Any Bluetooth device should work fine with it. It supports EDR 2.1, the latest standard.
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MacBook Air First Impressions and Notes
- Thread starter arn
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Any Bluetooth device should work fine with it. It supports EDR 2.1, the latest standard.
Re: Bluetooth Accessories
I for one am glad that the wireless Mighty Mouse is bluetooth and not USB, coz USB ports are an endangered species when it comes to the MBA. I'm already anticipating the "what a bummer"-factor when I'll need to chop 'n' change between Superdrive, iPod and printer (although I could stop whinging and just buy a hub...)
Still, the USB factor is just one compromise, and it didn't break the deal for this style-conscious lad!
Btw, a lot of this Apple related stuff is new to me (PC boy since the day I could sit up at a computer)... I thought Apple was a good choice for build quality, rather than Acer or some other crummy brand like that. Right?
I for one am glad that the wireless Mighty Mouse is bluetooth and not USB, coz USB ports are an endangered species when it comes to the MBA. I'm already anticipating the "what a bummer"-factor when I'll need to chop 'n' change between Superdrive, iPod and printer (although I could stop whinging and just buy a hub...)
Still, the USB factor is just one compromise, and it didn't break the deal for this style-conscious lad!
Btw, a lot of this Apple related stuff is new to me (PC boy since the day I could sit up at a computer)... I thought Apple was a good choice for build quality, rather than Acer or some other crummy brand like that. Right?
i have a question for you guys.
i want to buy a mba but here's the thing. its my first mac and i would hve to put windows on it. can it be done on the 64ssd one???? i want an ultra portable laptop and i dont want another pc. so im buying a mac either way.
ill only use it for surfing, watching tv series some music and some video converting for my ps3
and also can i buy the time capsule thing for storage or is it only for backup??
thanks
The Time Capsule is a combination of Airport extreme (802.11) wireless router + 500 GB or 1 TB of storage. You can use it as a regular wireless external HD. I can't comment on the rest except to say that I am in the same boat regarding switching from Vista.
Apple's products are as good as their vendor's quality control. Right now, while the MBA has a few niglets, like uneven rubber feet, most agree that this 1.0 version has few problems relatively speaking.
uber gorilla, it is, it is. I bought my first Mac last year after 15 years of PC machines and I've been VERY happy. I also own 2 iPods, an iPhone, and an Airport Extreme. And I'm scheming on how to get a MacBook Air.
hey guys, im considering purchasing the 1.6 model, but i have a few questions about the build of the machine. i'm looking for very objective opinions so please guys, be as honest as possible
first, how is the heat on the 80gb hdd model? All the reviews and first impressions have been kinda vague and inconsistent. People say it doesnt get too hot, and others say it does and loud...? All i really want to know is how does this thing compare to the macbook's heat issue? I have a 1.6ghz core duo (not c2d) macbook and it gets really uncomfortable when i have it on my lap...is the mba also like this?
next, im really concerned with the hinge on the MBA. How is the build of it? sturdy? Does it look like it's gonna get really loose after a year of use?
And also..any signs of discoloration below the keyboard like the macbooks? i guess this is pretty early on to be asking a question like this, but i figure it's worth mentioning
Are the uneven rubber feet a widespread problem on these revision A MBA's?
Yeah, answers on any of these questions would be great, and so would any other comments about the hardware on this. Honestly, im looking for more negative comments more than anything--i already know what i like about the machine heh (and plz, no comments on the price of the thing or its lack of ports)
first, how is the heat on the 80gb hdd model? All the reviews and first impressions have been kinda vague and inconsistent. People say it doesnt get too hot, and others say it does and loud...? All i really want to know is how does this thing compare to the macbook's heat issue? I have a 1.6ghz core duo (not c2d) macbook and it gets really uncomfortable when i have it on my lap...is the mba also like this?
next, im really concerned with the hinge on the MBA. How is the build of it? sturdy? Does it look like it's gonna get really loose after a year of use?
And also..any signs of discoloration below the keyboard like the macbooks? i guess this is pretty early on to be asking a question like this, but i figure it's worth mentioning
Are the uneven rubber feet a widespread problem on these revision A MBA's?
Yeah, answers on any of these questions would be great, and so would any other comments about the hardware on this. Honestly, im looking for more negative comments more than anything--i already know what i like about the machine heh (and plz, no comments on the price of the thing or its lack of ports)
I'm interested in the hinge issue, myself. I had a G3 Wallstreet Powerbook and the hinge only had about half an inch of play after about 6 or 7 years. I wonder how the hinge on the Air would hold up?
Thanks, guys, it kinda puts my heart to rest to know that Apple is at least making semi-decent products.
Anything that's better than this crusty old Tosh Satellite that I'm using right now will take me over the moon
Anything that's better than this crusty old Tosh Satellite that I'm using right now will take me over the moon
Heat - Not an issue for me. It gets warm, that's it. My use so far consists of surfing the web and playing Peggle.
The hinge seems very durable to me, but I've only used it for a couple of days now.
I have no idea on the discoloration. Again, it's early but there's no sign of that.
The uneven rubber feet thing is weird.... After reading reports of this issue, I checked out my MBA and sure enough, it rocked a bit. The front left rubber foot was a bit too short.
But I just checked again and it's not nearly as bad as it was. Is this even possible?
So far, I really like this machine. It's my first Mac laptop so maybe the fact that I don't have any MacBook or MacBook Pro experiences to compare it to is a factor, but I love it. I realize it's not for everyone and some people are disappointed, but good grief, some of the kids around here are really getting annoying. I guess that's their goal though.
I have the same "part-time" issue with the left front foot. It is a problem only sometimes. I think they have a design problem that obviously can be easily fixed. They will have to either retro-fit mine or break out a replacement machine for me.
Is your machine plugged in or running on battery power. I've heard of this happening when it's plugged in, and have observed the same thing on my own SSD MBA. When it's running on battery power it is completely silent.
Same issue.. the fan on this thing goes wild.
I have iStat Menus and the processor on this thing peaks a lot. syslogd seems to be the culprit much of the time. Perhaps its Time Machine?
Anyways, I really hope that Apple releases something to deal with the fan issue because I don't think they've quite tweaked the temperature settings on this thing properly. It's at full blast way too often. Maybe the thing doesn't cool well enough, but it's way too loud of a computer right now.
Interesting. Some folks mention how loud the computer is, but reports like the new appleinsider review talk about how quiet it runs. I wonder if this is an issue that is effecting some of the computers...
My $.02.
Well I haven't bought one, but I did go check them out this weekend at the good ol' Apple Store.
Undeniably it is ultra sexy. It is compact, sleek, and fairly small without seeming too small. While it has the same screen as the MB you wouldn't think so by looking at it. Its thinness and tapered edges really go far to making it look smaller than the casing to a 13" screen.
It was snappy and responsive and like any Mac, easy to use.
My only word of warning is that it will take users a little while to get use to the new trackpad and the multi-touch functionality. Even as an iPhone user, I found the MT functions a bit awkward. But I am sure this is just a learning curve thing.
And BTW, the keyboard is really nice.
Well I haven't bought one, but I did go check them out this weekend at the good ol' Apple Store.
Undeniably it is ultra sexy. It is compact, sleek, and fairly small without seeming too small. While it has the same screen as the MB you wouldn't think so by looking at it. Its thinness and tapered edges really go far to making it look smaller than the casing to a 13" screen.
It was snappy and responsive and like any Mac, easy to use.
My only word of warning is that it will take users a little while to get use to the new trackpad and the multi-touch functionality. Even as an iPhone user, I found the MT functions a bit awkward. But I am sure this is just a learning curve thing.
And BTW, the keyboard is really nice.
Macbook Air -- To Buy or not to Buy
I want to buy a new Mac laptop for my wife. We don't have any Mac computers yet, but we are about to migrate our home to Macs.
She wants a laptop with a backlit keyboard. The current choices are: MBP and MB Air. I don't like the way MBP looks at all. Additionally, it gets very hot, so I would much rather get her a Mac Book, but it has no backlit keyboard, so it's out. I was very excited about the MB Air, especially the fact that it has a backlit keyboard. I got my wife really interested in this laptop when it came out three weeks ago. We went to a couple Apple stores last weekend and played with the MB Air. I personally consider MB Air to be a niche product and in no way a laptop that can become a replacement for your home computer. Instead, it complements a desktop or another more powerful laptop. However, I admit that students may find the portability factor of this laptop compelling enough to make it their own computer while attending college.
The problem I have with this laptop is the fact that the price is basically the same as MBP when you add a NIC and an external Superdrive, but the specs are way below MBP. I am not so much concerned about the HD space because I keep all of my files on a NAS, but the HD speed (4200 rpms) and the fixed amount of RAM (2GB) is a major concern. What I am afraid of is the fact that this laptop may not be up to par when doing something a little more resource intensive, such as editing photos, making home videos, maybe recording in Garage Band, etc. We don't do much of that now, but as we go forward, this is something that we might be interested in.
The thing that really got me concerned about the performance of MB Air was the fact that the Apple store I was in last weekend had the background set for a slide show. So, the background was changing every 5 sec. I opened Mail and locked one of the keys on the keyboard to make the effect of llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. Every time the background was changing, the string of repeating characters would stop for about 0.5 sec and then accelerate again. So, the simple task of changing slides was too intensive for this laptop to do in parallel something as simple as text entry. I decided to repeat the same test on a MB, and the delay in the repeating characters was barely noticeable maybe 1/10 of a sec instead of half a second on the MB Air.
I understand that this laptop was not designed to be a powerhouse, and I am not talking about doing professional video editing with Final Cut Pro, etc. I would like to know, though, if this laptop is more than just a glorified iPod Touch, and can do normal day-to-day tasks beyond mere text editing, internet, and email. So, has anyone tried to use this laptop for more than just text editing, internet browsing and email?
I have heard rumors that MBP is about to be updated. Has anyone heard when this update is expected? I would be willing to wait a few weeks if MBP are going to be updated soon. Maybe Apple will put MBP in a new enclosure and do something to prevent it from getting so darn hot!
Last question -- Has anyone heard if MBs are going to be updated soon? Will Apple finally put them in aluminum this year? If so, when? Any rumors if MBs will get a backlit keyboard just like MB Air's?
Thanks.
I want to buy a new Mac laptop for my wife. We don't have any Mac computers yet, but we are about to migrate our home to Macs.
She wants a laptop with a backlit keyboard. The current choices are: MBP and MB Air. I don't like the way MBP looks at all. Additionally, it gets very hot, so I would much rather get her a Mac Book, but it has no backlit keyboard, so it's out. I was very excited about the MB Air, especially the fact that it has a backlit keyboard. I got my wife really interested in this laptop when it came out three weeks ago. We went to a couple Apple stores last weekend and played with the MB Air. I personally consider MB Air to be a niche product and in no way a laptop that can become a replacement for your home computer. Instead, it complements a desktop or another more powerful laptop. However, I admit that students may find the portability factor of this laptop compelling enough to make it their own computer while attending college.
The problem I have with this laptop is the fact that the price is basically the same as MBP when you add a NIC and an external Superdrive, but the specs are way below MBP. I am not so much concerned about the HD space because I keep all of my files on a NAS, but the HD speed (4200 rpms) and the fixed amount of RAM (2GB) is a major concern. What I am afraid of is the fact that this laptop may not be up to par when doing something a little more resource intensive, such as editing photos, making home videos, maybe recording in Garage Band, etc. We don't do much of that now, but as we go forward, this is something that we might be interested in.
The thing that really got me concerned about the performance of MB Air was the fact that the Apple store I was in last weekend had the background set for a slide show. So, the background was changing every 5 sec. I opened Mail and locked one of the keys on the keyboard to make the effect of llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. Every time the background was changing, the string of repeating characters would stop for about 0.5 sec and then accelerate again. So, the simple task of changing slides was too intensive for this laptop to do in parallel something as simple as text entry. I decided to repeat the same test on a MB, and the delay in the repeating characters was barely noticeable maybe 1/10 of a sec instead of half a second on the MB Air.
I understand that this laptop was not designed to be a powerhouse, and I am not talking about doing professional video editing with Final Cut Pro, etc. I would like to know, though, if this laptop is more than just a glorified iPod Touch, and can do normal day-to-day tasks beyond mere text editing, internet, and email. So, has anyone tried to use this laptop for more than just text editing, internet browsing and email?
I have heard rumors that MBP is about to be updated. Has anyone heard when this update is expected? I would be willing to wait a few weeks if MBP are going to be updated soon. Maybe Apple will put MBP in a new enclosure and do something to prevent it from getting so darn hot!
Last question -- Has anyone heard if MBs are going to be updated soon? Will Apple finally put them in aluminum this year? If so, when? Any rumors if MBs will get a backlit keyboard just like MB Air's?
Thanks.
I didn't find multi touch difficult to use at all. On the contrary, it was completely intuitive. I found myself using taps to click and to drag even though I've always been a button click user.
Rotating and resizing photos with multi touch was very intuitive. Because of the limited number of MBA's in the store, people were huddled around me and I heard some gasps and oooooh's & aaaaah's when I used multi touch.
I'm very tempted to get one, but my power needs are holding me back. If this is a sign of things to come for Apple, I'm looking forward to the next version of the MacBook Pro (probably @ WWDC in August).
Not worth $1800?
By all means, feel free to take that cash and buy the competing Sony TZ.
Oops! Better wait and save up a bit, and be willing to get less for more.
Not worth $1800?
By all means, feel free to take that cash and buy the competing Sony TZ.
Oops! Better wait and save up a bit, and be willing to get less for more.
Or better yet, save $1400 and buy an iPod Touch since it basically does everything people are buying an MBA for (web-browsing, e-mail, music). But let me guess, you paid the extra $1400 for the ability to do word-processing?
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
The ignorance of some people never ceases to amaze me. Run along now little man, there is nothing for you to see here...
Regards,
C