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Initial Hands-On Impressions of the New MacBook Air

Do these have the same Intel Core 2 Duo chips that the original MacBook Air launched with in 2008 (albeit the new ones have a slower clock speed)?

As an owner of the first gen MacBook Air (with SSD) and one seriously considering the new 11", I have some concerns.

The first gen Air shipped with a 1.6/1.8 Core 2 Duo. I have the 1.8. It runs hot even on a desk and the fans are noisier than my Dell beast desktop. I get the beachball constantly, even doing light work in the terminal on remote servers. Naturally, I'm concerned about performance of these new iterations.

The hinges on the first Gen weakened over time and often broke. It looks like this is now fixed but I haven't see any good images of them yet.
 
That guy who unboxed it, does he think he looks cool with those clothes, hair and those horrible sunglasses? Looks like he also needs a good clean up.
 
diehldun said:
It's how I unbox my Macs. It's a piece of technology to be used, it's not a living creature.
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Mac-Mariachi said:
He definitely should´ve vowed and kneel to MBA! Ok, not that much, but I did not appreciate how matter-of-factly he tossed around thos brand new computers.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. I probably handle living creatures more roughly than that but it just added to the, what many call, hipster nature of it. It was kinda funny I agree. Plus, its not like he bought 'em with his student loan money :cool:
 
Žalgiris said:
Don't know (and don't care) what others think, but 11.6" with 4 GB RAM and 1.6 C2D looks like a kick-ass portable.
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I agree this is the best notebook! .68 inches thick!!!! Thats just a bit ticker than an Iphone 4.

WOW!

I want one..I was gonna get a IMAC for IOS development...but hell I am going MBA 11.6!
 
meechy said:
That guy who unboxed it, does he think he looks cool with those clothes, hair and those horrible sunglasses? Looks like he also needs a good clean up.
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And why shoot the unboxing video at a Starbucks. Is that the cool thing to do now?

I really don't understand the whole I'm cool hipster look. Its not very sunny indoors buddy.
 
This is some kind of joke. I know the cash is king, but new products and old Intel Core 2 Duo processor ??? No USB 3.0 and from the other hand you have OSX installation on pendrive. What the hell they will try to create - Frankenstein ? The best mobile laptop computer in the world or some variation with discord ???
If we put embedded solid state disk technology inside, so I understand that the first one option is true.

The same with OSX 10.7 Lion - no real improvements and I really do not like that someone assume that users will accept all new features for sure:

"Lion brings many of the best ideas from iPad back to the Mac, plus some fresh new ones like Mission Control that Mac users will really like," said Steve Jobs.

Maybe we will really DO NOT LIKE your new features Mr Jobs ?
 
reden said:
Are these MacBook Airs really bright?
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With 4GB RAM available they are at least less stupid than before ... and I think they are less thick :D :D.

The unboxing video really had me gasping at the difference between the sizes. I was miffed at the mad pricing making the better low-end 13" cheaper than the just believable 11" but the 11" is so tiny! And pretty! I think it's a go now.
 
finnns2000 said:
No backlit keyboard huh? Crap...
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41UvhMv4AXL._SS400_.jpg
 
Both look awesome. I loved my Rev. A MBA and had it for almost two years but it couldn't cope with CS3 and Lightroom. I love my MBP but have always wanted another MBA because it is so portable. The 11.6" with 4GB of ram, and 128 GB SSD sounds amazing but I am really disappointed the didn't (or couldn't) fit a backlit keyboard in. Is that just for the 11.6" model or did the 13.3" lose it as well?
 
How is this a child of the iPad + MacBook again?

Despite all the event hype about being a love child of the iPad and MacBook, and how you don't want a touch screen on a laptop, I don't see how they took anything from the iPad except for the more aggressive pricing:

* Touch Interface - same as all other mac laptops and 1st MBA

* Flash memory - same as 1st MBA and a no-brainer

* Quick boot or wake - comes with the flash memory

* Battery life - sounds like the same deal as any mac laptop these days (ok maybe the standby time, FWIW)

I just don't see any way in which the iPad really influenced things, except maybe price. It's just a revision of the MBA. I don't think it's a bad revision, just a pretty mundane one. And please give me a break on all the event hype about the iPad's influence. At least the MBA's no longer uber-uber-obscenely priced and now comes in a smaller size -- both things that should have been there from the start.

/end rant.
 
CrippsPink said:
my girlfriend is waiting for it for years on a mbp with display size <= 14" ... i will have to convince her a bit ;)
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your girlfriend has been waiting YEARS for a mbp with a screen ONE INCH smaller than the current one?

that is one picky broad.

what is it she hopes to gain from a 1" smaller screen? a weight savings of TWO OUNCES! a few hundred LESS PIXELS!

seriously, that is one of the weirdest, most arbitrary requirements i've ever heard.

i understand missing the 12" ... but holding out for a 14"?

your chick puts a lot of importance on some strange things, man.

maybe that's why she's your girlfriend? :p
 
Closer to what I wanted the original MBA to be. This would have been a great companion to a desktop machine for me. But since I went with a 13" MBP and an iPad instead there really isn't a spot for it for me right now.

[rant]I'm ticked about the lack of a anti-glare option. Please Apple give us a anti-glare option on the smaller laptops! The lack of anti-glare on iMacs is a different topic for another time. I'll complain about that again when the next iMacs are released.[/rant]
 
manhattanboy said:
Agreed. But tell me, what exactly is so different about the new MBA versus the 2 year old one?
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Based upon what I've seen, I don't think there are a lot of differences. But if the video's on Apple's website are to be believed, the new video card can drive a large monitor at a higher resolution. My current MBA (gen 2) drives my iMac display at a disappointing resolution. If I were to consider upgrading MBAs to this new model, it would likely be because of that.

The other big changes seems to be battery life. No SSD like my Gen2, so more room for batteries.
 
FuNGi said:
Yeah, and the nonchalant attitude like he unboxes new Air models all the friggin' day. Surprised if he doesn't forget it there in the shop after getting his iced frapuccino.
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No kidding. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought he came off like a total d-bag in that video. It's actually part of the reason I stopped reading Engadget. Too much 'tude.
 
It is hilarious that Jobs rants about netbooks being crap and basically we get the Apple version. Although the Apple version seems like a fully functioning laptop. Looks nifty. Can't wait to mess with one in the store and see actual size.
 
PeterQVenkman said:
You're going to hate the Mac App store then. If it's anything like the iOS App Store, it's just a trojan horse for ads.
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Nonsense.

None of the default apps on an iDevice have ads built in. It's up to you to decide which apps to download from the App Store. Some of the free apps do have ads, however in many (if not most) cases, there are paid versions that remove the ads.

If you don't like the ads in Yahoo! Sportacular, stop being a chump and pony up the $1.99 for the ad-free Pro version.
 
MBA Overheating

riverfreak said:
Do these have the same Intel Core 2 Duo chips that the original MacBook Air launched with in 2008 (albeit the new ones have a slower clock speed)?

...

The first gen Air shipped with a 1.6/1.8 Core 2 Duo. I have the 1.8. It runs hot even on a desk and the fans are noisier than my Dell beast desktop. I get the beachball constantly, even doing light work in the terminal on remote servers. Naturally, I'm concerned about performance of these new iterations.
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I had a Gen1 MBA. It had terrible overheating problems. Replaced it with a Gen2, with a little help from Apple, and it (mostly) doesn't overheat. Much better, actually. Once in a while, while working outside in direct sunlight, I have had an overheating problem with the Gen2.

I would guess that, given all the problems Apple had with overheating and the Gen1 models, that they would have designed it specifically to avoid those issues. Apple doesn't usually repeat the same mistakes.
 
Larger SSD Upgrades?

bigrob66 said:
I popped a SSD from OWC in my 13" MBP and Mac Pro and they boot in 14 - 15 seconds too. Pretty awesome!
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Since you've used a 3rd party upgrade for your MBA, any limitations in interface, design, speed I need to know about? I'm thinking of upgrading my Gen2 SSD to a larger capacity SSD.

Thoughts?
 
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