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2010 MBA owners - How do you feel about your MBA now?

S

saintforlife

macrumors 65816
Original poster
I have a 2010 13" 1.86/4/128 and have been following the board closely ever since they released the new MBA. After reading some of the issues the new MBA owners are having - overheating, wake up/boot up times being slow compared to older MBAs (it could be a Lion vs Snow Leopard thing), I feel really good about my purchase from earlier this year. My MBA still runs the way it did on the first day - takes 13-14 seconds to boot up and 2-3 seconds to shut down. All apps open and close amazingly fast.

It is funny, I am liking my 2010 MBA even more now since the new MBAs were released. Anybody else feel the same way? Anybody considering upgrading to the newer models?
 
Lion GM ran beautifully smooth on my 1.4 / 4gb MBA so not sure why you say it runs like #%#%

never managed to install release version as I sold it before RC came out in prep for the new refresh.

OP if your MBA is doing everything you need it to do, and you don't want or have the money to upgrade for the sake of upgrading, then be happy and enjoy your MBA.

I managed to sell my MBA for $100 less than I paid for it, making the upgrade justifiable for me on that basis.
 
I'm feeling much the same way as the OP re my 2010 11" ultimate. The 2011 MBAs sound great, but I'm liking my current configuration (especially with CoolBook installed). Moreover, the 2010 MBAs are the last ones to run SL/Rosetta, which is a big factor for me. I may reconsider when the Ivy Bridge MBAs arrive in 2012 with their anticipated big battery life, temperature, and graphic improvements.
 
I was expecting to feel very bad for getting the my 11" ultimate only 3 months before release of the new one but I actually don't. I love it! I would just like more battery life. I'm skipping the 2011 and might get the 2012 MBA
 
MacRumorUser said:
Lion GM ran beautifully smooth on my 1.4 / 4gb MBA so not sure why you say it runs like #%#%

never managed to install release version as I sold it before RC came out in prep for the new refresh.

OP if your MBA is doing everything you need it to do, and you don't want or have the money to upgrade for the sake of upgrading, then be happy and enjoy your MBA.

I managed to sell my MBA for $100 less than I paid for it, making the upgrade justifiable for me on that basis.
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Thats one hell of a deal!
 
Glad the OP is happy, but don't get carried away into thinking there's a lot of dissatisfied 2011 owners with issues. Absolute teeny tiny minority of prolific forum goers with big voices. As always, unhappy users post, while huge swathes of happy owners have no reason to post.
 
fatbarstewar said:
Glad the OP is happy, but don't get carried away into thinking there's a lot of dissatisfied 2011 owners with issues. Absolute teeny tiny minority of prolific forum goers with big voices. As always, unhappy users post, while huge swathes of happy owners have no reason to post.
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I am having zero issues with my MBA, so yep, it's definitely not everyone.
 
Love my 2010 UMBA-13 for these reasons:
- 10+ hours of battery life with Coolbook (right now 9:24 w/ 90%)
- Coolbook only runs on C2D, Sandy does not support under-volting
- Runs 38-40C in light use
- Runs max 70C in heavy use (Skype)
- No LCD issue
- No speaker issue
- No CPU whine
- 320M graphics are fast (especially refresh)
- Still running Snow until I confirm Lion doesn't eat batteries

Good build, think I'll keep it, and save the money for a 27" monitor.
 
Well I am glad for the refresh as it dropped the price of the secondhand 2010 airs 🙂
Just bought a 2010 13" with applecare for £700!

Part of me would have liked the 2011 for backlit keyboard thunderbolt but I already have a 2011 MBP 17 and just needed a daily beater I can take everywhere and work on xcode on the go.

Also having the 320m is a nice plus, I can play SC2, DOW2, and SupComm2 nicely in my W7 partition.

Finally as mentioned before coolbook and RMClock (for windows) is awesome for reducing temps and increasing batt life!
 
maybe there will be a coolbook version for the 2011 MBA'a ????


ninja2000 said:
Well I am glad for the refresh as it dropped the price of the secondhand 2010 airs 🙂
Just bought a 2010 13" with applecare for £700!

Part of me would have liked the 2011 for backlit keyboard thunderbolt but I already have a 2011 MBP 17 and just needed a daily beater I can take everywhere and work on xcode on the go.

Also having the 320m is a nice plus, I can play SC2, DOW2, and SupComm2 nicely in my W7 partition.

Finally as mentioned before coolbook and RMClock (for windows) is awesome for reducing temps and increasing batt life!
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Keeping my 2010 MBAU 13" and skipping the 2011 builds. Let's hope the 2012-13 MBAs are even better.
 
artivideo.nl said:
maybe there will be a coolbook version for the 2011 MBA'a ????
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I don't think it will be possible with the new core series processors. I have been waiting in hope fore ages as my old laptop with i7 720qm was stupidly hot and had terrible battery life but so far nobody has been able to undervolt with software in windows or osx.
 
saintforlife said:
It is funny, I am liking my 2010 MBA even more now since the new MBAs were released. Anybody else feel the same way? Anybody considering upgrading to the newer models?
Click to expand...

We have the same 2010 Air, and I have decided to upgrade, or downgrade depending on perspective, to the 11". I do a fair bit of encoding, though on my MBP, but the few times that I have tried Handbrake on my 2010 model it has been painfully slow, and based on reviews, Handbrake performs admirably on the 2011s.
 
Still pleased.

In all the areas I care about the 2011 model is a backwards step- runs hotter, slightly shorter battery life and poor graphics performance.

For my general purpose use there is no difference in performance at all.

The only advantage -for me- the 2011 model has over my 2010 is the cost option to have a 256GB SSD.

If I was looking to buy an MBA now I'd be trying to get a refurbed 2010 before they go out of stock.
 
ninja2000 said:
I don't think it will be possible with the new core series processors. I have been waiting in hope fore ages as my old laptop with i7 720qm was stupidly hot and had terrible battery life but so far nobody has been able to undervolt with software in windows or osx.
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I also don't think it's as necessary since the Sandy Bridge chips do a better job of power management. Coolbook was helpful on the Rev A-Rev C MacBook Airs since they overheated quite a bit. The Rev D improved heat management considerably. The Rev E carries that over, and adds Sandy Bridge. Anand's testing showed that there are no limits on the turbo boost, and other threads here suggest that the CPU temperature management is just fine.

That's not to say Ivy Bridge's smaller die and lower power requirements won't be welcome. Perhaps we'll see 2.3GHz or 2.7GHz base speeds in the 2012 Airs or their Ultrabook" competitors on the PC side, but in 2011, the Sandy Bridge works well.
 
I had a 2010 11 inch ultimate and bought a 2011 11 i5. After doing side by side tests under programs and games I run on it I found it to either be equal or a downgrade from the 2010 model. So I returned it, and I've been happy ever since. The only thing I miss on the 2011 model was both the look and feel of the keyboard. Backlit and sturdier keys.

I'm really looking forward to the rumors around the 15 inch MBA and in hopes it will have a dedicated GPU.
 
calvol said:
Love my 2010 UMBA-13 for these reasons:
- 10+ hours of battery life with Coolbook (right now 9:24 w/ 90%)
- Coolbook only runs on C2D, Sandy does not support under-volting
- Runs 38-40C in light use
- Runs max 70C in heavy use (Skype)
- No LCD issue
- No speaker issue
- No CPU whine
- 320M graphics are fast (especially refresh)
- Still running Snow until I confirm Lion doesn't eat batteries

Good build, think I'll keep it, and save the money for a 27" monitor.
Click to expand...

Mates, most of the issues that you have mentioned are commons. Nearly every new laptop release will trigger such discussion (like heat/LCD/sound) in MacRumors.com.

320M is faster? Yes, a tiny bit better than HD3000. But speed/performance is not what you seeking for if not you won't run the Coolbook 🙂
 
I've had my 2010 13" Ultimate for 3 weeks, and I must say I'm disappointed with the CPU power after testing it with DAW works. Coming from windows, OSX eats much more CPU power even just for light task. Some very basic task would have used just 3~4% of CPU under windows but in Mac it took away as much as 15% with similar setup and tasks.

Other than that, every bit about is has been positive. I'm a touch typist so backlit keyboard is just eye candy but that said, having backlit keyboard always make you feel like you're using premium product, especially when they manage to stick the backlit into such a slim machine.

Anyway, in the end, I decided to give Apple a call to try my luck if I can return mine for the new one simply due to the inefficiency of handling audio related tasks. I can definitely keep the 2010 if I failed to exchange for the new one though.


PS: I also tested the battery life after installed Coolbook. I was under the impression that it gives battery life as long as 9 hours. But after doing proper test, I find that with just light browsing without flash (browsing/replying forum without much pictures attached), it can manage upward until 8 hours - very impressive, but certainly not too much of an increase compared to the latest MBA. Yes, 1 hour is big deal, but I start to play around with some tasks that required more CPU juice which is closer to how I'd use the machine, the battery life just dropped significantly (8 hours versus 5:30~6 hours). Seeing how owner reporting that similar task showing similar battery life (medium-light tasks) as my "Coolbooked" C2D, I finally convinced that going for the new one is a wiser choice, especially when I know I have so much more power at disposal when plugged in for DAW works. 🙂
 
Call me Polyanna but I still love my 2010 13 inch MBA Ultimate, although I admire the 2011 refresh. I have had my 2010 MBA since October and it is the best Mac I have ever owned. Consequently I am skipping the refreshed 2011 model on the theory that it ain't broke so I won't fix it.
 
Late 2010 macbook air may be a better machine than the new ones.

* slighter slower processors so less overheating and fan noise

* Nvidia graphics rather than IntelHD which apple were forced to use if going with the i5's/7's

* Better battery life due to absence of backlight, sleep light and less intensive processor

Backlight keys are good, however if they are going to drain battery I would rather not have them

Also of course a faster processor is nice, gets encoding done a bit faster, but again if it is going to heat the machine up quicker and make the fans kick in sooner then I would rather stick with the 2.2 from 2010.

----

All in all the late 2010 model looks a better option to me, better battery life, graphics card, silent operation for longer.

One of the main things to me about the new airs with the SSD's is the silent operation, if the faster processors made it louder again I may have avoided it altogether.
 
jackyyeow said:
Coming from windows, OSX eats much more CPU power even just for light task. Some very basic task would have used just 3~4% of CPU under windows but in Mac it took away as much as 15% with similar setup and tasks.
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I don't disagree with your main points, but did you know that Mac Activity Monitor shows CPU usage out of a maximum of 200% for both C2D processors? So that 15% is really only 7.5% of the dual-CPU capacity, and would show up that way on Windows Ctrl-Alt-Del display for comparison purposes. So the Mac CPU usage may not be as bad as you think.
 
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I'm not planning to upgrade but it has nothing to do with diluting myself to think my 2010 is better, it isn't. I'm not upgrading because I don't need to, nothing more nothing less. The "problems" you hear about are a very small handful compared to what has been sold, and everything you're reading now was also said about the 2010 models at one point or another.

2011 MBA > 2010 MBA

If someone with a 2011 came up and offered you an even trade you'd be crazy not to take it and they'd be crazy to offer it. I also somehow doubt you'd say "no thanks, keep your sandy bridge, i'm sticking with C2D" despite you feeling this good about your 2010.
 
solmaker said:
I don't disagree with your main points, but did you know that Mac Activity Monitor shows CPU usage out of a maximum of 200% for both C2D processors? So that 15% is really only 7.5% of the dual-CPU capacity, and would should up that way on Windows Ctrl-Alt-Del display for comparison purposes. So the Mac CPU usage may not be as bad as you think.
Click to expand...
I forced the CPU to only run on 2.13GHz, and I look at the bottom of Activity Monitor CPU usage (system+user, or 100%-idle%), and that's how I got the result. I don't have laptop to laptop comparison of OSX vs Windows, but seeing it uses significantly more CPU so I definitely need a more power one.😱
 
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