When SSD prices come down to $150 or less, is it technically possible to swap out the HDD drive for an SSD drive in MBA? I believe both versions of MBA are using PATA, so if the connector is the same, it should be a one-hour-or-less job to swap out the drives, right?
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MacBook Air First Impressions and Notes
- Thread starter arn
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When SSD prices come down to $150 or less, is it technically possible to swap out the HDD drive for an SSD drive in MBA? I believe both versions of MBA are using PATA, so if the connector is the same, it should be a one-hour-or-less job to swap out the drives, right?
Certainly looks possible and talks about doing it have been the air (heh), I don't know if someone has done this yet. Currently you will void your warranty by opening the machine but probably the 1 year warranty will have already run out by then anyway.
However, I believe you don't void your warranty if you have the work done by an authorized apple repair person.
First Impression: So far so good.....
A bit of perspective. I'm a recovering PC user, at least for my personal computers. I've been using a MacBook (2.0 gig/2 gig RAM/120HD) for about 20 months. Very happy with the device, but I travel quite a bit to do presentations and wanted a lighter device to schlep through airports, trains, rental cars etc. Enter the MBA....
I bought it yesterday when one of the two somewhat local Apple stores had them in stock. Packaging is typical Apple, incredible piece of industrial engineering/packaging. The MBA specific bag was unexpected but sort of cool....
Booted the device up and grabbed my settings/apps/data from my latest Time Machine backup of my MB and about 30 minutes later I had 24 gig of space left, then I started dumping languages etc and got up to 27.5 gig of space as of this writing. I had trimmed music, movies and photos off of my MB to put them onto the family iMac with access to all of the above via airport/Back To My Mac.
The keyboard feels very familiar, like the backlighting but not a huge thing. Screen is brighter than the screen on the MB, but not all that much different overall.
Having this thing under my arm from room to room or on my lap is incredible. Talk about light!!! Not that the MB was that heavy, but the combo of the MBA and my smallish LCD projector won't weigh that much more than just my MB. I'm looking to traveling the next few weekends with it to see how much of a difference it makes on the shoulders....
I set up a powered USB hub on my desk to allow me to use my ext HD for TM, USB headphones for podcasting and listening to tunes, synching my iPhone/iPods as well as sticking a memory stick or two onto the device as needed. I won't miss the firewire connection to my TM backup drive given the way that it runs in the background.
Overall, I'll give it 4.5 eyeballs out of a potential 5.0 Its not a 5 just because I've only used it for a day sofar....
John Warren, OD
http://www.warreneyecarecenter.com
A bit of perspective. I'm a recovering PC user, at least for my personal computers. I've been using a MacBook (2.0 gig/2 gig RAM/120HD) for about 20 months. Very happy with the device, but I travel quite a bit to do presentations and wanted a lighter device to schlep through airports, trains, rental cars etc. Enter the MBA....
I bought it yesterday when one of the two somewhat local Apple stores had them in stock. Packaging is typical Apple, incredible piece of industrial engineering/packaging. The MBA specific bag was unexpected but sort of cool....
Booted the device up and grabbed my settings/apps/data from my latest Time Machine backup of my MB and about 30 minutes later I had 24 gig of space left, then I started dumping languages etc and got up to 27.5 gig of space as of this writing. I had trimmed music, movies and photos off of my MB to put them onto the family iMac with access to all of the above via airport/Back To My Mac.
The keyboard feels very familiar, like the backlighting but not a huge thing. Screen is brighter than the screen on the MB, but not all that much different overall.
Having this thing under my arm from room to room or on my lap is incredible. Talk about light!!! Not that the MB was that heavy, but the combo of the MBA and my smallish LCD projector won't weigh that much more than just my MB. I'm looking to traveling the next few weekends with it to see how much of a difference it makes on the shoulders....
I set up a powered USB hub on my desk to allow me to use my ext HD for TM, USB headphones for podcasting and listening to tunes, synching my iPhone/iPods as well as sticking a memory stick or two onto the device as needed. I won't miss the firewire connection to my TM backup drive given the way that it runs in the background.
Overall, I'll give it 4.5 eyeballs out of a potential 5.0 Its not a 5 just because I've only used it for a day sofar....
John Warren, OD
http://www.warreneyecarecenter.com
Will this myth ever end?!
The warranty is only voided IF the failure is caused by your modification.
Sheesh!
So if a person switches in a SSD and something happens with the computer from that, then the warranty is voided? Sounds risky nonetheless.
Aren't there seals inside some/all of the laptops which evidence you making a voiding modification, though?
I finally got the MBA. I was hoping for a MBP update this Tuesday but just couldn't wait any more. So everybody please welcome me as your latest member to the MBA owner's club 
So far, I love it! I bought the external superdrive along with it. I was at the Apple store but the don't have any specific casing for it yet.
So far, I love it! I bought the external superdrive along with it. I was at the Apple store but the don't have any specific casing for it yet.
Well, I just picked my Macbook Air up a few hours ago. I must say that this is a sweet laptop. Much faster than I expected. Boots faster than my Dell Inspiron 1520 which is only about two weeks old now. Apps open on a few bounces, Remote Disc is fantastic. All in all, I'm happy with the 1700 I spent.
So everybody please welcome me as your latest member to the MBA owner's club
Welcome to a great club.
Don't have time to post my full impressions here (and I'd end up echoing other people's comments anyway).
One thing that has pleasantly surprised me is the not too shabby battery performance. Today is the first day that I've actually used the MBA in somewhat of a normal setting (yesterday I was busy doing a clean OS install, installing apps, copying files, etc...) and I have had it running for about 4:30 so far in normal use and it is just now reaching the end of battery life. I'm defining normal use as wireless, web, music, couple of videos, played around in photoshop, lightroom, etc... Nothing very heavy and I do have the screen brightness set relatively low (just below halfway) but that is pretty decent use.
I did notice that the time remaining indicator was jumping around a lot depending on the load at that time. Not surprising but maybe it could time average a bit more.
One thing that has pleasantly surprised me is the not too shabby battery performance. Today is the first day that I've actually used the MBA in somewhat of a normal setting (yesterday I was busy doing a clean OS install, installing apps, copying files, etc...) and I have had it running for about 4:30 so far in normal use and it is just now reaching the end of battery life. I'm defining normal use as wireless, web, music, couple of videos, played around in photoshop, lightroom, etc... Nothing very heavy and I do have the screen brightness set relatively low (just below halfway) but that is pretty decent use.
I did notice that the time remaining indicator was jumping around a lot depending on the load at that time. Not surprising but maybe it could time average a bit more.
mba day 3
flawless i have the 1.8 ssd the machine is completely silent
no battery issues
remote disc worked flawlessly
this is my 8th mac laptop and i feel the build quality is excellent!
Brought it to work and everyone fell in love with it as other people have pointed out it is just an amazingly sexy product.
Its design is worth the price!!!
The led screen is the best i have ever seen on a laptop.
the keyboard is a little springy for me but very usable.
Its kind of like a fancy sports car that people pay a lot of money for
usually there are cheaper sports cars that can outperform the more exspensive ones however they never feel or look as cool
flawless i have the 1.8 ssd the machine is completely silent
no battery issues
remote disc worked flawlessly
this is my 8th mac laptop and i feel the build quality is excellent!
Brought it to work and everyone fell in love with it as other people have pointed out it is just an amazingly sexy product.
Its design is worth the price!!!
The led screen is the best i have ever seen on a laptop.
the keyboard is a little springy for me but very usable.
Its kind of like a fancy sports car that people pay a lot of money for
usually there are cheaper sports cars that can outperform the more exspensive ones however they never feel or look as cool
Don't you mean 30 Megabytes per second? (MB/s)? That's what we're getting when we run QuickBench's sustained large block test.
First in Fredericton
Well that might be over stating it a bit, however I am probably among the first to receive their MBA in Eastern Canada.
My initial impressions were mostly amazement on how it was so light, lighter than the box it comes in.... crazy.
The migration was a bit more time consuming than I'd hoped, I even had the ethernet adapter.
So far it seems pretty snappy, I do really like waking it up from sleep as compared to my powerbook.
Barring that... It's a computer just like my other macs... just small...
I will say this though, the screen is gorgeous. I hardly want to look at my poor 17" iMac any more, the screen on it is dim by comparison.
All in all I feel it was a good purchase, I am a university student, heading into my masters and I travel a lot. Furthermore for my work I cannot leave my laptop at work, and I need something that runs both OSes so this is a great solution. Beats having two laptops by far.
On a side note, at least 50 people at my school nearly lost it when they saw this baby... The joys of being in computer engineering, people are actually impressed by your new computer!
- Joe
Well that might be over stating it a bit, however I am probably among the first to receive their MBA in Eastern Canada.
My initial impressions were mostly amazement on how it was so light, lighter than the box it comes in.... crazy.
The migration was a bit more time consuming than I'd hoped, I even had the ethernet adapter.
So far it seems pretty snappy, I do really like waking it up from sleep as compared to my powerbook.
Barring that... It's a computer just like my other macs... just small...
I will say this though, the screen is gorgeous. I hardly want to look at my poor 17" iMac any more, the screen on it is dim by comparison.
All in all I feel it was a good purchase, I am a university student, heading into my masters and I travel a lot. Furthermore for my work I cannot leave my laptop at work, and I need something that runs both OSes so this is a great solution. Beats having two laptops by far.
On a side note, at least 50 people at my school nearly lost it when they saw this baby... The joys of being in computer engineering, people are actually impressed by your new computer!
- Joe
Caveot Emptor!- Printer woes to avoid
I got a new printer to go with my MBA and airport extreme. I got the printer bundled with my MBA. Unfortunately, it was a Canon Pixma ip3500, and guess what? Doesn't run off of the Airport Extreme! I had to switch it out for anHP.
Therefore, even if you buy a printer from the Apple Store, be sure to ask if it is compatible, don't assume!
I got a new printer to go with my MBA and airport extreme. I got the printer bundled with my MBA. Unfortunately, it was a Canon Pixma ip3500, and guess what? Doesn't run off of the Airport Extreme! I had to switch it out for anHP.
Therefore, even if you buy a printer from the Apple Store, be sure to ask if it is compatible, don't assume!
received my mba on monday, but haven't really had the chance to spend some QT with it till yesterday. so far after 12 hours of cumulative usage:
the backlit keyboard feature needs help. i'm certain it's a driver issue, and it appears it's a problem with the mbp's as well. i argue that if it's advertised, it had better work. i mean if bmw advertises rotating headlamps, it's expected that when you turn right they also turn right; similarly, the ambient light sensor shouldn't shut the backlight off when it senses total darkness. and yes, sometimes my settings stick, but there's no consistency.
spotty 802.11n WPA performance. for reference, i have a DIR-655 with the latest firmware. anyway, i could be seated right next to the router and the connection will drop. also, streaming video from another computer that is hooked up via ethernet results in choppy playback. i've had to pre-buffer the stream to alleviate the problem, something i haven't normally had to do. interestingly, 802.11g WEP performance at work is fine.
those are pretty much the two biggest gotchas at the moment. but rather than sound negative, here are some plusses:
i now use other features of leopard that i normally don't use. my finder is set to coverflow, and i now use spaces to manage different environments -- it also makes for an effective "boss key" to hide what you're really doing (e.g., posting on the macrumors forum!). i don't intend on adapting those habits to my mac pro however!
the screen is just gorgeous. no dead or stuck pixels, and this is the first machine that i've not had to calibrate out of the box. maybe down the road, though. brightness is close to crt, thanks to the led backlit display.
8-hour charge from 20-100% once. and that was monday evening when i took it home to break it in for a bit. a typical charge is about 3 hours on sleep, on par with gizmodo's observations.
it only gets warm. finally, a machine that puts the lap back in laptop. after 3 hours of use on my lap, i have not found it uncomfortable.
best of all, it's a mac. hope you all are enjoying yours as much as i am!
the backlit keyboard feature needs help. i'm certain it's a driver issue, and it appears it's a problem with the mbp's as well. i argue that if it's advertised, it had better work. i mean if bmw advertises rotating headlamps, it's expected that when you turn right they also turn right; similarly, the ambient light sensor shouldn't shut the backlight off when it senses total darkness. and yes, sometimes my settings stick, but there's no consistency.
spotty 802.11n WPA performance. for reference, i have a DIR-655 with the latest firmware. anyway, i could be seated right next to the router and the connection will drop. also, streaming video from another computer that is hooked up via ethernet results in choppy playback. i've had to pre-buffer the stream to alleviate the problem, something i haven't normally had to do. interestingly, 802.11g WEP performance at work is fine.
those are pretty much the two biggest gotchas at the moment. but rather than sound negative, here are some plusses:
i now use other features of leopard that i normally don't use. my finder is set to coverflow, and i now use spaces to manage different environments -- it also makes for an effective "boss key" to hide what you're really doing (e.g., posting on the macrumors forum!). i don't intend on adapting those habits to my mac pro however!
the screen is just gorgeous. no dead or stuck pixels, and this is the first machine that i've not had to calibrate out of the box. maybe down the road, though. brightness is close to crt, thanks to the led backlit display.
8-hour charge from 20-100% once. and that was monday evening when i took it home to break it in for a bit. a typical charge is about 3 hours on sleep, on par with gizmodo's observations.
it only gets warm. finally, a machine that puts the lap back in laptop. after 3 hours of use on my lap, i have not found it uncomfortable.
best of all, it's a mac.
hope you all are enjoying yours as much as i am!
Got ours yesterday (1.6). Everything perfect, out of the box.
The MacBook Air is a work of art. Oh, yea - and a sweet computer!
I've been doing some post migration cleanup via screen sharing (it's 20' away on wife's desk - I wanted to be in the comfy chair on my MBP w/ACD). No connection problems at all (802.11n, WPA2).
I did the migration using a USB2 drive with image of old 667MHz TiBook. Everything came up fine, (email, etc), as expected.
Haven't checked out the Apple Superdrive yet - maybe later. I'm going to give the Remote Disk a try to install Office '08. Probably a bit big, as installs go, but I'm in no hurry.
After initial Time Machine backup, battery cal. cycle is next.
The MacBook Air is a work of art. Oh, yea - and a sweet computer!
I've been doing some post migration cleanup via screen sharing (it's 20' away on wife's desk - I wanted to be in the comfy chair on my MBP w/ACD). No connection problems at all (802.11n, WPA2).
I did the migration using a USB2 drive with image of old 667MHz TiBook. Everything came up fine, (email, etc), as expected.
Haven't checked out the Apple Superdrive yet - maybe later. I'm going to give the Remote Disk a try to install Office '08. Probably a bit big, as installs go, but I'm in no hurry.
After initial Time Machine backup, battery cal. cycle is next.
Finally got around to visiting the Apple Store to see the MacBook Air.
Seeing pics of it only online and making my comments here and there, seeing it in person did something completely different.... I want one of these.
Sure, something smaller like an ASUS Eee PC would be more portable, but this was nice to type on, nice to hold. Very very thin... much thinner than any picture or photo can convey.
I still have my pet peeves about it: no firewire, $300 more than it should be, only one USB port, no user replaceable battery. But I tell you, this thing felt good to actually see in person and it's something that I could use, even putting my MacBook Pro up for comparison for simple tasks (email, Word, Excel, minimal web use).
Seeing pics of it only online and making my comments here and there, seeing it in person did something completely different.... I want one of these.
Sure, something smaller like an ASUS Eee PC would be more portable, but this was nice to type on, nice to hold. Very very thin... much thinner than any picture or photo can convey.
I still have my pet peeves about it: no firewire, $300 more than it should be, only one USB port, no user replaceable battery. But I tell you, this thing felt good to actually see in person and it's something that I could use, even putting my MacBook Pro up for comparison for simple tasks (email, Word, Excel, minimal web use).
Ahhh yes. My bits and my bytes will bite me forever.
I guess it's all this giddiness in the Air... Love this thing.
I'm still impressed as hell with my Air after a few days. Plus, when I took it out last night to show my instructor at college, who is also a MacHead, I had several students come over and drool over it. When was the last time someone came over and drooled over a Dell or a Toshiba laptop?