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Snow leaopard or Lion on a MBA !

bandofbrothers

bandofbrothers

macrumors 601
Original poster
Oct 14, 2007
4,779
328
Uk
Hi,


So ive now decided to buy the 128gb over the 64gb MBA.

I now have a choice between buying a MBA with snow leaoprd or Lion.

Ive read so many threads and posts saying things like' im going back to SL because Lion is buggy', and some saying 'Lion is fine', and some saying they dont like the way the new Lion o.s is set out.

My history is being a windows xp,vista and windows 7 user so I wont have the same issue as others who are used to the apple o.s and didnt like the changes. Its just the reports of Lion being buggy thats hindering me ?

If any, what does windows 7 have over the apple o.s ?
I like to use utorrent to download music and the odd film and I assume the MBA will accept the utorrent programme ?

I use outlook to sync my iphone 4 and im already told the MBA will accept that programme.

If I buy the MBA with snow leapord can I in the near future upgrade to Lion on a 128gb MBA with 2gb RAM ? Will it run Lion ok ? I live in the Uk and im not sure how much the Lion o.s would be.

So I need help from you MBASL and Lion users out there to help me choose.

Sorry for the long posts and noob'ish questions.

Im looking forward to buying my first Mac.
 
If this is your first Mac, go with Lion. Lion is the future, and you won't have a bunch of old apps that will break when you upgrade - any app you get now you can look for versions that have been updated to work with Lion. And pay no mind to all the negativity on this forum. People usually come to forums to seek assistance with problems. Rarely does one come here to say "hey, everything works great!". Its like hanging out at the hospital and wondering if the whole world is getting sick. :D

That MBA with Snow Leopard, is that an older model? The new models won't run Snow Leopard AFAIK.
 
The one with SL is a 2010 machine and is on clearence sale.

There is not much difference between the cost of the two mba's

The new 2011 with Lion has 4gb Ram and has backlit keyboard.

I just dont want to have a buggy machine !

One with lion is ;
MacBook Air 11” Core i5 1.6GHz 4GB 128GB •1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with 3MB shared L3 cache
•4GB 1333MHz DDR3 onboard memory
•128GB flash storage
•Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor with 256MB or 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory


One with Snow Leaoprd is ;
MacBook Air 11-inch 128GB 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo •1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache
•2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM onboard and 128GB of Flash Storage
•NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
 
If you're getting an 11", I'd honestly tell you to go with a 2011 model regardless of Lion or Snow Leopard.

But if you're getting a 13" model, I'd suggest that you go with a 2010 model and stick with Snow Leopard until next year or so.

Some major reasons to consider Snow Leopard over Lion on the 13":
1) It boots up faster, and resumes faster from sleep.
2) It's proven to be less buggy with small things.
3) It's proven to work with most if not all applications built for Mac right now.
4) It has better battery life than Lion.

And here is why 11" should be a 2011 model regardless:
1) CPU is much faster. It's noticeable.
2) Battery life is the same regardless of whether it's Lion or Snow Leopard.
3) Lion is better since you'll want to have Lion's ability to scale and zoom on a smaller screen.
4) Backlit keyboard is a more preferable choice if you work in the dark often. The reason why it's not so important on the 13" is because the 13" has a bigger screen, that can light up more in the dark, so in essence, the 13" screen also illuminate the keyboard whereas the 11" can do the same, but at a more limited scope, and it's less viewable.
 
Thanks dude for the advice and info.

Its looking like the 2011 new 11" MBA 128gb for me with Lion !

Now I just need to get my head around the initial cost of £970 sterling which is around $1,587.82 !

A big outlay but worth it I think !!!!
 
I would recommend the 2011 for the thunderbolt port alone. It gives you "upgrade" options into the future that you normally wouldn't have on the 2010 model.
 
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As an owner of a 2010 MBA with SL still running, I'd also recommend the 2011 model. Thunderport alone is likely to be a useful feature if, like me, your MBA starts making you salivate over all the other equipment you can buy.

I'm more than happy with my 2010 but it already has 4GB and so needs no upgrade. Lion will be better with 4GB RAM and it's likely you'd upgrade to lion at some point. As you can't upgrade at a later point then it makes sense to go for the full monty now.

I'd consider selling my 2010 MBA and upgrading but can't justify the cost for what I'm using it for at the moment.
 
I upgraded my 2010 11" to Lion, but wish now that I had not done so.

I actually do not need the upgrades that Lion offers, but the combination of start up time, responsiveness, wi-fi drop outs, touch pad problems, etc make me wish that I had stayed with Leopard.

tut
 
n1tut said:
I upgraded my 2010 11" to Lion, but wish now that I had not done so.

I actually do not need the upgrades that Lion offers, but the combination of start up time, responsiveness, wi-fi drop outs, touch pad problems, etc make me wish that I had stayed with Leopard.

tut
Click to expand...

so whats so hard about going back to sl?
-backup your data
-put sl usb stick
-reboot holding "c"
-install sl


as for what air

-whats computer for? as with most people,it's mainly for web...thus i would save money and buy 2010 model

-way cheaper
-proven osx version
-osx on usb stick (no 4-6 hrs wait if need to reinstall)
-nvidia graphics
 
Nice choice

bandofbrothers said:
Thanks dude for the advice and info.

Its looking like the 2011 new 11" MBA 128gb for me with Lion !

Now I just need to get my head around the initial cost of £970 sterling which is around $1,587.82 !

A big outlay but worth it I think !!!!
Click to expand...

We have 3 2010 11" MBA's,with upgraded OWC SSD's, they all run Lion,flawlessly, we absolutely love the 11", you will too!:cool:
 
i upgraded my MBA to Lion and it truly sucked.
killed the battery, a host of other annoying issues....

i went back to SL after trying to stick it out for a month.

my battery life was halved.
go to lion when it matures.

but i agree with the guy who said get the air with Thunderbolt port...
 
B737 said:
i upgraded my MBA to Lion and it truly sucked.
killed the battery, a host of other annoying issues....

i went back to SL after trying to stick it out for a month.

my battery life was halved.
go to lion when it matures.

but i agree with the guy who said get the air with Thunderbolt port...
Click to expand...

if he goes with air with thunderbolt port...he must use lion (can't run sl on lastest airs)
 
tom vilsack said:
if he goes with air with thunderbolt port...he must use lion (can't run sl on lastest airs)
Click to expand...

I had the 2010 and upgraded to Lion and I now have the 2011 Air. Night and day difference. I had a slew of upgrade problems with the 2010 and I was worried with getting the 2011 but so far no problems. Battery life is excellent. In fact, I think I'm getting more juice than my 2010 13" Ultimate. (I now have the 2011 13" ultimate as a reference)
 
I would not avoid Lion just because it's a bit buggy, Apple will fix that with future updates.

That said I'm sticking with Snow Leopard, simply because I like it a lot more.

I bought a new MBA @ 20% off from Amazon, which was just the incentive I needed to buy a laptop with Lion so I could try it, without screwing up one of my existing Macs that run so well on 10.6.5.

I can see where new people, or those who want more gee whiz features would like it, but I'm too happy with what SL does for me to change just because "Lion is the future".

It might be Apple's future, but I don't find it compelling enough after using it on my MBA to switch.
 
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