I have two and they are generally great. I got a maxed out Core Duo 2.13 version which I used for a trip around the world and it was flawless. Based on this I upgraded two years later to a Core i7 model maxed out at 2.0Ghz & 500GB SSD & 8GB RAM. This machine died two weeks after getting it. That was a nightmare. New logic board was needed. Then I get the machine back and it's unreliable, crashing all the time. So, another new logic board had to go in. You can imagine now that everything is soldered to the motherboard (apart from SSD) I racked up thousands of dollars in repair, and time, let alone frustration and time wasted fixing things. Since then however - it has been ok. But I have been so stung by the issues it has taken months for me to trust it.
So I am typing this on the machine now - plugged in to a 27inch monitor it's pushing a large number of pixels easily and not a hint of fan noise even using multiple apps. The older machine suffered from that a lot.
Working with GameSalad on the laptop screen is fine. It's quite spacious for a small machine with high resolution. I am of course talking about the 13 inch version.
I don't want to scare you off by my nightmare stories. I am sure a small percent of devices do have issues from any batch.
Generally these machines pack a punch for something so small and the brand new one has epic battery life.
No issues using GameSalad with an Air. I have been doing it for nearly a year now - and that is mostly on my older version.
The newest version released at WWDC is really nice, friends have been raving about battery life - plus it's bumped up with speed enhancements and better colour rendition too.
Hard to fault it. Unless you want retina display graphics.
Totally portable. A joy to use.
I am a graphic designer too so that means Photoshop / Indesign / Flash etc. all work fast and no lag with Adobe CC apps.
Mine is dual boot Mountain Lion and Windows 7.
Would definitely recommend one
Cheers.
tenrdrmerMember, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-ChefPosts: 9,934
Why on earth have you racked up any billed on that THing. Apple should be replacing those parts if it is failing that Quickly.
My wife has a 2011 Air and it has never given her a bit of trouble. I hate the idea of no dvd drive so I have not been able to go that route but they are definitely solid machines.
@tenrdrmer you can have remote dvd drives that the macbook air can connect to if you have another machine with a dvd drive. Or you can buy a really cheap dvd drive to plugin to the air.
tenrdrmerMember, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-ChefPosts: 9,934
@tenrdrmer you can have remote dvd drives that the macbook air can connect to if you have another machine with a dvd drive. Or you can buy a really cheap dvd drive to plugin to the air.
Yes I know. its very annoying to have my wife using my dvd drive from her air. and external drives are so yuk. not to mention incredibly inconvenient when on the go. Ij just stick to my MacBook pro with a nice SSD its basically as fast and does everything I need.
If you want a lot of space go for HDD if you don't need a lot of space but want a lot of speed, go for SSD. Basically 128-256 GB (very fast) vs 512GB-1 TB (normal speeds). This also effects boot time of the computer, the macbook air loads in like 10 seconds as opposed to 45 seconds or longer.
tenrdrmerMember, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-ChefPosts: 9,934
Try a couple minutes on my old hdd vs about 20 seconds after I upgraded.
And to be clear the only reason it's better to go with a hdd for more storage space is the cost. You can get a couple TBs for the cost of a 256gb ssd
But the ssd improved everything when I upgraded. Far bigger of an upgrade than maxing out the ram.
@tenrdrmer Under warranty of course - but you get to see the costs on service forms. Sorry if I did not make that clear. Apple probably spent $5000 US fixing my laptop. Two complete motherboard replacements on a 2.0 i7 with 8 GB Ram. Here in New Zealand things are more expensive too so the costs add up. I was just saying the costs involved to repair due to this single board soldered hardware. And further to that my time wasted really sucked. All good now tho
SSD is the only way to go now. I have one in my desktop windows machine (256GB Samsung) with a 3TB drive for storage.
Comments
So I am typing this on the machine now - plugged in to a 27inch monitor it's pushing a large number of pixels easily and not a hint of fan noise even using multiple apps. The older machine suffered from that a lot.
Working with GameSalad on the laptop screen is fine. It's quite spacious for a small machine with high resolution. I am of course talking about the 13 inch version.
I don't want to scare you off by my nightmare stories. I am sure a small percent of devices do have issues from any batch.
Generally these machines pack a punch for something so small and the brand new one has epic battery life.
No issues using GameSalad with an Air. I have been doing it for nearly a year now
The newest version released at WWDC is really nice, friends have been raving about battery life - plus it's bumped up with speed enhancements and better colour rendition too.
Hard to fault it. Unless you want retina display graphics.
Totally portable. A joy to use.
I am a graphic designer too so that means Photoshop / Indesign / Flash etc. all work fast and no lag with Adobe CC apps.
Mine is dual boot Mountain Lion and Windows 7.
Would definitely recommend one
Cheers.
My wife has a 2011 Air and it has never given her a bit of trouble. I hate the idea of no dvd drive so I have not been able to go that route but they are definitely solid machines.
And to be clear the only reason it's better to go with a hdd for more storage space is the cost. You can get a couple TBs for the cost of a 256gb ssd
But the ssd improved everything when I upgraded. Far bigger of an upgrade than maxing out the ram.
SSD is the only way to go now. I have one in my desktop windows machine (256GB Samsung) with a 3TB drive for storage.