MacBook Air as a media player

Yes it can

Even the original MBA is a pure joy to use in bed watching movies and tv shows - mine works wonderful for the Hulu app as well.

I have an app that I use to turn the fans down when they get too loud - I have found the passive heating works great.

But yes the MBA as a media player is wonderful and I am tending to think that it is actually better than say a tablet.

I am wondering the merits of a tablet - when you would have to hold it up to watch or read anything - the MBA is the perfect media consumption device - I have spent much more time reading ebooks than I ever had in the past and the LED screen makes it so my eyes don't get tired.

A wonderful computer.

Just some thoughts

MartinJ said:

All sounds promising. I was thinking I might take an H264 movie on a USB stick and my noise cancelling headphones into my local Apple store for a play.

I buy quite a lot of stuff on iTunes but I also rip a bit (of stuff I have bought on DVD) to H264 using Handbrake "Apple TV" settings which gives great results. I can rip at about 130 frames per sec on my MacPro!

Would a Rev C with its NVidia GPU run any cooler under Snow Leopard than a Rev A when playing video?

Click to expand...

The key in the MBA is the 9400m... It uses hardware decoding of h.264 video. It's a sure joy to use and would be great for your needs. Just be sure to not block the fans which are on the back of the bottom of the MBA. It just takes some common sense really. I use a magazine or book under it if on a soft surface, and that prevents the overheating.

Best wishes with whatever you choose.

Yes it'll work just fine.

but HD YouTube videos NO.

Flash is a huge CPU hog so downloaded HD movies will play just fine.