Week 12 MBA

[duffyanneal]

I just picked up a week 12 MBA 1.6/80GB from the local Apple Store. So far everything is working great. I bought up one from the original batch of MBAs a few weeks ago and returned it due to a few issues. I figured that Apple may have the build process down a bit better by now so I decided to go another round. Overall, the machine seems to be running a bit cooler. Right now the the temp is hovering around 42C doing general work. The fan is obviously silent as usual. Build quality is excellent as it should be. I did play some Youtube videos earlier and the machine stayed cool and quiet, which was not the case a few weeks ago. One last tidbit is that my display is a 9C6F which I have not seen anyone mention yet. This display looks awesome. The colors are quite vibrant and saturated with no noticeable backlight bleeding. Anyone have a clue who makes this display? I would definitely add it to the list of good displays.

 

[alpinadvl]

dont know who makes the display. but i agree with your comments.

BTW, what was the reason you returned your previous MBA... what were it's issues?

-alf

 

[PDE]

If you install and run switchresX and export/open the DDC file, the LCD model name will appear at the bottom of the text - from there you can google the model name and find out who manufactures it.

 

[Scott6666]

Keep us up to date. Make lots of posts. I will check the boards hourly.

We are all looking for salvation from the fiery flames of 6200 rpm fans and core shutdowns. Can the Week 12 MBA be our redemption on this Easter weekend? Can I soon return to the Apple flock - and not be fleeced?

[Happy Easter to all (whether you believe in that faith or another, enjoy your weekend).]

 

[NC MacGuy]

Keep us up to date. Make lots of posts. I will check the boards hourly.

We are all looking for salvation from the fiery flames of 6200 rpm fans and core shutdowns. Can the Week 12 MBA be our redemption on this Easter weekend? Can I soon return to the Apple flock - and not be fleeced?

[Happy Easter to all (whether you believe in that faith or another, enjoy your weekend).]

Mine's worked fine for almost two months and it's a week TWO model.

I do not think anyone can truly find redemption in carbon, silicon, aluminum and plastic.

 

[duffyanneal]

BTW, what was the reason you returned your previous MBA... what were it's issues?

-alf

I actually went thru three machines before I gave up. The first had a HDD die. The second ran hot and the fan was pretty obnoxious. The third had an issue with the touchpad button not working reliably.

If you install and run switchresX and export/open the DDC file, the LCD model name will appear at the bottom of the text - from there you can google the model name and find out who manufactures it.

Thanks will do. I'll post back when I figure out the OEM.

Keep us up to date. Make lots of posts. I will check the boards hourly.

We are all looking for salvation from the fiery flames of 6200 rpm fans and core shutdowns. Can the Week 12 MBA be our redemption on this Easter weekend? Can I soon return to the Apple flock - and not be fleeced?

[Happy Easter to all (whether you believe in that faith or another, enjoy your weekend).]

If I have any issues I'll let you know. So far it's been about 8 hours with no issues at all. I'm actually satisfied.

 

[duffyanneal]

Well switchresx says the 9C6F is a N133I6-L01. The closest thing I've been able to find so far is a N133I1 which is a Chi Mei display. As I said earlier this is an awesome looking display. I've had a run-in in the past with a Chi Mei display in a Dell m1330, and I wasn't impressed at the time. The display was quite grainy.

 

[Scott6666]

Mine's worked fine for almost two months and it's a week TWO model.

I do not think anyone can truly find redemption in carbon, silicon, aluminum and plastic.

What an ******. No sense of humor. No chocolate bunnies for you . Bad dog, bad dog, down!!!

If I have any issues I'll let you know. So far it's been about 8 hours with no issues at all. I'm actually satisfied.

Thanks. I'm really interested in the fan noise.

I'd be happy if the fans stayed down using standard applications like browsers and word.

I'd be really happy if the fans stayed down under Parallels with Word or Excel running.

I'm not sure I could expect the fans to stay down with videos or YouTube but that would be fabulous.

Let us know how the fan does does under those scenarios if you can. If yours holds tight I'll jump back in the pond and try another machine again.

 

[digitalfx]

Keep us up to date. Make lots of posts. I will check the boards hourly.

We are all looking for salvation from the fiery flames of 6200 rpm fans and core shutdowns. Can the Week 12 MBA be our redemption on this Easter weekend? Can I soon return to the Apple flock - and not be fleeced?

[Happy Easter to all (whether you believe in that faith or another, enjoy your weekend).]

What??? I bought mine on day one and dont have any issues. I use it 12+ hours a day all day long 6+ days a week.

I rarely even hear the fan, and have not had a core shut down yet....btw- I am a commercial director and watch QT on this all day long.

1.8/ssd

 

[Scott6666]

What??? I bought mine on day one and dont have any issues. I use it 12+ hours a day all day long 6+ days a week.

I rarely even hear the fan, and have not had a core shut down yet....btw- I am a commercial director and watch QT on this all day long.

1.8/ssd

That's great. I'm happy it's working for you. I could not even let iTunes do a party shuffle while browsing without the fan going at 6200 and having a core shut down. I'm sure that issues to this extent were an anomaly but clearly there are enough people on these forums and Apple's support forum that there is a significant defect rate. I haven't tried to re-buy yet because I don't want to break the shrinkwrap on another one and force Apple to eat another return that someone else may chose to keep. When I stop hearing people talk about taking back their second and third MBA I will feel more comfortable trying again.

 

[NC MacGuy]

What an ******. No sense of humor. No chocolate bunnies for you . Bad dog, bad dog, down!!!

An ******? - probably. Sense of humor, wrong on that, I have way plenty! Don't want chocolate bunnies - I like to bite the heads off of peeps but they must be allowed to harden for at least a day before consumption.

I do feel it my duty to let Scott6666 know that not all Air's are bad just because of their "born on" date when he posts tripe. My week two model works wonderfully. Fans nearly always at 2500rpm. Never a core shutdown, even encoding w. Handbrake for 6 hours straight. Fan is not loud at all, even at 6200rpm. My MB & MBP are both louder.

It's quite obvious others agree that not all Airs are as bad as your diatribes would attempt to lead the uninitiated to believe.

Curb totally rules, Scottyboy!

 

[kyleen66]

It's difficult to say which "week" my air came out of. I ordered day 2 with a custom config. It has worked really great. Occasionally the fan does kick on and get loud, but usually when I have about 10 app's open. I've had no issues with it.

So I'm not sure that what week one was put together has much to do with the overall performance.

 

[duffyanneal]

I like to bite the heads off of peeps but they must be allowed to harden for at least a day before consumption.

It's quite obvious others agree that not all Airs are as bad as your diatribes would attempt to lead the uninitiated to believe.

I believe that you are seriously disturbed.

I had three machines of which only one had the heating/fan issues. The other two were well behaved, but had other hardware issues (see above) which required replacement. My reasoning with waiting a few weeks to pass was to let some of the initial manufacturing bugs to work themselves out. I figured it would give me a greater chance of buying a perfectly working unit. My bets seemed to have payed off. I went thru some of the same issues with the initial release of the MBs and MBPs. Nothing more than initial quality issues during a production ramp. Some people recommend waiting until Apple releases Gen 2 of any device before purchasing. Seems like pretty decent advice, but that wouldn't be any fun.

 

[duffyanneal]

It's difficult to say which "week" my air came out of. I ordered day 2 with a custom config. It has worked really great. Occasionally the fan does kick on and get loud, but usually when I have about 10 app's open. I've had no issues with it.

So I'm not sure that what week one was put together has much to do with the overall performance.

Actually, you can find out the week of manufacture by looking at the serial number. Here's the first few digits of my week twelve serial...W8812.

 

[kyleen66]

Actually, you can find out the week of manufacture by looking at the serial number. Here's the first few digits of my week twelve serial...W8812.

::rummage rummage::

Found my box! It says, W8806.

That can't possibly be the 6th week of production, could it? I mean I actually got it in my hands on Feb 6 IIRC.

 

[toomuchmac]

I think all this might be up in the air or subject to a lot more variables than we might know or can pin down and post here.

I got an SSD model the very first day they were available in store on Feb 4 or 5. I don't have it with me right now, but I'd assume it was a week 1 or 2 w/o looking at the serial number.

More in other threads past and future about Apple's marketing with the MBA especially wrt women and all that, but two days ago I went to the Apple Store with my almost 60 yr old mother and bought her a 1.6/HDD model. According to the serial number it is a week 11 model.

It shipped with 10.5.2 and when I did the software updates at first login, the recent "fanware" update wasn't among them. Just the recent security update, safari 3.1 et al. So, I'm guessing it shipped with it already installed.

However, one thing I did notice was that it would kick up to 6000rpm more often than my SSD model seems to either before or after the "fanware" update. Now, I was setting stuff up for her and using the external superdrive quite a bit installing a few things and ripping music off CDs, so maybe feeding power out to that heats things up. Luckily the fan would usually go back down to "normal/quiet" after a bit and not stay pegged at 6000+ forever, esp after unplugging the optical drive. It didn't seem to peg the fan with normal, light to medium usage, which I think is encouraging.

 

[NC MacGuy]

I believe that you are seriously disturbed.

I had three machines of which only one had the heating/fan issues. The other two were well behaved, but had other hardware issues (see above) which required replacement. My reasoning with waiting a few weeks to pass was to let some of the initial manufacturing bugs to work themselves out. I figured it would give me a greater chance of buying a perfectly working unit. My bets seemed to have payed off. I went thru some of the same issues with the initial release of the MBs and MBPs. Nothing more than initial quality issues during a production ramp. Some people recommend waiting until Apple releases Gen 2 of any device before purchasing. Seems like pretty decent advice, but that wouldn't be any fun.

Totally agree, especially with the disturbed part

I too had serious issues with first edition MBs and MBPs. Just the same, I bought 5 gen. one MBs and only 1 had a problem. 20% failure is not acceptable w. any QA program I know of. The other four MBs are still in use and haven't had problems to this day.

I got lucky with my MBA. Being aware of Gen. 1 quality concerns, I took a gamble and it's paid off. If my Air had issues, I'd probably be in same boat as you. Odds are better getting improved MBA quality today vs. five weeks ago but for some posters to say that any pre-xxxx models are all bad is ludicrous. There are literally thousands out there working well. Unfortunately there were some dogs that I think had minor issues. They'll be showing up in the refurb. section soon enough.

Hope your third one continues to be the charm!

 

[PDE]

I just wanted to add a comment on the 9c6f display vs the other more common one that ends with 73. The first is a chimei and the latter a auo.yesterday I received my MBA and was saddened to see that the display was not good, with quite severe uneven backlighting and bleeding all along the top and bottom, a auo display. I just compared it in the store with the chimei and the chimei is really much better(surprisingly): brighter, completely even backlight, and no "grain" at all compared to the auo. It's just better in all ways. Too bad most of them seem to be the other one.