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Fav Or Best Accessories For The Air?

kaizer85

kaizer85

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
96
1
Boynton Beach, FL
Im a MBA 11' 64GB Owner..Currently using a WD 160GB External Drive for storing my music and movies...

Whats the best or your favorite accessories for the MBA?

Also im going out of country to Bangladesh any recommendations on what to take with my MBA?
 
I use my iPhone as a hotspot when I need it. I also have the Mini DP to DVI adapter so I can hook it up to a nice screen at work. The BookArc is next on my list, but not necessary.

I also have a nice Speck sleeve for transporting from work/home/friend's house. I bought two additional chargers, one for my laptop bag and one for my desk at work, that way I only need to bring the MBA with me when I go.

Other than that I don't want/need any other accessories. I have it in the sleeve whenever its not on my desk, so I don't want a shell for added protection. Likewise I don't want a keyboard cover because a lot of the heat is dissipated through the keyboard.
 
Since the 11" has no SD card slot, I find this card reader essential for the MBA because it can be plugged in even on the left side while the power cord is plugged in:

31xNdhZUjuL._AA300_.jpg


I also keep one of these with me, which I use with my old SD card reader or with flash drives:
41GoN-i7OtL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


I don't like having USB items plugged directly in to the machine while I'm somewhere that they might get bumped. Obviously my external drive has its own cable, but I like the little extension for everything else, and especially the built-in cord on the SD card reader.
 
A bootable backup drive. Because if the SSD fails in this thing it's not easily or cheaply replaced.
 
27" Thunderbolt display. I just love the fact that I can plug my 11" Air into it and it all of a sudden feels like a powerful desktop.
 
Best accessory I can think of is the charger :p

I have an incipio hard shell on my 13in... but I don't think it's a necessity.

If I had to pick one accessory, it'd be my Monoprice thunderbolt-to-HDMI adapter (in which is used in conjunction with an HDMI cable I carry around).

I have a thunderbolt-to-hdmi cable, which is more convenient, but I keep that connected to my iMac and TV, since the HDMI-only cable I carry around with me can be hooked up to my iPhone/iPad Digital AV Adapter :D

I use my iMac for all my desktop needs, so no need for an ATD or stand
 
Beanoir said:
Well it is actually easy AND cheap to fix...
Click to expand...

How do you figure cheap? Those drives cost a ton from third parties, and as much for an oem apple one used. I don't think apple will sell you one outright...

Also, pretty sure once an SSD bites the dust, there's no resurrecting it (anyone remember the old freezer trick for spinning HDs?). It's not a fixable thing really.
 
oneMadRssn said:
How do you figure cheap? Those drives cost a ton from third parties, and as much for an oem apple one used. I don't think apple will sell you one outright...

Also, pretty sure once an SSD bites the dust, there's no resurrecting it (anyone remember the old freezer trick for spinning HDs?). It's not a fixable thing really.
Click to expand...

Well lets put it this way it's easy to replace, plenty of people are upgrading their internal drives on their MBAs and the cost is hardly steep, used prices for 64GB is around $150 and new 120GB from OWC is £230.

Worth also noting that whilst you're right, once they're gone they're pretty much gone, but the likelihood of that happening is far less than a traditional disk HD as there are no moving parts to fail. Reported failure rates are much much lower than on similar age MBPs with HD discs.
 
I agree with agentphish. The Airs are very difficult to work with if something goes wrong. Nearly all the options you'd try on other computers are unavailable. I realised this when a friend's Air wouldn't boot up and made the 3 beep sound that indicates a memory issue.

So:
Try swapping the memory... NO the memory is not removable.

She didn't have a recent backup.
Try accessing the SSD in Target Disk Mode... NO the Air does not support TDM because it has no firewire ports.

There was no way to get access to her data.

Or I should say no way to cheaply do it. You can't take out the drive and just transfer the data without buying a special adapter as the Air's SSD drives don't use a standard SATA connector.

They are great compact computers but I would strongly suggest that people keep a current backup of their data... especially on the Macbook Air.
Easy enough with Time Machine and a little portable HDD.
 
"cheap" and "easy" are relative.

if my existing laptop or desktops drives die. I can run to the local computer store, and replace it, for under a couple hundred, and have it up and running within a couple hours.

Your drive on the MBA dies?

there's no store (that i know of) anywhere near me that i can go grab one. The only option is to order online from the only place I know that carries them. And at that, is a few days minimum for delivery. Add in the cost of the drive is far above and beyond any standard drive (even laptop SSDs).

Yes, the MBA's drive is anything but cheap and quick.
 
Beanoir...

For the vast majority of people it's not easy because they don't have the right tools or training to work on their Air. Nor should they really be working on their Air at all because the Air is a non-user-serviceable unit according to Apple.

Looking at OWC, their cheapest for the air is 120gb for $219.00. That isn't exactly pocket change for most people.

Just some simple points. ...and so not to sound like a jerk but I think you're wrong.
 
Best accessory I have is my backpack to be quite honest. I don't use a case or anything else but my backpack is perfect. I have the Incase Campus Pack and it fits my 13" MBA perfectly. Even has the sleeve for an iPad and a pouch outside the backpack that I can throw my iPhone in when I show up for class.
 
agentphish said:
Beanoir...

For the vast majority of people it's not easy because they don't have the right tools or training to work on their Air. Nor should they really be working on their Air at all because the Air is a non-user-serviceable unit according to Apple.

Looking at OWC, their cheapest for the air is 120gb for $219.00. That isn't exactly pocket change for most people.

Just some simple points. ...and so not to sound like a jerk but I think you're wrong.
Click to expand...

As somebody said earlier, it's all relative, for me it is cheap, and easy. And to be honest, I think it's generally considered an easy enough job to do, I recall that IFixit.com rate it as "moderate"....so that means "easy" for anybody with half a brain. It's plug and play too, so apart from the easily purchased T5 screwdriver on ebay for 99cents its not exactly brain surgery or "specialist tools" for gods sake. Plenty of people on MR are doing it and discussing it, and I don't think I ever recall anybody describing it as difficult...in fact quite the opposite.

So you'd pay in excess of $1,000 for a laptop, but $219 for a state of the art 120gb flash memory is not cheap...weird.

You were right though, they were very simple points....and in fact I take it back, perhaps you shouldn't change yours ;)
 
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