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Thinking of getting a macbook air 13" would like to hear from owners
- Thread starter henrikrox
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It sounds like the OP has made his decision. But I wanted to say that this is my favorite computer I've ever owned, as well (I burn through about three/year on average, but I expect this to last until the next refresh). I've had every size MacBook and MacBook Pro available, and this is by far the superior offering for my needs in all respects.
13"/i5/256. XCode, light Photoshop, Parallels, VirtualBox, and Dreamweaver are my primary "heavy" applications. All media kept on a 64GB SDXC card. I take maybe two flights/year, and the MBA (this and my former 2010) are excellent in airports.
It sounds like the OP has made his decision. But I wanted to say that this is my favorite computer I've ever owned, as well (I burn through about three/year on average, but I expect this to last until the next refresh). I've had every size MacBook and MacBook Pro available, and this is by far the superior offering for my needs in all respects.
13"/i5/256. XCode, light Photoshop, Parallels, VirtualBox, and Dreamweaver are my primary "heavy" applications. All media kept on a 64GB SDXC card. I take maybe two flights/year, and the MBA (this and my former 2010) are excellent in airports.
Damn guys you are making the wait so unbearable, stop saying nice things about your mba
By the way, i dunno whats happening, but as i said, apple said it took 3 days before it was going to get shipped. I had 21th september as my delivery date, now its already sent, then it got updated to 16th september delivery date.
Now it says 14th, which is tomorrow. Wtf? Its almost to good to be true. Also i live in norway and im not used to getting things the next day after ordering. Oh well, either apple are teasing me or they know i want a macbook air
By the way, i dunno whats happening, but as i said, apple said it took 3 days before it was going to get shipped. I had 21th september as my delivery date, now its already sent, then it got updated to 16th september delivery date.
Now it says 14th, which is tomorrow. Wtf? Its almost to good to be true. Also i live in norway and im not used to getting things the next day after ordering. Oh well, either apple are teasing me or they know i want a macbook air
I always have the latest and best Thinkpad from work. The new MBA - both 11" and 13" - are leaps ahead. LOVE them. So happy.
Just a quick question guys, what do you recommend when it comes to protection when it comes to the mba. I already have orderd a case with nice protection, but im talking, screen/keyboard protection/films etc.
I heard someone lies a cloth between the screen and the keyboard etc.
Any nice tips for must have accesories?
I heard someone lies a cloth between the screen and the keyboard etc.
Any nice tips for must have accesories?
I had the same thing with my order. I ordered on wednesday and it said i will get it on tuesday the week after. 5 mins later i got an email that said it's been shipped and will be coming in friday, and so did it. I was quite happy about that, you can imagine
I carry my MBA in a leather sleeve, inside of this for additional protection: http://www.amazon.de/be-ez-LArobe-MacBook-Addict-Wasabi/dp/B0019GMLOW
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I think a hard shell case like Speck's is a must if you are going to slot the Macbook Air in with a bunch of other things in a bag.
Other than that, I have found that the screen quality is pretty good, and applying an extra layer of protection may either make it darker, which would kill sunlight legibility, or cause scratches and other problems during application.
Personally, I love my Macbook Air. With only 2GB of RAM, it doesn't feel limiting in day to day use. I mostly use it to type up documents, compile data in spreadsheets, prepare presentation, make adjustments to photos in Lightroom 3, work interface graphics in Photoshop CS5, and run Windows via a VM whenever I need access to certain applications.
It has worked very well so far, much better than other laptops I have tried over the years. The screen is especially good as it is very legible under direct sunlight despite the glossy layer on top. But I like glossy. It's easier to clean and wipe than matte.
Overall, portability, screen quality, snappy performance, and solid build quality is what I love about the Macbook Air. It has lightened my load during day to day commute by a lot. My Macbook Pro was much heavier, and now that I have the Air, I can't fathom using a heavier laptop. This has got to be the best purchase I have made in a long while.
Other than that, I have found that the screen quality is pretty good, and applying an extra layer of protection may either make it darker, which would kill sunlight legibility, or cause scratches and other problems during application.
Personally, I love my Macbook Air. With only 2GB of RAM, it doesn't feel limiting in day to day use. I mostly use it to type up documents, compile data in spreadsheets, prepare presentation, make adjustments to photos in Lightroom 3, work interface graphics in Photoshop CS5, and run Windows via a VM whenever I need access to certain applications.
It has worked very well so far, much better than other laptops I have tried over the years. The screen is especially good as it is very legible under direct sunlight despite the glossy layer on top. But I like glossy. It's easier to clean and wipe than matte.
Overall, portability, screen quality, snappy performance, and solid build quality is what I love about the Macbook Air. It has lightened my load during day to day commute by a lot. My Macbook Pro was much heavier, and now that I have the Air, I can't fathom using a heavier laptop. This has got to be the best purchase I have made in a long while.
A good test is this:
Do you ever find yourself totally pissed off you don't have enough hard drive space?
If answer is 'YES', then perhaps you may want to go for it
I agree, my Nokia N95 have have 1GB memory, I keep on deleting the picture to take new ones, but that's a lot of money, how many times can drink with girls at the bar with those money? Plus, doesn't the new ones come out every year? I'll always regret in this case. LOL.
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When i orderd the mac yesterday it said it was going to take 3 days before they shipped it. Well they shipped it today, so know the estimataed delivery is 16th
I don't know, maybe the students try to get their $100 rebate before 20th comes.
I never used any kind of screen protector or keyboard cover on my 2010 MBA, and I never got any smudges on the screen from the keyboard. I use the be-ez LArobe, too: the memory foam adds a bit of shock absorption.
I just wanted to chime in on the size of the SSD. Until SSD drop in price by a substantial amount, 128 gb will be your best bet. I only keep what I need on the laptop so that frees up a lot of space. I have a lot of media so I got a 1 TB external drive to keep them in. That has worked out great for me because I don't always need access to those files, especially when I'm on the go.
That has worked out great for me because I don't always need access to those files, especially when I'm on the go.
I'm about to order one. $1400 is a very big purchase for me so I'm a bit nervous. Hopefully this lasts me 4~ years problem free, how long do you guys expect it to last you?
ignore my question if you're the type that has to upgrade yearly
No reason at all it couldn't last 4 years.
Up until last week, my wife was using a 2007 black MacBook and she was still satisfied with it (but fell in love with my MacBook Air, so that was that).
I hardly post on this forum, but i would like to give my two cent about the screens between the 13" air and the 15" pro (non AG).
I recently sold my unibody macbook pro 15" (late 2008, 2.4ghz) and picked up the new 13" air last month. My new macbook air's screen is much better than the 15" after using it for a whole month. 15" screen suffers a lot of light bleed on the when viewing blacks on the sides and the glass on the 15" have way too much glare compare to the 13" air. Also the pixel density is the same between the 15" pro and 13" air.
Also I'm using my macbook 100% in photography. Rending photos from raw files are much quicker in the new air compare to my pro (My macbook pro was upgraded to 8gb ram + ocz vertex2 120gb SSD). However most of my major editing was done with my 27" iMac i5. Therefore I only picked up a baseline 13" air for my studio photography and some travelling for work. My old 15" is too heavy to carry around.
I recently sold my unibody macbook pro 15" (late 2008, 2.4ghz) and picked up the new 13" air last month. My new macbook air's screen is much better than the 15" after using it for a whole month. 15" screen suffers a lot of light bleed on the when viewing blacks on the sides and the glass on the 15" have way too much glare compare to the 13" air. Also the pixel density is the same between the 15" pro and 13" air.
Also I'm using my macbook 100% in photography. Rending photos from raw files are much quicker in the new air compare to my pro (My macbook pro was upgraded to 8gb ram + ocz vertex2 120gb SSD). However most of my major editing was done with my 27" iMac i5. Therefore I only picked up a baseline 13" air for my studio photography and some travelling for work. My old 15" is too heavy to carry around.
I love my MBA 13" as much as the next person, but there is one technology I am absolutely sold on and that is SSD hard drives.
The speed really spoils you. I use a friend's new MBP with a spinning hd on occasion and it seems sluggish to me. I can't go back to conventional hard drives now.
The speed really spoils you. I use a friend's new MBP with a spinning hd on occasion and it seems sluggish to me. I can't go back to conventional hard drives now.
I've got a 13" i5 256GB also. I have found no limitations. When I first got it I installed Windows via disk share form my MBP 17 and it worked great. It is the best laptop I have ever used. I think it will suit my needs for several years.
I Dont Want
To add a discouraging note, but I'm waiting for my third 13 256. I think i've been unlucky rather than any design fault. The first one was out of focus, and the second one overheated, I wangled a good discount and am hoping that it will be third time lucky.
My Apple friend is going to ensure that my next one is thoroughly tested prior to arrival (due on the 27th)
I also added an ssd and Thunderbolt cable. it's a great piece of kit and I've opted for the 13"
As suggested here a shell is a must, but I've yet to decide which one to get....Will browse Amazon to see whats on offer before it's delivered.
To add a discouraging note, but I'm waiting for my third 13 256. I think i've been unlucky rather than any design fault. The first one was out of focus, and the second one overheated, I wangled a good discount and am hoping that it will be third time lucky.
My Apple friend is going to ensure that my next one is thoroughly tested prior to arrival (due on the 27th)
I also added an ssd and Thunderbolt cable. it's a great piece of kit and I've opted for the 13"
As suggested here a shell is a must, but I've yet to decide which one to get....Will browse Amazon to see whats on offer before it's delivered.
best buy i've done in the last couple of years
after owning the 2010 13" mba for a month, as a newly-converted windows user, i still keep asking "how did they do that?"... the perfect computer, the ssd makes it so fast, even though i have only 2gb ram.
for the record, i still need my visual studio to program for my job but running windows on parallels 7 is simply faster than any other computer i own... so,
without a doubt, i love my mba.
and my gf is jealous.
btw, battery life is great on the 2010, dunno about the 2011, and i also undervolted the cpu, to gain 1 extra hour(not possible on the 2011).
only thing i regret is the 2gb ram, but it was sold so cheap for me that i had to get it.
after owning the 2010 13" mba for a month, as a newly-converted windows user, i still keep asking "how did they do that?"... the perfect computer, the ssd makes it so fast, even though i have only 2gb ram.
for the record, i still need my visual studio to program for my job but running windows on parallels 7 is simply faster than any other computer i own... so,
without a doubt, i love my mba.
and my gf is jealous.
btw, battery life is great on the 2010, dunno about the 2011, and i also undervolted the cpu, to gain 1 extra hour(not possible on the 2011).
only thing i regret is the 2gb ram, but it was sold so cheap for me that i had to get it.
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hi guys, just a quick update, got my mac today, and I'm loving it, its dead silent.
maybe i feel the space key is making a bit of noise, but i can live with it, samsung ssd so thats nice.
anyways, the spacebar makes more noise then the other keys, but i don't mind, i think anyways loving.
maybe i feel the space key is making a bit of noise, but i can live with it, samsung ssd so thats nice.
anyways, the spacebar makes more noise then the other keys, but i don't mind, i think
anyways loving.I owned the 11" and I now have the i5/128 13" model. IMO, the 13" Air is the perfect laptop. The weight difference is very small, yet the larger screen makes for a nicer experience.
My only gripe would be the extremely low amount of video ram these things have, but if I want to game, I will do it on my hackintosh desktop.
My only gripe would be the extremely low amount of video ram these things have, but if I want to game, I will do it on my hackintosh desktop.
It's the best laptop I've ever owned.
I had the Speck hard case, and I liked it, but took it off because it covered up my beautiful MBA.
I have a Knomo and Bohdi sleeves, and a Booq Viper case. I like the viper because I can carry my charger, SuperDrive, and external USB drive in a sleek case.
Congrats on your purchase!
I had the Speck hard case, and I liked it, but took it off because it covered up my beautiful MBA.
I have a Knomo and Bohdi sleeves, and a Booq Viper case. I like the viper because I can carry my charger, SuperDrive, and external USB drive in a sleek case.
Congrats on your purchase!
I love my MBA 13" as much as the next person, but there is one technology I am absolutely sold on and that is SSD hard drives.
The speed really spoils you. I use a friend's new MBP with a spinning hd on occasion and it seems sluggish to me. I can't go back to conventional hard drives now.
Agreed. My main reason to buy MBA is the SSD, and I can't be happier.. people talk about how fast their processor or RAM is, but hard disk is the real bottle neck for day-to-day usage. You can feel the speed difference, everything is snappier, almost instant. Lovin it..
I apologize for hacking your thread by someone recently posted about the lack of video memory. I plan on buying the 13" i7 256 within the next 4 days. I do not game, just iPhoto, facebook, youtube, Pages, iMovie. Will the lack of video memory be an issue?
Regular users should not need more than 32MB of video memory to begin with. But "lack" of video memory is something nobody would notice for 99.9999% of the time they are on any computer. It's only apparent in either very intensive video games, or modeling softwares.