New Macbook Air

[dk]

Been wanting to try a Mac for ages, and need something to replace my 8 year old 11" sony, so thought i'd buy either a 13" Pro or an 11 or 13" Air.

So went to JL and decided on the Air, and 11" one, its so small and light, 1 KG is crazy light.

Was a little worried about the 2gb (non upgradeable) ram but thought, as long as it plays my 720p MKVs i'll be happy.

So am I impressed? Sure am, its bloody good, soooo fast, SSD is the way forward, 2gb ram means nothing. Takes 10 seconds to boot, can put it into and take it out of sleep in literally a second.

First Mac i've used so am getting used to the differences, like no F5 screen refresh it seems, no easy full screen on windows, no CTRL+C to copy stuff?

AM going to use it when i go away on holiday to put my photos onto etc and also use it as my iTunes base. So had to migrate from my Windows Laptop, trying to find the best way to do this on the web was a nightmare, so many people asking but no real answers. But I found a good article in the end, followed that and it worked pretty much perfectly.

Not sure I understand the people who say iTunes is amazing on the Mac and s**t on the PC, I honestly can't see any difference in useability personally, but then i've never had an issue with it on Windows.

Not entirely sure I shouldn't have gone for the 13" for the better battery life and SD card slot and maybe the 256gb SSD, but the 11" is soooo small and portable, will be nice to carry around. Just thinking its very close to the screen size of my iPad.

Anyway, awesome but of kit, just need to learn the Mac way of doing things now.

p.s. the trackpad is sublime, keep trying to do the same gestures on my Sony.

 

[Danny133]

cmd+c is copy

 

[Justin]

I need one. 11" with the 128GB drive. Must RESIST!

I thought the RAM was upgradable?

 

[dk]

I need one. 11" with the 128GB drive. Must RESIST!

I thought the RAM was upgradable?

thats the one i have, 128gb, the ram is soldered onto the motherboard, so is not upgradeable, but nothing i've thrown at is has worried it yet, plays HD video fine.

 

[dk]

cmd+c is copy

ahhhh, thanks, thats why it wasn't working, i'll get used to it i'm sure. it does seem very different though, apps you download appear as images, you copy it to the apps folder etc then eject it, strange.

i believe Lion is going to be more similar to the ipad so i will at least know all that stuff anyway.

Do you have to pay for OS upgrades or is it like the ipad where its just free? Are they expensive if you have to pay?

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Welcome to the world of Apple.

CMD replaces most of what CTRL does on Winblows.

CMR + R = refresh for instance.

Some homework for you !

 

[dk]

Welcome to the world of Apple.

CMD replaces most of what CTRL does on Winblows.

CMR + R = refresh for instance.

Some homework for you !

thanks, sure is a lot of them!

is there any software i need to download/purchase which i am missing out on which is a must to own?

should i be using safari or is there a better browser most people use, i'm a firefox user in the windows world, should i stick with that? Safari does seem very fast , not sure if thats the SSD working its magic or the browser being ultra fast?

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

the best thing with safari is that the whole OS is based around it. If you're in a word document, highlight and right click (enable that in mousepad settings if you havent already!) and then 'search in google' .. it will open a new tab in safari having googled your query.

www.opensourcemac.org will have any kind of software you could ever want.

I recommend - NeoOffice (like open office but solely for OS X), Transmission (torrents), VLC - will play any kind of media without a moments fuss.

There'll be other things I think about later but will update when I remember haha !

 

[Christopher]

I would've bought the 13" since it's your main Mac, but that's me.

Glad you're enjoying it!

 

[Justin]

thats the one i have, 128gb, the ram is soldered onto the motherboard, so is not upgradeable, but nothing i've thrown at is has worried it yet, plays HD video fine.

Ah ok. In the apple store it gives you the chance to upgrade, but obviously not if yours is already built..

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, it's flash storage directly on the board.

Justin, I might have mine for sale soon, once I decide what to buy. If you're interested, it's a lot of machine for only a bit more cash.

 

[Justin]

Aye let me know.

 

[sn00p]

Firefox is a s**t browser, it was ok when it was the alternative to Internet explorer, but webkit pisses all over them all.

Choose your poison, safari or chrome. I've used nothing but safari on the mac for years, since V1. I tried chrome on windows at work but don't really like its UI, so I use safari under windows.

We were recently looking at the air, but went for a MBP, the ram was the only issue. I knew that short term it'd be ok, but as I used the machine more it'd become limiting. The display is a definite bonus on the air too.

All major releases of mac os are chargeable, previously they were around the 79 quid Mark, leopard to snow leopard was 29, but it was a minor "major" upgrade, I suspect lion will be along the lines of earlier upgrade pricing.

 

[dk]

I would've bought the 13" since it's your main Mac, but that's me.

Glad you're enjoying it!

It is my main mac, but not my main conputer, will still use the 17" sony for that, this was a replacement for my 11" sony, so needed to be ultra ultra portable. (plus john lewis didn't have the 13" in and i impulse shop )

Giraffe, I use VLC on windows so that was the first thing i downloaded on the Mac, brilliant piece of software!

Will have a look at NeoOffice, not sure i need office on it though for what i'll be using it for. I don't do torrents these days, only rapidshare and usenet, so i managed to find a mac version of my usenet client UseNext so thats all working now.

Theres definitely more support now for mac versions of programmes than when i last looked, guess they're becoming so popular it had it happen!

Sounds like i'll stick with safari for now too, seems fast enough.

I reckon i'll replace the sony 17" with a MBP 15.4 maybe, not sure i'd need to go 17" again, but i might.

Thinking about getting a 1TB time capsule too, presume i can just plug it into the ethernet port on my o2 BB router and then turn the wireless off on that and use the time capsule for everything. Wonder if my PS3 would be able to see its storage to play media off it. Guess I might have to go apple tv instead. Looks like i might end up being a fanboy at this rate.

 

[SC03OTT]

I don't think the Time Capsule gets a good write up. I have a 1TB WD My Book. Had it for about a year if not longer. It's been spot on.

 

[Christopher]

If you're looking for a MBP, let me know. I have a brand new one and I'm undecided whether to sell it or not.

 

[Curtis!]

If you're looking for a MBP, let me know. I have a brand new one and I'm undecided whether to sell it or not.

The 13" one?

 

[Christopher]

No, I had my 15" replaced with a brand new 15.4" i5 MBP, nearly £1700's worth. Thinking about selling it and buying an Air, then using the spare cash elsewhere.

 

[sn00p]

Time capsule is probably apples worst current product, early versions overheated and died....all versions suffer from possible integrity problems, I know people who've come to restore data from it, only to find it corrupted. I've seen time machine backups fail, the image could be mounted but could not br backed up to anymore without reinitialising.

Apple TV is pretty good, but iTunes home sharing is piss poor, airplay from iOS somewhat fixes this and is the saviour. I'm working on my own solution to the problem.

 

[Christopher]

My Time Capsule has always been fine, but I know they're somewhat unreliable.

 

[sn00p]

My Time Capsule has always been fine, but I know they're somewhat unreliable.

Yeah, problem is that it'll be sods law that it will b0rk when you need to rely on it.

The fact that I've seen it spew is enough to make me nervous about it. I also know somebody else who had one which decided to lose its memory!

 

[dk]

i'd done some research into them and it seemed that the early ones with problems had tarnished the latter ones where there are now no issues?

with hard drives, especially SATA ones they're never going to be that reliable, thats why they aren't used in business for critical data. Its not apples fault though, its an inherent problem with cheap hdd's.

 

[Munson]

I'd like an MBA. I wish I'd waited and got one instead of my 13" MBP. Which is now all banged up anyway. I fucksed it ups

 

[sn00p]

i'd done some research into them and it seemed that the early ones with problems had tarnished the latter ones where there are now no issues?

with hard drives, especially SATA ones they're never going to be that reliable, thats why they aren't used in business for critical data. Its not apples fault though, its an inherent problem with cheap hdd's.

Yes, the early ones had hardware issues that caused failures.

All of them suffer from software problems which may or may not render your data useless. They actually mount a sparse image across the network which is always going to be more prone to corruption than using a network filing protocol.

 

[Rasclart]

I have a dead early Time Capsule, 3 of the Caps on the PSU have bulged and begun leaking, this is down to overheating. The caps they used are actually decent quality. Just replaced them and it is working fine now.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

i'd done some research into them and it seemed that the early ones with problems had tarnished the latter ones where there are now no issues?

with hard drives, especially SATA ones they're never going to be that reliable, thats why they aren't used in business for critical data. Its not apples fault though, its an inherent problem with cheap hdd's.

Well it sort if is apples fault when they say they use server grade hdds but they actually use cheap ones.

 

[Gally]

I didn't even know they made screens that small anymore.

 

[Mr Pants]

Pics? I love a good Apple wh0re sesh...

 

[MikeyK18]

No, I had my 15" replaced with a brand new 15.4" i5 MBP, nearly £1700's worth. Thinking about selling it and buying an Air, then using the spare cash elsewhere.

How much chris?? PM me.

 

[Christopher]

How much chris?? PM me.

Since it's only been used for about four hours in total, and I still have the receipt... I won't be asking much off the retail price TBH.

The receipt shows £1660. So I'll probably want £1500, but I'll throw in the three year's Applecare, which is £180 on it's own.

Still a chunk off, if you're considering a MBP.

When I say it's unused, I mean it too. It's literally been on to migrate my data across via FW800, then it was turned off and it's just sat on my desk.

 

[dk]

I didn't even know they made screens that small anymore.

Great things come in small packages

 

[dk]

Well it sort if is apples fault when they say they use server grade hdds but they actually use cheap ones.

for the price, its not going to be anything decent. Sata drives are moving towards having a sas interface these days to make them more reliable too. Server quality sata decease are still shot though, they fail all the time compared to sas

I still like the idea of it.

 

[Gally]

Great things come in small packages

Small screens are for paupers, I thought you were a high loller.

 

[Christopher]

The screen in the new Airs are higher resolution than all but one of the current MacBook Pros.

If I'm offered a decent price for my MBP, I'll be getting a 13" MBA, then pocketing the difference.

 

[ChrisR]

I'll be getting a 13inch Air as soon as work stuff gets sorted

Was a tough choice between that and the 11inch, but as it's turning out it'll be used more as a main machine I think the 13 will be better suited.

 

[Justin]

I'll be getting a 13inch Air as soon as work stuff gets sorted

Was a tough choice between that and the 11inch, but as it's turning out it'll be used more as a main machine I think the 13 will be better suited.

That's what I'm thinking now aswell. 11" is just a bit too small to be my main machine.

 

[Christopher]

An Air as your main computer? Really?

 

[Revels]

It only seems strange to you because you have a screen size that most people have for a tv! Lol.

My 13" MBP was my main machine for a while.

 

[Jason_E]

My 13" has become my main machine over the past 2 years, the screen only becomes a problem when I have 20million things open at once and I want it all to fit, but expose fixes that anyway.

 

[joebonthuys]

My 13" has become my main machine over the past 2 years, the screen only becomes a problem when I have 20million things open at once and I want it all to fit, but expose fixes that anyway.

Same tbh but dont know much about Expose tbh