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Do you Prefer the Older MBA Design or The New One??
- Thread starter GriiMz
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The 2010 has 2 USB ports and better heat management, so it can run at the Core 2 Duo's top speed without under clocking, which the earlier models were notorious for. That said, how long do you want to keep it, and what do you plan to run on it? The 2009 should last the remainder of the Applecare warranty, and if you are looking to upgrade to the Ivy Bridge model at that time the extra £360 could come in handy.
The new wedge design is much better.
The old port location with the little flip down cover was a pain in the ass. And only having 1 USB port meant that I always had to carry a small USB hub.
The old port location with the little flip down cover was a pain in the ass. And only having 1 USB port meant that I always had to carry a small USB hub.
No question the new one is a better design. You just need to decide which is better for you given the price difference.
The performance of the new MBA I just got (Rev E, 13", i5, 128SSD Samsung) just blows me away- especially coming from the underpowered original Rev A MBA, but I really miss the original design of the first one.
It was so sleek and thin, a marvel if you ask me, especially with the rounded back- I am not a fan of the wedge design, sharper edges or the thick back edge of the current design. It also felt so much better in the hand.
And I did like the pop-down door hiding the ports- even if it at first got in the way of some plugs.
The original design just looked worlds sleeker, IMHO. But I bet it wouldn't cut tomatoes as thin. :roll eyes:
BTW, the Rev A lasted me from almost the first day of its release until just last month- when the HD died for the third time. It was everything I needed. But then again I lasted just about 7 years on my TiBook before going to the MBA-A after I put the old gal out to pasture.
And I loved the design of that TiBook too. Except for the hinges. Ahem.
It was so sleek and thin, a marvel if you ask me, especially with the rounded back- I am not a fan of the wedge design, sharper edges or the thick back edge of the current design. It also felt so much better in the hand.
And I did like the pop-down door hiding the ports- even if it at first got in the way of some plugs.
The original design just looked worlds sleeker, IMHO. But I bet it wouldn't cut tomatoes as thin. :roll eyes:
BTW, the Rev A lasted me from almost the first day of its release until just last month- when the HD died for the third time. It was everything I needed. But then again I lasted just about 7 years on my TiBook before going to the MBA-A after I put the old gal out to pasture.
And I loved the design of that TiBook too. Except for the hinges. Ahem.
+1 That was going to be my response...it seems like such a small thing but I really really like the backlit keyboard. When the 2011's came out with it, I was sold.
As I too owned both. The 2009 hinge design in the MBA is flawed, and it WILL break at some point. Although, I think apple will fix it now for free.
Well it has to last me about a year and a half. But I do prefer the new design, I can afford it if I wait 2 weeks and order a refurb or I might go for a pro. really stuck here
Put it this way. The 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo late 2010 models outperformed the 1.86GHz late 2008 models. Partly this was because the 2010 model had a faster SSD and better GPU than the 2008, but it was also partly because the 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo would often throttle down to 1.4GHz.
It's kind of funny.
For such a brilliant company with overall genius engineering skills, IMHO, Apple seems to have had two areas where they lagged- hinge design, and power couplings- at least until MagSafe. For years they used a "variant" of the old RCA-type jack- connected right to the motherboard no less! And how hard can it be to design a proper hinge? Apparently quite difficult.
For such a brilliant company with overall genius engineering skills, IMHO, Apple seems to have had two areas where they lagged- hinge design, and power couplings- at least until MagSafe. For years they used a "variant" of the old RCA-type jack- connected right to the motherboard no less! And how hard can it be to design a proper hinge? Apparently quite difficult.
It's probably very difficult given how they are always pushing the aesthetic design envelope. As you have pointed out, they finally got the power coupling right with MagSafe (and are still way ahead of the rest of the market), and starting with the late 2010 MacBook Air finally got the hinge right. If they can figure out cooling, they'll be set for quite a while. Ivy Bridge and Haswell will help tremendously, but I wouldn't mind seeing Apple able to cram a quad-core Haswell i7 into the 11" MacBook Air if they can get the cooling right, and Intel's promise of a 10-20W "standard" TDP is kept.