Anyone got a MacBook Air? Any problems?

[masraum]

I'm thinking about getting my wife a Macbook Air. I've had a recommendation by someone a year or two ago, but wanted to get more data points.

I think that Apple does a great job on their hardware, and their software isn't bad either. I think I'd set it up to dual boot to Windows since that is what we are both familiar with. I think the speed and battery life would be very good.

[RWebb]

I finally dumped the Windoz world (except for specialty datalogger/scientific applications) and bought macs. Laptop is a 15" Retina McBook Pro I bought as a refurb - SSDs no platter based HDD. Desktop is a McMini.

I looked at the 13" Airs when they first came out, but the screen was just too small for me to do anything on the machine.

One hardware problem (on laptop); Mavericky had a few minor problems when I upgraded (mostly compatibility stuff with 3rd party developers).

In general, much better than any Windows stuff. (also a lot better than VAXs, CDC Cybers and Amdahl 470s...)

I figure one of the main reasons to buy the McStuff is to get their OSX shell on Eunuchs, so I have never tried Windows on a mac - why do want to?

[stomachmonkey]

Has not been one of my favoured Apple offerings.

It's a road warrior box, light, fast, good battery, useful for most tasks but lacking as a full time replacement.

Strikes me as a well optioned tablet or a laptop missing options.

6 of 1......

Think of it as a carry spoon.

[HardDrive]

Wife loves hers. Its her primary machine, and she is an industrial strength user.

[TheMentat]

No problems with mine... I even spilled a can of Diet Coke on the thing! (but I powered it down and tossed it into a bak of rice for a week, before cleaning it out).

Its a bit underpowered for serious work (like AutoCAD etc.), but otherwise its great. Lightweight, great battery life.

[masraum]

Thanks all. She doesn't do anything heavy duty, just office, email and the web.

[mikester]

I have a Macbook Pro Retina 15" that I love. The 13" was just too small for me.

Wife has a Macbook pro 13" - the Air was just a little small for her too but it's what I wanted to get her.

The Pro 13" (non-retina) has standard components where as the Airs and Retinas are all Apple proprietary versions of hard drives, RAM is soldered to the board so get what you want up front.

As far as performance and what not - I run a VMWare Fusion VM for Windows. My home computer is a Mac Mini that I run VMWare Fusion for any Windows needs as well. Otherwise, I'm abandoning Windows as much as I can. I've never even owned a copy of Windows 8. A friend just got an Asus laptop with a touch screen and windows 8 and she hates the Windows 8 stuff. She's in IT and quite savvy so it isn't a user issue. Windows 7 is quite good in my opinion but I'm full on Mac user for the last 4 years.

I won't go back unless Apple starts sucking like MS has. I'm not completely happy with Apple's direction on things in general but their stuff overall works better and more reliably in my opinion.

I know a lot of folks (Account Managers) who have Airs. They love them, light, long battery life and they work great.

[krichard]

I've had the macbook air 11" as my on the couch and travel laptop since 2011 and absolutely love it. it's an email/word doc/excel/web surfing machine! Wouldn't want it for heavy graphics loads but does what I need fast and efficiently. I till replace this one with another Air when the time comes.

[Don Plumley]

I've had my MacAir 13 for three years - primary computer; I drive a 27" thunderbolt on my desk and travel with it. Best computer I've ever owned.

[masraum]

Lots of good info guys. She'll be interested in an 11" air. How much RAM is good enough, 4 or 8 MB? I would think 4 should do the trick, but since I don't have any Mac experience...

[porsche4life]

There isn't that much price diff Iirc, you can never have too much!

[911_Dude]

My MB Air is the first Apple computer for me. I love it. When the 'ol Win desktop dies Ill be getting another Mac.

I love the fact that the Air will do a cold boot to connected to wifi in about 12 sec flat.

[motion]

We have a couple and love them. They are limited resolution, so not good for some programs with multiple palettes. I have Macbook Pros for that. More ram is always best, and its cheap now. Go for 8MB.

[lane912]

the thing is
order it with more guts than you think you will need --
can't upgrade ram, it is soldered in

[Seahawk]

Interesting comparison:

Apple MacBook Air (11-inch) vs. Microsoft Surface Pro 2

My wife bought a Surface Pro 2 and loves it. We are a bi-computer family with a mix of Apples and Windows machines.

[uncle_scott]

I used a second hand 2009 Macbook Air for Grad School for the past two years, and it has worked great. We bought my wife a Macbook Pro that ended up being overkill for her so we sold it. She is now using the Air to finish up her schooling, and I transitioned to an iPad with a keyboard for my note taking and basic tasks at work.

The Macbook Air worked well for us, but we are pretty low intensity users of computers in general. I love the portability though, and it has traveled very well with us the past few years while we have owned it.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by masraum

Lots of good info guys. She'll be interested in an 11" air. How much RAM is good enough, 4 or 8 MB? I would think 4 should do the trick, but since I don't have any Mac experience...

I have MS Orifice for Mac on my McMini and the machine was always slow with 4G RAM. The so-called mac Xspurts could never figure it out, so I started doing my own testing, then upgraded to 8G of RAM. problem solved.

as I think you said she uses Office, I'd get 8.

[intakexhaust]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Interesting comparison:

Apple MacBook Air (11-inch) vs. Microsoft Surface Pro 2

My wife bought a Surface Pro 2 and loves it. We are a bi-computer family with a mix of Apples and Windows machines.

Interesting read. I rarely hear of any complaints by Apple users. Quite convincing but just last night I looked at a Lenova Yoga i7. Most impressed and the specs for the money are terrific with the ability to expand. The sales rep using W8 in conjunction with the touch screen / keyboard was a flying demonstration. Would have liked to see it loaded with a bunch of heavy programs running. Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro Ultrabook 2in1 13.3" TouchScreen Laptop 8GB Memory Yoga 2 Pro-59386391 - Best Buy yoga&cp=1&lp=6

[mikester]

With the air or the retina, buy as much as you can afford because you can't upgrade later.

[campbellcj]

I have a 2012 Air and love it for travel or web/email stuff around the house - but it's not my main or only machine.