I'm not going to spend $3000 on a 'supplemental' computer
I use the MBA as my sole computer and it rocks
I use the MBA as my sole computer and it rocks
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Pondering using MBA as sole computer
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jumped off the cliff
Well, most posters seemed to think the MBA should be adequate so I made the leap. If this proves to be a mistake, you may see a barely used rev b for sale here soon. Thanks for all the help and I've got my fingers crossed!!
Well, most posters seemed to think the MBA should be adequate so I made the leap. If this proves to be a mistake, you may see a barely used rev b for sale here soon. Thanks for all the help and I've got my fingers crossed!!
None of the programs you listed above should have choked your MBA Rev A. If you work mostly with office productivity and IM you may want to look at a slightly heavier unibody Macbook that will absolutely solve your issues. And you already own a MBP with a great screen so you've got the 'better' of both worlds.
Yeah, you're right, they don't choke it, as such. In fact, apart from the Fusion component, it works just great. The issue is when I do run Fusion, it's a big slow down. Probably wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't seen the performance from my MBP
Anyhoo, perhaps i'll wander down to the Apple store and see if they have one with Fusion loaded. Nothing like seeing it for yourself I guess!
Damo
VMWare, I've found, works better than fusion on the new airs. No lag, no choke. Obviously I'm not virtualizing and then gaming, but +1 for VMWare if it matters.
Although I myself am still waiting for an upgrade to 4GB to get a MBA, my partner has a Rev A HDD MBA and a close friend a Rev B SSD MBA and I've used both machines quite a bit.
I think the capabilities of the MBA are more than sufficient for 95% of users, the main exception being of course a lot of photo/video editing and gaming.
But even for some Photoshop now and then and some Aperture and (Rev B) for some casual gaming the MBA is really fine.
- If you are pondering about saving money and getting a Rev A, don't. The MBA has much less heat issues in Rev B and because of the new nvidia chip used in Rev B, you will likely see performance gains in SnowLeopard with OpenCL
- Also, as often said already in the board, the SSD used in RevB is extremely fast and worth every $.
- About Firewire: Well, I've had my first generation MB now for 2.5 years and the only two times I needed Firewire was to transfer videos from my old DV camcorder (the new ones all have USB 2) and to test a satellite TV box from Elgato (the new TV sticks, again, all have USB 2). My external drive can be operated through USB, Firewire 400 and 800.
So if you don't already have a device that uses firewire you won't miss it. Although it is faster when using external drives, for simple time machine backups and storage USB 2 is enough...
I think the capabilities of the MBA are more than sufficient for 95% of users, the main exception being of course a lot of photo/video editing and gaming.
But even for some Photoshop now and then and some Aperture and (Rev B) for some casual gaming the MBA is really fine.
- If you are pondering about saving money and getting a Rev A, don't. The MBA has much less heat issues in Rev B and because of the new nvidia chip used in Rev B, you will likely see performance gains in SnowLeopard with OpenCL
- Also, as often said already in the board, the SSD used in RevB is extremely fast and worth every $.
- About Firewire: Well, I've had my first generation MB now for 2.5 years and the only two times I needed Firewire was to transfer videos from my old DV camcorder (the new ones all have USB 2) and to test a satellite TV box from Elgato (the new TV sticks, again, all have USB 2). My external drive can be operated through USB, Firewire 400 and 800.
So if you don't already have a device that uses firewire you won't miss it. Although it is faster when using external drives, for simple time machine backups and storage USB 2 is enough...
I assume you mean VMware works better than Parallels?? Fusion = VMware!
In any case, can you tell me more about your setup? Have you got XP installed under VMware? What applications do you use? How much RAM have you assigned to it?
I plan to us VMware to run XP and Office 2003, that's it, no other apps. I'd like to think that the SSD would give me near enough performance to my MBP, but am I dreaming?
I would so love to just carry the Air to work of a day. As light as the MBP is, it still weighs me down a bit!
Damo