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Which Air Model?

powerbook911

powerbook911

macrumors 601
Original poster
Mar 15, 2005
4,009
398
If I decide to go with a Rev B air, I was curious which model people recommend?

From some of the magazine reviews, the SSD doesn't sound that much faster than the hard drive option. Is that true, or do you guys find real world performance differences?

Finally, about the processor? It's probably slightly noticeable, yes?

Appreciate the help. Thank you.
 
Is the 1.6 enough to display HD video?

I just posted a question since I saaw worse graphic performance from a 1.6 than a 1.8. Have you noticed anything similar?
 
mhnajjar said:
Save your money and upgrade to SSD later :)
Click to expand...

Apple's SSD price is pretty competitive. You might save a bit down the line, but there is some peace of mind to be had when buying it from Apple.

I have the 1.8/SSD and think it is absolutely terrific. My general rule of thumb is to buy laptops and max them out. You never be disappointed that you have the best, but down the line you can't upgrade the processor for example.
 
SSD is worth the price but NOT ABSOLUTELY needed. Its just awesome how photos and itunes loads everything superfast. It betrays the fact that the processor itself is not a screamer, but the ssd is!
 
People who have had the Rev B HDD model and then upgraded to the SSD often say there is a notable speed difference, because the normal Hard Drive bottlenecks the computers possible performance and the SSD has an equivalent RPM of 40,000RPM, so if its in your price band, id go for it, but if it isnt, i wouldnt worry too much.
 
The SSD does make a noticeable difference in starting and closing applications and computer. With that said, I decided to go with the HDD model.

Primary for two reasons, 1) the speed of launching an application/closing is about 3-5 seconds depending on the app. I don't mind the wait.

2) The price. I am going to wait a bit and see how the SSD prices go.

Honestly, I even thought to go with the Rev A 1.6/80 gig hd, because the speed wasn't that bad. However, I decided against it because snow leopard is coming up. Which will utilize a graphics chip like nvidia's a lot better than the integrated solution by intel.

I hope to see even a bigger performance increase then before.
 
iPave said:
Why do you boot your mac even if you can sleep it?

Access/seek times are NOT worth it for users who need computer just for web, mail and other other light tasks.
Click to expand...

i shut my computer down about twice a week after cleaning out caches and such...is it necessary? no..but neither is washing your balls :p i also didn't like waiting a minute and a half when i felt like re-starting my computer once a month or so..

access/seek times are worth it for SOME users (myself included) who dislike seeing the spinning beachball and who don't like to wait for app icons to bounce in their dock for 5-10 seconds before they open...

also, i like watching HD content and enjoying some minimal gameplay without chopiness...

lastly, when i had my Rev A 1.6 80 HDD, it did bother me quite a bit that there was a 4200 RPM ipod HD in my computer...it just irked me knowing that...

i'll admit, that the rev b HDD is nicer than the previously mentioned rev a HDD bc of the switch to the SATA connector....but i'll never go back to a HDD if i have the cash for an SSD ;)
 
I see that on the BTO options you can upgrade to the faster processor for £137 or so. Worth doing, or is it going to be pretty unnoticeable in normal use?
 
I've go the rev B model with the 128 SSD. I love it. Found that I use it more and more for things I thought I needed to do on my MBP. I can't really compare its performance to the other MBA models, since I don't have any experience with them, but I think that since the relative price difference for the SSD came down with the rev B models, it's well worth the buy up.

Two thumbs up for this one! :D:):apple:
 
I think the SSD would be nice. I guess my fear is that the SSD models will lose more of their value due to the likely continually dramatic fall of SSD pricing.
 
The biggest gain that can be made in speed right now is with the SSD since the processors are so similar. Booting apps is incredibly fast. I highly recommend it if you can afford it.
 
i also have the mba ssd model. and it is my only computer. i do all the things, i did with my mbp. it is really fast :)

marcip3
 
I just purchased the refurb revA MBA for $999 - Perfect for what I need it for (travel, internet, word). For everything else, there is my MBP =)

I've always been a fan of buying the new products when they first come out - but saving $800 feels so good :D
 
kastenbrust said:
People who have had the Rev B HDD model and then upgraded to the SSD often say there is a notable speed difference, because the normal Hard Drive bottlenecks the computers possible performance and the SSD has an equivalent RPM of 40,000RPM, so if its in your price band, id go for it, but if it isnt, i wouldnt worry too much.
Click to expand...

Yes but you're really talking about access and seek time. Once launched an application runs very smooth on my HDD model. While I cannot start/shutdown and load applications as fast as say my buddy with his SSD model, I can work just as quickly as he can after things are opened.

For me it seemed silly to spend the money but I also have a macpro at home to take care of all of the heavy lifting.
 
YouArentJ said:
I just purchased the refurb revA MBA for $999 - Perfect for what I need it for (travel, internet, word). For everything else, there is my MBP =)

I've always been a fan of buying the new products when they first come out - but saving $800 feels so good :D
Click to expand...

Me too! :D It was hard to say no at that price, PLUS, it's less likely to escape the lines issue. At 999 the macbook air is like at highend netbook prices, and the best thing..it runs OS X.
 
The biggest drawback to the rev A though is that Snow Leopard is around the corner and it will bring Open CL to the table. With that the rev B should get a considerable boost in performance due to the nVidia card.

But yeah, can't say the price isn't tempting. It's quite hard to resist!
 
tubbymac said:
The biggest drawback to the rev A though is that Snow Leopard is around the corner and it will bring Open CL to the table. With that the rev B should get a considerable boost in performance due to the nVidia card.

But yeah, can't say the price isn't tempting. It's quite hard to resist!
Click to expand...

i've heard several people say this but to be honest, I'll hold off till it actually gets here and we can see the numbers before accepting for a fact that there'll be noticeable boost in performance.
 
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