The New MacBook Air
Comments
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Kevin A. Purcell said:
Learning a new OS is a little frustrating.
Kevin, in 1998, I switched from Windows to the Mac based on my frustration with PowerPoint 97 constantly crashing in Windows98--both fresh installs on a brand new computer. I read somewhere that PowerPoint for the Mac was much more stable than PowerPoint for Windows. That made no sense to me, but I switched, and sure enough it was. Of course, the Mac users who told me Macs NEVER crashed had lied. I did find the Mac OS to be more stable than Windows (still do), but it had challenges of its own.
Anyway, I remember feeling the same frustration that you described above. I had been a PC user since the DOS days. In fact I knew (and still fairly well know) my way around a DOS prompt pretty well. I'd been using Windows since v. 3.0, back when you had to add Adobe Type Manager to get smooth looking typeface on a printer (TrueType fonts didn't come for two years later with Windows 3.1). And after I switched to the Mac, I remember thinking to myself one day, I wonder if I'll ever know the Mac as well as I know Windows?
It was easy to have buyers remorse at first. Of course, switching back was not an option. The Macintosh "Wallstreet II" PowerBook I bought cost a mindboggling $4800 (in 1998 money, no less!). I sold a year old Dell, which was my home computer; a brand new Compaq (I actually sold it for the same price I bought it--amazing) which was the computer I was using at the church where I worked); a Toshiba laptop that was a couple of years old that I used in classes I was taking at the time; and all my Windows software. I had to sell all of that to afford the PowerBook and brand new equivalents in Mac software of all the Windows software I'd been using before. This meant that I was going from three Windows computers, all of which got a lot of use, to ONE Mac.
And then, just as I was starting to get a good feel for the Mac, Apple completely switched the OS three years later with OS X. And it was a truly a new OS since OS X was Nextstep with a new interface, tweaked to run on PowerPC processors. It was confusing all over again.
And OS X was dog slow in the early days, but it looked so pretty that every time I tried going back to OS 9, I felt like I was using "yesterday's OS" much the way I always felt when I'd sit down at a Windows machine after first switching to the Mac (Windows looked so "industrialized" [cant' think of a better word] in those days). In fact, I don't think the speed in OS X really ever matched the speed of OS 9 on a PowerMac G4 until Apple switched from PowerPC processors to Intel processors. Really.
I'm quite content now, over a decade later. The Mac has really come into its own. I was sitting at a McAllister's earlier tonight grading papers. There was an older couple sitting at another booth. I'd say they were somewhere in their sixties. She whispered to her husband, "Look, he's got an 'Apple'" (you can always tell the Windows users because they'll call them "Apples" instead of "Macs). I looked up, and she could tell that I'd heard her. So, I said, "I highly recommend them. I've been using Apple computers [I called them this instead of "Mac" because I was speaking to the uninitiated] since 1998. I don't have to endlessly configure it. If I plug something into it, I don't have to download drivers or install anything. It's stable, and I run absolutely no virus software at all." She turned to her husband and said, "That's what you have to buy me."
And of course, the nice thing about having a Mac is that you can still run Windows. It's the best of both possible worlds. I've used all the emulation software, going back to VirtualPC before the switch to Intel processors. I've used VMWare and Parallels (preferring Parallels of the two, but they leapfrog each other in features). But in the last six months, I've used Bootcamp alone, and that's been the best solution for me when I occasionally need Windows. I RARELY have to run Windows anymore, and I could probably do without it entirely, but I do like to keep up with the other half. I occasionally fire up Windows 7 in bootcamp to demonstrate something in Word 2010 as a formatting lesson for my students, but that's about the extent of it. I don't have a need to run Windows apps side by side Mac apps anymore like some do.
But 12 years later, I know I made the right choice. If you're really into computers like I am, and I know you are, Kevin, it's not an easy thing to really commit to switching platforms (and I assume you haven't completely switched as I doubt you'd commit to exclusive use of only a MacBook Air). But I stuck it out even when it wasn't easy or comfortable. When I didn't know how to do something on the Mac that I was used to doing in Windows, I figured it out. I've got no regrets.
As they say, "Once you go Mac"--say it with me--"you never go back!"
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Agree.
Mac is so user friendly and Windows is so universal. So, the ability to run both Windows and Mac OS X on the Mac really make it a killer computer. The only drawback is that Mac is so expensive compare to a PC with similar spec.
So, I am actually having a one year plan to gradually shift towards Mac.
By the way, you mentioned running Word in Windows, why don't you run it in Mac? You can even run the Windows version software directly on Mac OS X (which is another reason I want to shift to Mac) through WINE. And there is a free package using WINE engine - WineBottler. For more information, look at this. Not all but most common Windows program can work through WINE. With WINE, you can truly never go back.
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Kolen Cheung said:
By the way, you mentioned running Word in Windows, why don't you run it in Mac? You can even run the Windows version software directly on Mac OS X (which is another reason I want to shift to Mac) through WINE. And there is a free package using WINE engine - WineBottler. For more information, look at this. Not all but most common Windows program can work through WINE. With WINE, you can truly never go back.
I do run Word on the Mac. I upgraded to Word 2011 a few days ago. I've been up all night grading papers in Word 2011/Mac.
I said that I demonstrate formatting issues in Word 2010 to my students. I do that in Windows because most of them have Windows machines. If I try to demonstrate in the Mac version of Word, it's just different enough to throw them. The new Mac version of Word is much close to the Windows version than previous incarnations, but it still does not allow me to guide them through things like steps for creating headers which is in their handbook. Since they're using Word for Windows, I show it to them in Word for Windows.
Bootcamp allows me to do this easily enough. I don't need WINE. I actually have used WINE. It's more trouble than I want to invest. Bootcamp does everything I need.
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Great. Can you tell me more about your experience on WINE?
Thanks.0 -
Not much to tell. It had to be continually tweaked, and it often would not allow 100% compatibility with the newest software. And I don't have any reason to use it.
I actually still have the Crossover implementation of WINE installed to allow me to quickly convert a few of my very old Word v. 2 for Windows documents (Word 97/Win will convert these), but I don't have to use it all that much.
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I switched back in May with the new MBP refresh. I've never looked back, at all. I've always been an Office fan and I even nipped that in the bud. I use iWork and I am quite satisfied; however, I am being forced to buy Office for Mac 2011 because my college is going to require it for my 111 Intro to Computers which is required and I've been avoiding for a year now. I thought about just using my wife's laptop for that class and I just couldn't bring myself to it.
On the Crash issue. Since May, I've had one single crash whereas I had to reboot the machine. If I were on Windows, there's no telling how many times this would've happened.
Wilson Hines
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Kolen Cheung said:
The only drawback is that Mac is so expensive compare to a PC with similar spec.
Recent Mac Daily News has entry "The critics are losing the Apple price argument" => http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/27248/ (seems lightweight notebooks comparable to new MacBook Air cost more)
After owning 27" iMac with Quad Core i7 for several months, was helping a friend shop for a Windows desktop computer (quick purchase needed for class exercises) - found a good buy for friend at CostCo. Also noted that replacing my 27" iMac and external display with a new Windows desktop computer (same i7 CPU) and external monitor would be more expensive than I had already paid. Apple offers least expensive high resolution display comparable to 27" iMac's 2560 x 1440 => http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC007LL/A
Observation: many months after iPad available for purchase, yet to see less expensive competitor (do remember several rumors swirling last Spring - reading products planned) - like iPad for reading Logos books - looking forward to Logos application improvements.
Wilson Hines said:however, I am being forced to buy Office for Mac 2011 because my college is going to require it for my 111 Intro to Computers which is required and I've been avoiding for a year now.
Wonder if Open Office could be used to satisfy Intro to Computers class - Open Office freely available cross platform like Logos 4. Living and learning - Open Office has an interoperability project for Visual Basic for Applications => http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/VBA
Keep Smiling [:)]
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Michael Ballai said:
Anyone looking to buy an Air should read this first:
http://www.marco.org/1361316116
Very astute comments.
Concur - found article with New MacBook Air tear down => http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Air-11-Inch-Model-A1370-Teardown/3745/1
Computer Geek fascination: mSATA SSD for storage (potentially upgradeable). Noticed memory surface mounted on both sides of logic board - hence build to order with maximum Ram probably good idea.
Keep Smiling [:)]
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Kolen Cheung said:
The only drawback is that Mac is so expensive compare to a PC with similar spec.
Wilson Hines said:however, I am being forced to buy Office for Mac 2011 because my college is going to require it for my 111 Intro to Computers which is required and I've been avoiding for a year now.
Wonder if Open Office could be used to satisfy Intro to Computers class - Open Office freely available cross platform like Logos 4. Living and learning - Open Office has an interoperability project for Visual Basic for Applications => http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/VBA
Keep Smiling
The problem I have with using Open Office is the class is on Windows Vista and Office 2007, so they want you to be able to perform certain tasks within the OS and such. I am seriously considering doing the unthinkable and using Parallels and installing Windows 7 (I refuse to install Vista) and then Office 2010. My sister just went through this class and said she didn't skip a beat with 7 and 2010.
I will get brutal here and admit after seeing some video on Office Mac 2011 I was actually impressed. I heard the BIG DEAL for the programmers was speed and simplicity. It sounds like they took some sugar lumps from the OSX UI guide, which is great. I like the layers feature, too.
I don't know what I'm going to do. Probably whatever is cheaper, as I have a full license for 7 and a full license for Office 2010, both which are not tied to a machine (OEM license).
Who knows.
Wilson Hines
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Wilson Hines said:
I am seriously considering doing the unthinkable and using Parallels and installing Windows 7 (I refuse to install Vista) ... Probably whatever is cheaper, as I have a full license for 7 and a full license for Office 2010, both which are not tied to a machine (OEM license).
Oracle's VirtualBox is a free alternative to Parallels (does require virtual machine to be powered off to make setting changes).
Concur Windows 7 (version 6.1) is better than Vista (version 6.0), but can be bit frustrating at times - recently installed Logitech driver for 64 bit Windows 7 (on Dell laptop) - annoying USB mouse stutter with external Logitech trackball seems to have disappeared.
One advantage of the unthinkable is using Logos 4 in virtual machine since some PC features not yet exposed in Mac version (e.g. create shortcut for named layout). Personally like ability to compare Logos 4 Mac and PC Beta versions - as easy as switching applications - like seeing future features for Mac (e.g. exporting/printing, sentence diagramming) - primarily use Logos 4 Mac.
Keep Smiling [:)]
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Update? I would like to see what you think now of the speed of the macbook air (using logos 4) after you have been using it for a little while
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Strangely I'm posting on my Windows desktop. But today is the first day I have used my PC extensively since getting the MBA.
1. The MBA is a GREAT computer. I love this thing. So light and despite the specs very fast. My only frustration is the storage space. 128GB is hard to deal with when I'm used to having a 1TB drive on my desktop and a 500GB drive on my notebook. But the display is beautiful and the resolution is great. I can get a lot of stuff on the screen. Now that I've been running OS X for 5 straight days I am getting the hang of it. Still some things that are second nature to me are hard to do because I have to think about it, but I'm getting there. I had a chance to compare my MBA to a MB Pro running a Core i5 and 4GB of Ram and because the MB Pro was running a typical hard drive, my MBA was actually a tiny bit more responsive.
2. Logos on MBA is pretty good. I just updated to the latest beta. It seems more responsive the the SR that I had. Just ran a Passage Guide on three versus and it found all the commentary results in 20 secs. Same passage Exegetical guide was much faster and with everything open. Start up is also faster than previous. release. Compared to Windows? Don't have firm numbers, but just counting in my head things are at least as fast and somtimes faster. My Exegetical Guide took 8 seconds on Mac and 10 on Windows. My Passage guide to 20 seconds on Mac and 20 second on PC just to give me the first set of commentaries. Add another 20 seconds when I ask it to get rest. A search of the entire library for grace for some reason didn't find as many results on my Mac as it did on my PC even though I show exactly same book count on each.
So, my initial results are that I am very impressed and the better display makes Logos on the new MBA a win over the PC side. The new beta doesn't have all the features. My initial look is where is the sentence diagrammer. Have to wait again for it if I'm going to use the MBA for study. But I sort of got used to doing that in Word, so will have to do that still on MBA. Do we have a time frame for when it might be added?
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
Kevin, I can testify that the thing just never slows down. It won't get faster either, but we expect that much. LOL.
I just rebooted mine today for the first time since July.
Wilson Hines
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Kevin A. Purcell said:
My only frustration is the storage space. 128GB is hard to deal with when I'm used to having a 1TB drive on my desktop and a 500GB drive on my notebook.
Kevin, glad you're having a good experience on the Mac so far.
I hear you on the hard drive issue. I have a 2008 MacBook Pro. It came with a 320 GB hard drive that I replaced with a 500 GB hard drive. A couple of months ago, I removed the optical drive, and after buying a bracket from OWC, I placed the original 320 in the space where the optical drive originally set. I moved my entire iTunes library to the second drive since that folder alone is about 260 GB currently. I now have 194 GB free on the 500, so there's plenty of breathing room.
I carry lots of data, and I've wondered myself how I could possibly get by with one of the new MacBook Airs unless it's simply a secondary laptop--which I absolutely don't need thanks to the iPad.
However, I'm interested to see what Apple is going to do with the massive data center they've built in North Carolina. One rumor is that they are going to offer to stream all of your iTunes media as you need it. So you wouldn't have to keep your iTunes music, videos, etc. on your local hard drive unless you just wanted to.
Another rumor is that MobileMe is going to be beefed up to allow members to keep hundreds of gigabytes of their data in their iDisk. And some rumors have suggested this is going to move to be a free service.
Regardless how the rumors shake out, they do seem to be a bit credible in the sense that a move to flash memory in the MBAs (and presumably other MacBooks down the road) is going to mean smaller drives for the time being until not only flash drive sizes increase, but also come down in price.
Now if I could have my iPad, plus a light and quick MacBook Air that's as capable as everyone is saying it is AND have the ability to plug the Air into a large LCD monitor and connect to an bluetooth keyboard and mouse/trackpad--well, that's about all the computer power I think I'd need. I love the freedom of "small and light."
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Where in NC is the Apple facility? I should go for a visit.
I am hoping that they do offer streaming music subscription. I'd also like a Mobile Me account, but 100 bucks for something Google does for free is insane.
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
Colleagues
This is just to say thank you. As someone who uses Logos 4 but is pretty ignorant of the computing side of things, your comments have been really helpful to me in trying to decided whether Logos 4 would run reasonably well on the new 11.6 inch MacBook Air.
It is also really nice to read a blog which has constructive disagreement, a sense of humour but no vituperation.
So thanks.
Martin
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Martin Stanisstreet said:
It is also really nice to read a blog which has constructive disagreement, a sense of humour but no vituperation.
But you didn't give me chance to comment yet!
tootle pip
Mike
Now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs. Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS
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Kevin A. Purcell said:
Where in NC is the Apple facility? I should go for a visit.
Kevin, it's in Maiden, NC. It's massive--larger than a lot of shopping malls. And rumors are already swirling that they may double the size of it even though it's not even operational yet. Apple has acknowledged its existence, but has made no announcement as to its actual purpose. Something BIG is in the works, one way or another. I think it shows what a company can do when it had tens of billions of crash reserves in the bank.
Kevin A. Purcell said:I am hoping that they do offer streaming music subscription. I'd also like a Mobile Me account, but 100 bucks for something Google does for free is insane.
Well, the cheapest way to get MobileMe is to get it through Amazon. I just checked, and they have it for $58.
It's nice because I can get on any computer (Windows or Mac)--even in a guest account--add in my MobileMe credentials and instantly, all my calendar, contacts, email accounts (any accounts I have--even ones from other sources), and web browser bookmarks are instantly added to the local applications on that computer. Plus, I have access to 20 GB of offline storage through iDisk, an email account with unlimited aliases, photo and video gallery, and more.
I realize most of these services can be pieced together separately, but it's nice having one account for all of it.
I got my account on the day it was announced in January, 2000, when it was at first free and called iTools. I've kept it through the .Mac stage (hence my email address--that .Mac address is now unobtainable to new users) and now into MobileMe.
I'd like to see them offer it for free again, but even if they don't, as long as I can get it discounted through Amazon, I think it's a pretty good deal.
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R. Mansfield said:
It's nice because I can get on any computer (Windows or Mac)--even in a guest account--add in my MobileMe credentials and instantly, all my calendar, contacts, email accounts (any accounts I have--even ones from other sources), and web browser bookmarks are instantly added to the local applications on that computer. Plus, I have access to 20 GB of offline storage through iDisk, an email account with unlimited aliases, photo and video gallery, and more.
I should add that the above functionality also extends to my iPad and iPhone. Adding my MobileMe information on these devices keep them all synced. It's really quite handy.
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Kevin, I'm with you on the issue of storage. After reading some more reviews and your feedback on the MBA I think it is a viable alternative for those who want portability in a true computing platform but the storage capacity of the SSD drives is like taking a step backwards after being used to 500+ GB drives. It's almost like you'd have to dedicate this to one application and manage the storage.
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My solution for storage is going to be to put a 1TB drive in my computer bag. I carry a sleeve with the MBA most of the time, but I have a larger bag to carry peripherals when I need them. I will not keep much on the compute itself except for most needed files. I am putting my iTunes/docs/pix etc on the 1TB drive.
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
Kevin A. Purcell said:
My solution for storage is going to be to put a 1TB drive in my computer bag. I carry a sleeve with the MBA most of the time, but I have a larger bag to carry peripherals when I need them. I will not keep much on the compute itself except for most needed files. I am putting my iTunes/docs/pix etc on the 1TB drive.
Kevin, I am really thinking of getting the new MBA, I am wondering if you have anything to add since your last update. My main concern is Logos, it is my main purpose for a laptop. How do you find it for a main machine?
I have a white MB 3,1, 2 ghz (dual-core) 144mb of video and 4gb of ram.... I am trying to gauge if the MBA would be equivalent.....
I know it would be better to get a pro, but I covet the MBA [^o)]
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Mike Tourangeau said:Kevin A. Purcell said:
My solution for storage is going to be to put a 1TB drive in my computer bag. I carry a sleeve with the MBA most of the time, but I have a larger bag to carry peripherals when I need them. I will not keep much on the compute itself except for most needed files. I am putting my iTunes/docs/pix etc on the 1TB drive.
Kevin, I am really thinking of getting the new MBA, I am wondering if you have anything to add since your last update. My main concern is Logos, it is my main purpose for a laptop. How do you find it for a main machine?
I have a white MB 3,1, 2 ghz (dual-core) 144mb of video and 4gb of ram.... I am trying to gauge if the MBA would be equivalent.....
I know it would be better to get a pro, but I covet the MBA
I'm not Kevin as you can see, but I have a four month old MBP 13" here and I swear I would swap mine for a 13" MBA with that SSD! BTW, I have 4 GB of RAM and mine is fine on Logos. About the only thing I would miss on the MBA is the aluminum unibody.
Wilson Hines
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