MBA Rev A Questions.

[OceanView]

I'm looking into buying a REV A at the moment.
MacMall has it for $1199 after rebate.

I have a few questions:

1. Are these refurbs? It doesn't say anything on their website so I was thinking it was new.
2. Does Apple Honor the warranty on these?
3. How slow is photoshop on the Rev A?
4. Besides the core shut down problems, what are other known issues with these?

I was about to buy the Alu MB but the screen is not ideal for photo editing.

Thanks in Advance.

 

[Thorbjorn]

A bit of an answer (until someone has more):

1. I deeply doubt these are refurbs. MacMall would list them as such if they were, and I bought a new MBA revA at Best Buy for $1249 about six weeks ago. The prices for new have dropped since then.

2. Yes, absolutely Apple will honor the warranty. (And you might want to get Apple Care sometime before the first year runs out.)

3. I can't answer this one. I'm not using Photoshop.

4. Besides core shutdown: high heat (related to core shutdown), lack of ports, small hard drive, lack of optical drive (unless you add on hardware), and such. But I'm sure you already know these general limitations.

For what it's worth: I knew what I wanted and needed in a laptop, so bought the revA MBA with eyes wide open. For me, it's been the perfect machine. I like to write outdoors when I can, and the MBA's glorious screen makes that possible in any light, even in full sun. I don't play games on this unit (use my iMac for those). I've had no trouble watching video: I watched a two-hour stream from hulu yesterday. Things heated up a bit, and the fans kicked on, but otherwise worked fine. (I didn't use full screen, though, which I think causes more stutter.) I've also watched DVDs and rented movies from iTunes, no prob. Basically, I knew I wanted to keep this unit lean and uncluttered with distracting apps--and it works brilliantly as a portable work tool and occasional entertainment-center-on-the-go. Love the build and feel. Love the minimal weight. Love the backlit keyboard (didn't think I'd care about that). LOVE the screen. And it's plenty peppy enough for what I do. Oh, and surfing the web has never stressed it out or caused the fans to rev.

One note: I have disabled the Dock (via OnyX), which may ease somewhat the workload on RAM.

So, as long as you're aware of how the MBA does (or doesn't) mesh with your needs/wishes, you should be fine. If you get one, enjoy! And may you live a long and fulfilling life together.

 

[NC MacGuy]

The only regret I had in my Rev A purchase was the same one I posted about in Feb. The silly one-off PATA drive issue. The computer handled near all tasks I threw at it adequately. The heat was bearable but then again I redid my heatsink compound early on. Never had a core shutdown even maxing out proc. during Handbrake encoding. My issue was the damn HDD got full. I started having to do weekly maintenance archiving movies and photos to free up space for work doc's. Even that wouldn't have been too bad if I saw an option down the pike but still, nothing worthy has appeared yet allowing 120-180GB storage. With larger OS's and app's, larger storage is needed. Now that prices are coming down, it may make sense as an uber netbook but for me using it as my main portable the storage was my only problem.

 

[Ironic]

For Me, I would NEVER buy another Rev A, from day one it was a nightmare, heat, cores, and those fans, you really couldnt even enjoy surfing the web.

I have a B and will never look back.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

I bought one off Ebay for $1225 NEW. No problems or regrets. I may buy another for my girlfriend. She wants to use it more than me.

 

[ericjohnson1981]

I actually were wondering about three of your questions too! Would be great to see some replies

 

[errol]

My macbook air (1.6/80) can't handle 720p .mkv files without stuttering. This is a deal-breaker for me. It's great for light web use, typing, etc. The screen is gorgeous and the keyboard is quite comfortable.