Macbook air 11 questions

[baxingo]

Anyone on the battery? Will I actually get my 5 hours out of it? will I maybe get more? or is it less? I'm used to the pc side where they say "5 hours" and thats 5 hours on the lowest brightness settings doing nothing but looking at your desktop. The instant you open microsoft word your battery life drops to 2 hours.

 

[fs454]

Anyone on the battery? Will I actually get my 5 hours out of it? will I maybe get more? or is it less? I'm used to the pc side where they say "5 hours" and thats 5 hours on the lowest brightness settings doing nothing but looking at your desktop. The instant you open microsoft word your battery life drops to 2 hours.

Apple usually is quite accurate with battery life, to the point where you often get a little more than what they claim.

Their claim is 5 hours at half brightness on wifi doing light/moderate tasks.

I get that very very regularly, if not a bit more. I've undervolted my cpu and it's not uncommon for me to get 6 hours now.

 

[baxingo]

11" with 4GB ram is the way to go

i have it and i wouldn't trade it in from anything

Are you using the 1.4Ghz processor or do you have the 1.6?

 

[Croatian]

Anyone on the battery? Will I actually get my 5 hours out of it? will I maybe get more? or is it less? I'm used to the pc side where they say "5 hours" and thats 5 hours on the lowest brightness settings doing nothing but looking at your desktop. The instant you open microsoft word your battery life drops to 2 hours.

If you just surf the web yeah you will get 5 hours
but typically while i do work i get about 4 hours of battery life on medium brightness

watching youtube will bring it down as well but on a safe side you will get 4 hours of battery life while surfing the web, working on word file, listening to music.

i have xcode open, safari and listening to music and i get about 4 hours of battery life

 

[mattpreston11]

Battery life is pretty good I have found,although I'm not one of these people who time's it to the minute and is unhappy with 4 hours of hard usage.

If i know I will be using it extensively il take the charger.

Plus electricity elsewhere doesn't cost.

 

[Croatian]

Are you using the 1.4Ghz processor or do you have the 1.6?

i have the 1.6Ghz one, but i really don't think there is that much difference between 1.4 and 1.6 to really notice it unless you plan on doing intensive tasks. I got mine when it was first lunched so i didn't know much of anything so with the safe bet i just spend $100 more

 

[baxingo]

i have the 1.6Ghz one, but i really don't think there is that much difference between 1.4 and 1.6 ...

I hope so, for me going with the 1.6 4gb ram will cost quite a bit more than the base 1.4 with 4gb ram. If its really slow (which I doubt it will) i may just send it back and save up the extra couple hundred and buy it. But I doubt I'll have to

 

[Croatian]

I hope so, for me going with the 1.6 4gb ram will cost quite a bit more than the base 1.4 with 4gb ram. If its really slow (which I doubt it will) i may just send it back and save up the extra couple hundred and buy it. But I doubt I'll have to

to be honest with you i think the SSD makes up for everything else

i have yet to find a big difference between 1.4 and 1.6 ..

you will be safe with 1.4 unless you plan on playing some games or editing crazy big PSD files in photoshop something then maybe 1.6 but even then the SSD will make up for most part in speeding up the tasks

 

[baxingo]

to be honest with you i think the SSD makes up for everything else

i have yet to find a big difference between 1.4 and 1.6 ..

you will be safe with 1.4 unless you plan on playing some games or editing crazy big PSD files in photoshop something then maybe 1.6 but even then the SSD will make up for most part in speeding up the tasks

Yeah, I've been using a 10" acer netbook, i'm used to doing low end tasks lol, this macbook will last me a long time, and since I'm going to be buying an Imac in 4-6 months this should be perfect

 

[firewood]

If you're not planning on major video editing or running large VM's, the base model MBA 11 would be great for school use. Minimum upfront cost in case it gets damaged or stolen. Lightest weight and size so you'll carry it around and have it ready to use more often.

As for speed, my MBA 11 boots faster and runs large iOS developer builds faster than the Mac Pro at work.

 

[boochie]

I'm pretty much set on getting an ultimate 11 over a 13 with 4gb, but am just wondering if anyone has had any issues with the wrist resting areas. It's just small enough on the 11 to slightly dig into my lower palm, while on the 13 they sit just fine. Any comments?

 

[Kachadurian]

So I'm looking at the macbook air 11" model but i'm somewhat concerned. I was originally going to get the 13" with 4gb ram, but that will cost me quite a bit more than the 11" base. I'm going to be using this as a school computer, and for university. I won't be doing much of anything on it, just surfing the web, youtube, skype facebook ect... my only computer right now is a 10" acer netbook which sucks. I will be getting an Imac a few months from now. So any computer will be a significant upgrade, but the tiny resolution on my netbook makes me wonder how well the 11" mba's resolution looks. I wanted the 13 because of the 1440x900 res, but i'm willing to downgrade if the 13 is an overkill for doing the stuff I want. Also would the 4gb ram upgrade be worth it? I like having ram but do I really need it? I feel like the 2gb will be fine, but I get paranoid about stuff lol.

All day I work at a very fast, loaded MacPro and my portable is an 11" MBA. There is no question the MBA loads programs faster and is generally more responsive with simple tasks (not the big stuff like photoshop).

Before the MBA I was using a dell mini9 Hackintosh, which was really fun, but not even in the same league. The MBA 11 is the best laptop I've owned. Fast, great layout, fantastic screen (and I'm an old guy with crappy eyes), and easy to take and use anywhere. It defines portable. The screen seem much much bigger than a "netbook" screen.

Before you buy a 13" be sure you touch and see an 11", even if it means a drive to Calgary. I thought I was going with the 13" MBA until I saw how great and usable the 11" screen is. The Ultimate MBA 11" is about the same price as a base 13" too.

Oh, and get the 4 GB of Ram if for no other reason than you can't add it later.



Tom

 

[baxingo]

The Ultimate MBA 11" is about the same price as a base 13" too.

Oh, and get the 4 GB of Ram if for no other reason than you can't add it later.



Tom

I would like to get the ultimate 11" but then I will have to wait a while longer to get it, If I get the base with 4gb, I can order it most likely this week. I'm a very impatient person if you haven't guessed.

 

[baxingo]

Is the ultimate 11" really that much faster than the base with 4gb?

 

[jamesryanbell]

no, it's not. marginal, if any on most things.

 

[baxingo]

no, it's not. marginal, if any on most things.

Thanks, I think I'll just go a base 11 with the 4gb ram. I'm getting a 2tb external hdd for all un-essential files or large files so the 64 ssd isn't a big problem.

 

[iRun26.2]

I was pretty much dead set on getting the 13" model until I used the 11" in a store and realised just how good the screen is despite it's (relatively) small size, and how snappy the machine is, and how portable it is.

I've bought the 11" model and love it. 4GB is probably worthwhile as you can't upgrade it later (AFAIK) but to be honest it's only used when I have Aperture open, or a whole load of apps running simultaneously.

I am the same. I thought I would get the 13.3" MBA but fell in love with the 11.6" MBA in the store. That's now what I own...I love it!!!