flyinghaggis Posted February 3, 2011 Posted February 3, 2011 I've been contemplating getting myself a new laptop as I've been getting frustrated with the display quality, battery life and weight of my current 14" model. Initially I'd been planning on getting a lightweight ultraportable 11-12" model. Possibly something like a Dell M101Z or an Asus ePC 12" for around £500. I guess my main criteria was for something as light as possible , 4 hour+ battery life, NO CD drive and around an 11/12" screen with resolution of at least 1366x768 (I can't stand the 1024x600 you get on a lot of netbooks!). I know it's a bit of a jump up in price but I've noticed that you can get a MacBook Air 11" for around £800. I've never owned a Mac before but having had a play with one in the store for a bit last week it struck me as being exactly what I was looking for in an ultraportable laptop. Has anyone on here had a chance to play with one at work or own one? If so how are you finding it?
EduTech Posted February 3, 2011 Posted February 3, 2011 My Colleague has a Macbook Air and he loves it! He too never owned a mac prior to this but finds it perfect for what he wants his laptop for, browsing the internet, working on documents etc. I own a Macbook Pro myself now (2 weeks old) and i too never touched a mac prior to this and i am finding it going well to be honest, and i run parallels on mine so i can do the windows stuff nice to have a change, some things have annoyed the hell out of me but getting used to it now. James.
FN-GM Posted February 3, 2011 Posted February 3, 2011 My Colleague has a Macbook Air and he loves it! He too never owned a mac prior to this but finds it perfect for what he wants his laptop for, browsing the internet, working on documents etc. I own a Macbook Pro myself now (2 weeks old) and i too never touched a mac prior to this and i am finding it going well to be honest, and i run parallels on mine so i can do the windows stuff nice to have a change, some things have annoyed the hell out of me but getting used to it now. James. Have a try of VMware fusion i found it better than parallels
EduTech Posted February 3, 2011 Posted February 3, 2011 Have a try of VMware fusion i found it better than parallels Yeah, you are not the only person that has said that to be honest and i will when i get chance, for now it does what i need.
mb2k01 Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 I have the new Macbook Air and after about 3 months of trying to achieve decent video projects results in CS4 (and ultimately finding my £300 home PC was far more reliable for video editing in CS4) I was disallousioned.... Everything I wanted to throw at the Mac was either too difficult and needed extra programmes / fiddly configuration or just didn't work (remember I was using idential software on both PC and Mac here - Mac's which are mean to be the professional platform of choice for media?!) All of this was until..... I decided to put Win 7 on the Macbook Air! I can't comment highly enough on how much better this makes the experience of using the hardware. Rather than Parellels I actually installed Windows via Boot Camp and have set it to boot to Windows rather than the Mac OS!
jcollings Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 A friend of mine has just bought one and loves it too. I've setup VMware to run Win 7 as well for her and personally I think it's a lovely bit of kit - very good build quality etc. If I had spare cash and needed a lightweight machine I think I'd buy one.
Robbocop Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 Apple's entire computing proposition is centred on the user experience. Admittedly they are very very good at design too, and the Air is a truly gorgeous piece of kit. But the Apple OS is the real jewel because it feels so human and so cooperative. So while I totally understand that users might need to install Windows as well, so that they can run the applications they need, I think it defeats the object of buying a Mac if you're just going to hate the OS and install Windows as your main operating system, as our friend the Microsoft Certified Trainer and Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator above is recommending. I can't imagine why he's saying that.
flyinghaggis Posted February 4, 2011 Author Posted February 4, 2011 (edited) I'm not really bothered about whether or not I get on with OSX though having used it in the store it seemed OK. Some nice features (the multi-touch gestures on the touchpad are awesome) and some not so nice (no native full screen mode in most apps!). I'll definitely be installing boot camp on the thing to run Windows7 alongside it so I can pick whichever one suits me best though. Just wondered what everyone thought of the hardware itself really? The only real downside to it at the momoent that I can see is that it's got a Core2Duo processor whereas I'd prefer an i3. Having said that a lot of ultrportable's have atom/Neo CPU's so in the scheme of things it's actually not too bad. Edited February 4, 2011 by flyinghaggis
mb2k01 Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 I think it defeats the object of buying a Mac if you're just going to hate the OS and install Windows as your main operating system, as our friend the Microsoft Certified Trainer and Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator above is recommending. I can't imagine why he's saying that. If you read my original post carefully you may have understood. As I said, I purchased a Macbook Air - that means I wanted the decent build quality and footprint + wanted the OS. If I didn't want the OS I would have not used it for 3 months before changing it. The reason for mentioning Win7 running on it in the first place was the connection to the OP stating that they had never used a Mac before - I was letting them know they didn't have to compromise on OS if what they really prefer is the device itself. If anything, the fact that I mentioned using Bootcamp (so keeping the Mac OS on the device as well as Windows) shows that it isn't 'defeating the object'. If I want to use the iLife suite or something like that, I still can. For me however, Win7 on the Mac just makes sense - the hardware is able to run it, it gives me all of the benefits of the device without restricting myself to one OS.
Robbocop Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 MB2K01: No offence intended I assure you. I really wouldn't expect an MCT to own a computer which didn't have Windows on it, and I'm not criticising that choice. I misunderstood that you were also still using OS X and I'm glad you agree that some of the Apple applications are useful. Of course, Apple would be disappointed that you choose to boot into W7 rather than OS X, but I'm sure that the wad of cash you gave them for the Macbook will help them get over it OS is and should be a matter of personal choice, you are quite right. As for the Macbook Air itself - I think they are a good choice for someone who wants a light, highly specified and inherently very reliable laptop. 1
Domino Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 Has anyone on here had a chance to play with one at work or own one? If so how are you finding it? See all the videos from BETT? they were edited down on my MBA 11" :-) Its a great little tool- fantastically light and portable, the touchpad is great and all round very well made. I've used OSX for years so not any issues that direction - and I'm definitely not putting windoze on it. The SSD makes a huge difference in the speed of the thing. So much so I'm considering putting one in my iMac too...
Sylv3r Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 I went for the 13" version and love it for portability etc. In hindsight now I probably would have gone for the 11" version as after seeing it in the shop it's not too small for everyday use.
tech_guy Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 I had the use of one for a couple of months at the end of last year and was blown away by how perfect it was. I experienced none of the display issues that have been reported. I use an iPad for most of my own personal IT needs now so I can't really justify getting one for myself (Mrs. Tech_Guy would kill me anyway if I did). However, my daughter doesn't know it yet but I'm getting her one for when she goes to uni in September. Despite being very thin it's a rugged machine and I think it'll stand up to being carted around quite well compared to the Toshiba she currently has.
flyinghaggis Posted February 4, 2011 Author Posted February 4, 2011 Been having a look and I guess if I was to buy one the I'd be looking at the 11" model with a 128GB SSD and 4Gb RAM. The sticker price for this on the Apple site with educational discount (which as far as i can see i should qualify for as school staff) is, a somewhat intimidating, £1035 Is this the best place to buy it from or would anywhere else be cheaper?
flyinghaggis Posted February 4, 2011 Author Posted February 4, 2011 (edited) All of this was until..... I decided to put Win 7 on the Macbook Air! ..... I take it Windows7 works OK on the Macbook Air 11 and has working drivers for all of the hardware devices (audio/webcam//touchpad/etc) ? Is there anything that doesn't work as expected? Edited February 4, 2011 by flyinghaggis
mb2k01 Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 I take it Windows7 works OK on the Macbook Air 11 and has working drivers for all of the hardware devices (audio/webcam//touchpad/etc) ? Is there anything that doesn't work as expected? The way I did it was via Bootcamp which downloads a driver pack for you to save to a USB disk which can then be used once Windows is up and installed. It also installs the Bootcam client on Windows so you can access and tweak setting (like tap to click) from the tray, or right-click it and ask it to reboot to Mac OS. All nice and seemless. Everything works fine and dandy.
Dave_H Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 Just so long you are aware of a few pitfalls. There is no built in ethernet port. You can buy an adapter that can be connected via the USB port. But there is only one USB port. And obviously there is no built in optical drive. A portable optical drive would need to be used. If you can deal without these then yes, i agree, a lovely looking piece of kit if getting used for surfing the net, running VMWare, office documents. For using more processor intensive applications however you might be better to look at a macbook pro?
EduTech Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 Only one USB port? Mine has two... Yeah, I thought they had two I guess if you wanted to use USB Ethernet and USB Optical Drive you'd be shafted for anything else but to be honest most places i go now have wireless! and i haven't used a Optical Drive for ages
flyinghaggis Posted February 14, 2011 Author Posted February 14, 2011 (edited) Just as an FYI for anyone think about getting one it's looking like there may be a Macbook Air 'sandy bridge' refresh far sooner than expected :- Sandy Bridge MacBook Airs inbound ? reghardware I didn't think we'd see one this year given it was only released Oct' 2010. Having said that it's not necessarily all good news as though the i3 processor will undoubtedly be better I suspect the current Nvidia 320 GPU may be better than the Intel integrated GPU that replaces it. Edited February 14, 2011 by flyinghaggis
RBrooks Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 I think the 11 inch screen is just too small. The 13 inch is perfect and still very portable. A downside to the Macbook Air, however, is that there is no included CD drive.
flyinghaggis Posted February 15, 2011 Author Posted February 15, 2011 (edited) I think the 11 inch screen is just too small. The 13 inch is perfect and still very portable. A downside to the Macbook Air, however, is that there is no included CD drive. I actually think 11-12" is the perfect "sweet-spot" for portable laptops. Big enough so that you can have a decent resolution (1368x768), full size keyboard and regular sized trackpad but small enough so it can easily be picked up, chucked in a backpack or put into a bag. The problem I have with the 13" model is that to me it looks like a regular 13" laptop, but slightly thinner, whereas the 11" model is in a league all of its own when it comes to portability/function. But then everyone has their own idea of what makes the perfect laptop! Mind you it can't be all that perfect because I still haven't bought one yet and probably wont until either the price drops or they announce the i3 CPU version.There aint no way I'm buying one now if the upgraded one is literally out in 4 months time as rumours seem to imply Edited February 15, 2011 by flyinghaggis
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