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Nice review of the MBA 13"
- Thread starter Pipper99
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Very nice review. Based on nearly 3 weeks use of my loaded 13 inch MBA, I didn't see anything in the author's review to disagree with. As time goes on I am becoming more and more impressed with flash storage. It really is a game changer. Not only is closing and reopening a laptop no longer an adventure, flash storage can handle a lot of page outs without the user being aware that there had been any page outs. This means that one can get by with less RAM. See what a bunch of page outs to a conventional hard drive do to the speed of operations and you will know what I mean.
MBA Review / My MBA Experiences
I tell you, I gotta agree with GW whole-heartedly.
I've had my MBA13 (ult.) for a week now and beat the living snot out of it work-wise and its a whole step up from my MBP17 2.5. I know that sounds impossible but its true.
This machine just feels...snappy. Crisp, always on the ball.
Right now I'm running:
- Google Earth with a large population overlay
- Terminal
- Textmate
- Firefox 3 with 15 tabs open
- Apple mail
- Skype
- Preview
...and the memory is full but the machine is just flying. Amazing!
G.
I tell you, I gotta agree with GW whole-heartedly.
I've had my MBA13 (ult.) for a week now and beat the living snot out of it work-wise and its a whole step up from my MBP17 2.5. I know that sounds impossible but its true.
This machine just feels...snappy. Crisp, always on the ball.
Right now I'm running:
- Google Earth with a large population overlay
- Terminal
- Textmate
- Firefox 3 with 15 tabs open
- Apple mail
- Skype
- Preview
...and the memory is full but the machine is just flying. Amazing!
G.
Great review and oh my....he's actually using his 13" MBA in coach using a tray table.
I thought that was UNPOSSIBLE?!?!?!?!
I thought that was UNPOSSIBLE?!?!?!?!
Yeah the Ultimate 13 inch MBA really is amazing. Right now I have open on the OS X desktop, Windows 7 running Quicken 2010 in VMware Fusion's Unity mode, and on the OS X side, Mail, iCal, Address Book, and Chrome with 4 tabs open. This setup always causes some page outs, about 30,000 since I last rebooted 4 days ago, but they seem not to slow things down very much. At least I seldom suffer from sitting and waiting while a beachball spins. Things run with as much stability and almost as fast on the MBA as they did on my MBP, which has 6GB of RAM.
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I have to agree as well. I've had many Apple laptops since 2005 when I got my first Powerbook and this one is already my favorite. Right now I'm at the Mazda dealer for service and took this guy with me. Light and easy to carry and great on battery life.
Have to agree with you on SSD. I thought my MBP was fast, but my MBA with SSD makes it feel like a pokey old codger when doing anything that needs to access the HDD.
even the web site address says it all... the mba 11 or 13 isn't the be all end all of computing by any stretch... but for mobile computing playing to its practical strengths along form factor/battery life/good enough power fronts?
MBA brings it all together like no other laptop in the market today. it makes everyone else step up their game and this is good for the consumer. before you do all the fancy stuff, get the fundamental stuff right first. perfect it and apple has with the mba.
MBA brings it all together like no other laptop in the market today. it makes everyone else step up their game and this is good for the consumer. before you do all the fancy stuff, get the fundamental stuff right first. perfect it and apple has with the mba.
Great review and oh my....he's actually using his 13" MBA in coach using a tray table.
I thought that was UNPOSSIBLE?!?!?!?!
The 13" is a great machine. But you'll notice the screen is straight up and down and the person in front doesn't have the seat slammed all the way back. If that seat was all the way back it would be a different story.
i have a 15" dell latitude and i had zero issues with using it on commercial flights.
what are you guys, new?
And that's just Part One! I'm interested to see the next part of the review. I'm also kind of interested in that Outback jacket.
No, someone who has had seats in front of them pushed back far enough to almost touch my face. So, you've flown only once I guess?
The 13" "Ultimate" is definitely nice. I had Quicken running in Windows 7 64-bit in Parallels with 1 CPU and 1GB of RAM and it was surprisingly good (I later boosted it to 1.75GB and 2 CPUs but I might switch it back to 1 CPU to avoid throttling).
Also, unlike my old Rev B, opening up a lot of Safari windows didn't slow it down. The SSD tested about 3 times as fast on XBench as the SSD did on my Rev B (I had never reconditioned the old SSD, but still). Even the maligned 9CF0 display is better than the one on the Rev B. Apart from the lack of a backlit keyboard, this is a vastly improved notebook in every way.
Also, unlike my old Rev B, opening up a lot of Safari windows didn't slow it down. The SSD tested about 3 times as fast on XBench as the SSD did on my Rev B (I had never reconditioned the old SSD, but still). Even the maligned 9CF0 display is better than the one on the Rev B. Apart from the lack of a backlit keyboard, this is a vastly improved notebook in every way.
I had devoted 2GB of RAM and 1 processor core to Windows 7 and Fusion on my MBP so I just left it that way with the MBA, although the MBA has only 4GB of RAM and the MBP had 6GB. This setup has worked so well on the MBA that I hesitate to experiment by changing it. After all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
why get your panties in a wad?
i'm premier exec on united so admittedly i do fly 1st class but have flown on economy many many times to know that if the seat is touching your face, you have a big face.
it's NOT an issue whatsoever to use the mba 13 on commercial flights. you guys are hilarious man.
Great review and oh my....he's actually using his 13" MBA in coach using a tray table.
I thought that was UNPOSSIBLE?!?!?!?!
I almost wrote the exact same thing based on the other fun thread about this. I too have used my 13 MBA on a few flights already without any issues.I fly coach exclusively and never had any trouble using either of my 17 inch laptops. Thus, I can't imagine that my 13 inch MBA is going to present any problems in this regard.
I might add that on this issue you should consider the source. As you have no doubt already noticed, some of our posters are habitually wrong, although they are never in doubt.
i know bill gates used to fly coach exclusively so i still consider you the billg of macrumors mba forum.
i'm learning who's who.
Part 2 of this review
Hey guys, thanks for all of the kind words about my review of the 13" MacBook Air.
Here's part two of the review, which I think you'll enjoy:
MacBook Air Review Part 2: Its Like Driving a Mercedes Benz
Let me know if there's anything else you'd like us to cover.
Hey guys, thanks for all of the kind words about my review of the 13" MacBook Air.
Here's part two of the review, which I think you'll enjoy:
MacBook Air Review Part 2: Its Like Driving a Mercedes Benz
Let me know if there's anything else you'd like us to cover.
Hey, cool, the author checked in with us!
Nice review, thanks for sharing.
Would you care to comment on the whole "you can't use the 13" MBA on a tray table" discussion? We have some users who believe its almost impossible to do so when the guy in front of you reclines the seat.
Thanks!
About the tray table...
I've used my 15" MacBook Pro and other big laptops on coach tray tables plenty of times. Obviously, the bigger the laptop, the less comfortable the experience.
In my opinion the ideal laptop size for traveling is 12". That's why a lot of business travelers opt for computers like the ThinkPad X200 series and similar machines. They have a smaller footprint and are shorter, fitting nicely on a tray table.
I've used 10" netbooks while flying as well and while the smaller footprint is nice in terms of how much room is left over for other stuff, the whole thing is too low for me and I have to bend the display back to its breaking point.
I found the 13" MacBook Air to be quite comfortable on the tray table for about 5 hours. I was on a US Airways A321 with GoGo InFlight Wifi. Depending on the airline, seats may be spaced closer/further apart. This particular flight had the seats spaced just right. The images in my review were taken when the lady in front of me is fully reclined. It's good practice to keep the top of your MacBook as FAR away from the back of the seat in front of you as possible, even if the seat's fully reclined. I've seen a couple of people lose their laptop displays to reclining passengers. Both times the people got pissed at the recliner. IMHO it's the laptop user's responsibility to keep an eye on the situation and use their laptops at their own risk.
If you think the 13" MBA is too big to fly with there's a simple solution- get an 11" MBA. I've seen people fly with 17-inchers. It CAN be done. The question is whether or not you want to be 'that guy'.
I've used my 15" MacBook Pro and other big laptops on coach tray tables plenty of times. Obviously, the bigger the laptop, the less comfortable the experience.
In my opinion the ideal laptop size for traveling is 12". That's why a lot of business travelers opt for computers like the ThinkPad X200 series and similar machines. They have a smaller footprint and are shorter, fitting nicely on a tray table.
I've used 10" netbooks while flying as well and while the smaller footprint is nice in terms of how much room is left over for other stuff, the whole thing is too low for me and I have to bend the display back to its breaking point.
I found the 13" MacBook Air to be quite comfortable on the tray table for about 5 hours. I was on a US Airways A321 with GoGo InFlight Wifi. Depending on the airline, seats may be spaced closer/further apart. This particular flight had the seats spaced just right. The images in my review were taken when the lady in front of me is fully reclined. It's good practice to keep the top of your MacBook as FAR away from the back of the seat in front of you as possible, even if the seat's fully reclined. I've seen a couple of people lose their laptop displays to reclining passengers. Both times the people got pissed at the recliner. IMHO it's the laptop user's responsibility to keep an eye on the situation and use their laptops at their own risk.
If you think the 13" MBA is too big to fly with there's a simple solution- get an 11" MBA. I've seen people fly with 17-inchers. It CAN be done. The question is whether or not you want to be 'that guy'.