nomad89 Posted October 26, 2010 Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 http://www.fakesteve.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/original.jpeg I agree with that! $999 for a Core 2 Duo?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted October 26, 2010 Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 Hate to spoil the party but I think the Airs are overpriced and underpowered. For about the same price you can get a 2.4 ghz with 4gb of ram, macbook pro from the refurb store. Its a far better machine by a country mile, and if you are worried about the extra weight, don't. I carry mine back and forth to work every day, including 30 min of walking, and don't feel the slightest bit taxed. I had a chance to play with the 11" air and find the screen to be too small to use for any length of time. Having no built in DVD would probably end up being a major pain. How would you even play a game when most of them require you to have the DVD in the drive to play? The base model has 64GB of flash storage. Do you even know how much disk space Snow Leopard takes? forget about storing music and movies, you wont have room. You probably won't have room for your applications either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted October 26, 2010 Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 I agree with that! $999 for a Core 2 Duo?! Nothing wrong with the C2D. works great in my MBP 13". If it ever starts to feel slow I can max out the ram to 8gigs and throw in a SSD. Nothing you can do to speed up the already slower Air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted October 26, 2010 Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted October 27, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2010 Well seeing as how this would supplement my 15" Macbook Pro i7 2.66 laptop, it will be perfect for me. I just don't need the horsepower of the i7 to browse RWG while I'm watching TV Plus ALL of the Macbook Pro's and Macbooks get too damn hot sitting on my lap. Even my friends 13" MB Pro with SSD drive. It still runs hot. The Air is very cool running and that, to me, is one of it's biggest appeals. As for the hackintosh's, I am sure they are great. A co-worker built one out of an MSI Wind, and it was pretty cool I guess. It wasn't as light as the Air, and it was considerably thicker. It just didn't feel that much smaller than my 13" Black Macbook. Also, it didn't boot up in 10 seconds I guess to each their own Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted October 27, 2010 Report Share Posted October 27, 2010 If you already have a real laptop, and have the money to throw around, why not? IMO however, the way you plan to use it might better be suited to a iPad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted October 27, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2010 If you already have a real laptop, and have the money to throw around, why not? IMO however, the way you plan to use it might better be suited to a iPad. I want to like the iPad......I really do. Unfortunately, it's just not there yet. And, I would prefer a real keyboard and the dockable keyboard for the iPad is just dumb. Who wants to use a computer in Portrait mode while sitting on your lap? I cannot believe that Apple didn't consider the option to have a dock on the bottom and the side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pman Posted October 27, 2010 Report Share Posted October 27, 2010 A couple of observations. I've got an iPad and Macbook Pro 13". I have come to love the iPad. It's the perfect device for sitting around the house and doing light work, surfing the web, using apps like WSJ or watching video. For serious email and work related stuff you gotta have a keyboard. My opinion is that the Air as an iPad on steroids. A 3G iPad and Air are about the same price. The real question is "how are you going to use it"? My Mac doesn't get hot at all. I use it all day and it never gets warmer than room temp. That's really interesting to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 I found myself back at the Applestore today and was wondering how hot the air would get under a serious load. So I surf to youtube figuring I'd run a few simultaneous flash videos, but to my surprise I found that there was NO FLASH INSTALLED, and I couldn't run any youtube video. So I surf to Apple's Trailer siteand start several vids in seperate windows. All but impossible to keep more than one playing at once, and with for windows open, the Air froze up and QT crashed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted October 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 I saw a few benchmark tests posted on Mac Rumors today and the 11" Air definitely needs to have 4 GB ram to perform decently. The 13" with 4 GB Ram beat the 13" Macbook Pro There is also a couple of third party companys offering the Flash SSD upgrades and are boasting much faster read/write times. I am guessing that with 4GB Ram and a faster SSD, the 11" performance could be far more acceptable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted October 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 Here's the benchmark scores: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 A couple of observations. I've got an iPad and Macbook Pro 13". I have come to love the iPad. It's the perfect device for sitting around the house and doing light work, surfing the web, using apps like WSJ or watching video. For serious email and work related stuff you gotta have a keyboard. My opinion is that the Air as an iPad on steroids. A 3G iPad and Air are about the same price. The real question is "how are you going to use it"? I have to disagree here. Other than being made out of Aluminum and being light weight for their size there is no comparison. The Air is a real computer with full OS-X operating system. The iPad is, take your pick, a-- toy, lifestyle device, iOS device, neutered tablet, giant iPod Touch, web/application appliance... If these Air's were released prior to the iPad, I think it would have hurt iPad sales. With the instant on, full keyboard, FULL WEB (install Flash), etc, an 11" Air can lay around the house just as easily and do so much more. The 11" Air Screen Resolution is higher than the 13" Mac Book and MB-Pro's as well @ 1366x768 vs. 1280x800. Think how much better watching a movie on an airplane will be with the Air! No fumbling around trying to "prop-up" an iPad-- just open the clam-shell, and experience 16x9 video. The 13" Air, actually offers up some real computing ability. While no MB-PRO, I did play with iMovie 11 on it, and it would be just fine for editing a family movie, etc. Also, the screen resolution on the 13" air is higher than the 13" Pro, and the same as the 15" Pro @ 1440x900. Just my .02, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted October 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 an 11" Air can lay around the house just as easily and do so much more. Couldn't agree more...which is exactly what I plan to do with it Add this to it, and order it with 4GB RAM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 @Red, I don't put much stock in benchmark scores, with a device like this the results can be very misleading. For instance, because of it's flash memory, the Air will garner point for startup speeds, but I haven't rebooted my mbp more than a half dozen times in a year. Bottom line, a 1.4 core duo isn't going to outperform a 2.4 core duo ever! Screen resolution may be better, but size becomes a factor at some point. I'd guess that the iPhone has a similar or better resolution than the ipad, and I'd choose to work on an ipad every time. Don't get me wrong, the Air looks like a great toy. I just hate to see people who should be thinking mb or mbp swooning over the air because of it's size. Like I said before, if you are covered in the laptop department, the Air would make a nice casual computer. Just can't endorse it as a primary machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 @ Ronin, nobody said the ipad even compares with the Air or any real laptop. What I'm saying is that a lot of people use computers for nothing but surfing and the occasional email. IMO doing those things are more enjoyable on an ipad. Using a touchscreen is a far more satisfying experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 Has anyone tried the touch pad. One of the things I like about the IPAD is that you can blow up images with your fingers so easily. It is great for RWG pics. The Airbook claims you can do the same with the touch pad. Is that true for Macbooks? So I have a different question. Is the power and memory sufficient for typical traveling working folks - email, MS Office type apps and playing movies? I see folks who need extra for games, massive video editing, etc. saying it doesn't do the trick. I know little about Apple products but have been enjoying an IPAD for reading newspapers and books, watching movies and staying away from longer emails and Office work. So everyone put on your old man hat and let me know whether this is a good answer. At a minimum I love the fact that it starts up quickly, has decent battery life and can do Office. I have been lugging around one of the IBM x's and although it has been a great workhorse for me I end up taking along an IPAD. I would like to get this down to one device. Or put differently my interest comes as a traveler - not as a sophisticated technocrat or couch potato. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 Has anyone tried the touch pad. One of the things I like about the IPAD is that you can blow up images with your fingers so easily. It is great for RWG pics. The Airbook claims you can do the same with the touch pad. Is that true for Macbooks? So I have a different question. Is the power and memory sufficient for typical traveling working folks - email, MS Office type apps and playing movies? I see folks who need extra for games, massive video editing, etc. saying it doesn't do the trick. I know little about Apple products but have been enjoying an IPAD for reading newspapers and books, watching movies and staying away from longer emails and Office work. So everyone put on your old man hat and let me know whether this is a good answer. At a minimum I love the fact that it starts up quickly, has decent battery life and can do Office. I have been lugging around one of the IBM x's and although it has been a great workhorse for me I end up taking along an IPAD. I would like to get this down to one device. Or put differently my interest comes as a traveler - not as a sophisticated technocrat or couch potato. Finger gestures work with all apple touchpads. That said, some browsers don't support all gestures. Safari does, Chrome seems to, Opera doesn't, and I'm not sure about Firefox. Any of the current mac laptops will be more than enough machine for the Microsoft Office suite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 Finger gestures work with all apple touchpads. That said, some browsers don't support all gestures. Safari does, Chrome seems to, Opera doesn't, and I'm not sure about Firefox. Any of the current mac laptops will be more than enough machine for the Microsoft Office suite. Thanks. I didn't know that all mac touchpads do that. I love that feature. The usefulness to me, all thinge being equal, is the long battery life and instant turn on relative to a normal Mac. I know nothing about MAC other than my kids would rather die than use anything else. To me it looks like the 11.6" is the world's most expensive net book but it may just be the ticket for me to avoid carrying two larger devices. You had made some mention of Safari (??) occupying a tremendous amount of space on the hard drive. I looked at my little IBM x60 and it has only a 60 gig hard drive. With all the microsoft stuff on it I have plenty of room so I am wondering if the Air will have enough room left over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted October 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 They also make the Magic Trackpad which is a bluetooth wireless trackpad with multi-touch gesture features. It will give older machines with Snow Leopard multi-touch support Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted October 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 From Walt Mossberg, technical columnist for the Wall Street Journal: So, if you're a light-duty user, you might be able to adopt one of the new Airs as your main laptop. If you're a heavy-duty user, who needs lots of power and file storage, they're likely to be secondary machines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 From Walt Mossberg, technical columnist for the Wall Street Journal: The key word there was "might"! You've got a MBP Red, you'll be fine. Wish I could afford one, as you said, it would make a great couch computer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 @ Ronin, nobody said the ipad even compares with the Air or any real laptop. What I'm saying is that a lot of people use computers for nothing but surfing and the occasional email. IMO doing those things are more enjoyable on an ipad. Using a touchscreen is a far more satisfying experience. Andrew, the iPad comparison was directed at the person who compared the Air to an iPad on steroids. Sorry about the confusion. As for using a touchscreen, welcome to "Steve Jobs contradicts himself again". During the Air announcement, Apple pretty much came out against touch screen "computing". Considering my wife is still using a 6yr old "PowerBook G4 1.67/2 GB" for everything from MS-Office to iMovie HD (Tiger era) and Photoshop just fine-- I think we are underestimating the power of these newer Core 2 Duo machines. Sure, you are not going to use it for major HD Video production work, major RAW photo projects, or 3rd Shooter games, but if you are doing that today, you are probably using a Mac Pro. For the ultimate in "mobile computing", add a MiFi Hotspot, USB 3g/4g card to it, or tether to your phone, and you have an incredible device. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted October 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 You've got a MBP Red, you'll be fine. Agreed I love my MBP! With the i7 processor this thing smokes my older Mac Pro tower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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