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

Is rev A for me?

V

Volante

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 8, 2008
205
0
I "need" a laptop for when I travel. I have a Mac Pro at home so I don't need a lot of power. Thinking of getting a Macbook Air Rev A. 1.6Ghz, 2 GB RAM, X3100 graphics.

A couple of questions:

Will it play 720p x264 mkv files?
Will it play youtube hd?
What kind of battery time do you get surfing the web, playing low-res avi-files?
I have a USB-powered samsung DVD-drive. Will I be able to use to reinstall OS X (if needed)?
 
If you're looking for a word proc./excel/surfing computer it's fine. Looking at your question, you are into video - which it's not.

Mkv stored files work okay but streaming has issues. Avoid Rev. A for YouTube or any Flash based content. Seriously.
 
Do not buy an original MBA for ANY video as it's not capable. The original MBA is good for Word, Pages, and numbers. Internet is even a challenge for it as Flash kills it.

I recommend everyone get an Nvidia GPU MBA to use it like they would expect a Mac to operate. Also remember HD playback from apps like iTunes recommend 2 GHz CPU minimum. In reality the 1.6 GHz MBAs have trouble with HD, Quicktime, and Flash. It really requires a 1.86/2.13 for acceptable video playback performance. If you want to use as your primary Mac you should also get the SSD.

Good luck whichever route you go.
 
I am typing this on a Rev. A 1.8 SSD MBA.

I love mine. It does play 720p and youtube HD video perfectly, it just gets hot when doing so.

Moral of the story, a Rev. A can do what you want, but it probably has to be the 1.8 cpu. If you're worried about it working too hard, go with the Rev. B or C.
 
I had a 1.6/SSD CTO Rev.A and it was pretty annoying playing 720p videos on it. I had my videos encoded in mkv and played them through VLC, yet suffered a tremendous amount of stuttering. The fans also turned up to an unacceptable amount.

I didn't even bother with HD Youtube video. Just plain old SD Youtube videos would get the fans up to 6200rpm.
 
If you are going for the Rev A get the higher end 1.8GHZ/64GB SSD - I absolutely love mine - works great for video and have had no heat issues or anything - sure the Rev B is gobs better - and I may have decided to spend the extra 300 or so bucks for double the HD space and a true video card - but I am happy with my $1000 Rev A 1.8/64GB SSD.

Best of luck in your search
 
My rev. A works just fine. I have no issue with choppy video and browsing the web works wonderful as well. I have experienced no issues some of the guys on here have with their past Rev.A's. It could be mine is late model rev A. closer towards B.
 
I'm typing this on a 1.8GHz, 128 GB MacBook Air (revision B). It's the only Mac I use.

I experience few to zero core shutdowns. YouTube runs great. While it is not a powerhouse, it is a very respectable computer. In my view, the Revision A MacBook Air was not so desirable because of the performance issues.

If you intend to frequently play video on your computer, whether high-res or YouTube, DO NOT GET A REVISION A MACBOOK AIR. It will not play without stuttering.

I play HD videos from iTunes on my MacBook Air (Revision B) with no trouble.
 
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