don't expect a speed demon, it never was.

Welcome to the Mac and MacRumors communities.

The best post yet! I agree. Wipe and reinstall the OS to get the best experience possible (on a Rev A MBA). Also, feel good about the fact that you spent less then half of what many others did to get a Rev A MBA, with all it's issues. Also, understand that ebay is not always the best route for deals, or with a little leg work, you can wrangle a better deal. My Rev B (sealed and brand new) was about the same (or a tad less) then your used Rev A (long story short, I too got a Rev A off ebay, and got Bing cash back, then sold it on ebay for more, then got a new one at Best Buy on clearance, net cost for the new one with Snow Leopard was $699).

 

[Mr. Zarniwoop]

Alot of people here are right, you cant look cheap to buy a mac. and honestly, you bought probably the worst mac that ever existed.

I have a different opinion. I bought a MacBook Air rev A shortly after it was released. Recently, I even put a little money into it and replaced the hard disk with a RunCore SSD because this machine is still my "daily driver". I carry it everywhere, use it constantly, and in general am still happy with it.

Two corners are a little dinged up. I do run CoolBook but set it up years ago and haven't thought about it since.

You may bash it but it's still my favorite Mac of all that I've owned, including a bunch of PowerMacs, a Mac Pro, a MacBook and a MacBook Pro. It's so light and thin that it's changed how I use a personal computer, having it around at all times in all places. I realize the specs in a MacBook Air rev B/C are a little better, but it's not been compelling enough to spend the money. Maybe rev D will finally get me to let it go?

 

[GeekGirl*]

The rev A was the best out of my three don't judge Macs by the crapbook just buy any macbook and you will be happy sorry as pretty as the Air is...
it's garbage

 

[jimboutilier]

I have a different opinion. I bought a MacBook Air rev A shortly after it was released. Recently, I even put a little money into it and replaced the hard disk with a RunCore SSD because this machine is still my "daily driver". I carry it everywhere, use it constantly, and in general am still happy with it.

Two corners are a little dinged up. I do run CoolBook but set it up years ago and haven't thought about it since.

You may bash it but it's still my favorite Mac of all that I've owned, including a bunch of PowerMacs, a Mac Pro, a MacBook and a MacBook Pro. It's so light and thin that it's changed how I use a personal computer, having it around at all times in all places. I realize the specs in a MacBook Air rev B/C are a little better, but it's not been compelling enough to spend the money. Maybe rev D will finally get me to let it go?

I'm with you. I never had a lick of trouble with my MBA RevA, used it as my primary business machine for a year and the only reason I went away from it was I could not live within its drive space limitation at the time. Now there are some great options for more storage space and faster storage space that can breathe new life into it for many.

The RevA is no powerhouse but it should easily replace a Netbook and with a little tuning can easily be a great second machine for many people.

When you reinstall the OS don't forget to use Disk utility to erase the old volume first as it can impact the new install.