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MBA M1 not blown away

S Cee

S Cee

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 10, 2020
49
19
Northeast England
I took delivery of a base MBA today. It was intended as a replacement for my 2011 MBP 13".

I have reasonable IT skills but this machine still isn't running. I have set up a number of Macs and have failed with this one.

In the initial attempt to set up I selected migration assistant. The machine refused to let me do it and the initial set went ahead without it. After completing that I went back in and used migration assistant. I set up mail but 1 iCloud account simply refused to play. Safari refused to open up. It was there on the dock but it wouldn't open up. I had a number of system error reports sitting in system preferences which I couldn't shift.
Apple help line realised I had the out of date big sur installed and after checking drives etc I began to download the latest system. So far I am on my 3rd attempt to download the OS. It just keeps failing :(
I have lost a half day trying to sort this'd I am at the mercy of servers that are no doubt working hard.
My overall new MBA experience has not impressed me. Not the software issues but the general feel. My 2011MBP has a decent keyboard and I expected an improvement on the new keyboard. Do people really think its that good or is it the herd effect ?

So for the first time ever I am considering returning a new MBA.. I use a windows machine and touch wood have never had a software issue, but I do delay installing a OS update for at least a month. In the case of the Big Sur I do not have a choice, it won't run the OS it shipped with.
 
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Reactions: calstanford and edhchoe
I am very sorry to hear of your negative experience. It couldn't be a starker contrast to my own. I received my base model MacBook Air M1 at lunchtime and set it up, migrating a copy of my data and settings from my MacBook Pro.

I can't tear myself away. This is an extremely impressive machine. Way better than the similar model released earlier this year. It copes with everything I throw at it (so far) and after 5 hours of continual use it has used only 37% battery. It's totally silent and has remained cool at all times. I love it!

I urge you to persist with your attempts. Get it up and running - you won't regret it.
 
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Wow. No offense, but it sounds like your issues have nothing to do with the M1 MacBooks, but just not being able to setup the computer properly. You might want to take it into a Genius Bar (if you can these days with the pandemic) and have them help you walk you through it.

Also, coming from a 2011 MBP you won't feel a huge difference in the keyboard. The difference is if you came from a butterfly switch keyboard from one of the MacBooks in the past several years. The current scissor switch mechanism on the newest MacBooks is similar to what was previously used on the MacBooks before Apple migrated to butterfly switches.
 
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I received my new MBA M1 an hour ago and it's up and running. Very impressed so far with how cool it remains. I've set up dozens of Macs in the last few years and they always get quite warm during initial setup and especially when running an O/S update. The keyboard was barely warm in the center, but otherwise very cool to the touch. The only weirdness I encountered, that I've never seen before, is after doing the Big Sur update, it changed my user image to a default "eagle head" image. Very strange. My user image is a sunset photo and it always comes over to a new install. The image in Settings with my Apple ID is still the correct one, but upon restart or new start, I get the eagle. I changed it to a photo and now I have a different photo with my Apple ID than on the MBA. They're not syncing. Very minor issue, but weird nonetheless.
 
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CD3660 said:
I am very sorry to hear of your negative experience. It couldn't be a starker contrast to my own. I received my base model MacBook Air M1 at lunchtime and set it up, migrating a copy of my data and settings from my MacBook Pro.

I can't tear myself away. This is an extremely impressive machine. Way better than the similar model released earlier this year. It copes with everything I throw at it (so far) and after 5 hours of continual use it has used only 37% battery. It's totally silent and has remained cool at all times. I love it!

I urge you to persist with your attempts. Get it up and running - you won't regret it.
Click to expand...
I am persisting but its so frustrating not being able to download the OS. If I do a factory reset that still leaves me with the out of date OS.
 
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lambertjohn said:
Not that it matters, but I never use Migration Assistant. I just set my new computer up as a clean install then manually copy everything over. Takes a little longer, but pretty much guarantees zero issues.
Click to expand...
Thats the first time I have used migration assistant. I have previously used time machine and it has never disappointed me. If I do get the recent OS installed I will use my time machine. I can see your reasoning behind your route.
 
S Cee said:
Factory rest still gives me an out of date OS.
Click to expand...
I am not a Mac guru like most of the folks here, but i have set up many Macs over the past few years. My suggestion would be to boot into internet recovery and from disk utility, delete the Macintosh HD - Data drive and erase the Macintosh HD drive. Then install Big Sur from internet recovery. I would not use migration assistant. Try a few basic apps -- Safari, etc. and ensure that they're working. All your iCloud files should be syncing in the background. Then just move over other files, programs, etc., using Target Disk mode. Again, I defer to the experts, but that's what I would do.
 
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S Cee said:
Factory rest still gives me an out of date OS.
Click to expand...
Understood. Merely stating that a 'reset to factory'. might help things.
Alas, in this case, with the OS issue, my suggestion might be a poor solution.

PS: To confirm, once you powered on (when you received it), you were forced to upgrade the OS?
 
teecuptech said:
Understood. Merely stating that a 'reset to factory'. might help things.
Alas, in this case, with the OS issue, my suggestion might be a poor solution.

PS: To confirm, once you powered on (when you received it), you were forced to upgrade the OS?
Click to expand...
No request was ever made to update my OS. I did think of it and checked for updates. There were 5 updates shown, iMovie, numbers, notes (forget the other 2) but nothing that would impede what I was doing.
It was only the folk at Apple help that pointed me to do the update because of my Safari app/error reports.
As I typed the 6th OS install has just failed gets to around 50 mins left then window pops up with error.
 
S Cee said:
No request was ever made to update my OS. I did think of it and checked for updates. There were 5 updates shown, iMovie, numbers, notes (forget the other 2) but nothing that would impede what I was doing.
It was only the folk at Apple help that pointed me to do the update because of my Safari app/error reports.
As I typed the 6th OS install has just failed gets to around 50 mins left then window pops up with error.
Click to expand...
Hmm, so, based on the above, would resetting to factory (like new), and starting over, ignoring the OS update, not help?

To me, it sounds like a stating point. Maybe that would even solve the Safari issue.
Unless I am simply not totally understanding the overall issue. If so, I am sorry...
 
teecuptech said:
Hmm, so, based on the above, would resetting to factory (like new), and starting over, ignoring the OS update, not help?

To me, it sounds like a stating point. Maybe that would even solve the Safari issue.
Unless I am simply not totally understanding the overall issue. If so, I am sorry...
Click to expand...
Hi teecuptech, thats what I'm doing at the moment. Hopefully the erase will clear something that is perhaps stopping the new OS download. I have 1hr 6mins left to download
 
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Seems like the problem may be with migration assistant. I set up my MBA as new yesterday, spent the evening downloading my apps and syncing my cloud files, and it's running without a hitch.
 
I just down loaded Big Sur on my 2018 Mac mini From Catalina. It was a 30 minute painless process. If I was having the problems you are experiencing I would send that one back.
 
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@S Cee
 
Last edited:
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IngerMan said:
forums.macrumors.com

Restoring Apple Silicon M1 Macs Leading to macOS Installation Errors

Several customers who purchased a new Mac with an M1 Apple Silicon app have discovered an issue when attempting to restore the machine, which leads to it becoming non-functional and stuck on error screen that says "An error occurred preparing the update. Failed to personalize the software...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com

@S Cee
Click to expand...
IngerMan, that post mirrors my issues. Apple have had 2 goes to sort it. Both failed. I have started the returns procedure and the MBA together with other items (USB-c adaptors) are heading back for a refund.

Will I get another ? I am in no particular hurry.

For those that have their machines running flawlessly I am jealous.

A rather late edit:- If you click on the link supplied by IngerMan the screen shot is the same as the one I was getting.
 
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Hmm, if you were in a hurry, I wonder if you could do an in Apple shop refund. Then, immediately purchase another, and set it up while in the shop.

Then again, with Covid19, and all the current limitations, not sure if Apple are allowing customers to be in their shops for 'long'...
 
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