Mac Hardware and Software |OT| - All things Macintosh
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Diprosalic
Banned
wow just tested out my new MBA and pushed it a bit, the fan gets really damn loud.
polyh3dron
Banned
Tedesco! said:
Leona Lewis
Banned
Yeah, the thing sounds like a jet engine when I play Sims 3 on it. And it can become a pretty effective lap warmer, too. But compared to the MBP which goes overdrive on a dime, it's positively blissful.Diprosalic said:
opticalmace
Member
Does anyone have a ballpark of when ivy bridge MBPs (or MB airs) might arrive? I'm guessing I would have to wait until ~Q4 2012?
edit: or maybe sooner than that? http://www.macrumors.com/2011/05/30/intel-outlines-ivy-bridge-roadmap-as-1st-half-2012-and-previews-ultrabook-laptop-designs/
edit: or maybe sooner than that? http://www.macrumors.com/2011/05/30/intel-outlines-ivy-bridge-roadmap-as-1st-half-2012-and-previews-ultrabook-laptop-designs/
polyh3dron
Banned
Keynote. Get it as part of the iWork suite along with Pages and Numbers.Malleymal said:
Bboy AJ
My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Got my MBA 11 today. Some beefs with it:
The bezel is fucking huge. Who thought of this? It should have been slimmed down, along with the outer keyboard. The laptop's footprint would have been smaller without sacrificing anything. Well, the internals probably needed shrinking, too, (ifixit to the rescue) so hopefully this comes in the future. Small laptops are great because of small footprints. It's the footprint that counts.
My Vaio TZ is still superior in the size sense. The bezel is thin, the laptop is thin, it's super light, looks great. And it still has an optical drive. Not that I care for optical drives, I'm just saying the TZ does it well and still has room for that. It did sacrifice with a smaller keyboard. I'd buy my TZ all over again if it had OSX and updated internals and the Apple touchpad.
If there had to be a massive bezel, why not make it black like the MBPs?
I got the LG display and SSD
It's not as fast as I was expecting. Still fast, though.
Overall, pretty happy but not completely blown away. I should have gotten an ethernet adaptor for free, too. Some hotels don't have wifi.
The bezel is fucking huge. Who thought of this? It should have been slimmed down, along with the outer keyboard. The laptop's footprint would have been smaller without sacrificing anything. Well, the internals probably needed shrinking, too, (ifixit to the rescue) so hopefully this comes in the future. Small laptops are great because of small footprints. It's the footprint that counts.
My Vaio TZ is still superior in the size sense. The bezel is thin, the laptop is thin, it's super light, looks great. And it still has an optical drive. Not that I care for optical drives, I'm just saying the TZ does it well and still has room for that. It did sacrifice with a smaller keyboard. I'd buy my TZ all over again if it had OSX and updated internals and the Apple touchpad.
If there had to be a massive bezel, why not make it black like the MBPs?
I got the LG display and SSD
It's not as fast as I was expecting. Still fast, though.
Overall, pretty happy but not completely blown away. I should have gotten an ethernet adaptor for free, too. Some hotels don't have wifi.
Leona Lewis
Banned
I've tried both. They're almost exactly the same performance-wise, but the 11-inch is a real knockout. Super portable, but still more than up to the challenge of being a primary computer (at least for me). Lion has made the 11-inch even more apt for this role.Y2Kev said:
The 13-inch Air has the same footprint as the 13-inch Pro, which after using the 11-inch just feels bulky. It's still really light, but it's not in the same ballpark as far as portability goes. It wins out majorly in battery life and screen resolution though, and it has an SD card slot, so if those technical concerns outweigh the overall experience of what an "Air" laptop should be, I'd go with the 13-inch.
I wouldn't even consider the 13-inch Pro. The lower-end model uses the same graphics as the Air (only higher-clocked), and once you go SSD and <1.5kg, you can't go back.
sweetvar26
Member
I got a question, how the fuck does my battery health go to 96% already on my two week old 2011 13' MBA? I don't leave it plugged all the time either. I use it till the battery drops to around 15% and recharge it fully before I unplug it. I am on my 14th cycle right now.
However between the 11' and the 13' Air, it is your call, depending on what you use it for.
All the three notebooks have Intel HD Graphics which gets you through regular but shit for gaming anyways.
I got the 13' MBA 2011 and I like it.
I have been browsing for about the past hour and my Air is spinning around 1990rpm average?Squire Felix said:
Unless you need a CD drive, I think the 13' MBA is a safer bet considering how they have the same performance. Not to mention that the 13' Air have the better resolution of the two.Y2Kev said:
However between the 11' and the 13' Air, it is your call, depending on what you use it for.
All the three notebooks have Intel HD Graphics which gets you through regular but shit for gaming anyways.
I got the 13' MBA 2011 and I like it.
sweetvar26
Member
Y2Kev said:
I can't handle low resolutions either, guess we are on the same boat and you already know your answer
Nert said:
yea I am familiar with that program, I was talking more along the lines of a person coming to my school and I have an iPad on my desk. they tell me that they are interested in Criminal justice and then I open up one presentation to a slide that has all the majors we offer and I touch criminal justice and it goes directly to that slide. something like that. sorry if it is confusing.
It wasn't fucking big enough vertically to see shit. Goddamn, HP. I should know better than to have purchased something from that company's shriveled up anus.sweetvar26 said:I can't handle low resolutions either, guess we are on the same boat and you already know your answer
sweetvar26 said:I can't handle low resolutions either, guess we are on the same boat and you already know your answer
Yep. The 11" is so vertically challenged that I've taken to rotating my MBA to portrait when I need to do some reading. I wouldn't recommend an 11" unless you only need to use it as a laptop while travelling in cramped quarters.Y2Kev said:
opticalmace
Member
I'd pick the MBA 13 for display resolution alone.Y2Kev said:
Strange that the 11" doesn't use 1280x800. 16:10 is so much better than 16:9 at low resolutions.
I don't think that's ever going to happen. Our entire school uses Macs and our teachers use the DVD drive on a daily basis to play various DVDs. SSDs with a capacity of 500GB wouldn't make any sense, either.
MercuryLS said:
I don't think that's ever going to happen. Our entire school uses Macs and our teachers use the DVD drive on a daily basis to play various DVDs. SSDs with a capacity of 500GB wouldn't make any sense, either.
Benjamin1981
Member
MercuryLS said:
Will probably all happen with the next update. But certainly not this year.
I'll be getting my first Mac ever later this month and I've been pondering the same questions myself.Y2Kev said:
At first I was thinking about the 11" Macbook Air but the 128GB model wasn't that much cheaper than the 13" and then I figured that getting the extra battery life and built-in card reader (I use SD cards a lot) would be worth the added "bulk" - if there's even such a thing on an Air. I've been comparing the two in an Mac store nearby and the 13" Air is still pretty tiny.
Then I thought to myself, if I'm getting a 13" maybe it'll be worth it getting a 13" Macbook Pro instead? It'll be a bit thicker but I'll get the extra performance to boost, right? As it turns out that doesn't really appear to be the case. Sure you get a faster CPU with the Pro but that's not as important for me personally, what I did find interesting here is that you're getting the same Intel HD Graphics 3000 with the Pro model, but you're actually getting a lower resolution screen and with the SSD the Air might actually feel faster in a lot of cases despite the slower CPU.
My question is, what's "Pro" about the 13" Macbook Pro? For me it's a lot less appealing than the new 13" Macbook Air. Obviously you might feel differently but this was my line of reasoning at least.
Right now I'm trying to decide if the 256 GB model is worth the extra money, should I go all out and get the i7 model or is the i5 good enough for me? Decisions! D:
sweetvar26
Member
Posted this few posts above but I think it got covered up, anyway -
I got a question, how the fuck does my battery health go to 96% already on my two week old 2011 13' MBA? I don't leave it plugged all the time either. I use it till the battery drops to around 15% and recharge it fully before I unplug it. I am on my 14th cycle right now.
I got a question, how the fuck does my battery health go to 96% already on my two week old 2011 13' MBA? I don't leave it plugged all the time either. I use it till the battery drops to around 15% and recharge it fully before I unplug it. I am on my 14th cycle right now.
opticalmace
Member
Anandtech has good articles about the new MBA. In particular, they have 2 reviews. One is a normal MBA review. The second is a follow-up in which they benchmark the i7 upgrade. I would highly suggest reading both of those if you haven't already. I could find the links if you have trouble.Lee N said:
I too am looking into the 11" vs. the 13". My biggest concern though is the SSD and the display's. I really don't want to end up with the crappy ones.
Anyway, I know this is not Mac-specific, but I want to install Windows 7 in Boot Camp. What is the smallest partition size recommended? I don't need it to be huge. I won't be installing too much on it. Mainly small games I can't play on OS X and don't run fast enough in Parallels. But I only have a 128GB SSD to partition with. Right now I have 37GB free. But 12GB is used up by a Windows 7 Virtual Machine from Parallels. I want to change over to an actual install that I can boot from when needed so it's more like 50GB free once I delete the VM. Obviously I don't want to make it so small that I end up regretting it, but too big that I run out of space for OS X.
Anyway, I know this is not Mac-specific, but I want to install Windows 7 in Boot Camp. What is the smallest partition size recommended? I don't need it to be huge. I won't be installing too much on it. Mainly small games I can't play on OS X and don't run fast enough in Parallels. But I only have a 128GB SSD to partition with. Right now I have 37GB free. But 12GB is used up by a Windows 7 Virtual Machine from Parallels. I want to change over to an actual install that I can boot from when needed so it's more like 50GB free once I delete the VM. Obviously I don't want to make it so small that I end up regretting it, but too big that I run out of space for OS X.
Oh I've seen the numbers already but they're just that, numbers. Will it make a difference for me?opticalmace said:
I'm fine with my Asus Eee 1201n for the most part and it's much slower than the i5 13" MBA. It chugs a bit in Adobe Lightroom that's one of the biggest reasons I'm picking up a new computer, that and I really want a Mac. Will the i7 make a big difference in Aperture or will the i5 be more than enough?
One question though, what does a clean install of Lion weigh in terms of storage? Roughly how much space is available to the user on that 128GB SSD in the MBA?
Y2Kev said:
11" is no netbook. Same resolution as most high street 15" laptops - 1366x768. Not fantastic, but not 1024x600...
the 13" has the same resolution as the 15" MBP - 1440x900.
With fullscreen (or just hide the dock) the 11" should be very usable. And if your iMac is your main computer the 11" sounds perfect. Full size keyboard, but the trackpad is slightly smaller.
I have the 13" as its my main computer, and coming from a 2008 15" MBP its very familiar - same backlit keyboard, same screen resolution, but feels a lot faster and battery lasts massively longer.
I got the 256GB as its not a huge bump in cost compared to what a 256GB SSD would cost you to buy separately. and future proofs me. Although its probably overkill as my media is all on a NAS and I plan to use my mac mini as my iTunes 'wifi sync' machine.
I also accidentally bought the i7 as the guy bought the wrong machine down. But general impressions seem to be that you don't need the i7. I'd probably be happy with the i5/128, opting for the 256 if you really feel uncomfortable with 128GB or like to keep a lot of content locally on your machine
opticalmace
Member
Stat Flow said:
From what I've read they are likely to disappear, being replaced by the MBA.
i.e. they might be end of life.
edit: actually they're no longer listed on the apple site... the regular macbook is no more.
(assuming you mean the normal macbook, not the pro)
Lee N said:
i5 more than enough. The speed of the SSD will really help with day to day usage. the 13" MBA benchmarks roughly on par with 2010 MBPs.
My MBA is a few weeks old now, and I have 40GB used out of 256GB.
11GB is my documents (photos, dropbox etc)
7.7GB is the var folder (4GB for sleep image)
6GB apps folder (probably around 3GB not including the apps I installed)
5G Library folder (most of which is photoshop elements and garageband support files)
2.6GB for the system folder (of which 500MB is speech, might look at removing that)
so out of the box maybe 20GB?
polyh3dron
Banned
Yeah if you want to get a monitor for your MBP, get the goddam 27" Thunderbolt display. The thing has a cable that plugs right into your Magsafe power connector, it also has FW800, USB 2.0 and all that shit for ports, plus it has the HD FaceTime camera. Nothing else comes close to it in value and usability.
I'm probably going to be getting a MBA to replace my 2006 MBP and as a stopgap until the new Mac Pros come out and will be getting a Thunderbolt display for sure for it to act as a desktop computer when I have it at home.
I'm probably going to be getting a MBA to replace my 2006 MBP and as a stopgap until the new Mac Pros come out and will be getting a Thunderbolt display for sure for it to act as a desktop computer when I have it at home.
CrudeDiatribe
Member
I saw your first post. Don't have a good answer. How do you know the life is only 96%?sweetvar26 said:
Give it a while and if it doesn't seem to be holding a decent charge for a battery that's supposed to go 1000 cycles before degraded performance, call AppleCare.
opticalmace
Member
ah my bad, misread itStat Flow said:
sweetvar26
Member
CrudeDiatribe said:
There is third party software like "Coconut Battery" or widgets like "iStat".
Both of them are pointing at 96%, I am sure it was higher than that on day one and it is going down gradually.
I knew it will at some point but not that quick considering I bought mine around July the 23rd, so three weeks so far?
I have a fall 2010 MacBook Air. It has a Nvidia 300M card.
The integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 in the 2011 MacBook Air is weaker in 3D performance? I know the actual CPU cores are much faster.
PS! (Y2KEV) I would have bought a 13" now, the 11" I bought last fall is just a bit too small I have discovered. The frame surrounding the 13" screen is smaller this year as well it seems so both machines are almost the same size.
The integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 in the 2011 MacBook Air is weaker in 3D performance? I know the actual CPU cores are much faster.
PS! (Y2KEV) I would have bought a 13" now, the 11" I bought last fall is just a bit too small I have discovered. The frame surrounding the 13" screen is smaller this year as well it seems so both machines are almost the same size.