Refurbished MBA Rev. A specific questions before I buy instead of Rev. B

[NYU02]

If you look at my previous post I was about to buy a rev. B MBA if I was able to get the 9C8F screen model which is known to be line free! BUT the only place I found the floor model not to have them was sold out when I went (my local best buy). SO.....

After reading numerous posts about people enjoying the Rev. A for simple tasks I thought I would lay out what my needs are and see if you would agree.

Here is what I'm looking for:

1) Everyday use: Email, Internet, OpenOffice, MSFT Office
2) Light video use: Youtube, iTunes movies (more iTunes movies than Youtube)
3) Simple photo use: iPhoto & possibly Aperture (can it handle it??)
4) Out of curiosity can it handle iMovie? Just in case I wanted to use it? Probably wont though
5) If I get the SSD option from the rev A, will it have the MLC problems of the early ssd drives?
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY
6) A lot of people mentioned that their refurbished MBA rev. A has been updated so that most of the original problems had been fixed? Is that true?
7) How long can I expect the battery in the refurb. to last?
8) WILL this be a computer that can last my everyday needs for at least 2 years?


Thanks so much! I truly appreciated and respect everyone's insight.


Thanks,
NYU02

 

[Scottsdale]

I truly believe that you should seriously reconsider and buy the rev B MBA. Buy it refurbished, buy it new, just buy it!

Every aspect of the rev B MBA is far superior to the original MBA.

Original MBA vs rev B MBA
20W Merom >>> 17W Penryn (big advantage for less heat from 17W Penryn)
3100 Intel >>> Nvidia GPU (big advantage for Nvidia at 4X performance)
PATA drive controller >>> SATA-II (even SSD is affected by slower PATA)
667 MHz RAM >>> 1066 MHz RAM (at 2 GB, you need as fast as possible)
MDVI >>> Mini Display Port (up to 30" ACD)

So, you are worried about the line issue on the rev B MBA. I understand that. However, I have seen far more excellent line free displays than those with lines. It sucks that we have to contend with this, BUT it is NOT a reason to go with the far inferior original MBA. I advise you to stick with the rev B MBA. Try buying it and if it has lines, return it.

Supposedly, people are getting some line free from Amazon. When you buy from Amazon, you don't pay tax and shipping is free. In addition, no return or restocking fees.

Or, buy a refurbished rev B MBA from Apple for a discount. One would assume these are line free MBAs as have been returned and repaired. Some have reported line free refurbished rev Bs.

Give the rev B MBA a chance. It is very worthy at every level.

Good luck.

 

[andreab35]

Hello there!

It's great that you are looking into an MBA!

I will give you my view, from a Rev. B perspective, since that is what I have.

1) Everyday use, such as internet surfing, word processing, and emailing are handled very well.

2) I use VERY light video use, and plus I'm not a huge overfan of YouTube. But just warning you that the MBA will get a bit... hot (from my experience).

3) I haven't tried Aperture, but iPhoto works excellent with my MBA. I use it often for my work and family and friend photos.

4) My MBA can handle iMovie, although it gets hot. Fans on mine will fly up to 6,000+ RPMS. But overall, iMovie handling for my MBA is excellent.

5) Sorry, I have no answer for SSD. I own an HDD, which runs pretty smoothly for me from experience. However from records, SSD does move along in speed a bit faster.

6) I don't have an answer, sorry.

7) For MBAs, expected is for it to last 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Unfortunately, my MBA doesn't even last that long. But it all depends on the laptop and the amount of work you are doing on it I presume.

8) For this question, it is hard to answer. If you KNOW you are geared to be doing light work for 2 years, then you are set to buy an MBA. If you are not sure, just weigh out the possibilities. I mean, I can do some heavy work on my MBA at times, and it will handle it fine, with heat included however. But if the unexpected arouses if you do decide to purchase an MBA, that was your decision. It took me 6 months to make a decision if the MBA was a good decision for me, and it was.

If there is an Apple Store near you, I highly advise you to have some time to play around with the MBA.

Good luck!

 

[GeekGirl*]

Rev A is fine, to be afraid

 

[NYU02]

thanks...

I was hoping to get some thoughts from Referb rev A owners.

Really confused as to which will be best for me.

Thanks,
NYU02

 

[mshaf]

thanks...

I was hoping to get some thoughts from Referb rev A owners.

Really confused as to which will be best for me.

Thanks,
NYU02

I own a Rev A refurb with HDD. I love it. It should work very well for your purposes. It will get warm with video but what laptop doesn't. I have never had a core shutdown. I do run coolbook but probably didnt need it. Scottsdale will always suggest Rev B and I would too given the better specs but honestly not everyone has unlimited resources to purchase the Rev B. My battery was brand new when i received my unit. The entire computer looked brand new also. With a one year warranty you cant go wrong. I have no screen or hinge issues. My refurb was purchased three months ago. Can't be happier with the purchase. Your uses seem relatively light and the Rev A should be fine. Good luck!

 

[Scottsdale]

thanks...

I was hoping to get some thoughts from Referb rev A owners.

Really confused as to which will be best for me.

Thanks,
NYU02

There is no confusion here. You want a MacBook Air that doesn't have lines on the display. To ensure you get that, you are willing to suffer with a terribly underperforming MBA with lackluster performance and an overheating combination of components.

There is no reason to abandon the rev B MBA for the display line issue. The majority of us didn't/do not have lines on MBAs. It is a problem that has affected some but certainly not all or most.

I don't know why you wouldn't at least try buying a rev B MBA and see whether or not yours has lines? I would give Apple the benefit of the doubt.

You want some original MBA buyers to come on here and tell you their MBAs are perfect. You will get some that do that. I have owned both MBAs, and I can tell you the differences are more than night and day. The only way to expect true performance without hassles of Cool Book, overheating, and etc is to buy the rev B MBA.

If you want to spend less money, go buy the original MBA... but don't make it into a line issue. For the vast majority, the lines simply are NOT there.

Good luck whichever you go with.

 

[SeanU]

Happy refurb buyer here

I've been using my Rev. A refurb since Jan. No problems here. I mostly do development work, image editing (Adobe Photoshop Elements) and some DVD watching (iso's copied to the HDD). It works great! The screen is really nice... without any lines. The Nvidia chip in the rev b may help with 3d games and hidef video rendering... so consider that if you do those things, although a Macbook Pro would probably be better suited to those tasks anyway. Good luck with your decision!

Sean

 

[jimboutilier]

I've been using my original MBA almost exclusively as my primary machine for almost a year now. Its an original (not refurb) and I don't run coolbook, I don't encounter core shutdowns, and I don't have overheating problems.

As to all of your performance questions the revA will do fine but revB is a faster machine, particularly where graphics are concerned.

As to battery life, most folks get between 3-4 hours.

I'd recommend getting 3 year Applecare protection no matter which version you choose and then you will be set from a hardware and support perspective.

Things to keep in mind however are that the MBA is pretty non expandable so you not only have to be comfortable with its limitations today but for the life of the machine. The revA model is already over a year old and the rev B as with most upgrades is significantly faster and has higher capacity.

So you need to balance your financial and performance needs and only you can do that. If it helps I love my revA and don't find the upgrade to revB compelling enough for me. I'm holding out for more ram and sdd space which are my only hard limitations on the revA that keep it from becoming my only computer.

 

[NRose8989]

I literally just got my refurb rev. A MBA 1.6......

Right out of the box I ran a hulu.com tv show (House) at full screen for 10 min. on my lap and it had no problems with playback.

Obviously I can't tell you anything more because it's still getting some software updates but so far I'm feeling pretty good about my purchase.

Before this I used a 2.4 MBP exclusively but even since I got my iMac, I haven't needed a lot of power out of my notebook.

I'll post back in a couple hours after I put it through it's paces.

 

[Scottsdale]

I literally just got my refurb rev. A MBA 1.6......

Right out of the box I ran a hulu.com tv show (House) at full screen for 10 min. on my lap and it had no problems with playback.

Obviously I can't tell you anything more because it's still getting some software updates but so far I'm feeling pretty good about my purchase.

Before this I used a 2.4 MBP exclusively but even since I got my iMac, I haven't needed a lot of power out of my notebook.

I'll post back in a couple hours after I put it through it's paces.

Wow for 10 whole minutes! Better reapply thermal paste! Also better install Cool Book...

I hope it works out for you. But I don't think 10 minutes proves anything. Did you check the temperature and fan speeds? Some get 10 minutes of playback but at the cost of frying the CPU and running the fans at 6400rpms.

Good luck.

 

[NYU02]

scottsdale,
What was your experience (in short) with the Rev. A that made you hate it so much? Why did you stick with an air if you hated it?

Do you use your rev. b as your main comp? Does it handle everything you need.

Thanks,
NYU02

 

[aaquib]

Wow for 10 whole minutes! Better reapply thermal paste! Also better install Cool Book...

I hope it works out for you. But I don't think 10 minutes proves anything. Did you check the temperature and fan speeds? Some get 10 minutes of playback but at the cost of frying the CPU and running the fans at 6400rpms.

Good luck.

Relax bud. Just because you've had issues with your MBA from last year doesn't mean everyone does. Apple obviously fixed many of the issues, as people who are buying Rev.A MBA's are reporting positively. I watch HD videos all the time on my Rev.A MBA and albeit I have CoolBook, but that $10 for CoolBook saved me roughly $550 from a Rev.B version. Please don't criticize every single MBA just because YOUR launch version had some issues.

To the OP: Ask around. Don't let 1 person influence your decision. There are many threads on this forum with happy Rev.A users.

 

[jimboutilier]

scottsdale,
What was your experience (in short) with the Rev. A that made you hate it so much? Why did you stick with an air if you hated it?

Do you use your rev. b as your main comp? Does it handle everything you need.

Thanks,
NYU02

It seems all scotsdale can do whenever he sees any thread involving a revA MBA is go on an unfounded tirade about how the whole model is nothing but junk and plagued with problems which is simply untrue.

While its true that the revA MBA is not a very powerful machine and that some percentage of users experienced overheating/core shutdown issues Apple's sales numbers and satisfaction surveys say the MBA was pretty successful. Even most of the forums seem to have a preponderance of positive feedback, although clearly some problems exist to some extent as well.

I expect this is much like the "display lines" issue for the revB - true but statistically a problem for a small percentage of machines. Those revA and B owners with problems have just cause to speak up - these are premium machines and they should not have these flaws. But lets not extrapolate that a whole product lineup has a problem or is great because a few outspoken people make post after post claiming its true.

 

[aaquib]

It seems all scotsdale can do whenever he sees any thread involving a revA MBA is go on an unfounded tirade about how the whole model is nothing but junk and plagued with problems which is simply untrue.

While its true that the revA MBA is not a very powerful machine and that some percentage of users experienced overheating/core shutdown issues Apple's sales numbers and satisfaction surveys say the MBA was pretty successful. Even most of the forums seem to have a preponderance of positive feedback, although clearly some problems exist to some extent as well.

I expect this is much like the "display lines" issue for the revB - true but statistically a problem for a small percentage of machines. Those revA and B owners with problems have just cause to speak up - these are premium machines and they should not have these flaws. But lets not extrapolate that a whole product lineup has a problem or is great because a few outspoken people make post after post claiming its true.

What bothers me is that even when a user asks about purchasing a Rev.B MBA, Scottsdale will, for some reason, rant on about how bad his Rev.A was. Too bad he doesn't represent the entire Rev.A MBA population.

 

[GeekGirl*]

Go for a refurb A, if you have any problems return it and get a B .
However I am sure you will love the A.

 

[NRose8989]

Wow for 10 whole minutes! Better reapply thermal paste! Also better install Cool Book...

I hope it works out for you. But I don't think 10 minutes proves anything. Did you check the temperature and fan speeds? Some get 10 minutes of playback but at the cost of frying the CPU and running the fans at 6400rpms.

Good luck.

Obviously I wasn't trying to prove anything, you would know that if you knew how to read and critically analyze a statement.

With that being said...

What sample are you basing all of your arguments on?

Have your personally interviewed every single MBA owner on various issues?

No, you haven't. Just because you personally know 20, 40, or 1000 people who have had problems with their rev A MBA doesn't give you an accurate sample to conclude that every single rev A MBA is broken.

EDIT: BTW after some use my MBA idles at 45C and has not gone over 75C under the coolbook CPU test for 30 Min. No core shutdowns or anything. Keep in mind that I haven't bought coolbook or done the thermal mod yet.

 

[dudeitsjay]

Damn, there's no popcorn eating smiley on this forum.

i played around with the A for a while before getting the B. In the end it was the proper gpu (9400m) that made me pay up. That, and no1 was sure yet if even the refurbished A's still had the hinge problem or not.

 

[Hammer97e]

I have had my refurb Rev A for almost a month now. I am really happy with it, my needs do not differ much from yours though I haven't tried iMovie on it (I deleted it right away as that's one of the things my 24" iMac is for.) I did spend $10 on CoolBook and $8 on Arctic Silver 5, not sure if I had to or not, but it certainly didn't hurt. $18 is a little easier to swallow than an additional $800 for a Rev B. Although it isn't my primary computer, I have been using my MBA everyday and am completely satisfied with it. I have been streaming movies from Netflix with zero problems. The battery was new, and I am typically getting a solid 3.5 hours out of it. Other than the different serial number, I couldn't tell it was a refurb, looked flawless. Right now I have been on it for about 2 hours, have been streaming pandora while surfing, watching a few videos from various news sites, and am sitting nicely at 49C. My recommendation would be to go with the refurb, and worst case scenario, if it doesn't work out, you have 14 days to send it back to Apple and get a Rev B. Technically there is a 10% restocking fee, but I'm sure as long you let them know you want to upgrade and the Rev A isn't meeting your needs, they can waive that fee.

I am with the others in not knowing what Scottsdale's problem is with the Rev A. If you look through his posts you will see that he had a Rev A, which he sold to get a unibody MB, stating he only used his MBA once, when he first got it. Later on he says that he installed CS3, Windows, and Office on it and it ran them just fine. So I am just as confused as everyone else. The Rev A may be an inferior machine as he says, but it certainly isn't $800 inferior.

I would pull a Colbert and take everyone's suggestions with a grain of salt, and go with what your gut tells you. Either way, the MBA is a hell of a machine and I think you won't be disappointed with either.

 

[Scottsdale]

I have had my refurb Rev A for almost a month now. I am really happy with it, my needs do not differ much from yours though I haven't tried iMovie on it (I deleted it right away as that's one of the things my 24" iMac is for.) I did spend $10 on CoolBook and $8 on Arctic Silver 5, not sure if I had to or not, but it certainly didn't hurt. $18 is a little easier to swallow than an additional $800 for a Rev B. Although it isn't my primary computer, I have been using my MBA everyday and am completely satisfied with it. I have been streaming movies from Netflix with zero problems. The battery was new, and I am typically getting a solid 3.5 hours out of it. Other than the different serial number, I couldn't tell it was a refurb, looked flawless. Right now I have been on it for about 2 hours, have been streaming pandora while surfing, watching a few videos from various news sites, and am sitting nicely at 49C. My recommendation would be to go with the refurb, and worst case scenario, if it doesn't work out, you have 14 days to send it back to Apple and get a Rev B. Technically there is a 10% restocking fee, but I'm sure as long you let them know you want to upgrade and the Rev A isn't meeting your needs, they can waive that fee.

I am with the others in not knowing what Scottsdale's problem is with the Rev A. If you look through his posts you will see that he had a Rev A, which he sold to get a unibody MB, stating he only used his MBA once, when he first got it. Later on he says that he installed CS3, Windows, and Office on it and it ran them just fine. So I am just as confused as everyone else. The Rev A may be an inferior machine as he says, but it certainly isn't $800 inferior.

I would pull a Colbert and take everyone's suggestions with a grain of salt, and go with what your gut tells you. Either way, the MBA is a hell of a machine and I think you won't be disappointed with either.

I had a 2.33 MBP before a unibody MB. I owned the MBA rev A while owning the MBP. The original MBA wasn't even useful as a secondary computer. I tried it for two weeks but every use was a disappointment. It was extremely slow. I couldn't do normal tasks on it. Even working on a few apps lead to extremely slow computing. The only thing it did well was email and word processing. I agree Cool Book and reapplying thermal paste helps. So does software rewrites.

The absolute game changer is the rev B MBA. It does everything as a primary Mac. It replaced my unibody MB and my MBP 2.33 GHz.

You think the average Mac user would want to reapply thermal paste and learn about undervolting? Takes a special person to want to go that route. Takes someone who really wants to save some money.

If you can make an original MBA work for you, great. But I don't think it's for most Mac users.

The bottom line is 20W Merom with Intel 3100 creates a lot of heat for the tiny confined space of the MBA. The 17W Penryn with Nvidia GPU has really changed the problematic Air.

I wish as much as anyone that my original MBA would have been even half the computer as the rev B MBA. Not that I wanted to blow a bunch of money. That is not what it is about. As much as I tried to like it, and as much as I wanted the original to be my primary Mac, it was NOT fun. The rev B MBA was everything I expected the original MBA to be and more.

I think as Mac buyers, we should all get what we pay for, and I don't think the headache and hassle of the original MBA is worth it.

The rev B MBA just works. It works for everything I can throw at it. And it is a faster Mac than older 2.33 MBP or even a 2.4 GHz unibody MB. I know that is the SSD, but it sure is amazing.

My rev B MBA was stolen, along with MBP, ACD and etc. Was a bad loss.

No matter what, I am not going to go buy a rev A MBA. I would recommend any other Mac from the last three years over the original MBA. And for most people, I would recommend they consider the rev B MBA if they want portability yet amazing speed and performance.

I believe being harsh on the original MBA is acceptable. It's not like I made this crap up. Most who were original buyers experienced everything I have complained about. This is widespread common knowledge. I think anyone that is considering the MBA should fully know and understand the differences. If they want to buy the original MBA more power to them. Would I spend my money on an original MBA? Never again at such a high price. To me, the rev B at even $1000 more is worth the price. For most people, as a secondary computer the original MBA would work providing they learn and install Cool Book and many need to reinstall thermal paste to lower the CPU temperature so the MBA doesn't sound like a helicopter with its fans on full blast during normal use.

I will say that for those willing to work with the solutions of the original MBA like Cool Book, they can have a really beautiful MBA that is ultra portable. I just don't think it would be a good primary computer for anyone. At the same time, I think the rev B MBA makes a great primary computer.

Also, comes down to future capabilities. Right now the original MBA has been reworked to run without all of the problems. But, it still has an overheated 20W Merom CPU. It still has Intel 3100. It still has a PATA drive controller. It still has slower RAM. In the long run, I think the rev B will be a much better solution. Software routinely gets updates and people demand more and more from their computers for media and entertainment purposes. That means they use bigger and bigger files. While it is acceptable for some now, I fear the original MBA will be a bigger problem down the road. While I think the rev B MBA will shine.

Lastly, could an original MBA run intensive software, YES ABSOLUTELY. But it is very slow. From its 4200 rpm PATA drive to its slower clock speed to its lower cache size to its slower RAM. For me, I could not deal with it when I had an original MBA... but those things would run if willing to wait out the processes. But for the most part we are talking minutes and not seconds.

Maybe I had a really terrible original MBA, but with all of the complaints, I have to imagine my experience was the norm.

Has the original MBA changed? Absolutely, I recognize that. I think I have been very fair to the original MBA since learning about Cool Book, software rewrites, and reapplication of thermal paste has helped. But for MOST MAC USERS, I still recommend the rev B. If for not now, for the future.

But if someone only has a $1000 to spend, and they need a secondary computer, and they want it to basic tasks, and they plan to install Cool Book, and they plan to reapply thermal paste if it runs too hot/loud fans, and they buy Apple Care... SURE

And by the way, my six year old Dell Inspiron plays streaming video from Netflix. I don't think that is a measure of anything. Nor is ten minutes of video on the rev A MBA.

I actually have a Dell laptop from 2001 that I found in my garage, and it runs about the same way I remember my original MBA ran as far as speed and performance. That is really a serious comparison of speed and performance that I noticed with my original.

 

[SeanU]

Coolbook and thermal grease

My MBA works fine without Coolbook. I have undervolted other windows based laptops, and wanted to mess around with it to see if it would extend the battery life. It doesn't hurt anything, and it seems to help keep the fans running slower. As for thermal grease... this is a problem with many recent Mac laptops, and many pc's. They glop the stuff on, and create an inefficient interface with the heatsink. That said, I have only seen a few MBA users that have gone in and removed the stuff... again, most of us seem to be doing just fine without operating on the MBA rev A.

 

[MacLover4491]

I would get the rev. b macbook air because my gf owns the rev. a and it can get very hot and slows down a lot. If you want hassel free, i would get the macbook aluminum. Although its a little heavier but its much faster and would come with problem free.

 

[Hammer97e]

Scottsdale - Please do not take the liberty of thinking my post was a flame on you, don't flatter yourself. My post is simply and appropriately for the benefit of the OP. He asked specific questions for those of us who own refurb Rev A's and as an owner of a refurb Rev A, I answered his questions the best I could. Stating that I have no problems streaming Netflix was simply an example of showing that the Rev A does video just fine, one of the OP's questions.

Based on you comments, if I were you I would stick with a Dell laptops. A 6 year old laptop that flawlessly streams Netflix movies is somewhat impressive, is that what a 32mb video card?. Even more impressive is a 8 year old Dell laptop that most likely is a Pentium III, 900MHz with 256 mb ram that ran Windows 98, if it was top of the line at the time, performs just as well as a 1.6 GHz dual core with 2GB of ram; I simply cannot fathom how a more recent Dell would run.

By the way, it does not take a special person to remove 10 screws and evenly apply a paste in order to save $792, it's actually a rather simple task, and more importantly, is not necessary in order to have a fully functional MBA, it was out of the box.

 

[ayeying]

If you look at my previous post I was about to buy a rev. B MBA if I was able to get the 9C8F screen model which is known to be line free! BUT the only place I found the floor model not to have them was sold out when I went (my local best buy). SO.....

After reading numerous posts about people enjoying the Rev. A for simple tasks I thought I would lay out what my needs are and see if you would agree.

Here is what I'm looking for:

1) Everyday use: Email, Internet, OpenOffice, MSFT Office
2) Light video use: Youtube, iTunes movies (more iTunes movies than Youtube)
3) Simple photo use: iPhoto & possibly Aperture (can it handle it??)
4) Out of curiosity can it handle iMovie? Just in case I wanted to use it? Probably wont though
5) If I get the SSD option from the rev A, will it have the MLC problems of the early ssd drives?
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY
6) A lot of people mentioned that their refurbished MBA rev. A has been updated so that most of the original problems had been fixed? Is that true?
7) How long can I expect the battery in the refurb. to last?
8) WILL this be a computer that can last my everyday needs for at least 2 years?


Thanks so much! I truly appreciated and respect everyone's insight.


Thanks,
NYU02

This is from my experience:

1) I do those tasks constantly on my Rev. A. Works like a charm.
2) I cannot run full screen for Hulu at 480p, however, non full screen tasks work without a hitch.
3) I use Aperture and Lightroom. While its not ideal, it is okay for simple editing out on the field/away from my Mac Pro.
4) Don't use iMovie so cannot comment there.
5) Don't have the SSD so cannot comment there either.
6) I found my refurb to light years better than my previous 2 macbook airs. All 3 MacBook Air's I've owned, this is the only one that has no problems for me.
7) I get a constant 3 hours with 90% brightness + wifi.
8) Everyday use should last you a few years.

Scottdale: Okay, stop. We understand you don't like the Rev. A. Personally, I didn't like it either. I had 2 out of 3 that had problems exactly as you described. I don't deny the fact it doesn't have problems or issues. However Apple has address many of them and the newer (refurbished models) are less likely to experience the same problems as our earlier produced units. We all know about your disappointment and your personal opinion for others who thinks about purchasing the Rev. A models. However, those are your opinions, the end choice is still the other user. Let them decide, not have you pressure them into a decision.

 

[Scottsdale]

This is from my experience:

1) I do those tasks constantly on my Rev. A. Works like a charm.
2) I cannot run full screen for Hulu at 480p, however, non full screen tasks work without a hitch.
3) I use Aperture and Lightroom. While its not ideal, it is okay for simple editing out on the field/away from my Mac Pro.
4) Don't use iMovie so cannot comment there.
5) Don't have the SSD so cannot comment there either.
6) I found my refurb to light years better than my previous 2 macbook airs. All 3 MacBook Air's I've owned, this is the only one that has no problems for me.
7) I get a constant 3 hours with 90% brightness + wifi.
8) Everyday use should last you a few years.

Scottdale: Okay, stop. We understand you don't like the Rev. A. Personally, I didn't like it either. I had 2 out of 3 that had problems exactly as you described. I don't deny the fact it doesn't have problems or issues. However Apple has address many of them and the newer (refurbished models) are less likely to experience the same problems as our earlier produced units. We all know about your disappointment and your personal opinion for others who thinks about purchasing the Rev. A models. However, those are your opinions, the end choice is still the other user. Let them decide, not have you pressure them into a decision.

Apple has addressed the problems or people are addressing them by reapplying thermal paste and using Cool Book.

You don't have the right to tell me to stop writing in the thread. It's not your thread.

This is a lot more than my opinions... if Apple were only so lucky.

I think I am doing people a disservice if I don't share my knowledge of the original MBA.

Bottom line, Apple doesn't reapply thermal paste for all of the rev A refurb buyers nor does it supply Cool Book. While some think it's ok to do that themselves, it is not all. And I believe the VAST MAJORITY of MBA buyers are NOT going to crack open their MBAs reapply thermal paste and take an Undervolting 101 course before installing Cool Book on their MBA.

That is crazy.

My beliefs and what I have shared here is advise based on what MANY people have experienced with the original MBA. This is not just my belief! Many share these beliefs. Not all speak up, and I think that is a disservice to all potential buyers.

If ALL of the information is given, and someone still decides to buy a rev A MBA, great. But this keeping all of the facts about the rev A MBA quiet is BS.

A lot of people don't want to feel bad about their purchase. They shouldn't take my words for personal attacks. I am stating valid points which YOU admitted. For some people, the original MBA refurbished can be a great computer... but for MOST people, the rev B MBA is the way to go.

Heck, I wish Apple would drop the prices as low as necessary and just dump the remaining MBAs.

But hey, the bottom line is the two MBAs are serving completely different markets right now. The original is serving as a low priced light performing MB that has a beautiful display and is super portable. And those are for the people that understand all of the facts, and decide to deal with reapplying thermal paste and learning undervolting and installing Cool Book and limiting HD video playback and etc. It also works in the short run, and is a great way to spend a lot less money yet get the "cool" part of the MacBook AIR. The rev B MBA is for the intended target. A premium product that performs like a MB, but is super portable, has an incredible display and form factor. And the rev B is ready for the future with a super incredible combination of components ready for now and three years down the road when SL is running and everyone is demanding more and more from their Macs.

These are filling two different roles, and for those wanting an original MBA refurbished, I would suggest buy them now before they're gone. Actually, I believe the value of the original MBAs should rise as soon as Apple stops dumping them. But there is no reason we cannot all be honest about the differences and let people decide for themselves what they want.