Rev B 1.6/128GB SSD (CTO) or 1.86/SSD? (How well do they handle HD video?)

[Shodan]

Some people will say 1.6 handles stuff fine, but HD playback apps like iTunes state 2 GHz min recommended. With Flash and HD both really hitting the CPU hard, the minimum I would want moving forward is a 1.86 GHz. Remember Mac OS X is not as efficient at Flash and HD as Windows.

Rev B 1.6GHz here, every HD video I play of the drive runs fine.

YouTube HD doesn't though as that is due to crappy webkit plugin sucking up the CPU.

 

[Scottsdale]

Rev B 1.6GHz here, every HD video I play of the drive runs fine.

YouTube HD doesn't though as that is due to crappy webkit plugin sucking up the CPU.

As I said, SOME people say a 1.6 will handle it fine. In reality, quite a few have problems with the lower clock speed handling it. Not everyone makes up an excuse either. Flash and Quicktime hit the CPU pretty hard by themselves. Sure 1.6 might handle SOME, but other apps/programs do need closer to 2 GHz as several of them state in minimum requirements.

I am not saying a 1.6 won't handle SOME, but it certainly will have problems trying to run the same videos that 1.86/2.13 struggle to run properly. Run Activity Monitor and see just how hard HD bothers a 1.6 MBA's CPU and compare to a faster clock speed model like 1.86 and 2.13.

 

[quietstorm]

What's the fetish with YouTube HD? No offense, but if I expect to see true HD I will use a real player. First, you're watching it inside a browser via plugin. Honestly, I don't feel much YouTube HD video is something we need to see in HD.

QuickTime isn't even easy on the CPU either. There are certain programs that play HD much better like VLC or Plex. iTunes even states needs 2 GHz min to play HD.

A lot of this is changing too. With Snow Leopard, QuickTime X, H.264 and 9400m, video is getting easier for the Mac.

Someone in the reply mentioned 1.8 GHz and SSD, but that leads me to believe wasn't even an Nvidia GPU and original Intel MBA which was never doable.

The MBA's GPU is throttled. It's a thin and lightweight Mac. It does require observance of limitations. While an MBP may play four HD videos at the same time, who can really watch them all at once.

If you're so into HD that every video on YouTube needs to be played in HD then go buy a Windows PC! Cause honest to God, software is much better in the Windows environment. Flash hits a Windows CPU about half as much as in OS X. QuickTime and HD playback and etc are all much easier in the Windows environment. And truthfully PPC was far worse than Intel has been for video playback.

Let's face it the Mac is ALL about compromise. Whether software or limited to Apple's outdated hardware, refusal to accept/acknowledge BluRay, or stuck with shared RAM on Macs like iMac, MBP, and etc... The Mac IS Compromise! The MBA is a little more compromise for thinner, lightweight, and beauty... I will gladly give the last LITTLE bit to have my MBA... FACE IT... WE ALL HERE ARE WILLING TO COMPROMISE to use our computers made of aluminum for a much better look and feel but with processors a few years old, limited other components, and extremely limited software just to use OS X!!!

You only want to spend $1000, go buy a PC... Heck get a 17" display with a great dedicated graphics card and a beautiful display. Get 4 GB RAM and a 3 GHz CPU. Get Windows 7, Windows Media Player, BLURAY, and HDMI! Get your sound through the cable too! Here's the thing though, when you connect to the Internet don't download the wrong thing... or your PC will get a Virus... but even if you use NAV, and your CPU is busy with NAV usage YOU WILL STILL GET BETTER PLAYBACK OF HD VIDEO! And you can watch natively with your BluRay!

I am afraid i will have to totally agree with the poster here.

If you want HD video, go windows
If you want the mac experience, go mac air, simply because mac air is the essence of mac. That is my personal opinion, it may sound funny, but i think it has at least some substance in it.

Now as far as HD videos are concerned (1080p and even 720p), i would like to clear out the following:

(a) all trailers from apple.com will play (tested on my own mac air, 2.13mhz cpu, 2g ddr3, 128ssd, 9400m, snow leopard, QT X). They will play even while being downloaded (1-1.4 mb/sec dload speed).

(b) random mkvs from the internet (720p/1080p) will NOT play, even directly from the air's SSD.

It is obvious that QT X utilizes the GPU hardware + twin core cpu optimally, but only for the video formats it NATIVELY supports ( such as movies from apple.com). The third party software solutions we are all trying to use for non natively supported video formats ( such as plex, vlc, perian 1.1.4, mplayer osx) are simply not advanced enough at this point to support optimal hardware decoding. A powerful mac can rely on its cpu to do the job and thus get along with these software packs, but air simply needs its GPU hardware to display HD and so far only snow leopard QT X can do that for the formats it supports out of the box. Bitter truth is that ms windows media player can't play HD videos optimally in lesser laptops as well. But windows platform offers third party applications that are advanced, utilize hardware and enable playback of HD videos on virtually any windows pc ( such as mplayer classic) . That is not the case for macs, yet.

The first day i got my mac air, i said to my self " this would make an outstanding windows 7 computer"... but.... it wouldn't be a mac then....

 

[Esopus]

I am afraid i will have to totally agree with the poster here.

If you want HD video, go windows

I don't think it was unreasonable of me to ask about the HD capabilities of the MacBook Air, particularly since every Mac I've owned since 2007 has handled HD video very well. But yes, I've never disputed that the same MacBook Air running Windows would handle HD video perfectly.

What I'm still finding surprising, though, is the widely differing views on what the MBA can do. People have given completely different accounts of HD playback on their MBAs.

For instance, you say your 2.13 will not handle .mkv, whereas on my mom's new 1.86/SSD I managed to play a 1080P .mkv using Plex for 2 hours with very little issue.

Others are saying that YouTube HD works fine for them, but on my mom's MBA with the latest Flash, latest Safari, latest updates to 10.6.1, no applications running other than Safari, no plugins, no other windows or tabs open, the MBA cool and freshly booted, YouTube HD was generally a stuttering mess. (The same YouTube HD plays fine on my MBP using the same internet connection, so I don't think insufficient bandwidth is the explanation.)

Could it be a quality control issue on Apple's part (such as poorly applied thermal paste on some models)? Is it because our ambient temperatures are different? I'm still scratching my head.

In any case, as I stated a few posts back, my mom is thrilled with the MBA and it seems to be handling everything -- including most HD video -- she throws at it very well.

 

[Durious]

Unsure on the newer ones but my RevA 1.6 Ghz\Intel integrated GPU can't run even non-HD youtube without one of it's core's shutting down.

I've been using this topic to gauge on getting rid of my current early 2008 MBP for a Rev C Macbook Air cause I REALLY like the portability since I work full time and do part-time university.

Anyway reading through here and my considerations for a 2.13 Ghz\128 Gb SSD are mixed now. I'm leaning towards the MBA but would really like HD playback within youtube as I have over 10,000 videos watched on their and I am a fanatic

However again reading through everyone I get the impression from *Insert random percentage* that most of you with the 2.13 Ghz can run HD youtube video on safari as long as there is not multiple tabs\apps open.

Is that fair to say yes?

 

[noodle654]

Unsure on the newer ones but my RevA 1.6 Ghz\Intel integrated GPU can't run even non-HD youtube without one of it's core's shutting down.

I've been using this topic to gauge on getting rid of my current early 2008 MBP for a Rev C Macbook Air cause I REALLY like the portability since I work full time and do part-time university.

Anyway reading through here and my considerations for a 2.13 Ghz\128 Gb SSD are mixed now. I'm leaning towards the MBA but would really like HD playback within youtube as I have over 10,000 videos watched on their and I am a fanatic

However again reading through everyone I get the impression from *Insert random percentage* that most of you with the 2.13 Ghz can run HD youtube video on safari as long as there is not multiple tabs\apps open.

Is that fair to say yes?

I just want to know, how can the MBA not handle HD video on Youtube? My Mini can handle it, so should the MBA. Is it just Flash Player? I mean, my MBP 2.2GHz has CPU near full load when watching video, but that is a Flash player issue.