A pile of junk

[Pagemakers]

I am so disappointed with my MBA.

The fans run at full tilt whenever they want to.

It is noisy and it drives me nuts.

I am not making it work hard, not am I watching flash files etc. The machine is only running at 49C and the fans are running at 6900rpm.

For no apparent reason they speed up and slow down it seems at will.

I wish I had never set eyes on this beta piece of rubbish.

 

[G4DP]

Feel better for that pointless childish tantrum do you?

Good well go crying back to mommy then.

 

[yoyo5280]

I got a great idea. Take it to apple. Get it fixed. Have a happier life

 

[Pagemakers]

G4DP If there is one thing I hate about Apple it is this.....You can't express a negative opinion without some smug comment from a person like you.

Yes I am having a tantrum. But I guess you are not the one sitting in front of something that sounds like its about to take off and is running at the speed of a snail - a every expensive new one at that.

Yes, I have been the the Apple store and the geniuses.

Yes, I have re-installed.

Yes, I have done everything I can possibly think of.

What am I supposed to do, just think, oh never mind, it's an Apple, it will be all right.

Well it isn't. It locks up, crashes and is as noisy as hell. My mate has one too and his is the same.

Yes I have other Macs, lots of them in fact and overall I'm happy, but this is an awful piece of kit.

Thank you for your helpful comment. I guess it is about a useful as this post. But at least I feel better for my rant.

yoyo5280 Yes I will take it to Apple to get it fixed but I honestly don't think it is broken. My mates is the same.

 

[yoyo5280]

I think that is a bit unfair to be saying that if macs don't work then nobody here is going to help just because it is apple.

You didn't ask for help. You ranted. You where throwing a tantrum.If you where to come up here and say "Whats wrong with my MBA. It locks up, runs slow, and is very noisy. Please help" maybe you would of had a more positive response.


Apple support is great. THere is no denying. Take it to the shop and have them REPLACE it.

Im glad you feel better BTW.

The MBAs are not perfect. have your m8 do the same...everything should work out.

 

[eggersj]

yoyo5280 Yes I will take it to Apple to get it fixed but I honestly don't think it is broken. My mates is the same.[/QUOTE]

I have had mine since March, and I barely hear the fan. I know the fan is a crap shoot, but I haven't had a problem and no complaints here!!

The fact that it locks and crashes means that something is wrong!! What did the genius' say?

 

[Pagemakers]

Yea I guess I could have been more forgiving and approachable in my post but to be honest I and just fed up with it.

I am a relatively new Apple convert and have only experienced Leopard and I have to say I am overall disappointed although part of me loves the OS.

Almost everything I use with Leopard just works....almost. There is a bug or something somewhere and I have seen more total crashes with Leopard, than any Windows OS. However, I like it and I am willing to persevere.

Maybe 10.5.3 will give me the stability I want.

I will take it back to the store but as I said before I don't think it is faulty. I think it is buggy and unfinished.

I was disappointed with the geniuses. They spent most of their time searching the Apple forums for possible resolutions. I can ( and have for hours) do that myself. I have only been a Mac user for about 7 months and in many areas I knew more then they did.

 

[yoyo5280]

Yea I guess I could have been more forgiving and approachable in my post but to be honest I and just fed up with it.

I am a relatively new Apple convert and have only experienced Leopard and I have to say I am overall disappointed although part of me loves the OS.

Almost everything I use with Leopard just works....almost. There is a bug or something somewhere and I have seen more total crashes with Leopard, than any Windows OS. However, I like it and I am willing to persevere.

Maybe 10.5.3 will give me the stability I want.

I will take it back to the store but as I said before I don't think it is faulty. I think it is buggy and unfinished.

The thing is dude, it is not buggy and unfinished. Leopard has only crashed once on me and I had it the day it was released.

Your macs are having some serious problems and if the geniuses are not really that smart id try to call up apple and talk to support there. I waited 45 mins once but when I finally got a hold of them they where great help. Story differs from person to person however.

 

[wordy]

There's lot of answers right here on the forums and also on Apple's Discussion forums - definitely more info about your MBA than a Genius would ever know, or admit to.

Unfortunately for you, crying to get what you want stops working at around age 3. For the rest of us, there's there's the 'search' feature.

 

[Krevnik]

I was disappointed with the geniuses. They spent most of their time searching the Apple forums for possible resolutions. I can ( and have for hours) do that myself. I have only been a Mac user for about 7 months and in many areas I knew more then they did.

How's this for a resolution for you?

Flash is a CPU hog, and will drive one of the cores to 100%. The Air responds to the heat this generates by turning on the fans. You don't /think/ you are pushing it, but Flash in Safari sucks down CPU like there is no tomorrow.

 

[dvince2]

open up Activity monitor, and see your CPU usage. I randomly get "Brother Scanner" (for my printer) using 80%+, making my fans turn on.

 

[flyfish29]

Yes, I have done everything I can possibly think of.

What am I supposed to do, just think, oh never mind, it's an Apple, it will be all right.

You have done everything *you* can think of which I assume is why you came here? (just an assumption)

for starters, if you have a product that is not performing the way you expect, you work directly with the producer...you say you have, so I guess you next option is to either Rant (check) or come to an amazing forum like Macrumors and attempt (really attempt with an open mind) to get your issues resolved.

I think those are your only options...unless you want to sell it to me for a few bucks!

Yes I have other Macs, lots of them in fact and overall I'm happy, but this is an awful piece of kit.

So you say you have lots of macs...do you own multiple and all are Leopard based...and you bought them all in the last several months??...are they crashing like this one? Do you install lots of software that is not from "mainstream" sources (ie. microsoft, Adobe, Apple?)

Do you have many widgets on your MacBookAir? I think those are CPU or memory drains- but not sure if those could be the cause for the fans going bezerk.

Good luck! (Like I said, I will take it off your hands...I could use some more air flow in my house- should be a hot summer~!

 

[dpaanlka]

Feel better for that pointless childish tantrum do you?

Good well go crying back to mommy then.

Usually if you feel the urge to post something like this, it's probably best not to.

G4DP If there is one thing I hate about Apple it is this.....You can't express a negative opinion without some smug comment from a person like you.

That's the crux of the problem. Why do you feel the need to express your opinion to fellow customers as if we're the cause of, and somehow obliged to solve, the problem and/or feel sympathy for you?

Yes I am having a tantrum. But I guess you are not the one sitting in front of something that sounds like its about to take off and is running at the speed of a snail - a every expensive new one at that.

I've sat in front of many a broken, wheezing, unstable Mac. You have to take a breath, be reasonable, and cool headed.

Yes, I have been the the Apple store and the geniuses.

Yes, I have re-installed.

Yes, I have done everything I can possibly think of.

What am I supposed to do, just think, oh never mind, it's an Apple, it will be all right.

Well it isn't. It locks up, crashes and is as noisy as hell. My mate has one too and his is the same.

Then you're doing the whole Apple Store Genius thing wrong. You have to be like "this is broken, here I'll show you. (Demonstrate problem here.) There, see how that just crashed? I don't want this back until you fix it." and be done with it. If you do that, they will not reject you or turn you down in any way. I don't see how you could possibly have done this and walked away with it malfunctioning the same way.

yoyo5280 Yes I will take it to Apple to get it fixed but I honestly don't think it is broken. My mates is the same.

Well then you have two broken MBAs. Or you have something else installed/hacked/messed up that you're not telling us about.

 

[mac jones]

It's true that the fan , if it chooses, runs at any speed it feels like at the moment.

If you object to the fan's odd behavior you had better sell it to someone who will not object.

They all do this, and that's that.

Feel free to rant as this isn't a popularity forum.

It's more like a 'HELP ME/ I HATE THIS!/ I LOVE THIS/ I'M SO BROKE!
forum.

Consequently, your post fits right in nicely.

edit (or maybe it is a popularity forum?...I'm not sure)

 

[juro]

First you come in ranting about the Air, then suddenly it's Leopard you're complaining about - which is it, really?

 

[TwinCities Dan]

you beat me to it.

Then you're doing the whole Apple Store Genius thing wrong. You have to be like "this is broken, here I'll show you. (Demonstrate problem here.) There, see how that just crashed? I don't want this back until you fix it." and be done with it. If you do that, they will not reject you or turn you down in any way. I don't see how you could possibly have done this and walked away with it malfunctioning the same way.

YES! I have a 2 year old MBP that I have easily logged 7500 hrs on without a trouble at all. All of the sudden, it made the "airplane taking off" sound (as described previously in this thread) and I started freaking out and shut'er down. I later did some web searching and found many stories (and YouTube videos) with the same problem. It was just a bad fan, I went in talked to a Genius (Even telling them it was the Right Cooling Fan) and asked when I could get it back. He said 3 days, I got it back the next day good as new.

Point is, remember, even though they are a "Genius", sometimes people need a little instruction. Explain that it is unacceptable and the tell them to fix it, if they can't they will just ship it directly to , either way, they will get it fixed.

 

[jonswan]

The major problem is that it is simply a petulant rant > you went to the "piece of junk" too quickly, rather than detailing your problems. Nobody wants to help someone who behaves childishly, and paints all MBAs in this way. Mine works perfectly, yours doesn't, neither does your mate's. Had you read on the forums a little you'd have discovered that many people are having problems, many not.

And if Rev As, or betas as you call them, are so appalling to you, why'd you buy one and take the risk?

Take it back, demonstrate its problems, ask them to fix it and call you when it's ready. Cool down a little.

 

[Hawkeye411]

Sorry to hear that you are not happy with your MBA. Personally I steer clear of a brand new product release until the bugs can be worked out. I hope it gets fixed!!!

Cheers.

 

[gcmexico]

how about

I am so disappointed with my MBA.

The fans run at full tilt whenever they want to.

It is noisy and it drives me nuts.

I am not making it work hard, not am I watching flash files etc. The machine is only running at 49C and the fans are running at 6900rpm.

For no apparent reason they speed up and slow down it seems at will.

I wish I had never set eyes on this beta piece of rubbish.

there is a thread about the thermal paste, that u can fix yourself...try to search of it...supposedly they put too much paste which causes fan problems or the computer to over heat (something to that extend)...some dude fixed the problem, try to search for the that

 

[Clix Pix]

Right now I am sitting here in my bedroom typing on my MBA. "A pile of junk" ???!! I think not!!! I have had no issues with my machine, which I got on February 8th, so it was one of the early ones.

One thing that it is important to remember is that the MBA, just like any other machine, is going to have limitations. One purchases the machine knowing about these limitations. For instance, I am not sitting here trying to post-process a lot of high-res photographic images in CS3 on this machine, nor am I trying to make a movie on it. I bought it for use as a travel computer and for an around-the-house-and-out-on-the-deck computer, one which doesn't need to do the heavy lifting for which I use my other Macs.

Back in the days when I was still using Windoze, I'd buy a new machine with whatever the latest version of Windoze was and either update all of my software that I could or eliminate any which might cause problems. I'd listen to friends moaning about wrestling with their new computer and an old version of some software and say, "maybe you either need to update that software or forget it if it's something which isn't going to install well in your new computer." Well, DUH....

The MBA is not a machine designed to do some of the same stuff my Mac Pro can do, and I don't expect it to take on that impossible task.

Look at what you're trying to do with your MBA and consider if maybe you need a different computer for some activities or make the decision as far as whether or not you want to compromise with the MBA because of its value in other ways. It is that simple.

 

[kleo]

its a tinny computer man and flash video are REALLY in efficient under mac osx. As a result the CPU is working hard, producing allot of heat...

 

[bmb012]

Yeah dude, there's probably like 400 people here who can help you out with the thing. First thing's first, though. They shoved a ton of stuff into that computer slice, fans are going to have to blast to get the heat out of it.

And as someone mentioned, Flash video is a complete and utter CPU hog.

Check out undervolting, or if there's issues with the thermal paste, fan tweaking, check out your activity monitor. Of course, there's always the option that there really is something wrong with that one. Check out a store display and put it through the paces, or if a friend has one, see if all of them do the same thing, make sure that yours isn't really messed up.

 

[NT1440]

oh no! a fan cooling your computer like its supposed to? how terrible

how does one negative (if you can consider that bad) of a product make the whole thing a "pile of junk?"

just a quick question too: did you do any research before buying your computer?

 

[MacHappytjg]

oh no! a fan cooling your computer like its supposed to? how terrible

how does one negative (if you can consider that bad) of a product make the whole thing a "pile of junk?"

just a quick question too: did you do any research before buying your computer?

hes probably a pc user trying to find a way to say macs suck

 

[Scott6666]

I agree

I am so disappointed with my MBA.

The fans run at full tilt whenever they want to.

It is noisy and it drives me nuts.

I am not making it work hard, not am I watching flash files etc. The machine is only running at 49C and the fans are running at 6900rpm.

For no apparent reason they speed up and slow down it seems at will.

I wish I had never set eyes on this beta piece of rubbish.

I agree with you. People ought to be more sympathetic to you rather than berating you. You should not have to go through all the hoops they want you to go through (even to the extent of redoing the thermal paste) just to get a decent laptop.

Mine was a total piece of unpredictable crap.

It was light however and I did not miss the ports or the internal drive but it should not have gone fan crazy and dropped cores periodically.

Many of those who comment their is "fine" seem to go on later to say that their fans spin up - but only when they should because they are doing something to push the machine and it's to be expected.

Total bs. Rationalizing of a bad product by fan boys.

Even if there are some good ones out there (and I doubt it because I think it has a design flaw either in the heatsink or the CPU or both) the rate of bad ones out there seems to be shockingly high.

I only thank my lucky stars that I traded mine in for a MBP. Apple was good to me about that.

Love my MBP. Silent. Fast. Not too heavy. Love Leopard (recent convert from Windows). Runs Windows in Parallels or Fusion just fine. The case does get hot at times (really hot!) but that's the price of no fan noise. I prefer it although I could use smcFanControl to have more fan and less case heat. Love my MBP. HATED HATED HATED my MBA. Would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a MBA that worked as it should.

Rev A = Total piece of crap because of one error in design - heat dissipation.