Maybe because the Apple store employees refer to the maxed out configurations as "ultimate" editions? That's what the sales person called me when they brought it out from the back of the store.
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Any 11.6 inch regrets?
- Thread starter Bokes
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Maybe because the Apple store employees refer to the maxed out configurations as "ultimate" editions? That's what the sales person called me when they brought it out from the back of the store.
I'm 100% in the same boat. My 11" MBA has already been returned to the AppleStore.
I can't agree with this either. It's a very personal thing, but I find the keyboard "travel" to be very slight. And irritating. The keys depress so little (less than the RevB MBA I have and MUCH less than my 15" MBP) that it's more akin to typing on a touch-screen to me than typing on a keyboard.
And since I'm a freelance writer - the keyboard is my #1 thing. I *might* have been okay without the keyboard backlight, but the keyboard depresses being so shallow made me (and my fingers!) furious after an afternoon in a coffee shop.
I also found the screen *quite* constraining. I'm not old, but I do wear glasses and I found my eyes straining with the tiny UI elements. I was constantly Pressing + to get text bigger in Safari, and leaning in real close to read things.
I also read today online that the 11" MBA's UI elements are 30% smaller than the iMac's. That's insane to me. It's just too small on a screen that's already small. I wish they had kept the 13" MBA RevC's resolution and squashed it down.
IMHO, It's one thing to make a 15" or 27" high rez screen - the screen's big enough that you can still see things. But on the 11", (and again, this it just IMHO) it's just an artificial way to make a small screen *seem* like a big one, by squashing everything down and making it TINY.
I love my current MBA (13" RevB 1.6Ghz, SSD), and it's with me 24/7. And while I'd love to benefit from less weight, more battery life, and some faster SSDs, I feel that I'm gonna wait till the next rev 13". Hopefully the backlight comes back, and the key depress a little more.
Yes, still the PowerBook 12" is my most favorite laptop of all time, but I'm very happy with my low-end 11" Air with 4GB RAM.
Powerful enough for my needs. I have other machines for heavy stuff. The Air is staying in my bag when I'm home, and going out with me everyday now.
It's been running a lot cooler than Rev A 13" Air and Rev A PB 12 that were both known for their heat problems.
It plays online HD contents just fine although that's not the main reason I bought the Air.
I've worked on my everyday graphic design tasks with Photoshop and Illustrator CS4 on the Air when I'm out of house/office, and I have no complain with the performance.
Powerful enough for my needs. I have other machines for heavy stuff. The Air is staying in my bag when I'm home, and going out with me everyday now.
It's been running a lot cooler than Rev A 13" Air and Rev A PB 12 that were both known for their heat problems.
It plays online HD contents just fine although that's not the main reason I bought the Air.
I've worked on my everyday graphic design tasks with Photoshop and Illustrator CS4 on the Air when I'm out of house/office, and I have no complain with the performance.
benjayman2
macrumors 6502
Well I guess I'm not that surprised. Those geniuses tend to channel old Stevie when it comes to superlatives for their products. "Ultimately" 😛 I made too big a deal about this 😀 They can call it "mad max thundercats" edition for all I care.
Bokes said:
I doubt any man who has a 11.6 incher will have regrets about it, if you know what I mean... 😉
NickFalk
macrumors 6502
Funny, and obviously down to personal preferences. I find it to be the best laptop keyboard I've ever tried for the exact same reason. I guess It's my lazy nature: I don't want to move my fingers any more than I have to when writing touch. 😀
teerexx52
macrumors 68020
I am working on the 13" MBA now while my wife enjoys her 11.6. I was still thinking of returning the 13 for an 11.6 but as an only computer that screen just seems too small. But the funny part is as I sit in front of hers it really isn't to small. Its just my past experiences won't let me believe a screen that small would be so usable.
netdog
macrumors 603
As someone who just upgraded from a Rev B 1.86 SSD to the new 13" 2.13/4/256. the new machine is a major upgrade in almost every way. Quieter, much more responsive (snappier), much more solid feeling, much improved battery life, and brighter/sharper.
I do agree with you regarding the 11.6" however, particularly regarding the screen, but I can see how it would meet the needs of some.
nomad01
macrumors 68000
You sure your machine doesnt have problems? Seems to be choking on a lot.
I've not come into any hitches with image heavy pages yet although probably not tried what you have but definitely had no probs with 1080 video.
While I probably wouldn't want this as my only computer, as a 2nd machine for travel and day to day tasks it's perfect. I've not got the best eyesight either but this screen is fine for me.
Totally satisfied with my MBA.
Hmmm, your comments interest me as I've got a 15" MacBook Pro too, and the MacBook Air would be to have with me everyday wheras the 15" MacBook Pro I bring along when I know I'm gonna need it.
For me my ideal setup would be:
Desktop PC:
For gaming and intensive work that would cause a laptop to melt
15" MacBook Pro:
An awesome laptop. High specs and also pretty light as a highly specified laptop goes.
MacBook Air:
Enough grunt and screen size (and keyboard/mouse size) to be productive with, but small and lightweight enough to always have with you.
Of-course the Air wouldn't be expected to have the same umph as the 15" MacBook Pro, but the idea is that the Air is always with you whereas the Pro you bring when you know that you're gonna need that umph.
iPad:
Consumer stuff only. Sat on the sofa reading emails etc.
The question is really whether the 11.6" MacBook Air has enough screen/cpu/keyboard/mouse to actually be productive on. Or whether the 13" MacBook Air is getting too close to the 15" MacBook Pro size & weight wise that you might-as-well have not bothered with the 13" MacBook Air and just brought along the 15" MacBook Pro with you.
Anand Lal Shimpi & Vivek Gowri reckon the 11.6" MacBook Air is OK to get stuff done on, but I can't help but agree with your comments fyrefly that the 11.6" is just too small (hello Netbooks!) to be useful.
From http://www.anandtech.com/show/3991/apples-2010-macbook-air-11-13inch-reviewed:
"For me, Id have to own the 11-inch [MacBook Air], plus a 15-inch MacBook Pro plus my desktop. Thats three machines, plus a smartphone and Id be set. Id carry the 11-inch on most business trips, the 15-inch for big shows that Id have to cover and any heavier work Id do at home on the desktop. I dont mind the setup, its just a costly setup to have."
@fyrefly: Do you find that the 13" MacBook Air complements the 15" MacBook Pro well? Or is there quite a bit of overlap?
Well I already did a clean install. I'm assuming it's just a matter of what can be considered choking. To me, if I can see framerate drops in a game or video, it's too slow. In this case, the video is dropping below that. So while it's not beach ball of doom, it is certainly not smooth like 720p.. based on youtube
As to the other issue, did you check the thread I linked to to see what your machine does? Are you on a base model 11"?
I have safari and activity monitor open, there are 6 tabs of only text, here on the forums.. not a lot of images or anything. Scrolling this page along puts the processor at 35% used... imagine what 20 images does.
I think the weak point is the 1.4 more than anything else. I definitely feel like it's almost fast enough, but not quite
Not regretting my 64GB base model so far. The keyboard is a great size. In fact, it's pretty much the same size as an Apple wireless keyboard from what I can tell. Very comfortable.
It does kind of suck that I only have around 49gb left over out of the box but I wasn't planning on installing much of anything on the drive in the first place.
It does kind of suck that I only have around 49gb left over out of the box but I wasn't planning on installing much of anything on the drive in the first place.
Here is a video showing the issue I'm talking about. Watch how long the processor stays over 100% on just the page loads.. then scrolling getting into the 90's. Anything over about 70% processor usage and the page drags...
With 100%+ usage on load, you can't even begin to scroll the page, it is, for all intents and purposes, beachballing without beachballing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32EB6EN2ae4
btw, watch it full screened at 480p - and bear in mind, I never stopped scrolling, the pauses are not video lag or me not scrolling, they are hiccups to do with processor usage.
With 100%+ usage on load, you can't even begin to scroll the page, it is, for all intents and purposes, beachballing without beachballing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32EB6EN2ae4
btw, watch it full screened at 480p - and bear in mind, I never stopped scrolling, the pauses are not video lag or me not scrolling, they are hiccups to do with processor usage.
MBA 11 Owners: is the 11.6" really good for working longer hours on your lap?
Or should I get the 13"?
Please answer the poll
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1039884/
Did the 11.6" feel cramped in anyway?
Or should I get the 13"?
Please answer the poll
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1039884/
Did the 11.6" feel cramped in anyway?
a2applegirl
macrumors regular
I did some photoshop and illustrator work on my fully loaded 11.6" air at a cafe last night. I was very pleased with the response time and the screen size wasn't an issue. I wasn't expecting to be able to actually get this much work done on the air so the fact that cs5 is running so well on it is a bonus.😎🙂
The keyboard doesn't feel cramped to me and the resolution gives you a lot of screen space to work with. And it's small enough to fit in my satchel.
😀
Interesting... I don't recall that being the case when I was checking video encoding...
So if that's true, then is the processor, ram or video card choking?
I love the combo of a 15" MBP for short-haul trips or working from home and the 13" MBA as a road-warrior. I have tried to have just a 13" MBP instead (1 machine instead of 2), but the tres-glossy screen and the extra 1.5lbs of weight compared to the Air made the tradeoffs not worth it.
For me, the 13" Air is almost 1/2 the weight of a 15" MBP (2.9lbs vs. 5.6lbs). That's a huge difference. My MBA can be with me all day and I barely notice it. (I've several times over the last two years had to re-check my bag after leaving somewhere - just to be 100% it's in there!). If I have my 15" MBP with me all day - I feel the weight, and I know I'm carrying around a beast.
Performance-wise, with an SSD, the RevB/C MBA's feel just as snappy as their 15" brothers, at least for basic tasks. The only slowdown is the 2GB RAM limit and the fact that the SSD's in the RevB/C models aren't as fast as current SSDs (but way above those in the RevA MBA! 😉 ).
IMHO, the 13" Air is the perfect travel companion to a larger laptop or desktop that's primarily stationary.
catalyst6
macrumors 6502a
To the poster above....
I don't really get the point of having a 13 and a 15. I have a pre-unibody 15 MBP and I considered the 13 MBA. To me, the footprints are so close (weight is obviosuly different) that I don't know why you'd have both.
I went with the 11 because it just felt like an entirely different machine, justifying me having and using both the 11 and the 15 on a regular basis.
Either way, I'm glad there are choices....it feels strange considering Apple!
I don't really get the point of having a 13 and a 15. I have a pre-unibody 15 MBP and I considered the 13 MBA. To me, the footprints are so close (weight is obviosuly different) that I don't know why you'd have both.
I went with the 11 because it just felt like an entirely different machine, justifying me having and using both the 11 and the 15 on a regular basis.
Either way, I'm glad there are choices....it feels strange considering Apple!
Thanks, that's really useful 🙂.
I seem to be changing my mind every five minutes!
My current idea is to go and get a maxed out MacBook Air 13". This will be my primary laptop and taken out and about every day.
My current MacBook Pro 15" (and then replacing it with a maxed out 2011 one) will mainly be for use at home plugged into screens, but taken out and about when I know I'm gonna need it's sheer umph (whereas the MacBook Air comes out every day!).
That'll be my two computer lineup. Aslong as the 2011 15" MacBook Pro is decent enough specs wise I won't bother with a separate desktop computer.
nomad01
macrumors 68000
I just checked that photography thread and compared it with the same page on my 15" 2.66GHz i7 MBP. The Macbook Air (11 inch base model) stuttered once for a fraction of a second. The Pro didn't. If I hadn't been comparing side by side, I don't think I'd have even noticed.
I've not seen any issues with video so far.
Just tried the same URL on Firefox and it was MUCH worse. Seriously, I can't say there's an issue with the Safari performance at all but in Firefox, yeah... it stuttered a lot. I kind of see that as more of a Firefox issue though.
huh.. well, you can see the stutter in the video i posted.
The problem isn't an occasional stutter, it's just a fact of my life that i frequent heavy threads like that - and again, i just estimated badly I guess.
The scrolling hiccup is one thing, the 20+ seconds of page load is a completely different one.
On my old MBP, with lightroom, textedit, and 7 tabs open in firefox (including a youtube video), that page takes about 5 seconds to load, and never jumps above 40% processor usage... with double the threads open for firefox.. fwiw... although it does suffer the scrolling issue in firefox, I guess I never noticed that before. I'll reevaluate.. maybe it's all in my head.. that would be awesome if it is.
The problem isn't an occasional stutter, it's just a fact of my life that i frequent heavy threads like that - and again, i just estimated badly I guess.
The scrolling hiccup is one thing, the 20+ seconds of page load is a completely different one.
On my old MBP, with lightroom, textedit, and 7 tabs open in firefox (including a youtube video), that page takes about 5 seconds to load, and never jumps above 40% processor usage... with double the threads open for firefox.. fwiw... although it does suffer the scrolling issue in firefox, I guess I never noticed that before. I'll reevaluate.. maybe it's all in my head.. that would be awesome if it is.
High resolution on small screens is great until you reach a certain age. After you will need reading glasses. Buy the screen size that best fits your vision!