Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

glitch44

macrumors 65816
Feb 28, 2006
1,121
157
I am considering a MBA, but wondering to hold off until october. When some have mentioned "poor performance" what exactly do you mean? Is there lag in program use or are you referring to the limited specs?

I can foresee an upgrade HD next month to the 120 GB's in the new ipods, and probably a speed bump up to 2.0 GHz.

That truly would be a miracle, as there is no 2.0 GHz chip in the line. The Macbook Air's current processor was a "one off" die shrink design. The next chips will be 45nm and will most likely be the 1.6GHz SL9300 and the 1.86GHz SL9400 processors which use less power and create less heat, thereby increasing battery life.

The heat decrease will make it easier to cool, which will help problems with core shutdowns that you can read about here in the forums.
 

ishopukisfake

macrumors regular
Jul 31, 2008
247
0
Interesting - I suppose the slimness of the MBA makes it a whole different kettle of fish as regards to upgrading.

I was considering ordering it earlier, then saw the poor performance comments, liked the look of the HPTX tablet, but saw the battery life is 2 hours max, wow - we need a new method of holding energy for portable devices. So now I'm learning the only likely upgrade will be hard drive, interesting..
 

pgflmac

macrumors member
Aug 2, 2007
39
0
Like my MBA

I like my MBA also. It is plenty fast for me. The only issue was x-plane 9 would not render very well. VMWare and parallels are fine. MS-office is slow but I cannot upgrade to the latest version because I need macro support. I have gotten used to the smallish hard drive.

The only issue is the very sloppy trackpad button. I took the machine apart and have been tinkering with the tension on the mechanical button. It is close to OK but very stupid design. BTW, the case is plastic. shhhh.
 

aleksandra.

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2008
674
0
Warsaw, Poland
Interesting - I suppose the slimness of the MBA makes it a whole different kettle of fish as regards to upgrading.

I was considering ordering it earlier, then saw the poor performance comments, liked the look of the HPTX tablet, but saw the battery life is 2 hours max, wow - we need a new method of holding energy for portable devices. So now I'm learning the only likely upgrade will be hard drive, interesting..

2 hours max? That's not what I thought. By the way, can any MBA owner write how long its battery life is? How accurate this test is:
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3226&p=16
?
 

bobjob186

macrumors 6502a
Apr 16, 2005
598
72
Laguna Beach
I only have 9 cycles on my battery so granted it's not really broken in yet, but I can get over 4 hours with wifi on, 75% brightness, with ichat, safari, and word open.
 

ishopukisfake

macrumors regular
Jul 31, 2008
247
0
over 4 hours on that link and from what you two are saying, thats not so bad, thats actually about the same as my MBP
 

awvan

macrumors member
May 5, 2008
46
0
Vancouver, BC
If it is true that the new MacBooks are coming in at lower prices, you guys are crazy to think you are going to get something that much slimmer and lighter. You can't have it both ways. Personally I see these new ones come in a hair under 1" thick (mainly so Apple can market it as "less than an inch thick") and just under 5 pounds. Nothing too crazy. It will be brought up to speed with an LED backlit screen, multitouch, backlit keyboard, aluminum casing and slight bumps in HD space and processor speeds.

Not enough to sell my Air I don't think. I'll wait to see if new Airs deliver a cooler running system with improved battery life when under higher loads. That is the main issue for me, I don't really care about the speed nor the space.
 

That70sGAdawg

macrumors 6502a
May 23, 2008
808
358
Athens, GA USA
With ultralights every lbs matters.


I like the way the Air can be stashed virtually anywhere as it's so thin. I slide mine under sofas and lay it up against walls all the time.

I stash mine under the seat of the arm chair in hotels while I'm out for dinner to keep dishonest maids from being tempted!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.