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Mike84

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 23, 2010
818
135
I am a happy MBA customer, for the most part. MBA froze recently, which was a cause for alarm, but it hasn't happened since (crossing fingers). One thing I have noticed, and others have mentioned it, is this instant on ordeal. Yeah, the MBA has a stand by time of 30 days. However, when I flip open my screen it takes close to 6 seconds for the computer to wake up. This is no different from the MBP or any other computer for that matter. So, what is this "instant on" that Apple was advertising?
 
Normally it should take about a second. It is still not as fast as the iPad, but compared to other laptops I had, this is almost instant. Having said that, sometimes the MBA does need more time to really become usable after waking up from standby. Connecting to a WiFi network can cause delays.
The flash storage helps very much to increase waking up times.
 
It takes a second or two if it is plugged in, or if it's be on battery for less than an hour. After that time, the MacBook Air goes into a "deep sleep" mode similar to Windows hibernation. That's what takes a little longer to start up. The upside is that it uses almost no battery.
 
... One thing I have noticed, and others have mentioned it, is this instant on ordeal. Yeah, the MBA has a stand by time of 30 days. However, when I flip open my screen it takes close to 6 seconds for the computer to wake up. ...

"Ordeal: A painful or horrific experience, esp. a protracted one"

6 seconds?
 
"Ordeal: A painful or horrific experience, esp. a protracted one"

6 seconds?

Read again what I wrote. I am talking about 6 seconds compared to instant on. I don't care much that it takes that long, but I care about is whether this is considered "instant on" by Apple.
 
Read again what I wrote. I am talking about 6 seconds compared to instant on. I don't care much that it takes that long, but I care about is whether this is considered "instant on" by Apple.

6 seconds cannot be considered instant. Is it always 6 seconds for you, or only when waking up from deep sleep? Do you have WiFi on? Other USB devices?
 
Read again what I wrote. I am talking about 6 seconds compared to instant on. I don't care much that it takes that long, but I care about is whether this is considered "instant on" by Apple.

I don't need to read it again.

I just thought it was funny to refer to a six second wait as an ordeal.
 
Mine takes 1-2 seconds. If i plug in my USB ethernet adapter before, and then open the screen, it takes around 6-7 seconds.
 
If you have Parallels or Vmware it will kill your deep sleep

Ever since I got mine installed, Deep Sleep does not work as advertised.
 
6 seconds cannot be considered instant. Is it always 6 seconds for you, or only when waking up from deep sleep? Do you have WiFi on? Other USB devices?

Yes, I am referring to when it wakes up from deep sleep.

It's an ordeal because 6 seconds is not and shouldn't be considered instant.

Education lesson
6 seconds = 6 seconds
Instant = Immediately

Thank you. I'd ignore the other two who seem to take issue with someone inquiring as to what Apple means by "instant on" when the product is not instantly on.
 
Mine wakes up in about 2 seconds; however, my apps don’t seem to open as fast what I seen on other MBAs, on YouTube. My apps seem to take about 5-10 seconds to launch.
 
Yes, I am referring to when it wakes up from deep sleep.



Thank you. I'd ignore the other two who seem to take issue with someone inquiring as to what Apple means by "instant on" when the product is not instantly on.

We don't take issue with the question, just the poor choice of words.
 
Is this after both deep sleep and just regular intermittent sleep?

Both...

The only issue I had with deep sleep once so far is that it required me to press the power button for it to come on as it did not come on when I opened the laptop. But once pressed it came on straight away.
 
Even after a whole night, when i open the lid, it takes about 1 second to on. It most definitly is an improvement with my old MBA and Imac's... If it takes you 6 seconds, somethings wrong with your MBA or settings ...
 
Both...

The only issue I had with deep sleep once so far is that it required me to press the power button for it to come on as it did not come on when I opened the laptop. But once pressed it came on straight away.

That happened to me once and it didn't turn on for a while (while, in this instance, is defined as longer than 2 minutes for those of you who like to keep track).

Even after a whole night, when i open the lid, it takes about 1 second to on. It most definitly is an improvement with my old MBA and Imac's... If it takes you 6 seconds, somethings wrong with your MBA or settings ...

Do you have a screen saver or a screen saver with a password by any chance? I do, and I wonder if that is the reason behind it taking a while, though I do remember it doing it too when I did not have either.
 
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Mine is instant when I close it and open it again within the hour to a few hours if memory serves me. If it's more than a few hours and it's gone to deeper sleep, then it'll take about 4 seconds vs the instant on (like within a second of opening it's ready to use).

Not really an issue to me :)
 

Never read better definition.

Among all the marketing characteristics oversold by Apple for its products the "instant on" for MBA is definitely the most dishonest.

I love my MBA but it's everything beside instant on. It takes the same, if not longer than my MBP (standard HDD).
 
Well the reason why I started the thread was not to say that the computer is defective but more out of curiosity as to what is instant on as described by Apple. If, how I mentioned earlier, the computer takes 4-6 seconds to be operational after I open it up from deep sleep it may not be considered instant on or would it?
 
Never read better definition.

Among all the marketing characteristics oversold by Apple for its products the "instant on" for MBA is definitely the most dishonest.

I love my MBA but it's everything beside instant on. It takes the same, if not longer than my MBP (standard HDD).

uhm mine comes on within a second at the most...

you stating your macbook pro is faster is a crock of sh** or theres something seriously wrong with your air
 
uhm mine comes on within a second at the most...

you stating your macbook pro is faster is a crock of sh** or theres something seriously wrong with your air

Does yours come on within a second after deep sleep? In other words, after a whole night of not using it? Mine does not. It takes about 6 seconds to be fully operational. However, as I noted before, it may be due to the fact that I have a screen saver and a password with that screen saver, which I have to enter every time I close the lid. Nevertheless, if I had to guess, I don't remember the computer being any faster when it didn't have that enabled.
 
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