New MBA 13 Ultimate arriving in 3 hours :) Couple questions..

[Buckeyes1995]

I bit the bullet after researching, researching, researching for the past six months.. finally decided to pull the trigger.

I have a VERY powerful home PC so wanted portability.. decided on the MBA 13. It's on the UPS truck as we speak.

Anyways, I don't do a lot of gaming other than WoW.. I'm looking for a sleek and decent (I realize it won't be top notch) headset with microphone to use with Ventrilo. Anyone have suggestions?

Also, I'm seriously considering replacing my Actiontec DSL modem with my stock DSL Modem + a 1 TB Time Capsule.

I have a 4 TB standalone raid system at home but it's not HFS, so I can't use Time Capsule.. I've read mixed reviews on Time Capsule vs. straight bit for bit backup routines... suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[KPOM]

I use a Time Capsule. It's good for casual home use, but I'd supplement it with a full backup since restoring from a Time Capsule backup can be time consuming.

I use Carbon Copy Cloner periodically to back up my SSD to an external hard drive. It also requires an HFS volume, though. Is there any way you can create an HFS partition?

 

[57004]

Regarding headsets: I'd recommend a USB headset. With most of my Macs I've had problems with crackling/buzzing on the audio out, and I suspect the MBA to be worse due to less space for shielding (I don't have one yet, waiting for the right model to become available in the refurb store).

I have a Logitech USB headset and it sounds great but it's a little bit bulky. Works great on Teamspeak though (using Teamspeex, we're still on the old version that doesn't have a native Mac client).

I also prefer the USB because you can then use the built-in speaker and headset at the same time. I use that for Skype, I have the ringer to set to always ring through the speaker while the call audio goes through the headset. So I don't have to have the headset on to hear it ring.

On the other hand, the MBA only has 2 USB's so if you use an analog headset you'll free up one of the USB's.

In regards to TimeMachine: There is a hack to run it on any shared network drive (it makes a disk image then with an HFS filesystem inside and uses that over the network), but of course I'm not sure if you can trust it 100% and restore from it. It would be enough for my uses because I backup critical stuff separately anyway.

 

[Buckeyes1995]

Thanks for the replies.

My MBA 13 Ultimate arrived a few hours ago, and I am in love. I cannot believe how amazing this machine is so far. I haven't gotten WoW installed yet (it's installing now).. but I look forward to using this amazing machine.

It turns out my Thecus 4100PRO NAS does support Time Machine. I simply had to enable AFP. I'm doing a full backup right now. I'll probably end up doing a bit by bit image also and keeping it on the NAS.

I haven't done a software update yet.. going to do that next. Looking forward to checking out the App store.

I went back and forth and back and forth on this for months.. so glad I made the move.. this thing is amazing.

 

[gwsat]

Thanks for the replies.

My MBA 13 Ultimate arrived a few hours ago, and I am in love. I cannot believe how amazing this machine is so far. I haven't gotten WoW installed yet (it's installing now).. but I look forward to using this amazing machine.

It turns out my Thecus 4100PRO NAS does support Time Machine. I simply had to enable AFP. I'm doing a full backup right now. I'll probably end up doing a bit by bit image also and keeping it on the NAS.

I haven't done a software update yet.. going to do that next. Looking forward to checking out the App store.

I went back and forth and back and forth on this for months.. so glad I made the move.. this thing is amazing.

I think you will continue to be pleased. I've used Mac laptops as my primary home computers for 8 years and my 13 inch Ultimate MBA, which I have now had for over 4 months, is the best one yet.

 

[klaze]

Sorry for noob question, but what's MBA 13 Ultimate?

 

[Buckeyes1995]

Sorry for noob question, but what's MBA 13 Ultimate?

It's the top of the line MBA 13. 2.13gz processor, 4 gigs memory, and 256 GB SSD.

 

[gdeputy]

If you don't mind me asking, how does WoW run on it, and under what settings?