MacBook Air owners gather here and share your experience with the latest from Apple.

I just got mine from Machines, Sunway this evening. Only manage to play with it at 10pm due to horrendous traffic jams and have not been doing much except for installing some stuff so not much to say but here are some...

...First Impressions
1.0 RM6299. Ouch. No 2% rebate from Machines due to low margins, they say. Grrr. No free gifts. How about a manila envelope? Now that would be a nice gimmick.
1.1 Saw at least 2 other people buying the MBA in the one hour I was at Machines.
1.2 Didn't buy ACPP RM899 but will get it later. External Superdrive RM389. No other MBA accesories yet.
2. The packaging is small. A lot more iPhone-like than MacBook style. Black in colour.
3. It's light! It makes a lot of difference carrying my bag with an MBA instead of an iBook G4 inside. My shoulders have been aching lately due to carrying a heavy bag so hopefully this will help. This is my main reason for getting it.
4. It's fast(coming from an iBook G4). Well, as fast as a 1.6Ghz C2D can be. OK it's slow compared to my quad-core but I think it'll be good enough.
5. It's beautiful. You can always rely on Apple's industrial designers.
6. Remote Disk works. Well, only installed MS Office so far. Everything else were from disk images or downloaded from the net.
7. Wireless-N is not too bad. I got about 70-80 mbps copying large files.
8. Fits in MacBook 13.3in sleeves albeit loosely.
9. Cannot open the MBA with one hand.
10. Very solid construction. Made in China.
11. Speaker is loud. Sound quality is oklah.
12. The touchpad button is really narrow. I keep missing it. The huge multi-touch touchpad is well, a touchpad. Multi finger gestures are useful.
13. Screen is very bright and nice but viewing angle not so good. I think it's the same type of screen as a MacBook.
14. I can only open it about 3/4 way before the the bottom part starts lifting up. Maybe because it's new and the hinges are still tight.
15. Really tight around the USB port. Not much space at all.
16. No sleeves yet so I'm using a manila card folder to hold it. I gave it to a friend to hold onto while I unlocked the office door this morning and she didn't realise at all that she had a notebook in her hands.
17. I had it charged fully and will see how long it lasts throughout today.
18. So far only had to a use DVD or CD once so I guess the exclusion of DVD drive isn't too bad. Now going to install WinXP onto VMWare Fusion using Remote Disk. Will it work?
19. Just had a thought. RM6299 for the slowest Mac in the Applestore. Hmmm.

Loving it so far. Will have to see how much of a difference it makes once I start carrying it around.

Here some pictures of it. Will try to snap some better ones when there's more light.







This post has been edited by soonwai: Mar 29 2008, 01:35 PM

I can only open it about 3/4 way before the the bottom part starts lifting up. Maybe because it's new and the hinges are still tight. I'm sure it'll be smoother in time.

One thing I discovered, my USB thumbdrive can't plug in directly to the USB port. It's really tight there. Not much space at all.

No sleeves for it yet so I'm using a manila card folder to hold it for now. I gave it to a friend to hold onto while I unlocked the office door this morning and she didn't realise at all that she had a notebook in her hands.

I had it charged fully and will see how long it lasts throughout today. Not a typical day since it's Sat but it'll be a good indication.

Thanks, wei, I couldn't wait anymore lah. Hope the 2nd gen don't come out too fast.

moonflown, which one did you get? 1.6 or 1.8? or SSD?

Just got back from work. What a world of difference the weight(or lack thereof) of the MBA makes? I feel a lot less tired carrying it around.

antnine, feel free to come over anytime. Have you got your MacBook yet?

kazasho, iBook still around, wanna buy? :-) Thanks so much for the guitar. The kids love it.

As for sleeves for the MBA, I'm using a Cock Brand Pocket File Model No. 101. It offers fair protection(more against scratches than bumps) for the MBA and is designed with security(through obscurity) in mind in that it is camouflaged for the urban work environment. Once the MBA is installed in it, it remains very inconspicuous almost invisible.

I tested the manufacturer's claims by bringing the MBA(in the sleeve) to the local mamak stall. Not a single glance nor reaction towards my direction. No-one realised the presence of the MBA at all. In the second test, I asked a friend to hold on to the MBA and he had no inkling of what was actually in his hands. Quite effective.

The material used is recyclable and is very light. It is also absorbent and therefore even offers minimal protection against water though I do not know if this was by design.

For the discerning, it comes in a variety of colours. Mine's a light blue. And in 2 designs, new or aged. I chose the aged version as I thought it would be more effective.

I'll post some pictures of it if anyone is interested. I'm even thinking of marketing it to fellow MBA owners if there's a demand. How does RM39.95 sound?





This post has been edited by soonwai: Mar 30 2008, 12:32 AM

Been using for 2 weeks.

Yes, it's slow. I think more due to the hard disk speed than CPU. I'm so used to quad core desktop so maybe it's just me. Compared to my previous notebook, iBook G4, it's very fast lah. If you don't have anything running in the background, it can play 720p movies no problem. If something accesess the HD during playback, then movie will start skipping. Looks like HD speed bottleneck.

Gotta change my habits a bit. Try not to open too many apps at the same time. Because if you do, it'll be beachball time.

The best thing about the Air is the weight. I feel better already, my shoulder not so painful from lugging around a heavy notebook. Sometimes I gotta check inside my bag to make sure the Air is in there.

Of course, very stylo, take out MBA in Starbucks and you feel an Air of superiority. :-) So cool. Very nice to show off, just make sure none of them follow you back to the car. :-)

Girls like it. So for those who are single, be creative.

Haven't had the need to use a DVD since I got it so I guess Apple's decision to exclude the drive is spot on.

Battery life is just so-so. I've been pampered by the 5hr battery life of my iBook G4. With the same usage pattern, I'm maybe getting 3-3.5 out of the MBA.

Machines is refusing to give 2% rebate for the MBA. I know cause I bought it from there while expecting the rebate. The reason they gave was that the margins are too low. They do have other promos but unfortunately I bought mine on the day the stocks came in and a few days before their promos were announced.

I like Epicentre too but I usually get my Mac stuff from Machines because of the rebate.

balok, what did Machines say in their email to you? How about rebates for those who already bought the MBA from them? Such as poor me. I'm looking to buy another one since my wife has more or less taken over the MBA that we have now and ajul is looking like a very good deal.

Yes I've been in contact with ajul. I'm back to my iBook G4 at the moment unless my wife gives me back my MBA. Grrr. Looks like I will most likely have to buy another one. At first I was looking at getting the 1.8 with HD(not SSD) but ajul can't get that one as I think it's BTO. However Machines do have them. Still thinking about it.

RM7399 to be precise. I find 1.6 a bit too slow but RM1100 extra for that 200MHz. Hmmm. I think just get 1.6 from ajul, good enuff.

Maybe your wall socket or extension not properly grounded. I don't have such sensation. I even tried licking the MBA cos if got current leakage your tongue will surely feel it.

btw bratzz, where did you from? If you don't mind me asking.

cgcomputer.com ie Switch got some PC Fair promo. Check their website.

On a different note, Machines is so kelam-kabut.

As you may know I'm considering getting a 2nd MBA. Balok mentioned to us that Machines Gardens is honoring the 2% rebate that comes with their loyalty card. So I decided to call up all of their stores and this is what I get.

No rebate
-----------
Sunway
Lot 10
KLCC

Got 2% rebate
-----------------
MidValley
Gardens

Duh. Of course, with my luck I got my first one from Sunway.

I don't mind that there is no rebate but at least be consistent lah. Not some store got rebate, some don't have. What is this man.

sokmo86, see first post, got pictures and mini review. Hope you like my custom MacBook Air sleeve. In a nutshell, loving the MBA so far.

Has anyone encountered the core shutdown problem on their MacBook Air?

I bought myself a MBA Superdrive. Only cost me RM50 so why not. So far only used it twice.

Almost 3 weeks into my first MacBook Air and still loving it. It might be my imagination but it seems the battery life is significantly better than when I first got it. I can get almost 4hrs out of it.

Now that I'm used to the weight, it's starting to feel not that light. And then I go and pick up my old Acer P4 15" notebook, I could hardly lift it up.

I knew someone would ask me that. I bought from Machines. RM50 because I used up all my accumulated rebates.