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MacBook Air First Impressions and Notes

SteveSparks said:
We have secure wireless but I need to get access to the SECURE! SECURE! network and that is wired only.
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Stick an Airport Express on it. Just don't tell anyone! 😱😉

All these great reviews and mine is on a plane, dying to get to play with it in person...

C
 
Battery Question

My MBA's battery takes hours to charge, a lot longer than my Toshiba PC. Anyone else experiencing this or is it just the nature of these type batteries?
 
Installed Bootcamp on my 1.8/64gb SSD

Yup!

First I did a fresh OSX install omitting the extra languages and all of iLife except for iPhoto -- saved about 7gb.

I partitioned 20gb for Windows Vista -- and get this, I installed it using a desktop IDE DVD-Rom drive using an IDE to USB adapter cable I had.... Didn't want to have to buy a Superdrive just to install Windows.

Worked like a charm and the system is working great. After loading MS Office 2008 on the mac side and Part of MS Office 2007 on the Windows side, I have about 8gb free on Windows (out of 20gb) and 24gb on OSX. More than enough for my needs....

Aaron


jjd said:
Has anyone yet got XP up on running on an SSD with Bootcamp? What about with Fusion/ Parallels?
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My PowerBook G4 finally died so I'll be getting a MacBook Air.

I pulled the hard drive from the PBG4 and put it in a USB case. Can I plug that drive into the MBA and use the migration assistant?
 
richard371 said:
The 1.8 SSD is 1300 more. For the avg Joe that's a lot of money. Unfortunately I have more time then money so I went with the HDD. I think the biggest diff in speed will be when you boot but I hardly ever do that as I just suspend and it is fast.

If your company is paying for it or your loaded go with the SSD. If you are practical or even somewhat practical go with the HDD. I can tell you the ssd technology will depreciate faster then you can say "air". Also the hdd is durable enough. They have been used in millions of ipods and they bounce around more then your laptop.

Also the 16 extra GB is a nice bonus on these small drives.
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Good point. The SSD is a luxury item for most people, to bad it is just sooo much right now.

I went to the Apple store in Pasadena during my lunch hour and played with the two versions of the MBA (again). I did a cold boot and this time I got 40 seconds for the SSD and 51 seconds for the HDD. Not bad at all. For some reason at the glendale store i saw boot times close to 2x (1:03 and 1:40) what i experienced at pasadena.

Loading web pages only seemed slightly faster on the SSD. Maybe the HDD will be OK for now.
 
173080 said:
My PowerBook G4 finally died so I'll be getting a MacBook Air.

I pulled the hard drive from the PBG4 and put it in a USB case. Can I plug that drive into the MBA and use the migration assistant?
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It should work but you might need an AC adapter for the USB case, depending on how much wattage the drive and the enclosure's bridgeboard require. For example, I tried hooking up a quad interface enclosure with a 7K noteook drive. It would not mount until I added the AC adapter.
 
/i'm from Singapore and I just received my Macbook Air yesterday evening! I must say that I am thoroughly impressed with TNT for helping me dig up the package the moment the plane landed.

First impression was THIN, THIN, THIN! Even my wife who was looking on as I ripped the package open exclaimed at the sleekness of this beauty.

The screen is simply gorgeous.

Using this as my secondary on-the-road computer. Also my first Mac. Most of the functions run along fast enough. I have no comparison of course with another Mac.

The other thing I was impressed about was how solid the flip open port compartment feels. U have to try it to know what I mean. I have a Vaio T series and the cover on some of the ports feel really plasticky and flimsy.

So far I am impressed!

As for some reported stuff from others.... My Air sits firmly on flat surfaces, no heat issues, no dead pixels!
 
Breath Taking!!!

I absolutely love my MacAir!!! Meets and surpasses all my expectations...I'm a teacher and use keynote, the Air connects perfectly to my projector...I connected a small USB hub with 4 slots, I connect my USB Verizon wireless, and remote for keynote with no problem. I bought the 1.8 80HD...runs smoothly...after getting rid of some excess fat, and putting in all the programs I really use I have 65gb left. That is way more than enough for anything else I need. Best part is that it weighs NOTHING, my bag feels empty, and everyone is blown away with how beautiful it looks, my kids are awwed and my fellow teachers all now want it. Hurray for Apple!! (I guess I'm an Apple fanatic, I've seen that term around lately)😀
 
bjdraw said:
Migration Assistant works much faster from a USB Time Machine backup, plus this is a great test to ensure TM is actually working. (duh, 480Mbps, is faster than 802.11N or 10/100 Ethernet)
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According to the specs, 802.11N is rated at 540Mbps. That should make it faster than USB 2.0 (480Mbps). However, in a recent test, we copied a 1GB document between two Macs with 802.11n support. It took 261 sec (or 4 min 35 sec), which is 4MB/s (or 40Mbps?). In our recent test of a USB 2.0 notebook enclosure, we didn't copy a file from the drive to the MacBook Air but QuickBench 4 rated it at 31MB/s sustained READ. The MacBook Air SSD is rated at 30MB/s sustained WRITE. I'll give that a try and report back. I'll also try 1GB folder of many smaller files.
 
My First Impression on the Macbook Air

Okay..ive never seen the macbook air in person till about 3 hours ago. This thing is sooo krazy looking and sharp! It makes me wanna use it to cut some lettuce and make a salad. Ive been waiting for the new macbook pro to come out...but if it doesnt come out to be a little thinner than it already is..then ill just buy the macbook air, cause damn...🙂
 
barefeats said:
According to the specs, 802.11N is rated at 540Mbps. That should make it faster than USB 2.0 (480Mbps). However, in a recent test, we copied a 1GB document between two Macs with 802.11n support. It took 261 sec (or 4 min 35 sec), which is 4MB/s (or 40Mbps?). In our recent test of a USB 2.0 notebook enclosure, we didn't copy a file from the drive to the MacBook Air but QuickBench 4 rated it at 31MB/s sustained READ. The MacBook Air SSD is rated at 30MB/s sustained WRITE. I'll give that a try and report back. I'll also try 1GB folder of many smaller files.
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Just an FYI, you nor anyone else will ever get 480Mbps with USB2.0, nor will you or anyone else get the advertised rates of WiFi. Long list of technical reasons for it, but the "general" benchmark for USB2.0 is around 160Mbps true application layer throughput (what you get to use after all of the overhead), and for 802.11n is is about 70Mbps to 100Mbps (depending on who you believe). As soon as you add 3 or more device connections (meaning point A to B plus one more), all rates go down. Also, with WiFi, if anyone is using an earlier generation to 802.11n (i.e, if your phone is using 802.11b at 11Mbps, which applies even if the phone isn't actually using the WiFi connection but simply with the WiFi turned on - has to do with network pinging), the whole WiFi network drops down to the lowest common denominator (i.e., 11Mbps, has to do with backward compatibility requirements in the IEEE 802.11 specification). The SSD write rates at 30Mbps is the true maximum, because no matter how fast your data pipe is getting data into the MBA it isn't going to eat (accept) data any faster than that. Your best bet to get that 30Mbps is a direct point-point USB cable connection, given all the things that can impact WiFi data rate (range, presence of 802.11b devices, etc.).
 
1.8/80gb - Keyboard rocks, seems just as snappy as my 2.16 macbook pro

Screen is awesome... don't miss anything yet I love how flat it feels under my hands...
 
We received one in our university comp store (the demo computer). I work at the tech dept. and we were able to see it before they put it on display. It looked pretty slick, but somehow they screwed up the original installation so OS X had to be reinstalled on the MBA.
 
Today, I have reloaded OS X twice on the MBA 1.8 SSD (which I purchased from a local Apple store last night since the ordered unit with iWork has a non defined delivery date) due to a hiccup on the first reload. I omitted unnecessary printer drivers, languages, and optional software and gained about 8Gb of drive space, showing nearly 47Gb available for whatever. I tried using wireless on file transfer and the ethernet with the dongle was faster going through the same 801.n Airport Hub that was three feet away. The Superdrive was definitely the way to go to load programs. The unit feels snappy on doing installation work and moving files around from iDisk etc. Most of the time the fan is silent. I think whoever gets one will be pleased with all aspects of this computer keeping in mind all the constraints.

I installed the Verizion USB WWAN modem drivers for a test drive. It worked fine for an internet connection. However, with no printer available because of only one USB port, the only choice is to print to a pdf file and print the document out later or on a remote printer. I small powered mobile laptop USB Hub might solve that problem. iDisk access is really slow over the Verizon connection.... Musical chairs with three USB devices while loading is tedious. Under normal situations, one would load from a CD/DVD using the Superdrive and then switch the connection to ethernet/wireless to check for updates. One will want their system printer to be on a Airport USB hub or ethernet so one can use the USB/ethernet dongle if their wireless connection is slow.

That's my story to date.
 
DPGX said:
Seems pretty good so far Im just wiping mine and removing printer drivers, languages etc that consume about 10 gb of hard drive lol. After im done ill post some additional impressions. The SuperDrive seems much faster than the internal option but i could be wrong. I started reformatting my macbook pro around 30 minutes before this and im almost onto the second dvd.

In OSX it was pretty snappy but nowhere near as fast as my pro obviously. I got the 80gb 4200rpm drive which I'm sure is the main reason but boot up is noticeably longer than the pro. Also when they fan spun up it was def. audible. I could hear it from the doorway when i walked into my room and thought it was the mbp because I have them side by side but turns out its the air. I'll give a better writeup later, but as of now Im pretty happy with it.
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how do you go about wiping out printer drivers and all that un needed crap? sorry for the noob question lol.
 
HLdan said:
Is anyone having concerns that you can't install Windows on the AIR without the external Superdrive?
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Not I. I bought this to Run Mac OS. I sold 3 laptops to get mine (my 3rd mac) all Vista./XP systems and doubt I will ever look back.
 
gkarris said:
Went to the Apple Store to see one.

GOD, I WANT ONE! 😱

They're awesome...

Actually, I love the black MacBook like keys and the Aluminum.

I would really rather have an Aluminum MacBook with the same Alumimum enclosure (not thin obviously) and the black back-lit MacBook keys. Tired of the "white" and the extra $ for black isn't worth it to me.

I need the larger hard disk and built-in optical.

I hope the MacBook line becomes Alumimum - I would get one..

The MBA is awesome too!
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Grab one and run!! 😀
 
just got mine. 1.8 SSD HD and love it. Cant get over how strudy this thing feels. I am VERY happy!😀
 
switz said:
Today, I have reloaded OS X twice on the MBA 1.8 SSD (which I purchased from a local Apple store last night since the ordered unit with iWork has a non defined delivery date) due to a hiccup on the first reload. I omitted unnecessary printer drivers, languages, and optional software and gained about 8Gb of drive space, showing nearly 47Gb available for whatever. I tried using wireless on file transfer and the ethernet with the dongle was faster going through the same 801.n Airport Hub that was three feet away. The Superdrive was definitely the way to go to load programs. The unit feels snappy on doing installation work and moving files around from iDisk etc. Most of the time the fan is silent. I think whoever gets one will be pleased with all aspects of this computer keeping in mind all the constraints.

I installed the Verizion USB WWAN modem drivers for a test drive. It worked fine for an internet connection. However, with no printer available because of only one USB port, the only choice is to print to a pdf file and print the document out later or on a remote printer. I small powered mobile laptop USB Hub might solve that problem. iDisk access is really slow over the Verizon connection.... Musical chairs with three USB devices while loading is tedious. Under normal situations, one would load from a CD/DVD using the Superdrive and then switch the connection to ethernet/wireless to check for updates. One will want their system printer to be on a Airport USB hub or ethernet so one can use the USB/ethernet dongle if their wireless connection is slow.

That's my story to date.
Click to expand...



that sounds reasonable to me. If you are using a laptop for anything that requires printing then I'd get a networked printer ASAP, its just so much more convenient, regardless of how many USB ports you have.

I have a HP2510 and its really handy to just be able to click 'print' and not worry about being connected to anything.

I am a little concerned about backups over network - I currently use a USB drive. How zealous is Time Machine? I don't want it backing up gigs of stuff every minute.
 
switz said:
Today, I have reloaded OS X twice on the MBA 1.8 SSD (which I purchased from a local Apple store last night since the ordered unit with iWork has a non defined delivery date) due to a hiccup on the first reload. I omitted unnecessary printer drivers, languages, and optional software and gained about 8Gb of drive space, showing nearly 47Gb available for whatever. I tried using wireless on file transfer and the ethernet with the dongle was faster going through the same 801.n Airport Hub that was three feet away. The Superdrive was definitely the way to go to load programs. The unit feels snappy on doing installation work and moving files around from iDisk etc. Most of the time the fan is silent. I think whoever gets one will be pleased with all aspects of this computer keeping in mind all the constraints.

I installed the Verizion USB WWAN modem drivers for a test drive. It worked fine for an internet connection. However, with no printer available because of only one USB port, the only choice is to print to a pdf file and print the document out later or on a remote printer. I small powered mobile laptop USB Hub might solve that problem. iDisk access is really slow over the Verizon connection.... Musical chairs with three USB devices while loading is tedious. Under normal situations, one would load from a CD/DVD using the Superdrive and then switch the connection to ethernet/wireless to check for updates. One will want their system printer to be on a Airport USB hub or ethernet so one can use the USB/ethernet dongle if their wireless connection is slow.

That's my story to date.
Click to expand...

You have two more printing options: wirelessly or via Bluetooth.
 
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