Opinions on new MacBook Air

Finally found time to have a decent play with my new MBA.

Migration was a doddle. I was going to do it by wifi but reading around suggested it was going to take several hours so I went out and bought the USB>Ethernet adapter. The 250Gb of info was transferred from my old MB in a little over 4 hours. I've now got the whole lot replicated on the MBA, cookies, bookmarks, the whole shebang. It's great :)

Very light, very fast, and getting very good mileage from the battery so far. I've been using it for a couple of days now and I've still got 33% left.
 
Spit said:
Absolutely.
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I'm not so sure. I think they'll stick to keeping retina displays as an upsell option for the more expensive MacBook Pro's.

Since they neutered the Pro by removing half the stuff an actual professional might need in a laptop, retina Airs would send MBP sales off a cliff in my view.
 
Skyboat said:
Ethernet and SuperDrive, what else? :confused:
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Ethernet and optical media are a big deal, there was a big thread about it a few weeks ago.

The point is they narrowed the gap between the workstation laptop and the consumer laptop to such an extent that I think they are going to hold out on trickling down the retina display for as long as possible.

Let's face it, they aren't exactly seeing much competition from PC laptops, so why wouldn't they. If you want a retina display you're sure as hell going to pay for it.
 
Ethernet, maybe (and the adapter for it is tiny). Optical discs, no. Digital distribution, thumbsticks, even SD cards are all viable, better, alternatives - even purely for providing video files, most devices can read off at least one of those mediums and are reusable, take up less space and are generally faster and more robust options.
 
Flash storage costs pounds, optical media costs pennies. An alternative is not necessarily a viable replacement.

But it's beside the point. The two products are so close now it basically boils down to whether you want a retina display or not, so they won't be in any rush to bring it to the MBA.
 
Mine has been estimated for delivery between 16-18th July. :)

I'm also confused now at what the problem is with the screen resolution. I found the screen really good, and just found out my 24inch 1200p screen is about 40ppi lower! So as many complain about the air not being a touchscreen, low ppi, are just complaining for complaining sake.
 
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theheyes said:
Flash storage costs pounds, optical media costs pennies. An alternative is not necessarily a viable replacement.

But it's beside the point. The two products are so close now it basically boils down to whether you want a retina display or not, so they won't be in any rush to bring it to the MBA.
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I agree. I am fortunate to have the luxury of owning both products. They both stand out in their own right and they are both excellent products. I also have the 2013 MBA 13" as well and i have to say it is an amazing machine.

Honestly, if people really want a distinction - the real comparison should be a 11" Air and a 13" RMBP. The difference there is obviously quite significant. One serves the best portability money can buy and the other serves up a magnificient screen which weights slightly more.

I bought the 13" air because it will be my main MAC machine. If i had a thunderbolt display, I would have gone for an 11".

Amazing products.
 
londonbairn said:
How long does it take once it is "In Transit to Customer - Shipment on Schedule"
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Dd you order anything else with the laptop?

If comes from China, you will get tracking once its dispatch, however if you get something else with it, like a SuperDrive, which I did, then mine disappeared into the abyss until the iMac was combined with the SuperDrive in England. I only got tracking info when it was in the midlands depot! Like 4am email and the iMac arrived 6 hours later....talk about late notice.

Most people I know shows their macs go to Germany as the first stop before entering the country.

But it's normally 2-3 days from leaving the factory to your door.
 
Just got a refund from the tax man (yay!) so I am really tempted to buy the MBA. Just, I'm struggling to justify it to myself now, it would be perfect for me at uni but right now at home, I don't have a use for it as I have my desktop. I have never got on well with laptops due to their poor battery life, I'm wondering whether this would convert me.
 
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scythe>Depends on how you define poor battery life. My own personal experience thus so far with the MBA 2013 is about 7-8 hours give or take with heavy usage and about 11-12 hours with moderate usage.

On my rMBP it was about 3-4 hours heavy usage and about 6-7 hours with moderate usage.

Although YMMV depending on how many charge cycles it has been through.
 
GoRedwings19 said:
scythe>Depends on how you define poor battery life. My own personal experience thus so far with the MBA 2013 is about 7-8 hours give or take with heavy usage and about 11-12 hours with moderate usage.

On my rMBP it was about 3-4 hours heavy usage and about 6-7 hours with moderate usage.

Although YMMV depending on how many charge cycles it has been through.
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Well my last and only laptop was an early C2D Acer, had a realistic battery life of 45 mins and weighed a ton so I haven't had the best experience of portability :p

I'm going into the final year of my engineering degree so being able to work anytime, anywhere will be an advantage, especially as getting computer availability was next to impossible during the day at Uni
 
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Finals year? No brainer, get the laptop. Always best to make things easy for yourself in the final year, settled accommodation, no cash worries etc.
 
Got my MacBook Air through yesterday. Lovely bit of kit and surprisingly very fast but that could be down to the obscene SSD speeds.

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Now need to sell my Pro and get an iMac or PC. :p
 
Makes me worry about what hard drive options to pick for an iMac…

Do i just get one of the SSD options and externals or a fusion…hmmmm...
 
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