can buy a vnc original air for $400 cdn....
-did they fix the overheating issues?
-worth buying for that price,or waste of money?
-did they fix the overheating issues?
-worth buying for that price,or waste of money?
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Original Air 2008 1,1 worth it?
- Thread starter tom vilsack
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Huge waste of money, go the extra bit and get a base 2010 Air many which are available for $600 or there abouts now. if that isn't an option a white MacBook would be far more beneficial and similarly priced. The original Airs were pretty much to test the water for the great Airs of today , but the original ones really were incapable of simple tasks.
The 2010 model is much, much better. No heat issues or downgrading processor speed. I actually prefer it over the current model because of the graphics card.
Depends, if it's gonna be your primary computer, no. It's pretty slow and doesn't have enough storage.
If you have another computer and this is just a secondary computer, it could be pretty good. You still have very portable computer with a nice casing, backlit keyboard, multi-touch trackpad and good screen.
It's not ideal for demanding tasks, but for casual surfing/emailing/text editing, you still have a computer that feels high-end and can do much more than a tablet for a similar price.
If I had a desktop as my primary machine I'd definitely pick this up over an iPad.
Of course people will tell you that the 2010-2011 MBAs are much better, and they are, but they're not in the same price segment.
If you have another computer and this is just a secondary computer, it could be pretty good. You still have very portable computer with a nice casing, backlit keyboard, multi-touch trackpad and good screen.
It's not ideal for demanding tasks, but for casual surfing/emailing/text editing, you still have a computer that feels high-end and can do much more than a tablet for a similar price.
If I had a desktop as my primary machine I'd definitely pick this up over an iPad.
Of course people will tell you that the 2010-2011 MBAs are much better, and they are, but they're not in the same price segment.
I wouldn't dream of using one, at any price, as a normal use computer. However I suppose if you already have a decent computer and plan to only use the air for browsing and writing the odd letter it wouldn't be too awful.
I would say a 1,1 Air is not worth it, though at $400, you're looking at pretty much the cheapest those models are gonna go for.
For all those saying pre-2010 Airs are garbage, they're wrong. The Late-2008 refresh with the 9400m video card (MacBookAir2,1) are still really decent machines, and go for similar prices to the 1,1 models.
Some 9400m models came with SSDs and they had backlit keyboard which the 2010 models didn't. A 9400m air for $400 would be a HUGE steal, imho. The 2010 models that go for $600 (which I've never seen, btw) would be 11" and that screen is very small.
For all those saying pre-2010 Airs are garbage, they're wrong. The Late-2008 refresh with the 9400m video card (MacBookAir2,1) are still really decent machines, and go for similar prices to the 1,1 models.
Some 9400m models came with SSDs and they had backlit keyboard which the 2010 models didn't. A 9400m air for $400 would be a HUGE steal, imho. The 2010 models that go for $600 (which I've never seen, btw) would be 11" and that screen is very small.
For me the missing backlit keyboard on the 2010 was/is a deal breaker, so I skipped the 2010. According to various tests the HD3000 is roughly in the same ballpark with the 320, give or take 10%. And neither is sufficient for demanding gaming anyway...
No, 2008 MBA is not worth it and it had few issues and slow as Apple is still perfecting the unibody manufacturing process.
Like many had suggested, the 2010 MBA is a good start if you are getting used. I had the 2010 MBA before and I loved it.
I could had kept it until they come out with the 2011 with the Core i5/i7 processor which I need for on-the-go video encoding.
I personally find the speakers in the 2010 one sounded better than the 2011 models too.
So go for 2010 if you are getting a used MBA.
Like many had suggested, the 2010 MBA is a good start if you are getting used. I had the 2010 MBA before and I loved it.
I could had kept it until they come out with the 2011 with the Core i5/i7 processor which I need for on-the-go video encoding.
I personally find the speakers in the 2010 one sounded better than the 2011 models too.
So go for 2010 if you are getting a used MBA.
I think you need to give us more details about the $400 laptop you found.
I personally used a high-end 2009 MacBook Air (C2D 2.13, 128GB Runcore SSD) and it was a great machine. It handled pretty much everything except photo/video editing (didn't even bother trying).
The original models had a nice power button, lighted keyboard, and a smoother, rounder, non-tapered design which I felt was nice.
If the $400 laptop you are inquiring about does not come with an SSD, then it'll be slow and likely not worth upgrading. If it comes with even the 64gb SSD, then you can use it for another year and pretty sure you can sell it for around the same price.
I personally used a high-end 2009 MacBook Air (C2D 2.13, 128GB Runcore SSD) and it was a great machine. It handled pretty much everything except photo/video editing (didn't even bother trying).
The original models had a nice power button, lighted keyboard, and a smoother, rounder, non-tapered design which I felt was nice.
If the $400 laptop you are inquiring about does not come with an SSD, then it'll be slow and likely not worth upgrading. If it comes with even the 64gb SSD, then you can use it for another year and pretty sure you can sell it for around the same price.
The 64GB SSD in the first MBA was not nearly as fast as the SSD's we are used today and even lost in quite some comparisons against the already dog-slow mechanical HD. See Anandtech's review.
Therefore i would not recommend the 2008 MBA, even if it had the 64GB SSD (or maybe just because of that fact
I have an OG MBA.. it was laying around the office and I took it to use during travels and stuff.. and all I can say is that it's REALLY under powered..
Watching youtube videos pushes the CPU usages to about 75%.. and starts to get really hot..
Watching flash videos like The Daily Show pushes it up to about 75% in the beginning, then when you get to the third episode or so, it goes up to 90% or more and starts to boggle down.. not to mention the heat, can't hold it on you lap no longer..
Otherwise, it's pretty decent for what I do, which is light web browsing, google docs, and watching movies on the plane...
Considering I got it for free, I have no complaints with it.. if I had to buy it, then I'd be a bit dissappointed.. also, I don't like the original design..
Having that little latch with the ports is annoying..
You can't see the power cord when it's plugged it.. so you don't know if it's properly plugged in, or charging, etc...
I already dropped it while it was in the bag (actually TSA agent dropped it).. and it's dinged on one side..
Anywho... if it's free or near free, then go fer it.. if not, i'd save up a bit..
Watching youtube videos pushes the CPU usages to about 75%.. and starts to get really hot..
Watching flash videos like The Daily Show pushes it up to about 75% in the beginning, then when you get to the third episode or so, it goes up to 90% or more and starts to boggle down.. not to mention the heat, can't hold it on you lap no longer..
Otherwise, it's pretty decent for what I do, which is light web browsing, google docs, and watching movies on the plane...
Considering I got it for free, I have no complaints with it.. if I had to buy it, then I'd be a bit dissappointed.. also, I don't like the original design..
Having that little latch with the ports is annoying..
You can't see the power cord when it's plugged it.. so you don't know if it's properly plugged in, or charging, etc...
I already dropped it while it was in the bag (actually TSA agent dropped it).. and it's dinged on one side..
Anywho... if it's free or near free, then go fer it.. if not, i'd save up a bit..
I had a 1.8GHz Rev A and agree it was a bit underpowered. Actually, the biggest problem was heat dissipation. 4 years ago, a 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo was decent enough. It was no speed demon, but it was a solid CPU. The problem was that it produced more heat that the fan couldn't handle, and thus it frequently shut down one of the processor cores. The Rev A also relied solely on Intel's integrated graphics. As much as we like to hate on the HD 3000 in today's MacBook Air, it is light years ahead of the GMA X3100 that was in the Rev A.
I purchased a Rev B in November of that year (1.86GHz, NVDIA 9400m, and SSD), and it was significantly improved.
I had an original 2008 MacBook Air
and it was pretty junk. It worked for many things like email and casual web browsing, but once CPU intensive tasks kicked in, the computer slowed down drastically due to overheating issues. Even in the later 2009 model, this was still an issue (which I also owned).
Now in the latest models, it's not really an issue anymore, so I would recommend you look for the 2010/2011 updated models unless of course:
1) That 2008 model is dirty cheap;
2) You don't care about anything other than email and casual web browsing;
3) You already bought it and just wanted us to affirm your decision
Now in the latest models, it's not really an issue anymore, so I would recommend you look for the 2010/2011 updated models unless of course:
1) That 2008 model is dirty cheap;
2) You don't care about anything other than email and casual web browsing;
3) You already bought it and just wanted us to affirm your decision
Why would you spend almost $500 bux to increase SSD space for a laptop that's probably not worth $400. You could just buy a newer machine?
OP- did you end up buying this? Seems like a decent deal...
edit: upon loooking at the video for the product in mention.. I do see what you're talking about.. but still don't know if I'd spend that much money to upgrade something so old...
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I bought an original 2008 MacBook Air with 1.8 GHz and 64 GB SSD for $400 USD off of Craigslist. I thought it was a good deal; I've seen them selling for at least $100 more on eBay, and those don't even have a SSD. I put Lion on it, and it runs fine. I haven't had any issues with overheating or locking up/slowing down. It can get relatively hot sometimes and the fans kick in, but I think that's more of a design flaw because the vents are on the bottom of the case. If you use it in your lap, your legs will block the vents and it might heat up (not always).
It doesn't seem slow to me, but maybe because this is the SSD model. I also don't do anything too intensive. The only real issue is that the hinge is a little loose (but still works fine), which is a common issue with the first generation.
It doesn't seem slow to me, but maybe because this is the SSD model. I also don't do anything too intensive. The only real issue is that the hinge is a little loose (but still works fine), which is a common issue with the first generation.
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Also bear in mind that the original MacBook Air is unable to run 10.8 Mountain Lion, so you will be unable to upgrade past 10.7
Take it to a Genius Bar. I had a late 2008 model whose hinge got loose after about a year. It took about 10 minutes for them to re-tighten it.
When did you bring it in? My MacBook Air is out of warranty, would they still do it?
I read that you couldn't re-tighten it and it needs to be replaced. The previous owner also appears to have dropped it and dented the corner near where the hinge is. Would they blame it on that?
It was about 1.5 years ago and I had AppleCare, but I got the impression from the Genius Bar rep that it was a simple repair that they would do upon request. There was a slight crease near the hinge from a drop, as well, but that wasn't an issue for them. In my case, the lid had about an inch of play when raised. While tightening the inner screws didn't eliminate it entirely, it helped a lot.
