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Things to check in new MBA

I

iLoveiTunes

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 26, 2011
268
512
Hi,

I looked through the forum and 'm trying to consolidate the points one should check after getting the MBA.

Important
- Check screen for any dead pixels.
- Check usual functioning of the machine. keyboard, trackpad, display, casing.
- buzzing Sound with certain videos or songs on high volume?
- Creaking sound from the base
- hinge sloppiness
-backlight bleeding (reporting on some 13" models)
- Popping sound from speakers (this is a defect it seems and requires replacement)

- Check the stability of the case. See if the laptop really stands on four feet as it should or is the case warped.
- Check the case if there are scratches or dents fresh from the factory.
- Check backlight bleeding, slight is to be expected, but severe shouldn't be tolerated.
- See if there is a gradient effect at the bottom of the display.
(thanks superego and rchip)

Thanks calvol
- make sure peripheral ports are working (USB, SD, etc)
- check all keys for stuck, non-functional keys
- check Bluetooth and WiFi connections
- turn PC 360 deg to check for loose solder, extraneous material in unit

Not so important :D (depending upon ones preference)
- Check display kind
- Check SSD type
- Check battery health

Can you guys help add more ? Please be kind with your replies.

Thank you
 
Last edited:
iLoveiTunes said:
Hi,

I looked through the forum and 'm trying to consolidate the points one should check after getting the MBA.

Important
- Check screen for any dead pixels.
- Check usual functioning of the machine. keyboard, trackpad, display, casing.
- buzzing Sound with certain videos or songs ?
- Creaking sound from the base
Click to expand...


STOP THERE and enjoy your new MBA.
 
Some people have had some keys light up weaker than others. You'll wanna check that too. It'd be noticeable and annoying in dark rooms (especially if you have OCD!)

And it's smart of you to make this list, that way you can check it all, see if your product is all good in the hood, then be happy as a clam, or get a new one so you can be happy as a clam.

Some of these problems are specific to the Air though, so I disagree with the poster saying this is for "all" MacBooks
 
I think the hinge sloppyness might also be something to check. I'm not sure about the 2011 models but the 2010's had some variance there.
 
- Check the stability of the case. See if the laptop really stands on four feet as it should or is the case warped.
- Check the case if there are scratches or dents fresh from the factory.
- Check backlight bleeding, slight is to be expected, but severe shouldn't be tolerated.
- See if there is a gradient effect at the bottom of the display.
 
You also might want to use Disk Utility to "Verify Disk" and see that it's in good shape.

Also, it might be good to run the Apple Hardware Test to see if it reports any errors. When you start the MBA, hold down the "D" key (I think) until the Apple Hardware Test appears. You can run a short test or a test that takes considerably longer. I ran this test on my 2010 MBA, and it reported errors. The Genius couldn't isolate what caused the error message, so I returned it and got one that reported no errors.

Download Coconut Battery (it's free) to give you info on your battery's health. Don't be alarmed when it says that your battery/machine is 27 weeks or so old: everybody's seems to show that age, but your battery should show that it's on it's first load cycle unless you've charged it already (in that case, it'll show that it's on the second, third, or so load cycle). Apple says that you don't need to calibrate the MBA's battery, but that's been up for some debate around here.

Have fun! I'm smitten with my new MBA. :)
 
Regarding the screen issue and speaker issue, i seem to be something of an expert on the issue (Hah i'm joking) but I've gone through 5 mba's and now I've decided I'm happy to accept this machine but it does have the speaker issue on certain sounds. From what I've experienced, two of the machines I had had the speaker issue really badly and it was present at moderate volumes and on quite a lot of sounds/music. One I think had no issues with the speakers but had quite a big screen gradient. Two of them one, including the one I have now have the speaker issue only on high volumes on very few sounds. This one doesn't have much of a gradient at all on the screen. From my experience (I've seen 14 2011 mba screens now (my own and display models) the gradient was there on them all but some worse than others. The speaker issue seems to vary as well!
 
rchip said:
Regarding the screen issue and speaker issue, i seem to be something of an expert on the issue (Hah i'm joking) but I've gone through 5 mba's and now I've decided I'm happy to accept this machine but it does have the speaker issue on certain sounds. From what I've experienced, two of the machines I had had the speaker issue really badly and it was present at moderate volumes and on quite a lot of sounds/music. One I think had no issues with the speakers but had quite a big screen gradient. Two of them one, including the one I have now have the speaker issue only on high volumes on very few sounds. This one doesn't have much of a gradient at all on the screen. From my experience (I've seen 14 2011 mba screens now (my own and display models) the gradient was there on them all but some worse than others. The speaker issue seems to vary as well!
Click to expand...

maybe running a sine sweeptone from 20Hz to 20kHz will reveal which spot frequencies cause distortion/buzzing/resonance :D
 
ive checked all of these things throughout the last 5 hours of being a macbook air owner. Nothing is wrong with this one :)

well theres a tiny small scratch on the bottom side of the macsafe chargers head.. "omg" :p

i got 0 dead pixels
a good screen with no gradient at the bottom like many people have said?
and well.. really. its just perfect.
even has the samsung ssd :D (256gb, don't know if that COULD be delivered as toshiba?)
 
Nioxic said:
ive checked all of these things throughout the last 5 hours of being a macbook air owner. Nothing is wrong with this one :)

well theres a tiny small scratch on the bottom side of the macsafe chargers head.. "omg" :p

i got 0 dead pixels
a good screen with no gradient at the bottom like many people have said?
and well.. really. its just perfect.
even has the samsung ssd :D (256gb, don't know if that COULD be delivered as toshiba?)
Click to expand...

Congrats, you got yourself a keeper.

Indeed the vast majority of the 256 gb ssd's are Samsung, but there are Toshiba drives out there, too. They are quite rare, though.
 
yeah...and of course i got one of them :(
oh well, guess i probably will never notice. after spending a few hours transferring all my stuff from my iMac i said to heck with going to the store to try MBA roulette.
in what way could one imagine this drive difference would really show up in everyday use?
Plus i figured that at least in these new MBAs you can swap the drive out yourself so if in a year or two from now it is too small for what i need i can buy a NEW, bigger samsung drive ....
 
macfly4 said:
Plus i figured that at least in these new MBAs you can swap the drive out yourself so if in a year or two from now it is too small for what i need i can buy a NEW, bigger samsung drive ....
Click to expand...

I thought that MBAs can't be customized after the fact...something about soldering?
 
why wouldn't it be easy? OWC sells replacement drives and have a video on how to replace it yourself. seems pretty simple. its not soldered to the board.
 
macfly4 said:
why wouldn't it be easy? OWC sells replacement drives and have a video on how to replace it yourself. seems pretty simple. its not soldered to the board.
Click to expand...

Ahh..ok. If you say so. I normally am wary of doing such things on my own...
I guess it's cheaper doing things on your own as long as you have the required knowledge..
 
So I found one dead pixel right dot in the middle of the screen. I am within the 14 day policy of return. I know its personal preference on how some users can be OCD but would you go swap it out if you were within the 14 day period?
 
vkuber said:
So I found one dead pixel right dot in the middle of the screen. I am within the 14 day policy of return. I know its personal preference on how some users can be OCD but would you go swap it out if you were within the 14 day period?
Click to expand...

Of course you should swap it. Dead pixels in a brand new laptop is totally unacceptable.
 
- make sure peripheral ports are working (USB, SD, etc)
- check all keys for stuck, non-functional keys
- check Bluetooth and WiFi connections
- turn PC 360 deg to check for loose solder, extraneous material in unit
 
Some newbie details...

Hi, iLoveiTunes, and thanks so much for this very useful list!


The info I am asking for may have been presented elsewhere on this forum, but I would be very nice to have them collected in this good and important thread.

I am afraid I disclose my lack of knowledge by asking these questions, but I will have to live with that.

1. What is the best way (very concrete and practically asked) to find out if there are some dead pixels?

2. How can one in an easy way find out what manufacturer that has made the SSD?

3. How can one in an easy way find out what manufacturer that has made the screen?

In advance: Thanks a lot - I think many buyers will appreciate info about these topics.
 
vkuber said:
So I found one dead pixel right dot in the middle of the screen. I am within the 14 day policy of return. I know its personal preference on how some users can be OCD but would you go swap it out if you were within the 14 day period?
Click to expand...

Yes. Once you notice a dead pixel, you won't stop noticing it. Don't bother with the software "fixes" or the pricking tricks. None of them work. After the 14 days, Apple will usually only fix or replace it if 3 or more pixels are stuck or dead.

----------
macfly4 said:
yeah...and of course i got one of them :(
oh well, guess i probably will never notice. after spending a few hours transferring all my stuff from my iMac i said to heck with going to the store to try MBA roulette.
in what way could one imagine this drive difference would really show up in everyday use?
Plus i figured that at least in these new MBAs you can swap the drive out yourself so if in a year or two from now it is too small for what i need i can buy a NEW, bigger samsung drive ....
Click to expand...

It isn't going to make a noticeable difference in anything but benchmarks, unless you make a frequent habit of copy GBs of data to your SSD.

I had a Toshiba SSD in my 2010 MacBook Air, and it was incredibly fast as far as I was concerned. FWIW, the OWC aftermarket drives are faster than either the Toshiba or Samsung drives. Macworld ran some tests on them on 2010 MacBook Airs earlier this year and came to the conclusion that the difference was barely noticeable, if at all, in everyday usage.
 
KPOM said:
Yes. Once you notice a dead pixel, you won't stop noticing it. Don't bother with the software "fixes" or the pricking tricks. None of them work. After the 14 days, Apple will usually only fix or replace it if 3 or more pixels are stuck or dead.
Click to expand...

Dead or stuck? Sometimes you can fix it. A while back I bought and MBP and there was a screen defect -- it looked like a centralized force was applied just to the left of the screen. You could just discren a slightly darker circle around what I presumed to be a dead pixel inside it.

But I didn't wanted to go through getting a new MBP (I waited 4 weeks for that one!), so I thought I'd fix it. I downloaded a small program that was displaying random noise and left it running for a long long time. Not sure how long it took, but few days later the whole defect disappeared.

If you have time left before you have to return your machine, why not trying to fix it?
 
mortenandersen said:
Hi, iLoveiTunes, and thanks so much for this very useful list!


The info I am asking for may have been presented elsewhere on this forum, but I would be very nice to have them collected in this good and important thread.

I am afraid I disclose my lack of knowledge by asking these questions, but I will have to live with that.

1. What is the best way (very concrete and practically asked) to find out if there are some dead pixels?

2. How can one in an easy way find out what manufacturer that has made the SSD?

3. How can one in an easy way find out what manufacturer that has made the screen?

In advance: Thanks a lot - I think many buyers will appreciate info about these topics.
Click to expand...


1: what i've usually done is: open up a fullscreen completely white picture and see if you can find a black dot. If theres none: you got 0 dead pixels :)
i got a 27" 2560x1440 (not mac) monitor.. it had 1 dead pixel at the bottom right corner. so unoticable.. so, look carefully! :) (that pixel on my big monitor is not black though... could also be some weird scratch on the inside of the glass panel or something)

2: what i've done is: click on apple logo in top left corner -> about this mac -> more information -> then click on the storage tab in the top, and then at the bottom theres a disktool button -> up pops a window where you can see the hdd on the left side. Mine says: "251 GB apple SSD SM256C Media" (The SM stands for Samsung as far as my research showed me)


3 found in the ""2011 Mba owners, share your ssd model and display model here"-thread:
Display Identification

-open terminal
-paste 'ioreg -lw0 | grep IODisplayEDID | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r | strings -6' (without quotes)
-the first line is your display model

example: 13" ultimate - LTH133BT01A01

Mine started with LP, which as far as i could work out was for "LG Phillips" :)
 
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