4 Months Later and I still love my macbook air 2011

[chipz]

4 Months later and I still love my macbook air 2011

I've had my 13" MBA, core i5 1.7 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD since last July when they came out and I'm still in love with it. It replaced my Black MacBook, 2.4 GHZ Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM and 500 GB HDD. I also have an older iMac early 2006 with a 2 GHz Core Duo, 2 GB RAM and 250 GB HDD, 20"screen. It too, now sits and is rarely used. The MBA has become my main computer. The 256 GB SSD can be limiting, but using an external HDD for storage solves that problem. I have been a Mac user since 2002 and I haven't looked back. The MBA is the best computer I have ever had, bar none. I look back on my Windows daysand wish I could erase those memories - crashes, slow-downs, etc. Long live the MBA!!!

 

[jgc]

Now here’s what’s odd:

I KNOW people love the Air, and it’s Apple’s cheapest laptop. I see people swarming them in stores. We know Apple is selling a ton of them, outpacing the industry. So why have I NEVER IN MY LIFE seen anyone else own one? I go to multiple coffee shops weekly, as well as libraries and various meetings. I see tons of MacBooks and Pros and iPads. But not one Air. Ever, in all the years they’ve been making them. (And for that matter, nobody has ever noticed my Air, even when it was new—and I had one of the first, four years ago, when it seemed impossible to even build such a thing.)

It’s like the Air only exists online and not in real life. This is weird to me.

I would guess the reason you notice this (I do, too) is because unibody MacBook Pros have had four years to fill the market. They're a great laptop and have sold very well since their debut. Although the Air also debuted in 2008, it only started to gain traction in 2010 and even moreso in the past year with the 2011 Intel core chips. It was more of a novelty that was (imo) not worth purchasing before the past 12-24 months. Give it another year or two and I'm sure the amount of people carrying about Airs vs. Pros will look much different than it does today.

 

[rrgjl]

I love my MBP and I agree with you, I don't have an Air but I know what you mean about the entire experience; and the backlit keyboard too.

How come you bought a Air over a Pro? I love the form factor of my 13" Pro and the power it has

My next purchase could either be a 11" Air or another MBP, perhaps a 15". I guess the Air would be a hell of a lot more portable than a Macbook Pro teehee.

Glad you like your Air though ^_^

Hmm well I don't really have any complaints about the performance of my 13" i5 Air. For most purposes, including for me photoshop, illustrator, webdesign, it's just fine. Also the SSD does make for a great experience. Literally the experience is great. It's almost like you don't have an HDD, but just a ****load of internal memory with everything you need loaded onto it. Loading times, conversion times, unzipping times, it's all decreased by enormous factors in my experience.
Also I checked a couple of reviews both on general performance (comparisons with the 13" and 15" Macbook Pro's too) and 'gaming' performance, and it seemed enough for me. I care mostly about design, and I carry it around a lot at university, so its just perfect. When I say gaming, I'm just talking some very occasional star craft 2, so nothing too fancy. I'm happy with low-medium settings too.

 

[rrl]

Although I rarely shutdown my machine, the fast boot time freaks me out. Love my 11" MBA; it's the little engine that could.

 

[Elija123]

A happy MacBook Air User since 9 months

Hi there!

I have been a Windows User for 11 years. The more time went on the more it felt like slavery and I was crying for rescue. Then I bought my first Mac - A MacBook Air 11'' mid 2011 i7, 128gb flash and 4GB ram.

It was a resurrection! For the first time in my life I got to know what it feels like to have fun spending time with a computer, surfing in the web, writing texts, editing images, etc. The whole haptic is just amazing and the design so beautiful it makes me looking forward to working with my MacBook Air on my way home from work. It really is a lovely relationship I share with my MAcBook Air. I love it and it loves me :-D. My old PC (the word alone makes me feel pain) or netbook never liked me that much...

The whole OS is just light years ahead of Windows. Everytime I have to work with Windows at seminars or somewhere else I really cry and feel pain. It is just so BAD!

All in all I would like to say THANK YOU APPLE. I would pay any price for the coming generation of MacBook Air and never returns to Windows.

BTW: I am from Germany and here we MacUsers say "Windoof" - because "doof" means silly, stupid - in that case stupid Windows

Greeting from Germany and a happy MacBook Air User.

 

[rolijen]

Best computer I've owned

As a long time Windows devotee and tech-support nerd, I am very impressed with the MBA. I first bought a 13" MBP in mid 2010 after my job began to require more travel. After a few days of frustration at the little things that OS X handles differently, I began to really like the whole Mac experience. I upgraded to the quad-core i7 15" MBP which was very nice but eventually was too big and heavy for my frequent travel schedule.

Meanwhile, I saw how much my wife was using and loving her 2010 MBA. A few months ago, I decided to sell the 15 MBP and go thin and light (like my wife). I was able to recoup about 88% of the purchase price of the 15" MBP (re-sale value I had never experienced with Wintel computers) and with the money, I was able to order a high-end 13" MBA. Wow, this computer is fast, quiet, light, and powerful. Best portable computer I've ever used.

The 13" MBA adds almost no weight to my backpack. Instant on/instant off rocks. All my PCs are gone thanks to Craigslist (unfortunately re-sale value for PCs is dismal) and our desktops and notebooks are all Macs. If Apple can continue with this level of quality and user experience, I'll stay in their camp. I still like Windows and work with it every day in my job. i just prefer the stability and crash-free experience of OS X for my personal systems.