New Macbook Air

[MediumTex]

Has anyone gotten a new Macbook Air?

I'm just curious about how anyone who has one is liking it.

[t-bear52]

I ordered the very morning they became available. Got the 13 inch.
Unbelievable how fast the solid state drive is. Great battery life. Fan creates a very small amount of noise only when streaming video full screen. Otherwise absolutely silent.

My first computer was Mac SE vintage 1986 or so. This is my first Mac since then. The transition from Windows was very easy and the one on one help program is fantastic. I took intro free one hour class at local Apple Store.

I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Jerrico just played great!! Thanks for the heads up MT!!

[MediumTex]

I ordered the very morning they became available. Got the 13 inch.
Unbelievable how fast the solid state drive is. Great battery life. Fan creates a very small amount of noise only when streaming video full screen. Otherwise absolutely silent.

My first computer was Mac SE vintage 1986 or so. This is my first Mac since then. The transition from Windows was very easy and the one on one help program is fantastic. I took intro free one hour class at local Apple Store.

I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Jerrico just played great!! Thanks for the heads up MT!!

128 or 256 hard drive?

I don't think the bigger hard drive is worth $300 more.  What do you think?

[Gumby]

I ordered the very morning they became available. Got the 13 inch.
Unbelievable how fast the solid state drive is. Great battery life. Fan creates a very small amount of noise only when streaming video full screen. Otherwise absolutely silent.

My first computer was Mac SE vintage 1986 or so. This is my first Mac since then. The transition from Windows was very easy and the one on one help program is fantastic. I took intro free one hour class at local Apple Store.

I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Jerrico just played great!! Thanks for the heads up MT!!

Solid State Drives are terrific. Incredibly fast. As much as I want a new Mac, I opted to replace my boot drive with an SSD instead for less than $100. Saved a bunch of money and now my old 2008 MBP is screaming fast. The only problem is I still wish I had a MacBook Air!

[Gumby]

128 or 256 hard drive?

I don't think the bigger hard drive is worth $300 more.  What do you think?

It's fair. SSDs are very expensive technology right now. It's going to take a few years for the price to come down to Earth.

[t-bear52]

I got the 128 which was plenty. My old laptop was only 60 and wasn't even half full.
I don't have a huge iTunes collection or video collection. You can always keep this on RHD if you have such.

The processors combined with SSD make the new MacAirs performance numbers better than the some of the current MBP's per cultofmac.com and macrumors.com

Lighted keyboard is nice option to have when it's lights out and the family is all sleeping! lol

It's fast, quiet, sleek, and great form factor.

You do pay the "Cool Factor" however.

[Storm]

I'm amazed at how well Macs hold their resale value.  My wife and I are selling her old MacBook on eBay right now.  It is over 3 years old, and needs a new battery, yet it is still selling for around $400 (new price was $1199).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/230665814864

No 3 year old PC with a dead battery would ever be able to demand 33% of the new retail price.  I am told that if the battery held a charge, the price would be around $650.  What consumer electronics item can demand 55% of it's retail price 3 years later on resale?

People say Macs are expensive, but I'm convinced that they are actually less expensive than a PC if you upgrade every 2-3 years and resell your older model in decent condition.

edit:  Just sold for $461!  3.5 year old computer with a dead battery is still worth 38.5% of it's retail price.  Unbelievable.

[SmallPotatoes]

Macs are a great product, and a great investment as they do have a high resale value in any condition.

I like the Air, but won't buy it.  I think a table would be just as good, perhaps better in some cases, and I have a MacBook Pro for portability.  Also, SSD it too expensive.  Go with a hybrid SSD+HDD like the Seagate Momentus XT. 

[Storm]

Macs are a great product, and a great investment as they do have a high resale value in any condition.

I like the Air, but won't buy it.  I think a table would be just as good, perhaps better in some cases, and I have a MacBook Pro for portability.  Also, SSD it too expensive.  Go with a hybrid SSD+HDD like the Seagate Momentus XT. 

SmallPotatoes, great point.  SSDs are really too expensive right now to be affordable.  The newest Intel chipset, Sandy Bridge, has the capability of an on-board SSD cache to accelerate hard disk access.  This is truly transparent of operating system and will increase the speed of your most frequently loaded programs, while still allowing you to have a large 1TB drive or so.  Unfortunately it is only currently available on the high-end desktop motherboards.

In the next year or so, look for this technology to trickle down to the laptop and portable space.  I would love to buy a MacBook Air with a 16GB SSD cache and a 500GB or 1TB drive.  Unfortunately I know from experience that I need more than 100-200GB of space on my drive.  I fill it up too quickly and hate running out of room.

The SSD/HD hybrid gives you the best of both worlds - your programs load fast, while you have tons of space.

[Indices]

Too expensive. I am buying a Mac Mini for home use with cheap HD monitor and then if I need a computer for travel will buy a cheap netbook. I fully agree that Macs are superior but the prices are in Mercedes territory mostly. And buying a used computer does not ensure that the previous user's metadata is still not on it somewhere.

[gizmo_rat]

Too expensive.

Strangely enough I read yesterday that Intel are subsidizing the R&D for a non Apple Air or "Ultra book" because none of the existing manufacturers can produce anything close at that price point.

http://arst.ch/qrz

So maybe over spec'ed for a travel netbook but not it seems over priced.

[Gumby]

So maybe over spec'ed for a travel netbook but not it seems over priced.

I would agree. Not overpriced for what it comes with. Not "cheap" either. They are fairly priced.

[Storm]

Too expensive. I am buying a Mac Mini for home use with cheap HD monitor and then if I need a computer for travel will buy a cheap netbook. I fully agree that Macs are superior but the prices are in Mercedes territory mostly. And buying a used computer does not ensure that the previous user's metadata is still not on it somewhere.

You get what you pay for.  The MacBook Air has high quality components and great design and manufacturing processes.  The netbooks are cheap plastic with the lowest cost parts they can find.

If you break it down by cost minus resale value, the Macs are still a great deal, even compared to a Netbook.  Which would you rather have?

$999 MacBook Air - used for 2 years and sold for $700 on the resale market.  Cost of ownership $150/yr.

-or- $299 Netbook - used for 2 years and worth almost nothing on the resale market.

You still paid $150 a year for the Netbook, but you got an inferior machine.  Perhaps you can get 3 years of use out of a netbook, but I highly doubt it.  Most netbooks only come with 1GB of RAM which doesn't even meet the Windows 7 minimum requirement.

If you compare resale value with a 2-3 year purchase to upgrade cycle, Macs usually come out ahead of PCs.

[MediumTex]

I picked up a 13 inch Macbook Air with the 128GB hard drive a few days ago.

This is an absolutely amazing machine. 

I was replacing a 6 year old Dell laptop, so anything would have been a huge improvement, but the combination of form/function with this machine is quite impressive.

When I got home with it, my wife promptly got Mac fever (and she normally doesn't care about electronic items in the least) and the next day I went back and got her one just like mine.  I even put the second one on credit, which I almost never do for anything (12 months no interest).

The July 2011 refresh of these machines was just right--faster processor, backlit keyboard, etc. 

The $1,299 I paid for this machine is about the same amount (or less) that I have paid for most of the computers I have purchased over the last 20 years.  From my perspective, I am getting a LOT for that price.

I have had an ipad for about a year, and I never noticed how much waiting I did with a typical computer until I got used to the ipad, after which it became annoying any time I had to get out my laptop.  With the Macbook Air, I feel like I have ipad-like convenience (instant-on, flash memory, compact, lightweight, long battery life) along with the range of functionality that a laptop computer provides.

[InfoOverload]

After reading the Life Hacks posts I was thinking about starting a post on items that have been worth the money.

I was going to place the MacBook Air on that list.  We have the 11 in model, and now no one even uses the iPad (which I would now place on the not worth the money list).

Enjoy

[craigr]

I have the iPad and 15" MacBook Pro. I use the iPad, but will upgrade next time to the MacBook Air most likely. The touch screen on the iPad is convenient, but a more laptop function is very useful considering the form factors are almost the same between the two.

[Gumby]

and now no one even uses the iPad (which I would now place on the not worth the money list).

Have you seen this?...

CBS - 60 Minutes: Apps for Autism

It's absolutely amazing how the iPad has changed those children's lives.

[MediumTex]

I wanted to provide an update on my Macbook Air.

I have had it about two months now and I am very pleased with my decision to go with this machine.

It's very Ipad-like in its overall operation, though with the power of a fully functional computer.

Good battery life, quick processor, plenty of memory for me (4GB RAM and 128GB hard drive), and beautiful screen (13 inch).

My overall impression is one of refinement and a tool that is well-matched to the things I need it to do.

No complaints.

I happen to have gotten a new Windows-based work laptop at about the same time that I got the Macbook Air and I have them side by side a lot.  It's just incredible how different the design philosophies are between these two machines.

[Storm]

I happen to have gotten a new Windows-based work laptop at about the same time that I got the Macbook Air and I have them side by side a lot.  It's just incredible how different the design philosophies are between these two machines.

I would personally be very interested in hearing the differences you've noticed.  I have a high end Dell precision workstation laptop for work and I've noticed that despite the quad core processor and 8GB of RAM, it's huge (weighs about 10 pounds) and has many more problems on a daily basis than my Macbook.

I notice a lot of little things, like the fact that Windows allows popup windows to steal focus while I'm typing a message, where a Mac would never allow a popup window to steal focus (it merely bounces in the dock).  It's the little things that let me know the designers of the Mac respect me as a human being, rather than as a mere "user" who should just shut up and use the computer the way they decided.

[AdamA]

I have a Macbook Air as well.  I love it. 

Do you guys use any special security programs for you Macs?

[MediumTex]

I happen to have gotten a new Windows-based work laptop at about the same time that I got the Macbook Air and I have them side by side a lot.  It's just incredible how different the design philosophies are between these two machines.

I would personally be very interested in hearing the differences you've noticed.  I have a high end Dell precision workstation laptop for work and I've noticed that despite the quad core processor and 8GB of RAM, it's huge (weighs about 10 pounds) and has many more problems on a daily basis than my Macbook.

I notice a lot of little things, like the fact that Windows allows popup windows to steal focus while I'm typing a message, where a Mac would never allow a popup window to steal focus (it merely bounces in the dock).  It's the little things that let me know the designers of the Mac respect me as a human being, rather than as a mere "user" who should just shut up and use the computer the way they decided.

My first Macintosh was purchased around 1990 and it was a Mac SE.  After working on PCs up to that time (the 386 and 486 models were the state of the art back then as I recall).  After messing around with PCs, I found the Mac to just be a breath of fresh air.  It seemed designed to allow the user to focus on the work the machine could do, rather than trying to keep the machine in good working order. 

When I compare the Macbook Air to the latest PC laptops it's the same kind of feeling.  With the Macbook Air I just feel free to focus on the work I want to do with the computer.  Its processor is fast enough to allow me to forget about processor speeds.  The battery lasts long enough for me to forget about the battery life.  The operating system functions smoothly enough that I don't need to think about crashes, viruses, etc.  The screen is large enough, bright enough and clear enough that I don't need to think about the display or be frustrated by it.

When using the machine, I am not asked to think about or make decisions regarding the function of the machine itself.  No need to constantly review alerts, warnings, error messages, and generally feel a heightened sense that something could malfunction at any moment.

In car terms, it's the difference between taking a drive through the mountains in a new BMW rather than a used Oldsmobile.  In the BMW, you can enjoy the driving experience while also losing yourself in your surroundings.  In the Oldsmobile, you are potentially going to be far more preoccupied with the proper functioning of the car itself so that it becomes much harder to enjoy either the driving experience or the beauty of the surroundings.

Overall, it's a really elegant machine that mates form and function impressively.

I bought my wife one at the same time and she is also enjoying hers, but for somewhat different reasons.  She just wants a machine that works without the user having to be familiar with elaborate troubleshooting methods.  For someone who doesn't know all the little tricks to keep a PC running smoothly, even a minor PC problem can shut them down.  I find that she never complains about the function of the Macbook Air, while her PC used to be the source of endless frustration.

Returning to the comparison of my new work laptop with my Macbook Air, the work laptop looks like something that the Soviet Union might have turned out at the peak of its technical prowess, while the Macbook Air looks like something that might be recovered from the crash site of an alien spacecraft.