The "I just bought/ordered/got/shipped my new/refurb MBA" thread, [Merged]

[jcitynj]

Week 1

Long-time reader, recent register, first time poster

# # #

I have had my MBA for one week now, and so far I am very pleased. Generally, I kept my A1181 hooked up to an external monitor and Apple Wireless Keyboard with Magic Trackpad.

Since having the MBA; despite the smaller screen (I keep it mobile - haven't hooked it up to the monitor, but once to see it all hooked up) I prefer this to my 13in A1181.

I love this MBAs mobility. I work from home and love to hop on my bike and take my notebook with me, getting work done wherever I can grab some wifi. The higher resolution screen is a plus for me. I have heard some people complain about the 11in screen, but honestly I find smaller is better with this machine. Portability is the name of the game here.

Battery life has been spectacular - leave the house, fully charged, using brightness at about 50%, I am getting minimum 6hrs (emailing, surfing the web and creating docs - no HD or video BS).

I had been looking for over a year to replace my A1181. Over the years I had upgraded the A1181 with more RAM, storage, and had the nice people at the Apple Store replace my topcase TWICE! Even way out of applecare (5yrs later), they replace my topcase - no questions asked.

I have a 500GB Seagate GoFlex drive partitioned as a TM and storage/transfer drive. This will hopefully alleviate the relatively small hard drive (128 SSD).

The computer is quick, lightweight and its minimalist design is the best.

My apologies for the long winded post - I had been reading tons on this forum before purchasing my new MBA, figured this was a good time to pay it forward to those on the fence.

Overall impression:
Awesome computer
Super quick
Uber mobile
Love that the aluminum feels cool-to-the-touch
Would I wait for sandy bridge upgrade if I were you? Maybe - not sure that its that big of a deal. Thunderbolt? depends on what you need it for.

Best,
--
jcitynj

 

[mariov]

Just purchased the 11" base model. It's a great little machine! Extremely light, beautiful and no heat issues whatsoever... And fast!

me too. I just replaced my old ibook g4, and wow, this thing is FAST!!

 

[votdfak]

I just got refurbished MBA 13" Ultimate. I am lovin' it!

 

[Patrick946]

Last night (after months of planning) I finally placed my order on a refurb 13" with 4GB RAM. It will be here in around a week, I can't wait!

I could have waited for the refresh or the back to school sale, but I've already started classes and I need it sooner rather than later. I'm really looking forward to getting it, I'll post impressions when it arrives.

EDIT: and I just got an email saying that it shipped and will be arriving this Friday, which is way sooner than I expected.

 

[MacJones]

I just got refurbished MBA 13" Ultimate. I am lovin' it!

Me too, I love this computer! I've been playing Portal 2 on it the last few days and it handles the game flawlessly. This is a great little computer for all of my needs.

 

[Patrick946]

I ended up calling to ask them to hold it at a local Fedex, instead of just hoping that none of my neighbors decided to pick it up themselves.

Date/Time Activity Location Details
May 20, 2011 8:56 AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery CHICAGO, IL
May 20, 2011 4:45 AM Delivery exception CHICAGO, IL Redirecting to FedEx Office
May 20, 2011 3:56 AM At local FedEx facility CHICAGO, IL
May 20, 2011 2:54 AM Departed FedEx location CHICAGO, IL
May 19, 2011 8:19 PM Arrived at FedEx location CHICAGO, IL
May 19, 2011 5:43 PM Hold at FedEx location request received CHICAGO, IL Check back later for shipment status
May 19, 2011 5:51 AM Departed FedEx location LEWISBERRY, PA
May 18, 2011 6:42 PM Arrived at FedEx location LEWISBERRY, PA
May 18, 2011 5:24 PM Picked up LEWISBERRY, PA
May 18, 2011 3:21 PM Shipment information sent to FedEx

Hopefully it will be ready when I check in after work. I'm stupidly excited.

 

[Mode-III fan]

I ended up calling to ask them to hold it at a local Fedex, instead of just hoping that none of my neighbors decided to pick it up themselves.



Hopefully it will be ready when I check in after work. I'm stupidly excited.

Haha!! Cool. I hope it arrived and you're having fun with it. The 2010 MBAs are awesome (regardless of any future update)!

 

[iNeedToDoHw]

Can't wait!!

I really can't wait until June when the new MacBook air and the student discount comes out. MBA is already great as it is!

 

[Patrick946]

Haha!! Cool. I hope it arrived and you're having fun with it. The 2010 MBAs are awesome (regardless of any future update)!

I am, it's great. I got it after work on Friday, and I've been using it pretty much constantly since then. It's not a powerhouse, but it is an extremely capable computer.

 

[Mode-III fan]

I am, it's great. I got it after work on Friday, and I've been using it pretty much constantly since then. It's not a powerhouse, but it is an extremely capable computer.

Great. Do you by any chance know the type of SSD that came with your MBA? The Toshiba or the rumored Samsung version? Mine (bought a couple of weeks ago) came with the version labeled, SM256C (presumably the Samsung drive).
I know there are other threads on this topic, but I thought I'd ask anyways.

 

[cruzan1]

Just ordered - 13 inch

Long time reader, first time poster

Been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the refresh, checked the refurbished store two days ago and couldn't resist. $1189 for the 13" 4gb / 128gb. Went ahead and pulled the trigger. I was on a flight last month with my "bulky" ole 15"MBP when the guy sitting next to me opened up his MBA. It's pretty obvious that the world is moving into SSD and cloud storage.

Can't freaking wait!

 

[stevensr123]

I'm thinking of getting a 64gb/4 gb , macbook air from ebay.

I'm just wondering, I'm in college doing drafting so i use autocad. what would the performance of autocad be like with the current macbook air?

I'm not expecting much like, just editing the work i do in class, maybe a few simple designs (pipe layouts, building a truss etc). does anyone else use it for auto cad?

also I'm thinking of just getting the 64gb and then buying a 64 gb sdxc card and putting it into the sd card lot. would this card be alright to put all my music, HD movies on and such? I mean would the performance of reading HD movies be perfectly fine or is the speed of sdxc cards not good enough?

 

[PDFierro]

There is no SD card slot on the 11-inch.

 

[FortuneTeller]

Hi there. I purchased my 13'' MBA 2.13 GHz a month ago and in general I'm quite happy with it. But, I usually give a lot of presentations and I'm only disappointed with the lack of infrared (while the MBP has infrared and remote). This is of course a small thing, but isn't this quite weird in such a portable laptop?

 

[NorfolkMustard]

Hi there. I purchased my 13'' MBA 2.13 GHz a month ago and in general I'm quite happy with it. But, I usually give a lot of presentations and I'm only disappointed with the lack of infrared (while the MBP has infrared and remote). This is of course a small thing, but isn't this quite weird in such a portable laptop?

If you have an iPhone/iPod touch then get the "keynote remote" app from the app store. Works over Bluetooth/wifi

 

[FortuneTeller]

If you have an iPhone/iPod touch then get the "keynote remote" app from the app store. Works over Bluetooth/wifi

Thanks for yor reply.
I don't have an iPhone right now, but I'm thinking of buying one... The other day I felt like a kind of idiot going towards the MBA each time I need to move a slide.

 

[cloudTiger]

No more waiting - home with new MBA 13 pre-update

I really have put off buying my wife a MBA for months now waiting on the update. We were at the mall today and I swung her by the Apple Store to show her "this is what you will eventually get" and talking to the Store Rep, I decided that they were really OK with returns in the event a new model is released - so we're home with the new Air.

APPLE: You have 14 days to release the new one! Please!

Normally, I hate gaming the system by purchasing something I have every intent to return - but I've decided in Apple's case, they would prefer this to actually publishing a release date up front.

Wife and kids are still playing with Photobooth, maybe I'll get to use it after they go to bed!

 

[torbjoern]

I really have put off buying my wife a MBA for months now waiting on the update. We were at the mall today and I swung her by the Apple Store to show her "this is what you will eventually get" and talking to the Store Rep, I decided that they were really OK with returns in the event a new model is released - so we're home with the new Air.

APPLE: You have 14 days to release the new one! Please!

Normally, I hate gaming the system by purchasing something I have every intent to return - but I've decided in Apple's case, they would prefer this to actually publishing a release date up front.

Wife and kids are still playing with Photobooth, maybe I'll get to use it after they go to bed!

Then I hope Apple will release it in 15 days or more.

 

[clyde2801]

Bought a flawless 11" 1.4 ghz, 4gb ram, 128 gb ssd, Office '10 and a couple of extras for $950 yesterday evening from a guy on CL. Original box, all accessories and everything. Less than two months old. (Could have gotten a base '10 13" for same price plus sales tax, but was concerned about being stuck with 2 gigs of ram.

I am amazed at the build, speed dimensions of this system. Battery life is superb. Screen (compared to my 2.4 ghz macbook CE) is brilliant. Despite its small size, it's screen and keyboard are quite useful and usable. Rather glad I didn't get the 13".

The MBA will pull in wifi signals from all over the place, unlike the metal macbook.

I can also see how the SSD can make a difference in everyday usage; before I just thought it just helped with boot ups and cold app launches. And I thought the difference between the 5400 and 7200 rpm hard drives was drastic.

Marveling at the size and weight of the machine. Poor little macbook, I don't think its going to get much love in the foreseeable future. I don't think even an SSD will give it a comparable computing experience.

Yeah, I know if Apple releases updated airs next week with the expected specs at the same price point, this purchase won't seem like such a great bargain. But I don't care. This machine should give me quite a bit of service for the foreseeable future. (Okay, a backlit keyboard maybe...but other than that, nah.) I'm also not convinced that apple won't release a new version with an i3 chip instead of an i5 due to heat and battery considerations, maximum profitability and to convince many to try their upscale laptops.

I loved the 12" powerbook, but there's no comparison. And the 11's start out for less money than we paid for the g4's ten years ago. Again, amazing.

 

[peskaa]

Just ordered a new 2011 13" MBA. Went for:

1.8GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage
KEYBOARD/USER'S GUIDE-GBR
COUNTRY KIT-GBR

So yeah, ultimate machine. Delivery estimate 2nd August.

EDIT: Interesting! It's definitely the 1.8Ghz i7 model, but the CTO has a typo that says i5.

 

[El3ctronics]

"Prepared for Shipment"...13" $1599 model!

 

[bluermlou]

11.6 Ultimate ordered!

1.8GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage
KEYBOARD/USER'S GUIDE
COUNTRY KIT

looking forward to something different (giving my PC desktop to my parents since they're desperate for a newer machine) and maybe tooling around with Xcode a bit.

 

[mac jones]

Nice merged 'bought my new toy' thread.

11" i7.... I'm now in heaven ....da ta da.......da ta da.......

 

[The Samurai]

Will be biting the bullet on the 13.3" low end. Usual lot of videos on it once it arrives

 

[Adivers]

First Mac

I ordered the low end 13". This wil be my first Mac. I have been on the windows platform since 3.11, and DOS before that. I have barely touched my old laptop since I got my iPad on release day, last year. I'm hoping the Air will be a good fit.