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New MacBook Air Owner

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Eric5273

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 12, 2009
771
503
New Jersey
I've been lurking here for a few weeks, but I finally purchased a MacBook Air. It's actually my first Mac. I've been a PC user for 15 years, and I never really considered getting a Mac until I got the iPhone a couple of years ago. Ever since then I have been considering switching over to a Mac so as to keep both my computer and my iPhone in sync with eachother. I'm also not a fan of Vista, and XP doesn't seem to be an option on any of the new PCs except for tiny Netbooks.

The Rev B Air was a little bit too pricey for me, but I found a brand new Rev A 1.6 GHz/80 GB HDD for $1099. I also purchased an AirPort Express and a Wireless Mighty Mouse as I'm not a huge fan of touch pads.

I spent a couple of weeks reading on this forum about the various issues with the Rev A MacBook Air and after considering everything, I don't think it will be an issue for me. I do all my "heavy lifting" on my PC at work, which is a powerhouse of a machine. The Air will be what I use around the house and when I ocassionally travel. 95% of my use is just normal web browsing, email and instant messaging. I do watch an occasional youtube video, but not full screen, and rarely for longer than a few minutes. The only gaming I do is web-based gaming like online poker.

I'm also not one to have huge amounts of media files, so the 80 GB HDD is plenty large. My old Dell laptop which I'm replacing has a 60 GB HDD which is more than half empty.

I plan to get a MobileMe subscription as that seems to be a good solution for syncing the Air with my iPhone and also a good way to back up my files online.
 
mhnajjar

mhnajjar

macrumors 6502a
Mar 3, 2008
777
0
Congrats and welcome to the Mac world where you would be proud to be a Mac and forget all about those 15 years of mad PCing :D
 
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uniforms

macrumors regular
Oct 27, 2008
129
0
South Orange NJ
Congrats

You will enjoy rev A. I had one, but the HD was too small. I had no problems with it. I got rev B SSD, and really love how quiet it is. Welcome to our side, you will love it! I've been using macs since an SE30, and that was a VERY long time ago. I did have to use some pc's for work, but really made a big comeback when system X came on the scene. I got tired of all the lost hard drives and crashes on PC. Now....never a crash.

Enjoy your new mac!
 
D

dborja

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2007
996
102
Northern California
Congrats and welcome aboard! That's a good setup. Also, getting MobilMe is a good move. Aside from automatic synching between your MBA and your iPhone, there are other good features.
 
IgnatiusTheKing

IgnatiusTheKing

macrumors 68040
Nov 17, 2007
3,657
2
Texas
Congrats on the purchase. Before you buy MobileMe, be sure to check Amazon and other resellers (or eBay if you've got the stomach) for much better deals than Apple offers. Sometimes as much as half off.
 
aaquib

aaquib

macrumors 65816
Sep 11, 2007
1,496
1
Toronto, Canada
Congratz on the Mac! Like IgnatiusTheKing said, you might want to consider purchasing AppleCare and MobileMe online for a lot cheaper.

Also, Speck has a great deal on their hard cases. http://www.speckproducts.com/products/seethru/macbook-air/132

Use coupon code "buddy25" to get it for $11.

Asides from that, I'd recommend purchasing CoolBook for $10 if you feel that your MacBook is getting to hot. In addition, you can use the attached file to limit your MacBook Air fan speed to 4000RPM.
 

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  • 4000RPM.app.zip
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SnowLeopard2008

SnowLeopard2008

macrumors 604
Jul 4, 2008
6,772
18
Silicon Valley
Eric5273 said:
The Rev B Air was a little bit too pricey for me, but I found a brand new Rev A 1.6 GHz/80 GB HDD for $1099.
Click to expand...

Oh no! Scottsdale will impale you about how bad of a purchase that was. :D He always recommends Rev. B because Rev. A sucks. Honestly, for those uses, I'd say a better computer would have been a MacBook as many of my PC-switch-to-Mac friends always look at that. But congratulations nonetheless, the MBA is a sweet computer.;)
 
Scottsdale

Scottsdale

Suspended
Sep 19, 2008
4,473
283
U.S.A.
Congratulations on your new Mac. Be sure to look into Cool Book if you have any of the common original MBA problems. Have fun with it!:D
 
aaquib

aaquib

macrumors 65816
Sep 11, 2007
1,496
1
Toronto, Canada
IgnatiusTheKing said:
I'm sure this has been covered a million times in a million threads, but what's the advantage of limiting the fan speed? Just noise?
Click to expand...

Well I can't speak for everyone, but for me it's just noise. When I'm in bed and it's silent around me, over 6000RPM is simply unbearable. Bringing it to 4000 drives up the temperature a couple of degrees, but it's nothing major.
 
9

929406

macrumors regular
Feb 1, 2009
102
0
guys, what would be a reasonable price to pay for a used 1.8 80 GB Rev A MBA in good condition? Scotsdale, anyone? I know there are some listed on ebay but price varies greatly. If one becomes available at around 1K would that be a good deal?
 
S

SeanU

macrumors member
Feb 2, 2009
64
0
929406 said:
guys, what would be a reasonable price to pay for a used 1.8 80 GB Rev A MBA in good condition? Scotsdale, anyone? I know there are some listed on ebay but price varies greatly. If one becomes available at around 1K would that be a good deal?
Click to expand...
I would use the prices for refurbs at the apple store as a baseline (us link):

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_air

Those machines come with a full 1 year warranty, and are eligible for Applecare. Don't pay more than that.
 
A

aleksandra.

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2008
674
0
Warsaw, Poland
929406 said:
guys, what would be a reasonable price to pay for a used 1.8 80 GB Rev A MBA in good condition? Scotsdale, anyone? I know there are some listed on ebay but price varies greatly. If one becomes available at around 1K would that be a good deal?
Click to expand...

http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0ER0LL/A?mco=MjE0NDk5Mw -> $1099 for a refurb, so I'd say less than 1K. Although I think processor upgrade isn't worth it at all in Air - it still won't be a good computer for heavy tasks and it won't feel faster, because it has a slow hard disk. Better pick up low-end model for less, if you don't want to go SSD.
 
queshy

queshy

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2005
3,690
4
wow , great price.

I love my rev A MBA. It was purchased shortly after it came out.

This is definitely the best notebook I have ever owned. I've owned an old compaq 15", a Dell Inspiron 300m (12"), a 15" SR MBP, and now the MBA. Wouldn't trade the Air for anything...except maybe a Rev B :p
 
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