For those that travel with 2010 MBA...how's durability?

[IconicM]

I am thinking about getting one of the MBAs. I have read a few reviews on Cnet complaining about screen breaking. So just wondering.....

For those that work & travel extensively with your MBA, three questions:
1. how long have you had it?
2. your comments on durability?
3. how do you protect it while traveling, if at all?

I appreciate your time guys! Thanks.

 

[peraevum]

I am thinking about getting one of the MBAs. I have read a few reviews on Cnet complaining about screen breaking. So just wondering.....

For those that work & travel extensively with your MBA, three questions:
1. how long have you had it?
2. your comments on durability?
3. how do you protect it while traveling, if at all?

I appreciate your time guys! Thanks.

I travel with my 13" ultimate MBA every week, and it is predictably very durable. I've been traveling non-stop since I got it around Christmas. If you're worried about whether it will get flimsy after a while, there is no need to worry. The hinge is strong, and hey, it's made out of aluminum. The keyboard keys will eventually show wear, but that's about it. The best part is that the battery life allows you to use it while you're at the airport and then during the flight with plenty of juice left over. I spend about an hour using it at the airport and then use it for a four hour flight...to watch movies.

I have a Brenthaven laptop bag/briefcase that I put it into without any sleeve.

 

[Over Achiever]

1. I've had it since November, about a week after it was released.

2. As durable as any other laptop honestly. I've travelled extensively in the past few months for interviews, on cross country flights, in the car, etc. I've had it fly out of the passenger seat when braking suddenly. Survived without a dent.

3. I have a leather book case which has protected it from scratches. There is a moving part in the laptop, the fan, so it's not completely immune to damage while running.

 

[1chocolate1]

I ordered mine just after it was released. Too new for cases I took it on a 12 day cruise to many islands and countries. I encountered no problems and found it very useful. I'm still waiting for a sleeve to my liking before the next trip.

 

[ejisfun]

I have been taking it to school with me every day since we got back from christmas break. I simply put it in the sleeve case from sfbags.com and throw it in my backpack, and have encountered no problems thusfar.

 

[TheRealDamager]

Same here - I've traveled with many notebooks in my career - 1.6M miles in the air. This is a durable as anything I've traveled with in the past, if not more so.

 

[patrickdunn]

I travel 40+ weeks a year, and have had my loaded 13.3 since it came out.

I carry it in the laptop section of my Timbuk2 bag with a RadTech screensavrz, which prevents my keys from pressing into the screen when running through the airport. I do not use a case and it is still pristine.

Best travel laptop in my opinion.

 

[IconicM]

Hmm, looks pretty good so far, no complaints.

Thanks for all the great info!! Please keep it coming though

 

[Steven in VA]

truly tragic story

Two weeks ago I took my 13" MBA into a store to show the salesman a picture of the piece of stovepipe I wanted. I made the purchase, loaded the material into my truck, and headed home. Half a mile down the road I realized my MBA was not in my bookbag (I was a career teacher), so I took a u-turn to go back and get it. It wasn't in the store. Retracing my steps, I realized that I had left it on the toolbox in the truckbed and driven off. When I got back to the intersection where I had turned around, I saw it lying on the other side of the highway. I made a second u-turn, stopped traffic, scooped up the roadkill MBA, and went back to the truck cursing my stupidity.

I'm not sure if anyone actually drove over it or not, but it clearly had at least bounced several times after being flung off the toolbox. Amazingly, it started right up as normal. The screen didn't work; it was all ink-blue and white, but not actually broken. And when I connected it to a video projector at school, it worked fine. I started to sell it as-was, but the Genius Bar fellow said he could replace the whole top, top case, and bottom case for $750. It was painful (I've always thought stupidity should cause physical pain. It certainly did in this case), but I paid. I'm filling out some forms in hopes that American Express's 90-day protection against theft or accidental damage will reimburse me for the repair. I'm also writing this post on my MBA, which looks and works exactly like it did the moment I first took it out of its box.
It's a very tough machine.

I normally carry it in a padded Brenthaven bag that opens from the end, inside my bookbag, rather than on top of my toolbox.

 

[IconicM]

Steve,

I feel sorry about your mishap, but in the end, $750 is not so bad. We all make mistakes and loose money one way or another. I had a friend who totaled his BMW when he fell asleep, he had just removed the full coverage insurance since he had just paid it off. Luckily he wasn't hurt. So the moral is don't be hard on yourself, learn what you can and move on.

Anyway, glad the machine survived somewhat, would've been much cooler if you had said it got run over by a hummer or something.

 

[fitrithegreat]

MacbookAir screen crack

Hi,

I just got my MBA in December, and so excited and so happy with it

however, recently i traveled to London, on the flight back - transit to Singapore, I checked opened my MBA and found the LCD screen has a crack in it!!! I seriously dont know how it happen..

Because i never dropped it, it was in a sleeve, my bag is also padded. I hand carry it, and during the flight I placed it in the overhead compartment.. laying it down in my bag.. no other bags was ontop of it.

There's no physical damage, scratch or anything on the cover or inside.. its just a cracking lines on the screen which i can only view when the screen is on..

anyone knows y? I read a few forums saying that Mac wont cover it under warranty.. but i really didnt do anything to it.. i'm so sad.. coz i just had it for 3 months.. isk.. otherwise, I'm really happy with it..

If anybody knows why, please let me know.. coz maybe its pressure or something, so at least when i do get it repaired i know to avoid it.. coz right know i really dont know what causes it...

and i most probably need to save again before i can even replace the screen as someone said it will cost half the cost of the MBA!!! <faints!>

Thanks all..
-aida

 

[IconicM]

Aida,

Sad to hear your story too. I think the best chance of getting it repaired is to take it to an Apple store. An "in person" transaction is always more favorable to the customer, i think. To give you an example, my daughter spilled tea on a macbook, for which I had purchased the extended warranty. I took it to the apple store expecting to pay for the repair, but the girl at the genius bar said they would cover it. Funny thing is, she was super nice, but I had to bring the macbook back the next day because I had not expected to have to back-up my data. I guess it's a good practice anyway. So I took it back the next day and now a guy was helping me at the genius bar and he was very adament about explaining to me that this was not normally covered under warranty and that I should not expect a similar response the next time this happens.

So long story to say, visit your apple store and hang around and observe how the different "genius" treat people. The guy that helped me was not really being an a** hole, he was just more likely to follow policy than the girl whom seemed to be much more compassionate. So there you go, try to figure out which "genius" is more compassionate.

You seem to have not done anything wrong, and it should be covered under warranty, but the person you are dealing with can still make a difference in getting your MBA repaired. Good luck.

 

[DarwinOSX]

It's plenty durable.

Don't waste your time reading CNet.

I am thinking about getting one of the MBAs. I have read a few reviews on Cnet complaining about screen breaking. So just wondering.....

For those that work & travel extensively with your MBA, three questions:
1. how long have you had it?
2. your comments on durability?
3. how do you protect it while traveling, if at all?

I appreciate your time guys! Thanks.

 

[patrickdunn]

I could see why the screens could crack when carrying them. These are made of Aluminum and probably flex a bit, causing the keys to press into the screen.

I knew carrying this in a shoulder bag would result in the laptop resting on my back with all of the contents of my bag pressing on it, so to remedy this I use a keyboard cover.

Every time I pull the laptop out of my bag, my Screensaverz has an imprint of all of the keys, which would otherwise be directly on my screen.

Here is a pic of what they cover looks like (*pic from RadTech):

Again, I think this is the best travel laptop, however its thinness, in my opinion subjects it to a small amount of flex which could damage the screen.

 

[cleric]

I dented my rev B while it was in my bag against a metal door frame.

 

[IconicM]

I could see why the screens could crack when carrying them. These are made of Aluminum and probably flex a bit, causing the keys to press into the screen.

I knew carrying this in a shoulder bag would result in the laptop resting on my back with all of the contents of my bag pressing on it, so to remedy this I use a keyboard cover.

Every time I pull the laptop out of my bag, my Screensaverz has an imprint of all of the keys, which would otherwise be directly on my screen.

Here is a pic of what they cover looks like (*pic from RadTech):

Again, I think this is the best travel laptop, however its thinness, in my opinion subjects it to a small amount of flex which could damage the screen.

I was wondering how close the keys are to the screen....so yeah, I think you have a really good solution there. Screensaverz, hmmm.

 

[Mac32]

There's plenty of space between the screen and the keys, I wouldn't bother with any screen protection. On 15' MBP on the other hand you definately should use screen proctection.

 

[Xeperu]

I travel a lot with it, I have mine in a FoofBag inside a small leather messenger bag (about 1 cm clearance on each side). It's fine. Had it for 2 months now, no issues. Sometimes some warping on the body (it's a very thing laptop after all), but nothing a gentle nudge won't fix.

 

[Xeperu]

Hi,

I just got my MBA in December, and so excited and so happy with it

however, recently i traveled to London, on the flight back - transit to Singapore, I checked opened my MBA and found the LCD screen has a crack in it!!! I seriously dont know how it happen..

Because i never dropped it, it was in a sleeve, my bag is also padded. I hand carry it, and during the flight I placed it in the overhead compartment.. laying it down in my bag.. no other bags was ontop of it.

There's no physical damage, scratch or anything on the cover or inside.. its just a cracking lines on the screen which i can only view when the screen is on..

anyone knows y? I read a few forums saying that Mac wont cover it under warranty.. but i really didnt do anything to it.. i'm so sad.. coz i just had it for 3 months.. isk.. otherwise, I'm really happy with it..

If anybody knows why, please let me know.. coz maybe its pressure or something, so at least when i do get it repaired i know to avoid it.. coz right know i really dont know what causes it...

and i most probably need to save again before i can even replace the screen as someone said it will cost half the cost of the MBA!!! <faints!>

Thanks all..
-aida

Get travel insurance next time. I've had my own idiocy paid for more than once. Upgraded my iPhone twice with it. I broke it in HongKong, called the insurance company, they wanted a picture, they got it, 2 days later 650 euro in my bank account. Bought an iPhone 4 and kept the change (200 euro).

 

[cosworth88]

Duncan BC to Vancouver BC with a 1.5 hour ferry ride and some hardcore transit in between. Total travel time over 4 hours. Been doing this every weekend for months.

Stuff it into my backpack and go. Pull it out when I want to. No marks, no issues. AC power on a ferry is never really "clean" and it works perfect. Battery lasts enough to stream a hockey game over 3g from justin.tv

I love my MBA.

Power cord isn't as white as it used to be. Windex. Solved.

 

[fitrithegreat]

Thanks IconicM ! yeah i sure hope they'll be nice.. and help me out.. I went to the Apple dealer that sold me the MBA, he was nice, he was also puzzled on how it happened.. but he's not too sure about whether the warranty covers it or not.. still waiting to hear from him..

Thanks Xeperu.. never thought of travel insurance before... will start thinking of it now..

Still waiting to hear from them.. i sure hope it'll be soon and it'll be good news <fingers crossed!>

Thanks guys!