Why I love my Air

[DaveOZ]

I recently purchased a Rev B SSD Air to replace my stolen Rev A SSD.

I love it.

I have a Mac Pro as my main computer and I have owned Mac Book and Mac Book Pros in both 15" and 17" but the Air suits me best. I have also tried an Asus Eee 10".

Does my Air have 'lines'. I don't know to be honest. If I look really hard I can see some grain but this is one of the best screens I have had. I sent my MacBook Unibody back after one day because the screen was so bad. The Air looks fine to me.

My Air is so light I can easily carry it around in one hand with a pinch grip. I use it around the house, on the couch, in bed and outside. I move it a lot. Being thin makes it easier to carry than the Eeee PC. It slide into my backpack with my camera and other stuff and I take it with me everywhere. The size of it is perfect. A screen you can actually see and a keyboard you can really use yet still light as most netbooks.

It syncs with my mail etc with Mobile Me and files with my Mac Pro and I can even use Back to My Mac to control the big machine.

Last night I watched the Monaco GP in bed on it, streamed off the net. It coped well.

I have tried all of the above with every other Mac and a couple of NetBooks. None of them are as good as an Air.

Too much Air hating in here. If you think an Air will do what you want then get one.

 

[-Ryan-]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

The people who hate on the Air are the same people who have never used one. I need a little more power, so I don't have one, but my dad uses one and it's a fantastic machine. You'll get a lot of Air haters here, some with real grievances, some without, but if the machine suits your needs that's great. You treat it as exactly what it is; a secondary computer. For that it's perfect.

 

[entatlrg]

Well, as I'm laz'ing on the couch typing this on my Air, with the iMac in the other room, my 15" MacBook Pro on my desk I'd couldn't agree with your comments more !!

My only concern with my Air is fan going at times, I'm yet to try and correct that with coolbook or whatever.

Personally, between my Air and my MacBook Pro I'm 50-50 on which is my 'favorite' ...

- If I'm in the 'mood' to enjoy the (incredible) larger 15" screen of my MBP and I'm not traveling more than going car to office and also not minding the weight on my lap and hands aren't too full then my MacBook Pro is my favorite, I enjoy it's screen and keyboard so much and the fact that it can 'for sure' do everything with little effort and no fan noise.

- Other times I'll grab my Air one handed, just that and marveling on how light, thin and cool it really is puts a big smile on my face, there is no cooler looking, quicker, thinner notebook on the market than the Air. It is a very nice machine.

My dream machine would be a 15" MBA, with more power ... 2+ghz processor, 4gb ram etc ...

However, I'm willing to bet we'll never see such a beast ... why? Because it would kill the sales of the 15" MBP's !

Back to the OP ... for sure no need to bash the Air, it does what it was designed to do leaps and bounds better than anything else.

It's the buyers fault if they buy an Air expecting the power of a MB, or MBP or whine about lack of ports ... if that's the case 'dumb purchase' on their part, they should of bought what they needed, lol.

 

[GeekGirl*]

I am on my bed typing this,I had a rev B ssd very nice but for the lines then went to the uni 2.0 macbook a bit heavy and screen was bad so took a chance on a rev A/80 and had a squeaky key Apple stood up and sent me a Rev A 64SSD and it mint the screen is MUCH better then the previous Air.
I love mine also.

 

[Carl Abudephane]

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[Scottsdale]

One day, the 15" MacBook Pro may be a 15" Air.

I agree. I think the MBA is the style of the future. BluRay will probably never exist in a Mac notebook, because Apple is going to remove the optical drive completely. It's of little value and takes up a bunch of space.

I think Apple could call the current MBA the MB, lower the price to $1399, and sell 20 million a year! Seems like a winning idea to me. Everyone that uses one will love it, as long as the display doesn't have the dreaded lines on it.

 

[HLdan]

My only concern with my Air is fan going at times, I'm yet to try and correct that with coolbook or whatever.

I never understand why people get so bent out of shape about the fans running. I welcome the fans running in my Air, I know the machine is getting good cooling. Installing coolbook or sitting it on an ice pack does nothing. I would be more nervous if my Macbook started getting hot and the fans DIDN'T activate.

 

[jeffg819]

Best computer overall

I have a 15" MBP at the office that no longer is mobile. For what I do for a living, the MBA Rev B SSD I have works great and is a joy when it comes to traveling.

Right now I have Omnifocus, Entourage, Safari, Excel, DevonThink Pro, iChat and a few utilities running on the machine. The MBA feels nimble and quick and handles everything without any noise from the fans.

Why folks like to bash this computer is really beyond my comprehension. Given what it does and the form in which it delivers its performance, Apple did a great job putting this product together. Not perfect, nothing really is in the tech world, but definitely well worth the price for my needs.

BTW, I originally went to the new Unibody MacBook from my Rev A MBA. Yes, I liked the bigger drive and additional memory and I will probably upgrade to a REV C MBA should it come with 4 gigs of ram, but I sorely missed the portability, screen, and overall enjoyment of the MBA. Don't use eBay much any more but Craigslist works great where I live!

 

[Carl Abudephane]

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[NoSmokingBandit]

Ok. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[ppc750fx]

I never understand why people get so bent out of shape about the fans running. I welcome the fans running in my Air, I know the machine is getting good cooling. Installing coolbook or sitting it on an ice pack does nothing. I would be more nervous if my Macbook started getting hot and the fans DIDN'T activate.

People get upset about the fans running for two reasons:

1) It means that the machine is generating a lot of heat.

2) The fans are noisy.

Now #2 isn't a big deal if you have headphones on, but the heat is a real problem for a lot of folks. The MBA doesn't use a real ULV chip, so it generates a ton of heat. The heat not only makes it uncomfortable to hold, but also considerably reduces the lifespan of the components.

Really, it's not the fans that are the issue as much as it is what they're a symptom of.

 

[HLdan]

People get upset about the fans running for two reasons:

1) It means that the machine is generating a lot of heat.

2) The fans are noisy.

Now #2 isn't a big deal if you have headphones on, but the heat is a real problem for a lot of folks. The MBA doesn't use a real ULV chip, so it generates a ton of heat. The heat not only makes it uncomfortable to hold, but also considerably reduces the lifespan of the components.

Really, it's not the fans that are the issue as much as it is what they're a symptom of.

But that's just it, the RevB Macbook Air's don't get hot. My fans will kick in while watching a YouTube video in HQ and it stays very cool to the touch. The fans aren't so noisy that you need to block out the sound. Every laptop has noisy fans, it's just people being picky that have a problem with it. I can understand if it spelled doom when the fans kick in but in this case it's a good thing, at least on the RevB model.

 

[uberamd]

People get upset about the fans running for two reasons:

1) It means that the machine is generating a lot of heat.

2) The fans are noisy.

Now #2 isn't a big deal if you have headphones on, but the heat is a real problem for a lot of folks. The MBA doesn't use a real ULV chip, so it generates a ton of heat. The heat not only makes it uncomfortable to hold, but also considerably reduces the lifespan of the components.

Really, it's not the fans that are the issue as much as it is what they're a symptom of.

My MBA RevA gets hot very quickly. I have it sitting in a room with AC, on a cool desk, doing nothing, and the CPU is 130F. If I fire up VirtualBox, or throw it on my lap the temps skyrocket and the thing hits 6000RPM on the fan right away. Never crashes, but gets very hot. It worries me but I don't think anything will happen to it.

 

[dudeitsjay]

I never understand why people get so bent out of shape about the fans running. I welcome the fans running in my Air, I know the machine is getting good cooling. Installing coolbook or sitting it on an ice pack does nothing. I would be more nervous if my Macbook started getting hot and the fans DIDN'T activate.

But that's just it, the RevB Macbook Air's don't get hot. My fans will kick in while watching a YouTube video in HQ and it stays very cool to the touch. The fans aren't so noisy that you need to block out the sound. Every laptop has noisy fans, it's just people being picky that have a problem with it. I can understand if it spelled doom when the fans kick in but in this case it's a good thing, at least on the RevB model.

LOL what kind of rev B do you have?! And your logic as a consumer is completely twisted. Since when do people act happy about a noisy fan; by correlating it to good cooling? I would think the correct assumption is that the computer needs the cooling and thusly the noisy fan kicks in. That's not saying it HAS good cooling, its saying it NEEDS good cooling. I would love to meet you. You think in vastly different ways, and I'm to adhere to history and consider you a potential genius along side psychotic =D.

But anyhow, I hit around 80C plus, and sometimes its dangerous to touch. I would never say that my rev B stays cool honestly.

 

[GeekGirl*]

But that's just it, the RevB Macbook Air's don't get hot. My fans will kick in while watching a YouTube video in HQ and it stays very cool to the touch. The fans aren't so noisy that you need to block out the sound. Every laptop has noisy fans, it's just people being picky that have a problem with it. I can understand if it spelled doom when the fans kick in but in this case it's a good thing, at least on the RevB model.

My A and B are the same not difference at all in the RPM,s of the fans.

 

[Scottsdale]

... and as long as they don't give it a MacBooks display!

Imagine an Air with a display like that; the stuff of nightmares!

How about a high quality OLED display. Or just the display from the original MBA. A display without lines. A display with dark blacks, bright colors, and acceptable from angles. Preferably not glassy but glossy.

 

[Scottsdale]

LOL what kind of rev B do you have?! And your logic as a consumer is completely twisted. Since when do people act happy about a noisy fan; by correlating it to good cooling? I would think the correct assumption is that the computer needs the cooling and thusly the noisy fan kicks in. That's not saying it HAS good cooling, its saying it NEEDS good cooling. I would love to meet you. You think in vastly different ways, and I'm to adhere to history and consider you a potential genius along side psychotic =D.

But anyhow, I hit around 80C plus, and sometimes its dangerous to touch. I would never say that my rev B stays cool honestly.

The original Air was extremely hot to the touch and overheated too. My rev B 1.86 with SSD never was hot to the touch. It never overheated. The fans could only be loud when watching video and then wasn't a problem because audio from movie was far louder. I only could hear it when muting a movie after it was playing for a long time. Really, I cannot understand how anyone could complain about the rev B unless their rev B either had a faulty fan or poorly applied thermal paste.

I really never could say my rev B MBA was hot. Luke warm to the touch after intensive video for a long time like when watching a movie. I really think there has to be something else going on if your rev B is hot? Or has noisy fans.

 

[ppc750fx]

My MBA RevA gets hot very quickly. I have it sitting in a room with AC, on a cool desk, doing nothing, and the CPU is 130F. If I fire up VirtualBox, or throw it on my lap the temps skyrocket and the thing hits 6000RPM on the fan right away. Never crashes, but gets very hot. It worries me but I don't think anything will happen to it.

Well, if statistics are to be believed, the lifespan of the components will be reduced substantially -- but most people don't seem to keep laptops long enough to notice stuff like that anyways :/

Kinda sad, really, that heat death is going to make these machines a rare commodity in 20 years. Heck, I've still got a working IIci -- I can't imagine it would still be in such good condition if Apple had the same aesthetics obsession that they do now.

 

[maflynn]

Well, if statistics are to be believed, the lifespan of the components will be reduced substantially

This is why I get worried when my MBP gets a little warm (75c) and why I'm on the fence to getting a MBA. I'm also on the lookout for a good deal. I can have a refurb rev a. MBA for a grand at the apple store but I think I can do better, either getting a rev b for a decent price or a much cheaper rev a.

 

[HLdan]

LOL what kind of rev B do you have?! And your logic as a consumer is completely twisted. Since when do people act happy about a noisy fan; by correlating it to good cooling? I would think the correct assumption is that the computer needs the cooling and thusly the noisy fan kicks in. That's not saying it HAS good cooling, its saying it NEEDS good cooling. I would love to meet you. You think in vastly different ways, and I'm to adhere to history and consider you a potential genius along side psychotic =D.

But anyhow, I hit around 80C plus, and sometimes its dangerous to touch. I would never say that my rev B stays cool honestly.

Where in any of my posts did I say I enjoy hearing a noisy fan? I said, that I welcome the fans turning on because I know it's cooling the computer. I'm not an OCD geek freak like some of you here who complain if the computer boots up in 30 seconds instead of 29 seconds. Or like some people here who take flashlights and look for everything wrong with case design.
Or like some people here who will complain about fan noise but then will install SMC fan control to raise up the fan speeds to cool off the computer. There's no pleasing any of the geek freaks here.
I would highly suggest actually USING your computer for once rather than spending time here name calling such as putting me in the same category as some psychotic. Judge yourself before judging others. As usual, another noobie who prefers to make enemies rather than help someone. I'll be searching the forums for the next time you need help.

There are many people in this world with jacked up looking computers with noisy fans and slow running CPU's that are actually getting work done rather than OCDing their pretty Apple toy all day.

 

[dudeitsjay]

Where in any of my posts did I say I enjoy hearing a noisy fan? I said, that I welcome the fans turning on because I know it's cooling the computer.

Like I said, your sense of welcoming and enjoyment is at best odd. Like I said, the fan turning on should not be indicative of good cooling to come, but insufficient cooling to begin with. But anyways, I'm just saying: you're the first, and probably only, person I'll ever meet who'll say they welcome fans because he knows it'll be cooling. Lol, duh sherlock. It's not as OCD for these people to whine about fan noise as it is to OCD about OCD =D

"I would highly suggest actually USING your computer for once rather than spending time here name calling such as putting me in the same category as some psychotic."
I do, it's my primary computer (only, besides my HTPC) and I've learned to love it =D. Yeah, my bad I shouldn't have called you psychotic. OCD would do just fine.
"I'll be searching the forums for the next time you need help."
No thanks. That's just creepy.

To Scott:
Yea, I'm kind of wondering about our differences. Obviously, it could be our different specs, and I'm just waiting on another 1.6/HDD to share his experience, compared to another 1.8/SSDer.

It could be my AS5 thermalpaste, which was put on correctly D) and transfers heat much better to the heatsink, which basically has no heatshield from the aluminum underbody, so it just transfers the heat right on through to my lap/fingers [Which reminds me, so was it apple's design intent to make the underbody aluminum to act as a 2ndary heatsink? Since the G4 alumins, ppl would say that...]. I'll see if I have time to post a video with a thermo, so you can see my temps. As for fan noise, I could care less. I come from an Antec 900 with 6x120mm and 1x200mm, and loud loud loud 10k WD raptors. Sony MDR-V6 drowns out everything =D. Besides, the fan noise at 6200rpm is nothing compared to my roommate's white macbook at 4000rpm.

 

[Scottsdale]

Like I said, your sense of welcoming and enjoyment is at best odd. Like I said, the fan turning on should not be indicative of good cooling to come, but insufficient cooling to begin with. But anyways, I'm just saying: you're the first, and probably only, person I'll ever meet who'll say they welcome fans because he knows it'll be cooling. Lol, duh sherlock. It's not as OCD for these people to whine about fan noise as it is to OCD about OCD =D

"I would highly suggest actually USING your computer for once rather than spending time here name calling such as putting me in the same category as some psychotic."
I do, it's my primary computer (only, besides my HTPC) and I've learned to love it =D. Yeah, my bad I shouldn't have called you psychotic. OCD would do just fine.
"I'll be searching the forums for the next time you need help."
No thanks. That's just creepy.

To Scott:
Yea, I'm kind of wondering about our differences. Obviously, it could be our different specs, and I'm just waiting on another 1.6/HDD to share his experience, compared to another 1.8/SSDer.

It could be my AS5 thermalpaste, which was put on correctly D) and transfers heat much better to the heatsink, which basically has no heatshield from the aluminum underbody, so it just transfers the heat right on through to my lap/fingers [Which reminds me, so was it apple's design intent to make the underbody aluminum to act as a 2ndary heatsink? Since the G4 alumins, ppl would say that...]. I'll see if I have time to post a video with a thermo, so you can see my temps. As for fan noise, I could care less. I come from an Antec 900 with 6x120mm and 1x200mm, and loud loud loud 10k WD raptors. Sony MDR-V6 drowns out everything =D. Besides, the fan noise at 6200rpm is nothing compared to my roommate's white macbook at 4000rpm.

Is there a difference in heat between SSD and HDD??? I am asking because I genuinely don't know the real answer. I know in theory the SSD isn't as hot.

Also, one would think that a 1.6 with AS5 would be cooler than my 1.86 with factory slopped on crap paste?

I used a 1.6 HDD a few weeks ago for an hour, but it was sitting on a desk, so I am not sure. Other than that, I have only used SSD models. One 1.6 and many 1.86, and I don't recall any of those feeling hot.

I truly never could hear my fans blowing. Could feel them when watching a movie and that's it.

I don't know how to respond to welcoming fans coming on... I guess that as long as the fans aren't loud, it wouldn't be the end of the world. I guess if my MBA were to feel extremely hot, and I noticed the fans coming on that would be good. Never really thought of it as a good thing when they came on, because it never really was hot.

 

[HLdan]

Is there a difference in heat between SSD and HDD??? I am asking because I genuinely don't know the real answer. I know in theory the SSD isn't as hot.

Also, one would think that a 1.6 with AS5 would be cooler than my 1.86 with factory slopped on crap paste?

I used a 1.6 HDD a few weeks ago for an hour, but it was sitting on a desk, so I am not sure. Other than that, I have only used SSD models. One 1.6 and many 1.86, and I don't recall any of those feeling hot.

I truly never could hear my fans blowing. Could feel them when watching a movie and that's it.

I don't know how to respond to welcoming fans coming on... I guess that as long as the fans aren't loud, it wouldn't be the end of the world. I guess if my MBA were to feel extremely hot, and I noticed the fans coming on that would be good. Never really thought of it as a good thing when they came on, because it never really was hot.

I will respond to your post Scottsdale because you are fair and you never make childish and snide remarks that show ignorance and immaturity of snotty nosed 5 year old.
It's not that I am all giddy about the fans turning on, in fact I would rather them not turning on but when your notebook starts heating up depending on the activity that's going on it can be maddening if the fans don't turn on to cool the computer down. I used to have a 17" Apple Powerbook that got so hot while in my lap that it was frying my legs. It literally took forever for the fans to kick in and it was still hot anyway.

I have the MBA RevB/SSD and it stays very cool to the touch and if I'm watching a high quality flash movie it kicks the fans on and the bottom still remains cool to the tough which is a far cry from my last Apple notebook. Computers get hot which is why fans are built in to keep them cool. It's just ridiculous for people to literally sit them on an ice pack to prevent the fans from kicking in. Let them kick in, they are properly cooling the machine.

 

[Scottsdale]

I will respond to your post Scottsdale because you are fair and you never make childish and snide remarks that show ignorance and immaturity of snotty nosed 5 year old.
It's not that I am all giddy about the fans turning on, in fact I would rather them not turning on but when your notebook starts heating up depending on the activity that's going on it can be maddening if the fans don't turn on to cool the computer down. I used to have a 17" Apple Powerbook that got so hot while in my lap that it was frying my legs. It literally took forever for the fans to kick in and it was still hot anyway.

I have the MBA RevB/SSD and it stays very cool to the touch and if I'm watching a high quality flash movie it kicks the fans on and the bottom still remains cool to the tough which is a far cry from my last Apple notebook. Computers get hot which is why fans are built in to keep them cool. It's just ridiculous for people to literally sit them on an ice pack to prevent the fans from kicking in. Let them kick in, they are properly cooling the machine.

I hear you... or read you or whatever. I get the point. I welcome the fans being on to do the job, but I don't want them to be noisy. I guess I could be deaf wrong about my MBA, HA HA. I am half deaf in one of my ears. My good ear doesn't have the three hearing bones either... a titanium PB is in its place (oh, no it's a titanium PISTON). Seriously though, I really don't know why a rev B would overheat... as I only could hear fan noise when watching HD video for more than ten minutes. Then, it was more feeling the air from the back or feeling the whirling of fans. I am just damn envious of all of you rev B owners right now. I would welcome some MBA fan noise. This uMB is getting boring fast. It just isn't fun! But it never gets hot at all. The fans NEVER kick on. I can say that it's cooler than the MBA and the fans never become annoying.

Yes, I agree when a Mac notebook gets hot, one wonders why the heck the fans aren't doing the job. I guess I just never think about it anymore. Two Mac notebooks in a row that don't feel hot. The aluminum unibody really is nice for dealing with heat. I picked up a WhiteBook today, and the thing felt like it was on FIRE. My God, those get hot. The aluminum may look amazing, but I think the heatsink capabilities make it more desirable than just for looks.

I do remember my old MBP, that thing got hot. Some fan noise would have been welcomed over burning the heck out of my legs.

 

[Unprocessed1]

If there was a Macbook Air parliament, and the pro-macbook air party were the controlling party, Scottsdale would be the leader of the opposition.