Is MacAir right for me?

[freediro]

So i am looking at getting the Air, i am constantly on the move from school to work to home and other places. I rarely do 'heavy' computing(which i have a home pc for.) I don't play video games, i don't download much at all, the most i would put the laptop through is running photoshop or garageband, running window office programs, surfing the net and streaming videos once in a while. i was looking at getting the 1.8ghz Air with a ssd.

Does this sound right for me or does another Mac sound better for me? If you recommend the Air should i go with a RevA or RevB?

 

[p.luik]

When you say photoshop and garageband, I think MacBook. You will need the memory.

 

[freediro]

memory? Don't both have 2 gb(i know the MacBooks can be upgraded) and processor(yes the macbook's is faster) and same graphics card?

 

[ravenvii]

Whoa, what's a Mac Air? A super-lightweight Mac Pro, flattened down to less than a inch?

Wait, that's just a MacBook Pro in a vertical stand, my apologies.

 

[freediro]

i hope that was sarcasm or else you're just wasting your time trying to blindly make fun of some one from a computer screen. But i try to have faith in people and i am very sarcastic so, if some one could actually give me informative advice, that would be very much appreciated, thank you.

 

[tubbymac]

rev B for garageband. Even on my unibody MB with a decently complicated garageband file the CPU really gets worked over and the machine puts out some heat. rev A is gonna get really hot with garageband, probably too hot to keep comfortable in your lap (unless all you do is really basic garageband stuff).

 

[richard.mac]

it sounds like you want the Air. so get it. get the Rev B as it has much better graphics and is worth it.

although Photoshop does use a lot of the CPU so the MacBook would excel there.

 

[Scottsdale]

Rev B MBA with SSD.

I own the rev B with SSD, and I am amazed by it daily. The SSD really makes it speedy.

You don't need more than 2 GB of DDR3 RAM. It's running at 1066 MHz which is nice RAM.

Now, the rev B MBA with SSD is expensive. I believe the extra cost will save you money in the long run. I think in the long run, the rev B MBA will more than makeup the price difference between the original refurbished and the rev B new.

Also, the rev B will allow you to plug it into a 24" LED Apple Cinema Display or a 30" Apple Cinema Display. My MBA feels like an instant desktop once I plug in the 24" ACD. It also works nicely like a docking station.

So, my advice if you cannot afford or don't want to spend money on a rev B with SSD, definitely buy the rev B 1.6 with HDD over any original MBA. The xBench results from the rev B MBA show it performs better at 1.6 GHz with HDD than the original MBA performed with 1.8 GHz and SSD.

In the rev B, the SSD will make your MBA boot in 1/3 of the time as a HDD. Also, apps open instantly with SSD. And large files are quick openers with SSD. But, even if the SSD is out of reach or over your budget, the HDD will perform plenty well.

Simply put, the slowest and lowest price rev B MBA outperforms the highest priced original MBA that cost $3099 new less than eight months ago.

Remember to the low end rev B MBA still has same awesome Penryn 6 MB L2 Cache chip at slightly slower 1.6 GHz clock speed. The low end still has Nvidia graphics capable of driving a 30" ACD. The low end MBA still has 2 GB of 1066 MHz RAM. The low end still has beautiful form factor and is super lightweight and ultra portable. Oh and still has SATA drive controller.

And, you may be able to upgrade to SSD in the future if you cannot swing it now. Tough at the moment, but solutions may come out in the future to make it possible.

I love my MBA, and I think it is a wise decision for anyone that wants ultra portability yet speed at the same time.

Good luck with your decision.

Cheers.

 

[freediro]

WOW! thank you veyr much Socttsdale!

I know you were not clear about switching the MBA's HDD for a SSD, so does anyone know for sure if this is at all possible to do, even if it has to be done through Apple?

 

[McGilli]

JUst wanted to say - go for the Rev B 1.86/SSD. There are a bunch of us here that use it for programs that need more power than what you will use - and - I think all of us are extremely happy with it power and memory wise.

Sounds like you can afford it - so go for it. It's a really, really, REALLY sexy and cool machine. You will never regret it.

If you want to save money on the HDD - then just buy it for that. don't buy it thinking that in a year you will upgrade to SSD etc - it MIGHT be possible in the future - but - buy the features you want NOW......

 

[dubhe]

Buy the best you can afford. I use a 1.6 HDD Rev.B as my sole computer and it is perfect for all my tasks. Web browsing, iPhoto organising, video playing (through iTunes or Quicktime) and word/spreadsheet documents.

You won't regret whichever you decide to buy (provided it is Rev.B)

 

[stoconnell]

WOW! thank you veyr much Socttsdale!

I know you were not clear about switching the MBA's HDD for a SSD, so does anyone know for sure if this is at all possible to do, even if it has to be done through Apple?

I don't believe it is a supported option even through Apple. Has anyone tried? I would guess it would mess up serial number to model and spare parts and turn a standard config into a BTO model which they'd rather have you just do in the first place. If you look back through the forum, there have been examples of people trying various third party disk options both for the Rev A and Rev B machines. The trouble is there is not a very large universe of compatible drives to choose from (particularly Rev B) and of those very few have proven to work as both machine require a 1.8" drive that is 5mm or thinner with some very specific and finnicky interfaces:

Rev A uses a PATA ZIF for which some drives exist, but people have add issues or they are going to much smaller drive capacities to replace the 80GB drive with an SSD.

Rev B uses SATA LIF which is very uncommon. There is a thread where the reporter engineered a SATA (std connection) to use the SATA LIF cable to connect to his machine.

If you decide to go the MacBook Air, I'd say buy the best config you can afford unless you are into projects and tinkering (or tipping wind mills).

Good luck with your decision.

 

[drjsway]

I am editing a movie on Final Cut Pro as we speak on my MBA. This is Hollywood feature which will be released in theaters. Amazing that twenty years ago, you needed a massive room full of equipment to do this and now we can do it on a 3 pound laptop. Rev B 1.86/SSD, BTW.

Rendering is slow and I still do most of the work on a Mac Pro but the convenience of being able to work on my film on a flight is incredible.

 

[Benguitar]

I think you would be better off with a standard Unibody MacBook.

GarageBand and Photoshop are both very heavy applications and I suggest you get a computer with the power to run them smoothly.

MacBooks aren't fat computers, no they aren't a MacBook Air but they are still very portable.

 

[Ericgs]

The real Mac Air Specs

First thanks for all the input here. From everything I've read, the Air is the perfect Mac "Netbook" and as such will be a great traveling campaign to go with my iMac.

Aside from Apples "Specs" (Marketing is marketing) Can any one supply me with real specs?

1- Weight with the 128GB SDD
2- Battery life with 128GB SDD. I"ll be wireless doing email, some wordprocessing/bloging and general web browsing. Also what about battery life when I'm just running a presentation?

Thanks

 

[tsubikiddo]

First thanks for all the input here. From everything I've read, the Air is the perfect Mac "Netbook" and as such will be a great traveling campaign to go with my iMac.

Aside from Apples "Specs" (Marketing is marketing) Can any one supply me with real specs?

1- Weight with the 128GB SDD
2- Battery life with 128GB SDD. I"ll be wireless doing email, some wordprocessing/bloging and general web browsing. Also what about battery life when I'm just running a presentation?

Thanks

don't expect massive battery life gain from the HDD ver.
you'd be looking at another 15~40mins of extra battery life

 

[Airforcekid]

Rev A ssd it should do good and its a steal for $1299. You may need coolbook though depends on how you view it.

 

[Ericgs]

Thanks for the info on battery life.

Any thoughts on how the SSD drive changes the weight?

 

[the vj]

Pal...

I am using a 12" powerbook released in 2003! and I am using all those applications and more like final cut pro and after effects, and the run just fine.

I mac book air shouldn't have any problem at all.