Apple MacBook Air 13in Core i5 laptop The lightweight, streamlined design of the MacBook Air is undeniably attractive, and still leaves most of its ultraportable PC rivals looking like a chaotic collision metal and plastic. However, that sleek design has always come with something of a premium price – especially given the relatively modest specification of its …
= equal
- less
+ better
in summary, compared to the rest of the world :
= looks
- graphics
- no ethernet
- no dvd+-rw
- cpu in relation to the price tag.
-- price tag
in other words,
end score is double minus..... considering what you get for the price you pay
and believe me, there are laptops and notebooks that really look good, and are delivering much more bang for the buck.
Even dell does have them ......
AC
I've been toying with the idea of buying an extra machine (although I'm keeping my Linux NAS rig, thanks) - my problem was that 11" just wasn't enough (stop sniggering in the back).
The big "however" is that I do like a direct plug-in backup route. If this machine doesn't have a USB or Firewire port that I can use to hook up an external drive when traveling it's not going to be much use to me..
I've always thought that if OnLive really takes off, then something like the MacBook Air would be ideal for a portable gaming machine. The weight saved on the laptop can then added back on lugging around a bulky USB joypad! ;)
Instead I currently use an Alienware M11X R3, the i7 CPU and GeForce 540M make light work of most recent games even on max to high settings.
Honestly, if I wasn't a gamer all I'd need is a netbook for most of the stuff I do...
That's where this product falls between two stalls for me - it's neither the gaming machine I'd be willing to spend the money on nor the cheap browsing device I'd have kicking around for other uses.
I guess the heat would be too big a problem with that sort of processor AND higher end graphics in the tiny shell.
My next Apple purchase is more likely to be an iPad than an Air.
...well, actually...
Several 'cheapie' i5 lappies I picked up for clients recently (Packard Bells & Dells iirc) were sickeningly sluggish out of the box, even after ripping all the crapware out & running Autoruns on em. Turns out there's a sort of budget option i5 that is a wee bit crippled. My stripped-down XP nettie was about neck & neck, tbh.
I'm sure the new Air is a great deal faster tho - just in case you thought I was trolling !!
If it wasn't for the stupid mac keyboard I'd consider getting one and just run Windows on it. It's a beautiful piece of kit and deserves a decent OS.
The missing Ethernet port isn't too much of an issue, a USB dongle for the odd times you need to hook up a cable will be fine. Non upgradeable SSD and RAM is less cool.
128GB Disk and 4GB RAM is going to look very poor in 3 years time when the rest of the laptop will still be fine.
Apple uses a non-standard module for the flash drive, and although it is theoretically not user-serviceable, there are third party upgrades available. Therefore, you should be able to upgrade to a bigger flash drive in 3 years time. You are stuck with the 4Gb of RAM though, which may be a drag.
My present 2007 Macbook Pro came with 2Gb and 120Gb when new and I have upgraded it to 4Gb/640Gb, and it still works just fine with pretty much any current software, so I know exactly what you mean. However, the truth is that most laptop owners do not upgrade the RAM and only upgrade the disk when one fails, which is going to happen much less frequently with a flash drive anyway. If you want a machine you can upgrade in future, there is the Macbook Pro.
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What's wrong with the keyboard? I'd rather type on one of them than any other I've used since my last original IBM PS2 keyboard died! And yes, I've had plenty of machines from the dark side, except now I can run Win7 as a VM when I'm desperate.
As for the OS, each to their own I suppose, but if pushed, I'd only swap OS X for Linux.
I'd also lay good odds that in 3 years time, OS X 10.8 (?) will work just fine in 4Gb of RAM and leave at least 120Gb of space on a 128Gb SSD. I even expect it to run on my now last generation MacBook Air. I very much doubt Windows whatever will run as well on a PC of equivalent age.
My boss summed up the Air and the iPad, when I turned up with my 11" Core2 Duo Air. "An iPad is an iPod Touch for people with bad eye sight, and Air is a Netbook done properly" Fitting i5 and restoring the illuminated keyboard just makes it even better.
Thunderbolt will only be OK when there's something useful and affordable to plug in to it. New Cinema Display is useful, but rather fails th either bit!
Wasn't going to get an Air - was going to get a MBP, but then I realised with a NAS doing all the heavy duty storage, this was a better bet. It's a stunning bit of kit (it's for my business, so the gaming not being great isn't an issue for me), and does everything I want it to plus more. Big advantage for me is the shut down and start up time. Don't think I'll ever use sleep on this - on my PC I never use anything else...
It isn't cheap, obviously, but it should be reliable, and there's an Apple Store just down the road if I need em. Personally I love the keyboard, so easy to use. And I think the onboard storage is becoming less of an issue as we move to domestic NAS and Cloud solutions, but if it's an issue, that's what the MBP is for.
I also fail to see substantial improvements in the benchmarks. And the nVidea graphics of the previous version clearly are better than the Intel stuff. To me it the benchmarking suggests a solid incremental upgrade from the previous version and a step backwards in graphics perf.
Apple used the nVidia graphics with the older chip in the previous MBA because Intel won't license nVidea for the later chips. The package in the 2010 MBA is better for it and I expect cheaper than a straight Intel solutioin would have been as well. Obviously, the i5 dictates Intel's substandard graphics solution.
Anyway, where did that Title quote come from?
Dweeb
"Intel won't license nVidea for the later chips" - not sure what you are battering on about here!! Intel doesn't "license" nVidia for anything... they have their components sit alongside nVidia components within systems.
Sandy Bridge introduces enhanced onboard graphics compared to Arrandale, so no discrete GPU is included, as the current range offer vastly improved graphics compared to Core-i first generation and C2D. The previous MBA with the C2D has very rudimentary graphics so required a GPU to handle the pretty pictures and videos that the users would want, though in the form of a weak card. The new model uses only the Intel graphics solution without a discrete card.
I got the previous (the core2duo 13" non-backlit kb) version for mom, so it's basically doing duty as a svelte netbook with a larger screen and good battery life. I only wish the system fonts (menus etc) were resizeable for her imperfect eyesight.
It is quite pricy, but a comparable light, all metal PC is comparably priced, if not more expensive (Samsung series9, for instance). Lack of an ethernet port on an ultraportable is not a big issue. The most likely place it'll get tethered is the charger anyway.
Unlike most users, I am not in love with OSX. It is good enough, looks nice, but there are a lot of niggles and annoyances bundled with it too. Shock and horror, I prefer Windows 7 for my daily needs. Flame me, see if I care.
I may get an i5 11"'er for myself as the tote-around device, and install W7 on it. Lack of some keys for windows may be an issue (such as the insert key which I use), but there are easy ways around it.
You made a good purchase!
I've had my MacBook Air for a couple of years now and its still by far the best machine I've ever had, and I've had loads of computers over the past 30 years from ZX81 to a Dell Latitude E6400.
Its perfect for Word processing, excel, web browsing, emailing, itunes, xcode, ftp'ing, bit of webdesign, etc.
Not sure how good it would be for gaming though, but I'm not really into games anymore!
I assume this was directed at me. I vaguely remember reading about that court case a while ago, but my point still stands: I don't see what having Nvidia created software would make any kind of difference with a SB i5 as compared with Intel's own software... it's the fact that there is no dedicated GPU in the 2011 system that is the important thing. That being said, I am impressed that the new CPU isn't that far behind the 2010 system in the gaming benchmark, and I've seen reports that the fps on certain games weren't actually that bad.
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