should i trade my UMB for a MBA rev:B with SSD

[King t.]

hi,

I wanna ask u guys for your opinion. i used to have a MBA but sold it due to the line problem and hinge problem, but i kinda miss the slick thin mac.
And now i have the opportunity again to get a MBA for my UMB.

here's what i currently have:

unibody macbook 2,4ghz
4gb ram
OCZ core series 120gb ssd
nvidia m9400 256mb
backlit keyboard

here's what i can get:

macbook air rev:b
1,86ghz
2gb ram
128gb ssd
nvidia m9400 256mb

is it worth the trade?
how will it affect the performance, will there be a huge difference performance wise? what machine is better with the new SL?

 

[Lukeyboy01]

the only difference really is the RAM and that depends on what your doing with it.

 

[Young Turk]

hi,

I wanna ask u guys for your opinion. i used to have a MBA but sold it due to the line problem and hinge problem, but i kinda miss the slick thin mac.
And now i have the opportunity again to get a MBA for my UMB.

here's what i currently have:

unibody macbook 2,4ghz
4gb ram
OCZ core series 120gb ssd
nvidia m9400 256mb
backlit keyboard

here's what i can get:

macbook air rev:b
1,86ghz
2gb ram
128gb ssd
nvidia m9400 256mb

is it worth the trade?
how will it affect the performance, will there be a huge difference performance wise? what machine is better with the new SL?

I did exactly that trade earlier this year.

Actually, I sold the UMB on eBay, then ordered the MacBook Air from Tekserve in NYC.

Unlike many here, I absolutely LOVED my unibody MacBook. It was/is an outstanding machine. But - it wasn't an Air. So I went for it all - the (then) top of the line. I absolutely LOVE my air, and wouldn't trade it for anything, not even one of the new Rev. C SSD.

I also bought the Apple 24" LED, which I highly recommend.

Buy the SSD Air - you'll love it. (it is my secondary machine).

YoungTurk

 

[Scottsdale]

You will fall hard and fast for the MBA. It's a total dream. Will be lighter to carry around and feel four times faster at common tasks.

Then you can always buy the 24" LED ACD down the road for an instant "desktop." Also consider Time Capsule with printer attached. And MobileMe will allow you to access all files off your Time Capsule drive over the Internet when away from home. I have a BT Apple KB and silver Logitech BT mouse at the desk - plug any remaining peripherals into the ACD's hub, and you're set!

The nice thing is you can do it all a little at a time. And with the LED ACD being $599 refurbished and Time Capsule $200 more, you're out the same amount that just the SSD Rev B MBA cost new just two months ago!!!

Good luck.

 

[Young Turk]

You will fall hard and fast for the MBA. It's a total dream. Will be lighter to carry around and feel four times faster at common tasks.

Then you can always buy the 24" LED ACD down the road for an instant "desktop." Also consider Time Capsule with printer attached. And MobileMe will allow you to access all files off your Time Capsule drive over the Internet when away from home. I have a BT Apple KB and silver Logitech BT mouse at the desk - plug any remaining peripherals into the ACD's hub, and you're set!

The nice thing is you can do it all a little at a time. And with the LED ACD being $599 refurbished and Time Capsule $200 more, you're out the same amount that just the SSD Rev B MBA cost new just two months ago!!!

Good luck.

I agree (again) with Scottsdale. I also have the Time Capsule and highly recommend it. While I also have the Apple Bluetooth keyboard, I use it with my Aluminum iMac, along with the Apple Wireless mouse.

You can also pick up the Apple SuperDrive for the Air, which I'll be using later tonight to install Snow Leopard with. (it's installing on my iMac right now).

 

[King t.]

the thing is that i already have a SSD in my current UMB 2,4ghz. the difference i think is the weight and the GHZ and 4gb RAM.

i don't think the MBA rev:B SSD will be faster than than my current UMB with 2,4ghz 120gb SSD and 4gb ram.

do u guys think that the MBA rev:B with is a future proof machine? it'll be my primary and only MAC.

 

[alphaod]

the thing is that i already have a SSD in my current UMB 2,4ghz. the difference i think is the weight and the GHZ and 4gb RAM.

i don't think the MBA rev:B SSD will be faster than than my current UMB with 2,4ghz 120gb SSD and 4gb ram.

do u guys think that the MBA rev:B with is a future proof machine? it'll be my primary and only MAC.

As your only computer I think the MacBook is better suited. If you had another computer already, I would have that the Air would have been the perfect second computer.

 

[Scottsdale]

the thing is that i already have a SSD in my current UMB 2,4ghz. the difference i think is the weight and the GHZ and 4gb RAM.

i don't think the MBA rev:B SSD will be faster than than my current UMB with 2,4ghz 120gb SSD and 4gb ram.

do u guys think that the MBA rev:B with is a future proof machine? it'll be my primary and only MAC.

Nope, if your MB has SSD, it will be slightly faster... remember the SL9600 CPU has 6 MB L2 cache and the MB's only has 3 MB... it makes a difference.

But your SSD in the MB is faster for sure. And the RAM is better. The thing is, the display in the MBA is far more vibrant, crisp, and far less glossy.

EVERY PERSON I HAVE KNOWN WHO WENT FROM A UMB TO A REV B/C MBA WITH SSD HAS FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THE MBA. The difference is night and day. I have read a couple of people who actually owned a rev B MBA and went to the 13" MBP, and say it's better because has more RAM. The truth is most people don't even need the full 2 GB of RAM.

The average consumer moving to a Rev B/C MBA with 1.86/2.13 GHz CPU and SSD is going to fall in love. This MBA does everything yet the weight is a big difference. Whether you're holding on your lap, sitting on couch, in an airline seat, or plugged into a 24" LED ACD at a desk, the MBA is amazing. It goes from being ultraportable yet becomes an instant desktop when plugged into an ACD.

I think the average Mac user would benefit and enjoy the MBA more, unless they have it in their head they NEED more POWER. Most don't but some are convinced they need 8 GB of RAM.

Good luck.

 

[King t.]

the only thing that i'm concerned about is on how well the MBA rev:B with ssd will run once i get snow leopard, bec. of the 2gb ram it might not be enough on some days.

these are the apps i always use: safari, firefox, cyberduck, adium, skype, iphoto, imovie, imail, ical, iwork, MS-office 2008, ichat, plex and azureus.

and the once that i use not so often PS CS4, toast titanium, garageband, open office, omni professional and photo booth.

 

[Scottsdale]

Snow Leopard will IMPROVE how the rev B 1.86 GHz with SSD runs. Remember, with Snow Leopard, Grand Central Dispatch will allow apps to run off multiple cores/threads, and OpenCL will allow apps to use GPU to do processing. And remember, that the Nvidia 9400m GPU does h.264 hardware video decoding for QT.

Really, the powers of the 9400m are not yet being taken advantage of. Snow Leopard helps change that, but it depends on app developers to take advantage of the new technologies. The GREAT THING is the MBA has ALL of the components for Snow Leopard to run faster than Leopard.

I have just been using it for an hour now, and my boot times are now under 20 seconds... was 21 to 23 seconds before. Shutdown is INSTANT. Apps are opening instantly. All the 64-bit apps are AMAZINGLY FAST.

It's definitely a lot faster with Snow Leopard!

I agree, 4 GB of RAM would be better, and two RAM slots is my dream scenario for a new rev C high-end or rev D update. BUT, that would just be so I could run Windows virtually and share the RAM. The one hangup I have with the MBA is I don't want to waste hard drive space for Windows AND I don't want to share RAM to do a virtual setup.

I believe a 256 GB SSD and 4 GB of RAM are just around the corner, so it might be worth your wait if you're happy with your current setup??? I think we could see a September to November update to the MBA that provides a new high-end version. I think Apple would want to take advantage of Penryn Low Voltage CPU (same one currently being used) with upgraded Nvidia chipset and GPU (rumored last week). I think with 4 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD, we're probably looking at the $2199 range???

My theory is based on the 256 GB SSD not being ready when Apple updated the notebooks, and the feud between Intel and Nvidia. Once Arrandale is released, unless the licensing dispute gets resolved, Nvidia will NOT be able to provide chipsets for Intel Nehalem/Arrandale CPUs. Plus, the SL9600 2.13 GHz Penryn CPU is plenty powerful enough... and I don't think Apple will want us to lose the graphics capabilities of Nvidia's GPU... the Arrandale integrated graphics is going to be half as powerful as Nvidia's GPU.... not fun!

We will see... but I hope to be shelling out more cash in the next three or four months for a new high-end MBA. I would go nuts for two RAM slots... can you imagine the MBA with 256 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM, and 2.13 GHz Penryn with Nvidia 200m (the update to 9400m)? Would be killer!

 

[chris975d]

I have just been using it for an hour now, and my boot times are now under 20 seconds... was 21 to 23 seconds before. Shutdown is INSTANT. Apps are opening instantly. All the 64-bit apps are AMAZINGLY FAST.

It's definitely a lot faster with Snow Leopard!

Scottsdale,
You say you're running SL now, and mentioned 64-bit apps. I've not yet updated to SL, and have seen a few things on here that say that the MBAs might not be able to use the 64-bit SL kernel. Can you clarify if this is true?

 

[Scottsdale]

Scottsdale,
You say you're running SL now, and mentioned 64-bit apps. I've not yet updated to SL, and have seen a few things on here that say that the MBAs might not be able to use the 64-bit SL kernel. Can you clarify if this is true?

It appears Apple has made the MBA ineligible for 64-bit kernel. However, based on everything I have read, that's a good thing. It still runs all the apps in 64-bit, and memory is allocated like 64-bit (although pointless with 4 GB or less). I was mad about it originally, but if it's slower due to crappy software (yes I said that) we shouldn't want it. The EFI is 64-bit, but Apple "turned off" ability to boot 64-bit. Supposedly they did this to all non-"pro" models. Originally I thought just MB but nope MBA too.

The ****** part is that the CPU and EFI are 64-bit capable. There is an app available online where you can force any 64-bit capable system to run it (MBA included) but people are reporting massive slow downs as soon as doing it.

So Apple stiffed all the prior to 2008 Macs because didn't want to write drivers for graphics and etc. The sad part is they aren't supporting PPC, so the least they could do is not be so lazy with writing drivers.

Overall, I am extremely disappointed with Apple. I bought a brand new rev C MBA and spent almost $3,000 and Apple couldn't even ship the Up To Date Snow Leopard disks to us today. As soon as Apple gets its money, it screws its customers. Add to it the 64-bit allusion that Apple didn't tell us it wasn't gointlg to even make 64-bit kernel available for brand new 64-bit capable Macs. Add all the others screwed over with no 64-bit drivers for systems that sold brand new less than a year ago.

So, Apple values the people willing to pay $29 more and gets them their disks today. But the people that spent thousands of dollars on new Macs get shafted! it's truly sick.

When FedEx showed up at my door, I was apologizing to Apple in my head. Then my mom called asking if I got my gift. I said no, then she told me I should have had SL by now as it was promised by noon. So then I had to tell her they were at the door now. She didn't find out I was already getting one. A good gift in the end, but it just made me feel worse about how Apple treated me.

Screw Apple. We can install Windows 7 64-bit on our MBAs but not 64-bit Snow Leopard which is ridiculous. I guess the software isn't really ready if it runs slower in 64-bit. Let's hope it all gets straightened out by 10.6.3/4.

Sick!!!!

 

[King t.]

damn, so that means my unibody macbook with 2,4ghz 4gb ram and 120gb ssd and Nvidia m9400 256mb won't run at 64 bit????

i thought that the MBA rev:B and C would be able to run 64 bit??? man that really sucks!!!!!!

I'm very disappointed with APPLE! I pre ordered my SL copy on tuesday, we now have Sat. and i still don't have my copy
on the other hand my friend just went to a computer store on friday and picked up a copy of SL for 29 bugs!!!!

wtf does apple offer us pre order, if they don't even make sure that the people who pre ordered get the software when it comes out!!

update:

i just read in a german mac forum that apple will bring out a EFI update in the next coming weeks, that will enable all other macs like MBA rev:B and up, unibody MB's to run at 64 bit

 

[Jobsian]

I believe a 256 GB SSD and 4 GB of RAM are just around the corner, so it might be worth your wait if you're happy with your current setup??? I think we could see a September to November update to the MBA that provides a new high-end version. I think Apple would want to take advantage of Penryn Low Voltage CPU (same one currently being used) with upgraded Nvidia chipset and GPU (rumored last week). I think with 4 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD, we're probably looking at the $2199 range???

My theory is based on the 256 GB SSD not being ready when Apple updated the notebooks, and the feud between Intel and Nvidia. Once Arrandale is released, unless the licensing dispute gets resolved, Nvidia will NOT be able to provide chipsets for Intel Nehalem/Arrandale CPUs. Plus, the SL9600 2.13 GHz Penryn CPU is plenty powerful enough... and I don't think Apple will want us to lose the graphics capabilities of Nvidia's GPU... the Arrandale integrated graphics is going to be half as powerful as Nvidia's GPU.... not fun!

We will see... but I hope to be shelling out more cash in the next three or four months for a new high-end MBA. I would go nuts for two RAM slots... can you imagine the MBA with 256 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM, and 2.13 GHz Penryn with Nvidia 200m (the update to 9400m)? Would be killer!

See, when you start talking like that, I get really excited! Plus it makes me consider waiting more rather than buy the SSD C now (have a perfectly functioning laptop for my needs currently). I take this info seriously as you seem to follow the market quite keenly.

2 questions for you SSD (ScottSDale):

1) What month exactly do you think an update might happen if you were to guess? (eg to coincide with Apple's Sept 9 media/ipod event?)

2) If I remember correctly you got the B/SSD and upgraded to C/SSD, do you think you'd get the high end C if it were to come out?

 

[Jobsian]

Bump on the off chance Scott didn't see my Qs as opposed to not wishing to reply

PS where do you guys (MacModMachine, Ayeying, Scottsdale et al) get all your info?

 

[King t.]

this is where i get my info from: apfeltalk.de, macuser.de and off course from HERE

P.S.
I kept my unibody MB, but i'm not thinking of selling it and getting either the new MBA 2,13ghz or the MBP 13 inch 2,26ghz.

 

[AIRniloc]

i don't think there's anyway that they will be upgrading the MBA that much with the REV D...

upgrades like that won't be coming that quickly....maybe by late 2010 or early 2011 at best...

think of the revisions to the MBA so far...why would you automatically assume that they are going to double the SSD again and double the DDR3 RAM??

also, i doubt there will even be another revision made to the MBA before xmas..

 

[Scottsdale]

See, when you start talking like that, I get really excited! Plus it makes me consider waiting more rather than buy the SSD C now (have a perfectly functioning laptop for my needs currently). I take this info seriously as you seem to follow the market quite keenly.

2 questions for you SSD (ScottSDale):

1) What month exactly do you think an update might happen if you were to guess? (eg to coincide with Apple's Sept 9 media/ipod event?)

2) If I remember correctly you got the B/SSD and upgraded to C/SSD, do you think you'd get the high end C if it were to come out?

I am 50% certain we will see the next MBA by November. I think late September to late November all make sense.

I will "upgrade" the day a 256 GB SSD and 4 GB RAM (or two slots) are available. I actually expect it to be the same SL9600 2.13 GHz CPU with new Nvidia GPU and hope a glass trackpad is included.

 

[joelypolly]

I am 50% certain we will see the next MBA by November. I think late September to late November all make sense.

I will "upgrade" the day a 256 GB SSD and 4 GB RAM (or two slots) are available. I actually expect it to be the same SL9600 2.13 GHz CPU with new Nvidia GPU and hope a glass trackpad is included.

I hope they keep the trackpad actually. As much as I liked the glass tracking surface not having a physical button that is separate really really sucked. Especially for drag n drop.

 

[alphaod]

Sound like a good trade. The two aren't really comparable considering Air has a lot less power and it's an ultraportable, while the MB is simply a consumer machine for the masses. You're sacrificing a lot of power for the Air, and I wouldn't swtich unless I was entirely sure the capabilities of the Air would satisfy my needs.

I actually expect it to be the same SL9600 2.13 GHz CPU with new Nvidia GPU and hope a glass trackpad is included.

I can't imagine them adding a glass trackpad unless they keep the physical button. If you look at the trackpad on the uMBP, you'll notice they are as thick as the top case of the MBA.

PS where do you guys (MacModMachine, Ayeying, Scottsdale et al) get all your info?

Pull it out of …