MacBook Air :: High End 2.13GHz Machine With The Solid State HD?
Jul 10, 2010
I threw in with the air. I've been a big MacBook pro and iMac user from way back, but a few days ago I finally did what I've always wanted to do, I bought an Air! The things holding me back were price and the lack of updates from Apple. But you know what? After using this machine for three days I can honestly say it is the best laptop I have ever used. I don't even know why I ever used a pro. I got the high end 2.13GHz machine with the solid state HD. So quiet (silent). So light. Amazing machine and I can never go back to using a pro. Can't wait to see what Apple have in line for the Air in the future too! The coolest thing though is that its not quite mainstream. Not like the Pro anyway. I get looks! Oh yeah, us Air users are legit.
I am going to get the 13'' MBP, i7, 8gb unit. The question I have is that should I stick with the standard hard drive that comse with the unit (750 GB), or should I upgrade to the solid state drive (desiring 256 gb)?
1. What are the advantages to a solid state?
2. Is it worth the money (trying to stay under $2000 with shipping and taxes)
On my current macbook I have a 250 GB HDD, and I have only used about 100 GB. Size is not the biggest issue, more about speed for me. I am a speed junkie, and I want my computer to perform to it's highest ability. I don't use any heavy intense application, or I am not a computer gamer. Although I know that these are the primary uses, I want the computer I am going to buy to last me several years and to maintain its speed when I use application. I also highly doubt I will use any where close to 200 gb.
I was wondering if it is possible to update to a solid state drive without having to give up a kidney through Apple.
I found a 64GB solid state drive for $140 from an online store. Does the Air need a special hard drive, or any generic one will do? And if any of you have a solid state drive what is your experience with it?
Mac and wondering to get 128 Solid State or not? For those that bought it, do you regret spending money, was it as good of an improvement as you thought?
For those that didn't buy it, do you regret and went ahead and did it on your own? This will be replacing my desctop, it will be used for everything, but not work just for everything and anything
I just purchased a 128 gig Solid State Drive at frys the other day $299. I read a bunch of reviews on SSDs but never pulled the trigger because of the cost.
If anyone is on the fence go out and buy one today, the speed difference is huge. My 17 MBP is wicked fast now! Bootup times are 1-3x faster. Applications load in a flash, no more spinning beach ball. I hit pages and shazam, it's open and ready.
Anyhow, installation was a breeze, cloned drive, had to remove a bunch of stuff because i downgraded from a 500 internal to a ssd. Im not looking at replacing my SuperDrive with a regular HD to reclaim the space, ill keep music, videos and such on that.
So, it's a good buy. Just wonder what upgrading to 8 gigs of ram will do for me now. I'll let you all know next month.
Have another thread on the go regarding fluid leaking from my white MacBook. Exploring avenues outside of the mac itself now. Apple want it taken to the an apple store for immediate inspection but warned I could end up being charged for repairs due to accidental liquid damage, although I didn't damage the machine. No liquid was place around or near the machine. This was a chemical liquid. could the solid state drive installed in the machine have leaked and caused this problem? If its still under warranty and has damaged my whole computer could they be liable to repair or replace this machine? All answer gratefully received.
I am considering putting a SSD in my June 2009 13" MBP. Is there any certain ones that work more easily on the macs?
Any quick useful advice anyone can give me first before buying and what to look for? I'm thinking I'd like to get a 256gb one but not sure. I'd like to find one that isn't going to break the bank but I know they're expensive, and I'm just looking for the best buy.
I have 1st generation MBA 1.6 with 80 gig HD. (Which now I have to sell) I bought the new MB when it was released earlier this month. I found it to be a very responsive machine but took it back for either a pro with a great resolution or wait for the new MBA. I decided to get another air. I really love the weight of the machine.
Now the help I need is to (1) get the 1.6 which speed right now I find good or get the 1.8 Ghz. then the big question . . .
(2) get the SATA hard drive or spend the bucks and get the Solid State. I hear the start up time is very quick on the Solid State, but it's slower on writing to disk. I use this machine on the road when working with customers and use File Maker Pro mostly when in that situation. I am a novice compared to what I see on here so I'm asking all y'all mac experts....what would you do?
Iv had my macbook pro for probably a little bit under two years, I bought it when i started college and I am currently finishing my second year. I cannot complain about the performance at all as I have it upgraded to a solid state hard drive and 4GB of ram and the machine is a beast but some physical aspects of it do bother me a little bit. When living in the dorms last year it was hard to keep the machine in top shape especially when I had no idea where my desk was under the pile of GROSS in the room :P, thankfully I live in an apartment now.Anyways the problem that bothers me the most is the monitor hinge. I have seen this on a few laptops after a few years but basically when the LCD is open i can tap it lightly from behind and it will shake in a way it did not when it was first bought. It seems like it is a bit lose either right around the LCD or in the hinge area. I do not mind spending a few bucks and I am very good with my hands and computers in general, currently studying engineering, so I do not mind opening it up and doing some tweaks. Is there anything i can buy to improve this with or tutorial I can read on improving it? I would imagine this is a problem that would affect alot of people with this model of macbooks and as I never really did anything to cause this.
I know, I know the video uses Vista as the base OS (so forgive me) but if it is that fast on windows, imagine a Mac Pro with a similar configuration...whoa, baby!
2 GB/sec transfer rate 0.5 sec to load MS office at once 18.5 sec to load 54 apps at once 0.5 sec to rip a 700mb file.
I'm looking at getting a Mac Pro (but will likely wait about 4 more weeks to see if a new one comes out...you never know!!) and am looking at my options. Basically what I want to know is, if I was to put a solid state drive (say 64GB) in for OS X, then stick say a couple of 1TB SATA drives for apps/docs, would there be a noticeable speed difference in the OS? Obviously docs and apps are still coming from a physical drive, so there wouldn't be an improvement from that perspective, but in general would the OS be faster? If so, would this be a very noticeable speed difference or minimal?
I am thinking of getting a new iMac and would like to know the whys and wherefores of a solid state drive. The one that is sold with the iMac is 250 gig. Does that mean it's storage capacity is lower than a normal 1TB hard drive?
Info: iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2), Early 2009. 20 inch
I'm looking at the specs page for the MacBook Pro and it reads this...
Your MacBook Pro comes standard with a 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive. Choose a hard drive with a faster speed for greater performance. Or you can choose a solid-state drive that offers enhanced durability.
Basically suggesting that the HDD option has a performance advantage over the SSD, but is this the case? I always thought SSDs could read & write quicker because they use solid-state flash memory as opposed to hard disks.
I want to go with the 256GB SSD but I want to know how it ranks in speed.
I have a relatively new Mac Pro with a 320gb sata system drive. I'm giving some thought to getting a SSD and making it my system drive for booting and applications (including Photoshop CS4), and using the 320gb drive to store photos and videos.
I just lost a lot of pictures and not sure what happen. I am looking for ways to restore the system to an earlier state. I did not setup Time Machine to begin with. I know I could do a system restore with windows but i am not sure if there is such a thing with MAC without using Time Machine.
My White iMac 24" won't boot up anymore.I noticed he was running slow lately and in the browser he crashed regularly so I need to reboot.Using the power button I have to shut him down and reboot again, only, the last time, he refused to boot up.Instead I got a solid black screen, and a solid white power light at the front... When booting the only thing I hear is a little buzz and then, nothing... Several support forums said this wasn't very good and it might be the last breath of my iMac. Trying a few things, hoping they would bring him back to life couldn't help:
- Power on with "c" kept down
- power on with control+option+p+r was something I read
I'm just wondering why there is no option for 13" 1.86/128 to 2.13/128. Only 256 SSD model can be upgraded to 2.13. Apple thinks that they just don't want same option as rev c.? I think that's not fair to who just want only 128SSD for 2.13Ghz. 256SSD would great for everybody but I'm just the one who save extra $300.
When I read the weblogs about Apple's announcement about the new MacBook Airs and wanted one immediately.I've always been a Windows guy. Except from 2002-to late 2006ish, technically. I bought the new dual core quicksilver power g4 mac when it came out in 02.
I had my problems with the mac then. They released their first version of OSX and it could dual boot with OS 9.But I always kept a windows desktop handy just in case and back then not a lot of programs were compatible, I used it mainly for its photoshop/final cut prowess.I've been building my own computers since I tore one apart in my dads office when I was in..the 3rd grade.
Anyways, prior to this I used to have a Sony Vaio but before that I bought the Adamo 13 when it first came out. I went through 7 Adamos because the logic board they custom made was pretty ****ed up. I still have one sitting in its box that I have to send to Dell so they can repair it but after 7 I kind of lost the heart to send in another, and thats why I bought the Vaio in March of this year.
Here is a review if you would like to read but I just wanted to reiterate what most people have been saying that this is a beautiful computer that can handle its own share of programs. Especially the resolution on this computer makes it worth it than any other 13 inch computers.FYI, I use this machine mainly for Windows 7.hen I first bought it I wrestled with reinstalling mac osx and windows 7 like over 10 times to get it right.
Finally I settled on running Mac with only 15 gbs and using the rest for Windows. This avoids the long boot up into windows directly after completely deleting the Mac partition.I don't know if people were more successful than I am but I went through 5 usb sticks to make them bootable but the mac didnt read them so I used an SD card and made it bootable and it worked.The screenIs extremely bright compared to my Vaio and Adamo. The Adamo was bright but I believe this to be significantly brighter albeit the Vaio was a matte screen instead of a glossy one. The extra screen real estate is always welcomed, prior to this I was looking at the Envy but from what found out they removed the option of having a higher resolution screen so I stopped looking there. It's to the point where I can still use the computer on the lowest and I mean lowest like only one away from off and still use it and sometimes the screen is too bright for me. The whites make me squint my eyes. But the display is gorgeous overall.
ALSO I love that they TOOK OUT the BLACK BEZEL. I would have gotten the macbook pro 15s maybe a year ago if they didnt have the black bezels but finally it is not black. I thought the black bezels were ugly as with the keys on a SILVER computer, would be find if the whole computer was dark but yeah. I can manage just black keys and the silver bezel.The keyboardis slightly disappointing because of the lack of backlight on the keys.Also since I am using it as a Windows computer the change in the keys are hard to get used to but I used SharpKeys to change the registry on the keys for options and alt and have added page up/down, home and delete keys by using the f8-f10 keys and have worked for me.
People might flame me for buying a mac and installing windows but I am willing to make a compromise for a better built (in my opinion), thinner and cooler looking computer.So for the most part, the keyboard is ok but loses points on the backlight and I am not marking points off for the orientation because it was my decision to use Windows on it.The fanis loud, when youre running windows 7. But to be fair it is not as loud when youre running Mac. It's loud enough to hear and notice on windows boot. For the most part the computer doesnt get too hot or anywhere near as hot as the macbook pros I have used that my friends have. Not a big deal.The graphicsseem to be ok. The bench marks are up there so you can read those. All I do is play Starcraft 2, pokerstars and watch movies.Most movies are fine but mine had trouble playing the mkv versions of 1080p movies. Anything below that runs well without a hiccup and you can do multiple things at once. The fan will kick in though.The speakersI love. On ultraportable computers the speakers literally suck @$$ and I know because I've used the Adamo and heard some others while shopping. While the BASS is not that great, the macbook air is EXTREMELY loud. For some reason though, the maximum seems louder on windows that in mac. And the most important of all it doesnt sound TINY. Its hard to explain this but its loud and decently full sounding. Most of the time I use my ultrasone or sennheiser headphones but when I get tired and just want to use the computer, its still adequate and fufillingly(?) loud. I never knew that the sound was coming out of the speakers. I think its truly genius.The touchpadworks well in mac. Too well to the point I am jealous because on the Windows it's a bit stuttery. I do not know why because it is not a hardware issue. I guess its the windows drivers that Apple gives us. But thankfully there is a right click there. To be honest though it is too far to the right and too far on the bottom given the size of the trackpad. But I am still thankful there is a right click at the very least. I found it when I have to drag something using two fingers makes it work the best. If I wanted to drag an icon across the screen, I would click on the icon with my index finger and use my third finger to drag it and it works like a charm. The scrolling gestures work (using two fingers to scroll webpages etc). No problems there. ETC The computer itself is nicely built. It is sturdy and does not scratch that much yet. I am waiting for Speck to release a new case for the mba 13. The webcam works nicely, I use it mostly for GMAIL video chats and skype.The microphone is on the side, I dont know how well that works but friends on the other end can hear me well. he ports are slightly disappointing. Would have liked more usb ports, hdmi and such without the need for a display adapter from apple. I am looking to buy it cause I have the 21 inch studio display but wont fit the adapter display port. The hinge seems sturdy too. No problems there. I think this is a very portable cool laptop I have seen in awhile. It has enough oopmh to give you what you need if hardcore multimedia projects are not your thing. I know most people use it for light photoshop, web, mail, movies, music and other light things. Games seem to work on light settings. It's not so bad but it's getting there, depends on what you play.
Also the battery is amazing. One of the more reasons that brought me over the edge was the battery. The screen resolution and battery were big +s. Never tested it running OSX but on the Windows 7 I went as far as 5 hours but I had some juice left over but always plugged it in. That is a big win for me. During those 6 hours I did a mix of video chat, watching movies while surfing the net, or a combination of those 3 and on the rare occasion a little poker added to it.
You can get better spec'd computers for half the price I paid but sometimes plastic just sucks. The thing I loved about the Adamo was that it was metal. I still love the Adamo design but their logic board failed me too many times. Also my MBA does not have the logic board issues that other people are facing.
Anyways, I hoped that gave you an insight into a person who uses the MBA 13 as a Windows 7 machine.hanks for reading as this is my first and only post.
I just felt it was necessary because it is a great machine and people who are able should know that they can buy a mac to run windows now. The experience is good enough to have as a primary machine or secondary.
I bought my maxed-out MBA (2010) online the day after they came out and have recently noticed a CPU whine coming from the top-right corner of the keyboard when under light load. It can be heard both on AC and battery power and is distracting when using the Air in a quiet room.
I currently have a 2.4ghz imac and a hp mini netbook. I'm looking at the Macbook Air units as a eventual replacement for my netbook but I can't decide between the apple 1.8ghz refurb SSD model or the 2.13ghz new SSD model.
