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Rev. A MBA with Runcore SSD upgrade

NC MacGuy

NC MacGuy

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 9, 2005
6,233
0
The good side of the grass.
Steven in VA said:
So, NCMacGuy, can you include a simple assessment for a non-tech person who just enjoys Macs because they look so cool and work so well? I've converted a dozen people, I'm sure--but I don't know jack about what goes on inside a Mac.
Or a PC, for that matter. Nor do I care what goes on inside a PC.
Thanks,
Click to expand...

Hey Jude said:
I have decided to wait for his review as well. My decision is whether to upgrade my Rev A SSD, hope for a new revision or just throw in the towel and get another MacBook.

So, NC MacGuy, when can we expect your review?

Jude
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Thank you Runcore!

I received the drive today. Unfortunately I have a world of crap to do tonight and travel tomorrow. I intend to do the upgrade with pic's, benchmarks and real world tests on Wednesday.

As others have mentioned and I've posted about here almost two years ago now is the funky PATA interface in the Rev. A MBA's. My poor MBA Rev. A with a measly 80GB 4200rpm drive has been a bit of dog. Albeit an expensive one...

I've reapplied heat sink compound, run CoolBook and tried everything I can to make the laptop a more useable machine. 80GB doesn't go very far and the market isn't loaded with a plethora of 1.8" PATA upgrades with useable capacity. 128GB will be a welcome upgrade in capacity alone. Here's to hoping the speed is the icing on the cake.

The total X Bench score on the stock HDD, 1.6GHz Rev. A MBA is comparable with an Atom Dell Hackintosh.:eek: If you pull apart the X Bench total score of 41-47 with all tests run, you can see the bottleneck is the HDD.

I'll post updates in this thread.

Here's the X Bench disk test for the unit w. the stock HDD:
 

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Great! I can't wait to see the results. Can you please share where you purchased the drive and how much? I'm looking to do the same. Thanks!
 
Slightly off topic, but would you mind testing the Flash 10.1 Developer Prerelease on the Macbook Rev. A to see if there are any notable improvements?

All Macs struggle with Flash, but the Macbook Air Rev. A is notoriously bad with Flash.
 
8767092 said:
Slightly off topic, but would you mind testing the Flash 10.1 Developer Prerelease on the Macbook Rev. A to see if there are any notable improvements?

All Macs struggle with Flash, but the Macbook Air Rev. A is notoriously bad with Flash.
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I installed flash 10.1 on my rev a 1.8/64 and it still stutters with HD on youtube. I am interested in trying the runcore at some point to see if it improves performance. I really don't want to sell this rev a. and get another air. I too have reapplied thermal paste and tried coolbook etc.

I usually check out this video in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7R_buZPSo
 
I am also looking forward to the pictures and the test results. I'm getting my Macbook Air Rev. A . . . well in about 2 hours . . . or whenever Fed-ex gets here.

I got the Rev. A mostly because it cheap and I got a discount from bing.com (yup it does work) and I had an ebay coupon and a paypal gift card which made the Macbook Rev. A the same price as a Macbook Core Duo 2.0ghz . . . which I'm replacing anyways . . .

Looking forward to the review, will determine if I get the SSD upgrade from Run Core based on your review!!!

Safe travels!

Thanks
iGrant
 
I am also anxiously awaiting the results. I tried the stock 64gb in my 1.8 but it was unstable (not sure why). THe xbenck on that was 57, compared to 31 for the 80gb HDD. I would love a 128gb runcore, but make sure you get the new version... as the old ones had some issues on the Rev. A.
 
cheapa55 said:
I'm thinking the same thing. they are both still OOS at the reseller though.
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True but it will be back in stock at some point. I have only used my Macbook Air Rev. A for a few hours, but I have already fallen in love with this laptop, its fantastic!!!

-iGrant
 
It's done and awesome!!

Boot went from 69 seconds HDD to 34 w. Runcore SSD.

MS Word 12 bounces, 18 seconds to 3 bounces, 3seconds.

Mail one bounce - instantaneous.

Gathering X Bench scores after a permissions repair/PRAM ZAP. Procedure went smooth as silk. Looks to have given some new legs to my dog Rev. A.:D

Pic's and proper write up forthcoming.
 
The boot time seems a bit slow? I boot into Windows 7 within 30 seconds on a stock SSD. OSX seems to take a little longer, I boot in by 45 seconds.
 
ayeying said:
The boot time seems a bit slow? I boot into Windows 7 within 30 seconds on a stock SSD. OSX seems to take a little longer, I boot in by 45 seconds.
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Windows boots faster. You probably have a rev B/C? This is a rev A thread.

Notice too that boot times jumped up with Snow Leopard. It was rumored to be faster but mine slowed down by a full 5 seconds from Leopard to Snow Leopard on the stock SSD drive.

NCMacGuy. What OS are you running on this? Sorry if you said but I didn't read it.
 
Scottsdale said:
Windows boots faster. You probably have a rev B/C? This is a rev A thread.

Notice too that boot times jumped up with Snow Leopard. It was rumored to be faster but mine slowed down by a full 5 seconds from Leopard to Snow Leopard on the stock SSD drive.

NCMacGuy. What OS are you running on this? Sorry if you said but I didn't read it.
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10.6.2 SL
 

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iGrant said:
I am also looking forward to the pictures and the test results. I'm getting my Macbook Air Rev. A . . . well in about 2 hours . . . or whenever Fed-ex gets here.

I got the Rev. A mostly because it cheap and I got a discount from bing.com (yup it does work) and I had an ebay coupon and a paypal gift card which made the Macbook Rev. A the same price as a Macbook Core Duo 2.0ghz . . . which I'm replacing anyways . . .

Looking forward to the review, will determine if I get the SSD upgrade from Run Core based on your review!!!

Safe travels!

Thanks
iGrant
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Isn't Bing a Microsoft product? That's funny that it works on an Apple product.
 
Installed Runcore 128G drive

Despite some worrying earlier posts on various sites about bugs on waking from sleep mode I went ahead and ordered a 128G drive direct from Runcore. It comes with impressively little documentation - fortunately there are two online photo guides to installation : http://web.me.com/g.baulard/Runcore/Changement_SSD_sur_MBA_rev_A.html, http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/MacBook-Air-Hard-Drive-Replacement/860/3.

Installation with these guides is pretty straightforward, though you'll need a better screwdriver for opening the case than Runcore give you. My MB air has always been very stable and (for me) perfectly fast enough even for fiddling with large raw photo images. The new drive seems to substantially improve response times and programme loading though I haven't bothered to try and measure it. With the new storage I can see me using this machine for many more years - it's light, fast and has a good sized screen.
 
I'm the lucky guy that got the upgrade to his workplace's MacAir.

It is way fast.. surprisingly fast

just touch the icon and the screen opens ...maybe half a bounce

I helped/watched the install very easy.. my first time opening a Mac

still watching the battery life looks like a gain of about an 1 1/2 hour on a full charge (original battery)

get a good set of mini screw drivers.....
 
bmstrong said:
Isn't Bing a Microsoft product? That's funny that it works on an Apple product.
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I too got Bing cash back on my MBA. If you setup a Bing account (free), and access ebay from their search (Bing's), you see the available cash back items. I got $85 back.
 
Gadgetman99 said:
I too got Bing cash back on my MBA. If you setup a Bing account (free), and access ebay from their search (Bing's), you see the available cash back items. I got $85 back.
Click to expand...

Use this link to learn more about Bing cashback. It is a great way to save a few dollars on a RunCore SSD when visiting MyDigitalDiscount.com's eBay store.
 
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