Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Air - Never had any problems.

M

MilleDav01

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 21, 2012
117
28
I know this is kind of a "Good for you!" post but sometimes I don't understand the issues that people get with the macbook air. Out of the three ive had (2011 sold upgraded to 2012 and now to the 2013) ive not had dents, scratches, it doesnt sit unevenly, the mousepad isnt screwed up, no wifi issues...etc.... Im just curious if people are too picky? Its not meant to be a rude post but I just get confused when so many people I know have macbook airs (or MBP or RMBP) and dont have issues.

Sure you expect a lot for $1-2k but isnt there a line to draw where your just being a picky person?

:apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple:
 
Thats great, and mirrors my experience.

Just keep in mind that Forums like this one, in general, are "complaint magnets" - people who don't have any issues aren't going to post, but people who do post a lot. As a result, you can begin to feel like the oddball without an issue. The truth is that the vast majority of people have no issues - you just have to keep that in mind as you peruse these forums.
 
Another happy customer here ...

... enjoying brand new Macbook Air 13" (i5/8/256). Replaced my Air 11" (2011). This machine is crazy perfect. Runs extremely cool (comparing to 11") and battery life is just ridiculous (+14h with my usage). IMHO The Best Laptop ever

(I came from PC: IBM -> Lenovo - my last PC laptop was BTO T410s)
 
No problems with my 2011 or 2013 MBA. Seems very well made and sturdy. But it just amazes me how many threads we have here regarding liquid spills. I made a hard and fast rule when I got my Apple ][ in 1978... NO LIQUIDS ON THE SAME TABLE AS THE COMPUTER! :D
 
Well said. People drawn to these types of forums are by virtue hypocondriacs. The Air is a really incredible ultra-portable. Aside from the display being dated and sorely in need of a redesign (upgrade to IPS), everything else is wondrous. I would personally pay a premium for an Air over the Retinas because I think the design and form factor is far, far superior. And the processing power/capabilities are more than I (as a light user) will ever touch.
 
MilleDav01 said:
I know this is kind of a "Good for you!" post but sometimes I don't understand the issues that people get with the macbook air. Out of the three ive had (2011 sold upgraded to 2012 and now to the 2013) ive not had dents, scratches, it doesnt sit unevenly, the mousepad isnt screwed up, no wifi issues...etc.... Im just curious if people are too picky? Its not meant to be a rude post but I just get confused when so many people I know have macbook airs (or MBP or RMBP) and dont have issues.

Sure you expect a lot for $1-2k but isnt there a line to draw where your just being a picky person?

:apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple::apple:
Click to expand...

well, you said yourself - you haven't had any issues.

what if you had experienced "dents, scratches, it doesnt sit unevenly, the mousepad isnt screwed up" or "wifi issues?" Do you think that you would A- come here and "complain" about it and if so do you B think that would fall under the scope of being "too picky?"

i think there's an issue of sample bias going on here. As others have said, most people don't post if everything is going great. So on the one hand I smiled when i saw your post pointing out that this is a great machine, but on the other hand I don't think that the vast majority of complaints on here are from people being unreasonable. Almost all of them are legitimate concerns, many are easily fixable and some are unacceptable and therefore should be made right by Apple. I think it's great that people post here first rather than just returning the item to the store, spending money on it, returning it and driving prices up for the rest of it or, God forbid, go back to Windows!

The "there's a .4 micrometer scratch on the box my mac came in" posts usually get a reminder (sometimes gentler than others) that they need to have reasonable expectations in terms of QC and final product.
 
How often does someone go to the hospital and proclaim "there's nothing wrong with me!" Almost as often as someone comes to an Internet forum to say "my computer is running great!" :D
 
Some have issues

I have a late 2012 MBA that I love. I am crazy about this notebook.

I bought the first one one year prior. Each was a Black Friday purchase from Apple retail.

The 2011 MBA would not connect to the Internet. It saw AE but no Internet. I returned it the following Monday. It connected easily at the Apple Store (they all communicate with the mother ship). The genius pinged Google x number of times.

The genius suggested it could be my ISP or the AE. Everything else here had no connectivity issues even a lowly Acer netbook from one of the shopping channels.

The genius suggested I switch ISP's. I elected to return the MBA. I didn't want to disturb a network that served all other clients well.

The 2012 MBA is a joy. Setup done here at home was seamless and very quick. It even recognized and old Lexmark printer almost like magic. I didn't expect that.

Most of the products are great. Sometimes a few have issues. I bought an iPad mini in April. It dropped the connection several times during setup. The person at the Personal Setup table blew me off when I questioned it. She told me I could not set it up as a restore from iCloud. At that point I told her to issue a refund. The setup went on dropping the connection many times. That iPad mini should never have left the store. The blue shirt is a pushy, mouthy woman. I should have pushed back but i did not.

Ten days later I took the iPad mini back for diagnostics. It had connectivity issues. They gave me another one. It is better but still has a very short range and drops connections unless I hold it upright in portrait orientation.

Siri is worthless on the iPad mini. Siri only response is "I don't understand what that means, Susan" I I look at the home button too long Siri launches. That was annoying so I disabled Siri.

I've been told that I don't knowhow to use Siri. I have no problems with Siri on other Apple devices either owned by others or on demo at Apple. Even with all that background noise in the Apple Store Siri responds appropriately.

Before the warranty is up I will take the mini back for diagnostics. They will give me a refurb. I hope it's form a different batch.

Some electronics are just flakey. It happens.
 
I've only had one problem out of my MBA's and it's been on this new one this week. For some reason, the bluetooth icon in my menu bar is invisible! I can still click where it should be and see the menu drop down but there is no icon there.

It's so odd, was like that out of box.
 
ZBoater said:
How often does someone go to the hospital and proclaim "there's nothing wrong with me!" Almost as often as someone comes to an Internet forum to say "my computer is running great!" :D
Click to expand...

Agreed, people wouldn't post anything if they don't have any problems.
 
ZBoater said:
How often does someone go to the hospital and proclaim "there's nothing wrong with me!" Almost as often as someone comes to an Internet forum to say "my computer is running great!" :D
Click to expand...

+1

The Internet tends to feed off of negativity sometimes. In reviews and in forums, negatives are highlighted more than positives (usually). But at the end of the day, IMHO, one of the definitions of the word "perfect" in technology should be "It works the way I want it to, and it meets my needs". Your satisfaction should be part of the primary criteria to judge a product you use.

Using a MacBook Air, and I switched over from PC laptops a relatively short time ago. So far, I have come to the conclusion that this is one of the most intuitive pieces of tech I have used. It works perfectly for my use. And I haven't had any of the problems I have read about on the forums so far.
 
MaulRx said:
I've only had one problem out of my MBA's and it's been on this new one this week. For some reason, the bluetooth icon in my menu bar is invisible! I can still click where it should be and see the menu drop down but there is no icon there.

It's so odd, was like that out of box.
Click to expand...

try booting into safe mode and see if that fixes it.

turn your computer off. wait at least 10 seconds. press the power button. when you hear the dong, press and hold shift until you see the gray apple logo screen.

that should fix it -if not, let us know.
 
Oh, thanks for the suggestion but I've already tried all the usual quick fixes and it just won't show up. Thinking I may take it in but it's not really that big of a deal, just an oddity.
 
No complaints so far (keeping fingers crossed) with my 2012 13-inch Air (bought on Black Friday on Amazon last year for $300 off MSRP). My first Mac purchase, a 2009 15-inch MacBook Pro died on me one week into its life and had to return it to get another. No problems with the replacement.
 
MaulRx said:
Oh, thanks for the suggestion but I've already tried all the usual quick fixes and it just won't show up. Thinking I may take it in but it's not really that big of a deal, just an oddity.
Click to expand...

So the icon is still invisible in safe mode?

and when you say invisible do you mean it's not there (but BT still works) or there's a gap where the BT icon should be?

I'm sure you know this, but there's a setting in pref/BT preferences which is a "Show BT in menu bar" checkbox.

Do you have a bunch of third-party apps?
Old software?
I would go into security settings and select the app store +identified developers option.

There's probably an offending plist file in there somewhere.
You could go into your Library/preferences and delete com.apple.systemuiserver.plist
(restart after you do that)


an OS reinstall might or might not help.
Do you see this all the time or only when coming back from sleep/hib?

does it happen on other user-accounts?

i know it's not a big deal to you, but that would drive me nuts;)
 
This thread has been hijacked... The people who complain always expose their problems everywhere... :D
 
I have no problems with my new MBP. It works beautifully. I had issues with my 2009 uMB and my 2008 Alum MB. There's always lemons but most computers are cherry. My retired 2010 Thinkpad T410 was one of those just perfectly working amazing computers up to the day I bought my MBP.
 
Most people haven't had problems. The minority that do are just very vocal about it.
 
By invisible I mean, after clicking Show Bluetooth in menu bar, the space for the icon is there and I can even click it to bring down the menu but there is no icon there at all. It's just an empty space that when clicked brings me the bluetooth menu. Certainly the oddest problem I've ever had out of OS X anyway....
 
For a hospital, Macrumor sure has a fair share of cosmestic patients. ;)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back