The New MacBook Air
Comments
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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
How to get logs and post them.(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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