Im starting to think that the MBA SSD owners have no complaints

[jjahshik32]

from what Ive read in numerous threads seems like 95% of the people complaining about the fan/heat/speed issues seems to be the users with a regular hdd and not the ssd models.

I guess im curious and wanting to know if any of you guys own the ssd model with either 1.6/1.8ghz models with no complaints with the fan/speed/heat issues whatsoever especially running hd 720p trailers and youtube videos and demanding webpages.

Im guessing that the hdd is the only limiting factor to the issues that the mba has and that the 4200 rpm as an overall performance is just lagging too much to keep up that the cpu is much more stressed than it should even running at lower percentage of cpu utilization.

 

[Zwhaler]

I don't own a MBA, but I am pretty sure that doing anything online, especially HD video, is more reliant on the connection speed and the CPU than the HD. The SSD model makes a biggest difference when booting, opening apps, saving stuff, etc.

 

[jjahshik32]

I don't own a MBA, but I am pretty sure that doing anything online, especially HD video, is more reliant on the connection speed and the CPU than the HD. The SSD model makes a biggest difference when booting, opening apps, saving stuff, etc.

I think that playing hd content on a faster hdd will help play an hd content stutter free.

 

[netdog]

No complaints here.

 

[BryanLyle]

The only complaint I have with my 80gb HD model is the battery. Long recharge times and inconsistent battery life. One day it will last me all day before needed to recharge, the next day it won't make it til 5pm.

Hopefully this is something they can figure out and fix through software. I haven't missed the 17 MBP that it replaced.

 

[aussieinrome]

The only complaint I have with my 80gb HD model is the battery. Long recharge times and inconsistent battery life. One day it will last me all day before needed to recharge, the next day it won't make it til 5pm.

Hopefully this is something they can figure out and fix through software. I haven't missed the 17 MBP that it replaced.

All complaints on this forum are only made by people with the HDD version of the Air.

No one with the SSD complains about fan noise, cpu issues, screen problems, case build. From the feedback on this forum it's pretty safe to say that the SSD model has far superior build quality over that of the HDD version.

 

[QuarterSwede]

All complaints on this forum are only made by people with the HDD version of the Air.

No one with the SSD complains about fan noise, cpu issues, screen problems, case build. From the feedback on this forum it's pretty safe to say that the SSD model has far superior build quality over that of the HDD version.

It's more likely that because the HDD is causing more heat and since there is generall too much thermal pastebeing applied, the fans are kicking in more to dissipate the extra heat.

If you have a HDD version and have bad fan noise/heat problems look no further:
Be gone. Noisy Mackbook Air

1. Unscrew bottom of MBA (apparently quite easy).
2. Pull off flimsy heat sink
3. Use thermal paste cleaner ($5.99)
4. Apply a thin, even coat of Arctic Silver 5 ($5.99)
5. Put flimsy heat sink back on
6. Screw bottom back on
7. Noise be gone!

 

[smaug]

I have the SSD model and run coolbook. No fan or heat problems. But, the performance is the key here. The SSD is REALLY fast, especially when it comes to paging VM. It is almost like having 64GB of RAM. (I know that the SSD is no where near as fast as physical RAM, but keep in mind that VM is paged in 64k chunks, which is the file size that the SSD is fastest at (15-25x faster than a disk) and a SSD has almost NO seek time). In everyday use my Air is FASTER than my 2.4 Ghz MBP.

 

[aussieinrome]

I have the SSD model and run coolbook. No fan or heat problems. But, the performance is the key here. The SSD is REALLY fast, especially when it comes to paging VM. It is almost like having 64GB of RAM. (I know that the SSD is no where near as fast as physical RAM, but keep in mind that VM is paged in 64k chunks, which is the file size that the SSD is fastest at (15-25x faster than a disk) and a SSD has almost NO seek time). In everyday use my Air is FASTER than my 2.4 Ghz MBP.

Do you know the lifespan of the SSD in the Air?

 

[J@ffa]

It's more likely (not certain, but likely) that the vast majority of MBA owners opted for the hard-drive based model. The SSD version is more expensive than a 17" MacBook Pro, and so most MR forum-goers would opt for the power over the form factor whether they were price sensitive or not. Obviously I haven't a clue what Apple's sales figures are for the MBA, but you have not only laypeople's eyes popping when they see that a small fortune gets them less storage space, but power users who are (or should be) well aware that SSD will get better and cheaper before the year's out.

 

[BeachChair]

Aussieinrome, you can't derive that conclusion from a flawed chain of causality for reasons mentioned by J@ffa.

 

[aussieinrome]

Aussieinrome, you can't derive that conclusion from a flawed chain of causality for reasons mentioned by J@ffa.

I haven't read any posts by J@ffa - I've been looking at this forum for a month and drew my own conclusions based on what I've read.

 

[wordy]

This discussion is pointless.

There are numerous threads with SSD users complaining of heat issues. There are far more HDD vs. SSD Air owners, so why is it a shock that there appear to be more problems with HDD owners?

The YouTube issue is about the Flash encoding of video, which is processor dependent, not storage.

Maybe these SSD users are starting to realize that they foolishly spent an extra grand for basically no benefit (see Ars review, et. al.) and this is a lame attempt to help them justify their incorrect purchase decision.

Shall we play along?

 

[steve31]

I have no problems with my MBA SSD! Yet! But I have read a lot of posts where ssd owners were having the video issues also. I dont think that it is just a HD problem.

 

[mcvaughan]

I had one of the first SSD's and the drive failed before two weeks of ownership. Aside from that, the replacement Air has been absolutely trouble-free.

 

[mbamd]

SSD has heat

Nope. The SSD gets hot. I am on my second and am just about to download coolbook. I actually thought the SSD was more of a problem than the HDD based on the posts in the Apple forums.

 

[dannn]

This discussion is pointless.

There are numerous threads with SSD users complaining of heat issues. There are far more HDD vs. SSD Air owners, so why is it a shock that there appear to be more problems with HDD owners?

The YouTube issue is about the Flash encoding of video, which is processor dependent, not storage.

Maybe these SSD users are starting to realize that they foolishly spent an extra grand for basically no benefit (see Ars review, et. al.) and this is a lame attempt to help them justify their incorrect purchase decision.

Shall we play along?

^wut he said

 

[aussieinrome]

^wut he said

Yeah, I think your right.

 

[Heavenkittykat]

Remember, Correlation is not equal to causation.

Just to let you guys know, I have the HDD version and I have no problems whatsoever.

 

[krye]

from what Ive read in numerous threads seems like 95% of the people complaining about the fan/heat/speed issues seems to be the users with a regular hdd and not the ssd models.

I guess im curious and wanting to know if any of you guys own the ssd model with either 1.6/1.8ghz models with no complaints with the fan/speed/heat issues whatsoever especially running hd 720p trailers and youtube videos and demanding webpages.

Im guessing that the hdd is the only limiting factor to the issues that the mba has and that the 4200 rpm as an overall performance is just lagging too much to keep up that the cpu is much more stressed than it should even running at lower percentage of cpu utilization.

Well, how many people do you think thought spending $1000 for less hdd space was a good deal? Especially when the write times are slower. I think it's safe to assume that 99% of users went with the cheaper option.

 

[aussieinrome]

Well, how many people do you think thought spending $1000 for less hdd space was a good deal? Especially when the write times are slower. I think it's safe to assume that 99% of users went with the cheaper option.

Write times on any hard disk with a few months of use would be slower than the SSD.

 

[Cyburnclassic]

I would really like the SSD Macbook Air, but paying £2028 (UK Price) is a tad expensive.

Maybe when it drops price in a year or so then maybe.

 

[Clix Pix]

No complaints here with my 1.8 SSD! I use it on my lap and while it gets warm, it certainly doesn't fry my legs the way my Core Duo 15" MBP would....

 

[Deanster]

HD MBA here, and no complaints - it's been quiet, reliable, and fast for me.

I mostly use it for mail and Office - Word, Excel, Powerpoint.

It's an excellent presentation machine. All in all, I'm thrilled with it. I would have liked the SSD, but the price penalty is just too high.

 

[happyslayer]

I have the 1.8 SSD and I think it is fantastic!

The speed while booting and opening apps is dramatic compared to other laptops I have used (even those with 7200 RPM laptop drives.) Also, it is so nice that the laptop is virtually silent and I really don't worry about it banging around in my backpack an killing the drive.

Yes, it is expensive, but for me (and my financial situation) it was a good decision.

The only issues I have had when related to heat would be CPU throttling when I was dinking around with World of Warcraft. I put in CoolBook and all is well.

No issues with videos and my battery life is consistently around 4 hours.

I do have the ever popular keyboard lighting issue.. (it does it backwards) but I fixed that with LabTick.

I love this little machine and DO NOT regret spending the cash on the SSD.

Just my thoughts...