The New MacBook Air
Comments
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I finally got it downloaded and installed. Took about 5 hours to download on a fast 10MB/sec cable connection.
It is now indexing and says 8 hours left. So if it is like Windows, indexing is causing a real slow down of the system. If that doesn't happen on the Mac version, then I am really worried. It is very slow right now. Takes about 2-3 seconds to respond to a mouse click.
That said, it looks good. the 1440x900 screen gives me a lot of room to work with. I am going to olike that compared to my previousl 1280x800 HP.
I'll post more after indexing is done.
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
No worries, that is totally normal and it will speed up once if finishes indexing. Quite annoying in the mean time though, definitely.
www.darinallen.org
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Hi guys. I was following quite closely on the MBA performance review and just realized that it does not support Apple Remote (MBA does not have Infrared Receiver)... is really a draw back for me since I need to do plenty of presentation.
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GET a USB pointer can fix it!
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An USB pointer surely can fix it but I already own an Apple Remote...
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Actually, if you plan to use a remote a lot, a USB solution might not be your best answer.
My wife uses the original MacBook Air for speaking at conferences. Now, I don't know if this is an issue with the new models, but we've found is that if the MacBook Air is too close to some projectors (especially Epson projectors like the one we own), the projector interferes with the MacBook Air's trackpad. You essentially cannot control the the pointer, even to start a slideshow. If you're shelling out of the slideshow for demonstrations, this causes even more problems. This is a known issue with the original MacBook Air. Apple claims it's improper shielding in the wiring of some projectors. This may be true, but I don't have the same problem when using the same projectors with my MacBook Pro.
Now if you can move the MacBook Air far enough away from the projector, none of this matters. But if you regularly speak in different settings, you know that you don't always have this kind of freedom.
Therefore, the solution we've worked out for my wife is to use an external USB mouse. That works fine, but obviously, if you're wanting to use a USB-based remote, you can see the immediate problem--the MacBook Air has only one USB port. Yes, there are USB hubs, but you'll find that they usually require an external power source when used with the MacBook Air. Then you'd have a hub and yet another cord connected to your Air.
I agree that it's a bit shortsighted on Apple's part not to allow use of their own remote with the Air. My wife uses hers all the time. How would you even use Front Row without a remote? Well, you'd have to use the keyboard, but that kinds kills the fun of hooking up the Air to the TV to watch videos.
I think the best solution is going to be a Bluetooth remote to use with the Air, but you're going to have to make certain it works with Keynote (or PowerPoint if that's your preference) before you buy.
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If you have an iPhone, use that as a pointer.
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Kolen Cheung said:
If you have an iPhone, use that as a pointer.
This works great if you can get both devices on the same wifi network. I often use my iPad to direct a Keynote presentation on my MacBook Pro. I can walk around a room and even have my presenter notes showing on the iPad.
However, there are lots of places where you cannot get on a wifi network. My wife speaks in a lot of schools. In most schools, the local wifi networks are controlled by the county and they don't allow outside devices to get on the network. So, it works great when you can use it, but you cannot depend on it as a final solution.
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Create an ac hoc network between your iDevice and the computer. Search achoc network in the web will have the instruction on how to do it.
The place that I get WiFi actually blocks the other access in the network, including the file sharing between my computer and the iPad. So, I have been using ac hoc since the first day I use iPad and I have no problem on it.
It will be fast, by the way. Ac hoc reduce time lag too.0 -
It's worth mentioning that you can bet a Macbook Pro with flash memory - which I believe enables instant on. With the Pro, you can get that faster processor, and probably the most important thing is more screen real-estate. It's not that much bulkier than an Air if you're going to be taking it in your bag anyway. I just don't see a compelling case for the Air. I like my processor fast, and I like to have an optical drive.
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Then that is not for you. MBA is for portability and instant on.
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Kolen Cheung said:
Then that is not for you. MBA is for portability and instant on.
Agreed. If there was no such thing as an iPad, I'd be all over the 11" MBA. I don't know if I'll ever get one, but my wife loves hers and I'm certain she would stick with the Air and get one of the new ones if she had to replace her current Air. She likes it for the exact reason that it's so light. She complains about the heft of my MacBook Pro every time she has to use it.
But I'll tell you the real advantage of the MacBook Pro in my opinion--it's not the optical drive. It's the fact that you can remove the optical drive and replace it with a second SATA hard drive. That's what I did. I now have two hard drives in my MacBook Pro. I rarely need an optical drive, but when I do, I stream it over the network. It's great having so much free space. I have a 500 GB 7200 RPM hard drive as my main drive and a 350 GB 7200 (which was the original drive that came with my MBP) as a secondary drive.
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R. Mansfield said:
you can remove the optical drive and replace it with a second SATA hard drive
You should get a flash drive then. Though that still won't allow you to have instant on, but then loading Logos should be much faster. For about a hundred dollars you can get a 64 GB, which should be enough for the Logos4.
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I keep my iTunes library on the second drive. It's about 256 GB right now. I don't think a Flash drive could handle it :-)
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Any progress, Kevin? If it has finished indexing, I would be very interested to hear how Logos Mac is performing for you.
www.darinallen.org
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It finished the initial indexing. But it seems to index every time I start the application or restart the computer. Doesn't talke long now, but really annoying.
When it is not indexing it runs great. No lag except where there always was lag on Windows (notes with more than a line). I haven't had time to do too much as I am still getting things set up.
Learning a new OS is a little frustrating.
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
On a trip in UA right now, will gladly do some videos once get back to the US. Let me know what is it that you want and I'll record it for you.
Truth Reformed Bible Church, Colorado USA
Teaching Elder.
Evangelist, currently preaching in Ukraine
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Kevin A. Purcell said:Dennis Miller said:
Why not just get a regular Macbook pro with a faster processor and larger memory and storage capacity for about the same price. Is having to wait a minute or so for the thing to boot really that big of a deal to settle for something less?
As Ben said, Portability. I have a thick and heavy HP and it weights about 6 lbs. I have to carry the power adapter too since it dies after about 3-4 hours. Pretty good, but not 7 like the 13-inch. So now I'm going to carry around my iPad and my notebook and they will weigh less than my HP combined.
If you don't want portability, then definitely don't go MBA.
In regards to portability, I have the 13" MBPro that came out in the last refresh in May. Before that, I had a Gateway Win 7 computer that weighed over 10 lbs. This computer is so light compared to anything else (other than the Air) it's just ridicules.
As far as speed is concerned: I know the MBA has a slightly slower processor, but with the performance of a friend of mines Air with a SSD I would gladfully accept the 13" Air even over my 13" MBPro. That SSD makes up for the 200 MHz slower processor - no question in my mind.
Wilson Hines
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I had to meet up with a friend over at the local mall on Monday, so I got there early to take a look at the MacBook Air in the Apple Store. It's rather nice and easy to type on, the screen resolution is outstanding, and I must say I was very impressed with it. I still think it would be a bear to work with for an extended time for L4M because I am spoiled rotten by my 22 inch monitor and still yearn for something bigger.
The mind of man is the mill of God, not to grind chaff, but wheat. Thomas Manton | Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are shallow. Richard Baxter
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Wilson Hines said:
As far as speed is concerned: I know the MBA has a slightly slower processor, but with the performance of a friend of mines Air with a SSD I would gladfully accept the 13" Air even over my 13" MBPro. That SSD makes up for the 200 MHz slower processor - no question in my mind.
I've never used another MB until yesterday I was in Best Buy and played around with the fastest, most powerful system they had. And mine is faster on some tasks and just as fast on others. That one had a Core i5 processor but only a 5400 rpm hard drive.
In my experience with Logos, it handles almost everything with aplomb, except notes. Notes was a problem on Windows too. It does seem slightly more sluggish in Mac than on Windows. But as someone said that is because the Mac version is slightly behind the Windows version in optimization.
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
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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