Jeffrey Donenfeld

Tag: Macbook Air

  • Review of the 2011 Apple Macbook Air i7 13″

    Review of the 2011 Apple Macbook Air i7 13″

    tumblr_lucvihPA1W1r4vjq9o4_1280This week I got the new Apple Macbook Air 13″ with the 1.8ghz Intel Core i7 ULV Processor, and 256gb SSD. Here are some of my initial thoughts.

    Compared to my old Core i7 15″ Macbook pro, it rocks. The processor is still an i7, but the clock speed is slower, and it’s a new “ULV” model, so – the architecture is actually more advanced than the i7 in my MBP, however I believe it’s actually probably a bit slower, because of the slower clock speed and overal more toned down performance of the chip for power savings. However, the SSD is FAST! The main slowdown on my MBP was the slow hard drive – whenever I was waiting on stuff on my old computer, it was always waiting to load up raw files off the disk, etc. With lightroom (and aperture), as soon as you import photos, it renders previews in the background – so you’re actually not doing that much live processing when you’re sorting through photos and editing. Really, you’re just looking at native resolution rendered previews, and then applying adjustments as metadata, which is temporairly overlaid on the previews you’re looking at. It’s only when you export the images that the actual adjustments are computed onto the master file and rendered at full resolution. So the really processor intensive tasks are all ones that happen in the background. The loading of the preview images and adjustment parameters are the operations that take place “live” as I’m working, and those are the tasks where the drive speed, not the processor speed, really comes into play. So.. given all of that.. this thing rocks! I just edited this set on it, and it was great!
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  • Buy My Computer! Selling my 15″ MBP on eBay

    Buy My Computer! Selling my 15″ MBP on eBay

    Since I’ve been doing a lot more traveling lately, I’ve decided to trade in my excellent 15″ Apple Macbook Pro for a smaller, lighter 13″ Apple Macbook Air. With the new MBA’s set to be announced by apple sometime this week or next, I thought now would be the perfect time to switch. Here’s the eBay auction, let me know if you’re interested!

    Apple MacBook Pro 15″ 2.66GHz i7/4GB/500GB Hi Res – eBay item 140574676798 end time Jul-18-11 11:40:41 PDT.

  • Macbook Air – Why it rocks

    Macbook Air – Why it rocks

    Macbook Air Movie RentalsYes, I’ve heard all the nay-sayers out there, ripping on the new, glorious Macbook Air. You’re saying that it has no user replacable battery, no firewire, no optical drive, is too flimsy, yadda yadda.

    Yeah well, that’s not the purpose of the Macbook Air. You want to do intense mobile HD video editing? Ok, that’s exactly what the Macbook Pro is great at! Do-everything-ok basic work computer? That’s the Macbook. The Macbook Air is sleek, thin, lightweight, and powerful. It cut’s out all unnecessary bulk, to offer a platform you can easily travel around with to perform basic work tasks. I ask myself, how often, when I travel, do I REALLY need a dvd burner, firewire 800 ports, etc? Not often. Yes, I understand some people work in industries where they need that – Go get a Pro. The bulk of my work is surfing the web, working with MS Office, chatting, video conferencing, and listening to music. The Air seems perfect for this.

    Regarding the non user replacable battery. Meh… I only have one battery for my 15″ Macbook Pro, and I’ve rarely been in a situation where I’ve needed to go for more than 4.5 hours using my computer, away from a plug. Charge up in the airport, hack out some work on the flight, re-charge when you get to your hotel room that night. Perfect.

    And what about movies/music etc? No optical drive? I haven’t watched a movie directly off a dvd in years! Pretty much all of my on-laptop computer watching comes in the form of watching mpeg movie file backups of the dvd’s I own. No messing with shuffling disks around, and when I want to watch a movie, I just load it up instantly from my external HDD. And if I’m going on a trip, I’ll just move a few movies over the the internal HDD before the trip. Also, with the iTunes store now offering both movie purchases and rentals, in HD nonetheless, who needs to lug around an optical media drive everywhere? (yes, I know optical media is not dead, and I’m a huge supporter of the Blu-ray camp, but that’s another discussion…)

    For networking, the Air supports 802.11 A, B, G, and N. N wireless is fast. In fact, I believe its speed definitely faster than any internet connection I will ever be on, and most likely faster than most LAN’s i’ll be on. No, it’s not gigabit ethernet, but really, when am I using all that speed? Especially on a portable. For streaming video off of my wirelessly connected Time Capsule, it’s perfect.

    Finally, no, it’s not going to be flimsy. Full disclosure, I haven’t handled one myself, yet. However knowing Apple’s historically excellent and solid build quality, I’m sure this thing will be solid. From the pictures, it looks like it has a solid edge bevel, akin to the iPod Touch’s edge… and a metal casing similar to the iPod classic. The hinge will be rock solid, and just like my apple keyboard, although it’s extremely thin, I don’t think you’ll be able to bend it easily.

    So, there’s my take on it. It will be a great computer for road warriors, commuters, or trendsters who want a powerful, capable, but minimal computer for home/lifestyle.. perfect to sit on the couch with at night and check email and chat, perfect to catch up on the latest new music on Beatport, or tv shows on Hulu.Time will only tell how well it’s picked up, but I’ll surely be down at the apple store asap, to give it a quick handle.

  • Macworld Keynote Speech – Initial Impressions

    His Steveness just got done delivering the long awaited Macworld San Fransisco Keynote speech…Check out the liveblog of the speech over at Engadget, Gizmodo, and Macrumors. (yes, all at the same time)

    Apple Macbook Air

    Some impressions:

    • Time Capsule – I really didn’t expect this, but am glad they did.. sounds like a great integration of storage and wireless access. I’ve had my own mega super ultra backup/hard drive issues before, including frantic service calls to Drivesavers for physical recovery etc. Now that I’m on leopard with my Macbook Pro, I’m more or less backed up all the time.. but its still a pain having to plug in my hard drives ever time. I have a 1tb backup drive, and then two other 300gb and 500gb storage drives. So i have time machine configured to backup my mac’s hard drive, and both my 300gb and 500gb drives, all to the 1tb backup drive. So having this 1tb wirelessly accessible sounds perfect. My one hope is that, like the “old” airport extreme, this new “Time Capsule” still comes with an available USB port, so I can plug in an additional hard drive (most likely my 500gb music drive).. That way I’ll be able to work away from my desk, and still have access to both my music storage hdd, and my time machine hdd. Finally, psyched to upgrade to the N wireless… I’m currently using a Linksys WRT54G, which is good with dd-wrt on it, but having the faster N access, especially for wireless backup, is key.
    • iPhone upgrades – The webclips will be handy for getting to custom apps such as Google Reader etc, and it’s great to hear multiple recipient SMS is now available… but it doesnt matter! I don’t have an iPhone! I’m still going to hold out on getting one until they release the 3G iPhone… the improved network speed, and most likely larger storage and other upgrades will add significantly. In any case, the initial version, and all subsequent versions and software upgrades of the iPhone are worlds better than my crappy Blackberry Curve 8300.. the hardware on it is good, but the software is absolutely worthless. But that’s for another rant…
    • Movie Rentals – Especially since they are offering them in HD, and for direct download to the Apple TV.. this is great to hear. My only big hope is that you’ll be able to sync movies you downloaded direct to your Apple TV back to your mac. Also, what about time machine running on your Apple TV, syncing back to your Time Capsule? Sounds fun to me…
    • Macbook Air – This is long awaited for a ton of people. This product will help capture yet another segment of the market for Apple, and help pull in the “mobile professional” crowd. I think that the combination of the Macbook Air, along with Microsoft Office 2008 will really make Apple a more viable contender in the corporate world. Holy shit! Its thin! Only .76 inches thick.. and it looks like it has the same kind of edge styling as the iPod Touch.. amazing. Sounds perfect, wish I had the budget/need for one. Also, they are finally offering SSD drives, as an option… this technology is super cool, and allows for faster drives, better reliability, and power savings.. my next laptop will def have an SSD. Finally, it’s a smart move to offer the external optical drive for $99, but the best part is the software for sharing an optical drive across a network. Good thinking, as that will be a great counterpoint for retail employees when people say “but it doesn’t have an optical drive! wahh!!”
    • Overall– Good products, and I’m especially psyched about the time capsule..I might actually get that one. However there were a few big holes here, which I’m still waiting to be filled. First, no 3G iPhone.. but that wasn’t really expected yet. Second, only 64gb ssd for the Macbook Air. Yes, I know they are expensive, even at 64gb, but it would be good to have the option of a bigger drive. We’re all sitting around in my office fixed on the live-blogging, and as soon as Steve announced the 64gb ssd, one of my office mates said “what? that’s way too small! If I get one of these, it needs much bigger… at least 128!” Anyway, hopefully as prices drop on ssd’s, they’ll start offering larger ones.

    There you have it, Macworld’s Keynote 2008. Some amazing products, some mysteriously left out. But you know I’ll be the first one to rush out to the apple store as soon as these things are on display.. And let’s hope these new products drive Apple’s (AAPL) stock price back up…