This has been said before, but people put too much on the MBA, rev. A or otherwise. They look cool, they're so small and light, w/ full size screen and keyboard; so a lot of people bought MBAa who should have bought MBs or MB Pros. I use my rev. A MBA as my PRIMARY and ONLY -- if you don't count the two family Macs, which I never touch unless I need to read a CD or DVD -- computer. No external monitor, no external SuperDrive. I have ZERO problems with it. My hinge did loosen a bit, but got no worse and isn't even noticeable. You'd really have to smack this thing around to get that hinge to break. Not that I'm saying it perhaps shouldn't have that extra durability, but it's not a big issue.
Only thing I'd ever want is more HDD or SD space. And that's all for music. I have a huge collection on the Air, which only represents a fraction of what I own on CD and vinyl, and I buy more almost every week. But after installing SL I got 8 GB back, so that helped quite a bit -- for the time being.
But I'm a writer. The MBA is great for that, best Mac I've ever owned, unobtrusive, goes anywhere, can be closed and set aside in a letter organizer, etc. I watch movies on an HDTV, and for games we have a Wii and a PS3. I've long used Mellel instead of Word, so word processor performance is not an issue. At the MBA price point, then and now, a lot of people bought them and tried to make them their primary Macs because they're not inexpensive. But they should have paid a tiny bit more and picked up an MB Pro, or a lot less and gone with the perfectly great MB, even before the aluminum unibody model that is now branded part of the Pro line.
If you want or need top-end performance, the MBA, while really the best ultralight in design and usability, is not a top-end performance portable.
It certainly isn't considered "TOP END" to expect an MBA to run OS X Snow Leopard without loud noise from fans all the time. It certainly isn't "TOP END" to expect the original MBA to play simple, non-HD, videos without experiencing core shutdown, lockups, and overheating. The original MBA is almost as worthless as the iPhone at running Flash Internet sites. In fact, almost anything "intensive" causes overheating because of the Merom CPU, paired with worthless Intel integrated graphics, in the super confined space of the original MBA's form factor. Apple even has you believing your original MBA wasn't ever supposed to be "capable" of normal MAC computing.
You have listened too much to what Apple "Geniuses" say the MBA wasn't made for NOW, after the fact. Meanwhile, when Steve Jobs introduced the MBA to all of us he exclaimed it was a "Mac." The problem is Macs always worked, and people had a certain level of expectations from Macs. The MBA failed many people on very basic levels. Apple could have warned us all ahead of time that the MBA wouldn't "just work" even on very basic levels. It should have called the original MBA a mere "word processor" for "writers" like yourself who champion such a Mac as worthy.
Heck, you even write off the hinge issue as the user error as you think one would really have to "smack" that thing around to break the hinge; so much for all of those who just opened the MBA a few more times than you to see the hinge break in front of their eyes with NO SMACKING applied. Even Apple has admitted to the MBA's failures there. You're giving Apple far more credit than it deserves just as you're doing with the original MBA.
Furthermore, OS X Snow Leopard raises the level of problems again for the original MBA. The Mac that couldn't do what Mac lovers expected of it. Basically, it was great for a writer (you) but was bad for a writer who has other ideas of what a Mac should be able to do (me). I do more than just write... and there lies the problem. The original MBA didn't just work... in fact it failed us ALL, even those who refuse to admit it. Although to the least those who paid $999 to $1299 for it. Different expectations indeed.
Now, those who seem happiest with the original MBA are those who paid $999 to $1299 for it refurbished or buying the "dumped" units after Apple had introduced the MBA v 2,1. People who bought the original MBA for $1799 to $3099 expected a MAC. People who bought the original MBA for $999 to $1299 knew the limitations and problems but expected much less from it because they could get it so very cheaply and fit the role as a secondary Mac or even a primary Mac for VERY LIGHT USERS or "writers."
The point is Apple has learned and moved on, and unfortunately for many original MBA owners,
Snow Leopard really wasn't made for the original MBA... the designers of the MBA v 2,1 did have Snow Leopard in mind and made the newer MBAs Snow Leopard ready. Here lies the problem, the original MBA is used by many who will want to install Snow Leopard but that will further display the original MBA's weaknesses. It's just too bad that Apple didn't wait until October 2008 to introduce the MBA.
Snow Leopard runs better on the v 2,1 MBAs than the original MBA, but it's still not great. Snow Leopard really requires more resources and fails us in OpenGL so Leopard really is the better OS for all MBAs right now.
