Rev B MacBook Air 1.6 or Rev A MacBook Air 1.8

[jwcfl]

My dilemma, based on current deals:

Rev B Air 1.6 120gb hd $1699 (was $1799)
Rev A Air 1.8 64gb ssd $1499 (was $2599)

Clearly the 1.8 is a giant price drop. I'm not too worried about the smaller hard drive. Biggest question, I think, is whether the 1.8/ssd power/speed advantage is less than the 1.6 rev graphics advantage, all things considered. I'll be using the computer for general business stuff, email, surfing. Some video watching but not movies, editing or doing graphics stuff.

I've also done the hard drive crashed/swap out mess and I'm guessing an ssd is almost immune? That difference would be a plug for the 1.8 computer.

I was also toying with the new MacBook but the lesser screen scares me. Is the screen quality the same in the Air between Rev A and B?

Thanks in advance on thoughts.

 

[jackiecanev2]

I'd opt for the revB Air. I think that the upgraded graphics, ram, and FSB far outweight the 200mhz and the ssd speed (though the ssd is nice). The air screens are on par with each other, and both far exceed the MB's. But the MB isn't as bad as people around here would have you believe.

Go check out the MB screen in the store. But if it's between the Airs, I'd say revB. Definately.

 

[Scottsdale]

This is truly a simple decision. Even the new 1.6 GHz rev B MBA is faster with a HDD than a Rev A MBA with a SSD. The new SATA connection versus PATA of the Rev A MBA makes all of the difference in the world.

PLUS, the Rev B MBA has a 45 NM Penryn chip. That means it runs cooler than the old model. Furthermore, hardware decoding of video is enabled in the revision B MBA, so you can watch video without it overheating. The first MBA had terrible overheating problems when trying to do something minor like running a video.

AND, the memory is faster, and the graphics are WAY BETTER with an Nvidia chipset that can drive a 30" Apple Cinema Display with a Mini Display Port.

This is truly a no brainer. I see all of these people buying the Revision A MBA because it's cheap. It's cheap because it's a Netbook, and the revision B MBA is a REAL MACBOOK!

I hope you follow this advice, you will be glad you did. I would pay triple to get the revision B if I had to... it's that much better... NO BETTER THAN THAT!

 

[bobjob186]

This is truly a simple decision. Even the new 1.6 GHz rev B MBA is faster with a HDD than a Rev A MBA with a SSD. The new SATA connection versus PATA of the Rev A MBA makes all of the difference in the world.

PLUS, the Rev B MBA has a 45 NM Penryn chip. That means it runs cooler than the old model. Furthermore, hardware decoding of video is enabled in the revision B MBA, so you can watch video without it overheating. The first MBA had terrible overheating problems when trying to do something minor like running a video.

AND, the memory is faster, and the graphics are WAY BETTER with an Nvidia chipset that can drive a 30" Apple Cinema Display with a Mini Display Port.

This is truly a no brainer. I see all of these people buying the Revision A MBA because it's cheap. It's cheap because it's a Netbook, and the revision B MBA is a REAL MACBOOK!

I hope you follow this advice, you will be glad you did. I would pay triple to get the revision B if I had to... it's that much better... NO BETTER THAN THAT!

The SATA connection on the new MBA has barely anything to do with the performance boots you see in the Rev B. The real difference is the 6MB L2 Cache and the 1066MHZ FSB. Also the 64GB SSD in the Rev A isn't that fast, it's faster than the HDD but not that much faster, nothing compared to the 128GB SSD in the Rev B. If you're looking at the air's though ultimately you should be buying the 128GB SSD version because it's truly where you get the most computer, the HDD version is a lot more limited because of the dang 4200rpm ipod HDD.

If you have to buy new then go with the Rev B. If you're open to buy used you can get the Rev A SSD for a lot cheaper than $1499. I saw one go for sale for $1200 flat, and it had over 9 months of AppleCare left.

If I were you, i'd get a Rev A for cheap, sell it in a few months, and pick up a Rev B SSD, stay away from HDD's especial 1.8" ones, their days are numbered.
bob