I'm sad to say its going back...

[KPOM]

I own a July 2011 MBA, the lack of USB 3 on this machine & the lack of affordable TB portable solutions at this point is a sore point with me. Yes, I like my Air but do feel that if Apple wanted to release a notebook that featured TB & did not include USB 3 on a machine sold to consumers that they should have supported TB & made sure we had an affordable external drive to be able to use it. A 3rd party device that's hot, heavy & costs over $400 arriving almost a year later is a big fail IMHO.

They did release the Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter, and have a Firewire 800 adapter planned. My guess is that Apple was waiting for the peripheral manufacturers to fill the market, but then when they didn't, decided to enter the market themselves, particularly because they knew they would be releasing a MacBook Pro that lacked built-in Ethernet and Firewire. However, the new MacBook Pros already have USB 3.0 ports, so there is less incentive for Apple to release an adapter themselves.

That said, now that Apple has shown that it is possible to produce and sell an inexpensive adapter for Thunderbolt, maybe others will finally come out with cheaper solutions.

 

[calvol]

Wirelessly posted
I have yet to upgrade from my 2010 because I don't want to give up Snow Leopard.

Same here, I really like Snow Leopard on the 2010, and the longer battery life. I'm only using it for Word and VMware, and it's got enough horsepower for that.

 

[stylinexpat]

The upgrade from last years model is really only incremental. Everything is just a little bit better. I can understand why someone upgrading from a 2011 wouldn't be super impressed.

In my case I'm upgrading from an '09 13" MBP. I already installed an SSD in my MBP which extended it's life greatly, so even in my case I'm not expecting to great an increase in performance. What I am looking forward to is the thinner form factor, the USB 3.0, and the slightly higher res screen (1440*900 vs 1280*800).

Were in the same shoes I got a 13" with the Core 2 Duo 2.66 and also have 2 Vertex SSD's running raid in there. Now I am debating between a tricked out 13" MBA and a new 15" MBP with the Retina display..

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Ooooh, great catch! It was announced but its not in the store yet. So how much faster than USB 2.0 can I expect this to be? Or, in other words, how much slower than USB 3.0 or a straight Thunderbolt connection to an external drive?

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Ummmmm, no. It may have been coincidence.

Yes, I did have to buy it and experience it for myself. Why are you having such a difficult time wrapping your head around such a simple concept?

I just bought a kayak. Do you think I would have plopped $2,000 just by reading a review? Heck no! I looked at them, touched them, rented one, took classes, and THEN I decided.

Another example - movie reviews. Do you know how many bad reviews The Expendables got? And do you think that would deter me from going to see it for myself???

Reviewers have biases. Some even have agendas. Some like Macs, some like PCs, some are old fashioned, some like new stuff. Sure, you can read reviews and get other people's opinions, but nothing, NOTHING will substitute your OWN judgement and your OWN experiences.

Nothing my friend.

Very well said

 

[Bob Coxner]

For me, C2D to Sandy Bridge was a big deal. SB to Ivy Bridge, not so much. I'm very happy with my 2011 MBA and I can wait for Haswell befoe I upgrade.

 

[ZBoater]

...so I returned the whole thing and got a desktop version with the firewire adapter. And while that model doesn't run hot, it runs awfully slow for a FireWire drive and only comes out about 10% faster than USB2...

Ugghhh, don't tell me that. I just ordered a Seagate Backup Plus 3TB desk drive for $169 at Amazon. It has the Firewire 800, and I was planning on hooking it up to my Thunderbolt display. If I went through all that for 10% improvement I will be sad...

 

[The Catalyst]

For me, C2D to Sandy Bridge was a big deal. SB to Ivy Bridge, not so much. I'm very happy with my 2011 MBA and I can wait for Haswell befoe I upgrade.

What up fellow 2011 using, Haswell waitin' buddy.

 

[KPOM]

Well, I have a USB 3.0 HDD enclosure and Samsung hybrid SSD on the way that I plan to use as a backup drive (while I prefer SSDs, at some point I just need the raw storage, so a 7200rpm HDD/4GB SSD hybrid on sale seemed like the way to go). I'll run some tests once I get it.

 

[Chipg]

I'm approaching 1 year on my i7 13" 256 gig Air and have no desire to upgrade either, it is one awesome machine that has never missed a beat, hands down it's the best portable computer I have ever owned and I can see myself still using it in 3-4 years from now.

 

[BayouTiger]

I agree that my 2011 i7 256 has been my best laptop ever. That's exactly why I upgraded to the '12 2.0/8g/512. As a heavy VM and big app (Autocad LT, Aperture, Fusion, etc) the addition of 8G double the storage, and USB3 to an already exceptional laptop was just impossible to pass up!

After using the Air, it is still amazing how much bulkier even the Retinabook is! I might still sell my top spec iMac and get one of them for power use.

 

[ZipZap]

Looking forward to rMBP as an upgrade to MBA 2010.

 

[ZBoater]

... so I returned the whole thing and got a desktop version with the firewire adapter. And while that model doesn't run hot, it runs awfully slow for a FireWire drive and only comes out about 10% faster than USB2.

Well I got my Seagate Backup desktop drive using Firewire 800, and Blackmagic says 56MB/s write and 80 something read vs. 12MB/s write and 30 something read on my USB 2.0 Passport drive. So it's not Thunderbolt but not too shabby. 3TB for $160 will help me keep backups of my backups...

 

[KittyKatta]

Well I got my Seagate Backup desktop drive using Firewire 800, and Blackmagic says 56MB/s write and 80 something read vs. 12MB/s write and 30 something read on my USB 2.0 Passport drive. So it's not Thunderbolt but not too shabby. 3TB for $160 will help me keep backups of my backups...

Thanks for the update. I noticed the other day that the Flex drives look different than mine so Im wondering if the new ones fixed something because im only getting 20MB/s read on my FW800.

The problem for me now though is that my Mini has Firewire but no USB3, and the Air has USB3 but no Firewire so if I want to use the drive I'll have to keep swapping the interface adapter based on which computer I am using it on. Whats sad is that this is exactly the problem that Thunderbolt was advertised to solve but due to pricing, hardware, heat and availability then it's just adds to the problem by introducing a new "standard" to convert through.

 

[ZBoater]

I know, right? I solved that by buying a $1000 Thunderbolt hub that has usb2 and FireWire 800.

Oh, and it has a 27" display too. . Not the most cost effective solution I have to say...

 

[KittyKatta]

I know, right? I solved that by buying a $1000 Thunderbolt hub that has usb2 and FireWire 800.

Oh, and it has a 27" display too. . Not the most cost effective solution I have to say...

People claim the reason for now USB3 on the 2011 Air is because Sandy Bridge doesnt support it. But whats the reason for now USB3 on the 27" display?

The 27" does seem like an awesome "hub" but without USB3 then its not future proof. TB and Firewire are nice alternatives but I just got my USB3 drive and its incredibly fast. Here's my results with the same drive, different configs.

28MB/s 2011 Air USB2
38MB/s 2012 Air USB2
88MB/s 2012 Air USB3

Surprisingly the 2012 even got better speeds over USB2 than the 2011 so I'm very happy that I upgraded.

BTW. Sorry to brag but the speed test on the internal SSD is over 400MB/s read and write so I guess they upgraded that too.

 

[KPOM]

My Seagate hybrid drive and USB 3.0 enclosure arrived yesterday. I'm getting read and write speeds of about 100 Mbps. Not bad for a hard drive. I'll run some tests later with an SSD in the enclosure.

 

[Alper1234]

Little Highjack

I got an 2011 MBP 15" with 4 GB, 2.0 i7 and 500 GB 5400 Rpm.

Would it make sense to upgrade to an 15" Retina 16gb 256 gb Flash ?

I know the answer, right?