Comments on: Apple MacBook Air: Cooler graphics

Is there a downside to squeezing a real graphics processor into in a 3-pound, ultra-thin laptop?

[Perry_Clease]

Brooke do you find the amount of RAM in the MBA to be limiting? Of course you can't have too much, but have you tried Creative Suite on the MBA? When I go to replace my aging iBook, the new MacBook will need to be able to run CS4. Currently I am running CS2 on my iBook and CS4 on the iMac.

[myles taylor]

I don't know. If you need more than 2 GB of ram in a machine that does what the Air does, you really should be getting a Macbook or a Macbook Pro. The Air is a mobile computer and 2 GB of ram is good for anything you need to do on that. You really shouldn't be running CS4 on the Air.

[sflocal]

I use my '08 MBA with both OSX and VMWare/XP. Runs fine with 2 gig. If course, I would prefer 4 but I was pleasantly surprised how fast XP runs. It is par with my original Sony Vaio so I cannot complain.

Honestly though, if you;'re thinking of using CS4 with your MBA, you need to understand that the MBA while uber-cool for a mobile professional, might not be sufficient for serious graphics work. The MBA does not fit in that market. I've recommended the MBA to many people and they have been very satisfied with it. But if the question of CS4 work comes up, I would hesitate. You may be better off with a MBP instead.

I love my MBA. Best laptop I've owned yet and it is my first Apple notebook.

[qnet]

Perhaps not CS4, but perhaps a Windows virtual machine.

[Random_Walk]

...the part that strikes me is that you would routinely use a 13" screen to do video. I'm a bit slanted by looking at it from the graphics angle, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of real estate with which to see... an MBP on the other hand would be fairly large (15"), or definitely workable (17")...

[Perry_Clease]

"...the part that strikes me is that you would routinely use a 13" screen to do video."

My iBook, and eventually a MacBook, is not my primary Mac. I would consider the MBA as a way to save weight when traveling. Also I don't primarily do video, mostly it is Illustrator and InDesign, with some PhotoShop.

[myles taylor]

Very well said. The Air has matured, both in price and in functionality and performance.

Just thought I'd throw that out there before the flame wars started. ;)

[Seaspray0]

The Air was rated as one of the 5 most overpriced laptops by cnet. Enjoy your coolaid.

[Perry_Clease]

"by Seaspray ..."

Well at least the MBA has matured

[ckh1272]

@Seaspray0-Care to provide a link. A quick search through CNET doesn't show that article. I remember seeing it a year or so ago, but the prices have dropped since. With that in mind, your statement comes off a bit "FUD" like. If it is FUD, then perhaps it is you who should stop drinking that cool-aid (it's Kool-Aid BTW) that looks an awful lot like Jack Daniels.

[myles taylor]

@seaspray0

I too would like to see a link to that article or review.

Also, I said that it has matured. I quote the article:

"And now that the Air can be had for $1,499 (versus $1,999 for Dell Adamo), it's a fairly reasonable deal. (Remember: the high end version of the MacBook Air debuted at more than $3,000 back in January of 2008.)"

Did you read the article Seaspray?

[Gonzie]

I have to agree with this article, I have a rev a MacBook and it gets really hot over time that it's just not comfortable to have on your lap for a long time. Also forget about flash videos or games, that really sucks up the cpu power partly because of the rubbish port of flash by adobe.

looking forward to getting a nice new macbook pro 13" in the near future

[sflocal]

I do love my Rev A MBA. I find it runs hot when plugged into the AC adapter. When running on batteries, it's not too bad. I normally don't use it on my lap just because it's not ergonomically comfortable for me but when I do, I tend to position it so that the edges of the machine rest on my lap and the center portion is left clear for ventilation. Doesn't bother me a bit.

All my other laptops (non-Apple) always had heat issues of some time so I don't consider this much different. Sometimes my MBA does seem to get warmer. Most times, I don't notice it.

The new MBA's seem to have had that heat problem resolved to a much better point. I recommended the MBA to friends back then and I still would even now. Fantastic little machine. Great performance and super slick as a portable machine.

[kirkmc2]

Ok, there's a lot wrong with this article.

I have the original Air: I got it as soon as it was released. When I play videos, there are two possible things that happen. First, if I'm watching, say, an AVI or M4V file, the heat rises, because of the decompression. And I get about 2 hours + battery life, with a relatively processor-intensive task (decompressing video). The Air gets warm, but not hot: I watch a lot of videos on mine, and I can keep it on my lap, and the keyboard never gets hot.

The second way I watch videos is ripping DVDs - I copy the video_ts folders of DVDs, and play them with DVD Player. The fan never goes on (well, never above its minimum level), and the Air does not get hot at all. This is because when you watch a DVD (or its content from a video_ts folder), there is no decompression; this doesn't hit the processor much.

Now, if this article were correct, I'd get heat when watching something from a video_ts folder, which is not the case. And I can get just over 3 hours when doing that. So it's clear the video is not the culprit, but the processor.

As for battery life, you should check the health and number of cycles on your battery. It may be worn down. You can't expect an 18-month old laptop (assuming you use it a lot) to have the same battery life of a new one, can you?

[man_w_balls]

The article is correct, but it leaves out the explanation needed to connect the dots...
With a lesser-powered video processor, like the Intel GMA, the system is forced to fall back on the CPU to do more of the video processing, which heats up the system by running the CPU harder.
With a higher-powered video processor, the CPU is called upon less to run the video work, and the system probably uses less power.

[SteveW928]

Also, a lot of internet video is not wrapped in Flash, which seems to eat up a lot of CPU. So if you combined that with also having to decompress the video, etc.... even my MBP gets quite warming doing such things. Just keep Activity Monitor in the Dock watching your CPU and then go to a website that embeds videos in Flash.... you'll see your CPU quite active even watching the smallest video. I really wish Flash would be better written as prevalent as it is becoming (I'm not holding my breath though... just look at Adobe's PDF viewer compared to Preview.... no comparison on speed and CPU usage).

[SteveW928]

Oops, should have been, 'is wrapped in Flash'.

[ikramerica--2008]

use menumeters, and you can keep track quite easily of how your processor is being used. Flash uses a lot of processor, Silverlight is horrible. Video_TS uses little processing power (because MPEG2 isn't nearly as compressed as other formats). h.264 is very efficient, even with the GMA950. iTunes trailers and h.264 video play back easily with little processor use comparatively.

[Spanwite]

To man_w_balls,
That is what Intel want's to be, contrary to Nvidia Idea of a good System!
Good thing Apple doesn't care what Intel want, but Intel's approach is cheaper (a little).

[qnet]

Your XP VM is probably comparable to a 1GB PC, yes. But who'd run a 1GB PC?!

[SteveW928]

@ qnet -

Ignorance is bliss huh?

It's called virtualization, not emulation. It will run very nearly as fast as a it would on a PC with a 1.86 or 2.13 GHz Core2Duo and Nvidia 9400M. Under BootCamp, it will run just as fast.

[myles taylor]

Who? Obviously you've never worked in the computer business. There are millions of people using ancient computers. When I was in internet tech support I still got calls from people using Windows 95 and the majority of the XP users were running under 1 GB of ram.

I'm not really sure what your point was, but a lot of people run 1 GB or less on a PC.

[ikramerica--2008]

Usually, when you use a VM, you are using it to accomplish something not doable on the Mac itself. Like Outlook, for example. Or certain Office features that MS refuses to port to the Mac.

You can use those on 1GB, no problem.

As for 2GB being enough for Mac OS X? Please, unless you are doing video editing or photoshop where you have huge memory requirements, 2GB is more than enough. I have 2GB in a Dell Vostro A90 running OS X, and it barely uses 1GB when doing many things at once (again, menumeters is a great way to monitor this). Obviously due to the larger display size, the MBA will use more RAM as VRAM than a 1024x600 netbook, but 2GB should be plenty of memory for anything an Air is meant for, and more.

[Random_Walk]

"But who'd run a 1GB PC?"

Hell - I have _servers_ running with only 1GB of RAM in 'em for single tasks that --for security or compatiblity reasons-- run only one task. External (and internal) DNS, VMWare VI server, sandboxes, NIS, NFS controllers, syslog servers, etc...

===

"Like Outlook, for example"

N.B. Microsoft makes and sells Entourage, which is allegedly the OSX version of Outlook.

"2GB is more than enough."

Agreed - I can render animations at 1080p/i size in a very reasonable time - on a dual G5 1.8 with only 2GB of RAM...

[CupertinoBill]

@gnet
I don't run XP in virtual, just use bootcamp. It is as fast as any PC on our office.

[chrisx1]

You "just" use Bootcamp?
Bootcamp is more hassle than a VM.

[ckh1272]

Only if someone doesn't read the instructions. It has worked very well for me with little to no hassle. The only issue I had with it was when I tried to install XP Pro. It just wouldn't finish loading drivers. I didn't have a whole lot of time to troubleshoot so I loaded it with Vista instead and it installed without a hitch (go figure)

[ikramerica--2008]

No, ckh, it is more hassle. because it requires a partition, and can't run concurrently with OS X. Fusion is much simpler overall, allowing you to run individual Windows apps on the Mac desktop in their own windows. You can also more easily resize the windows partition file, back it up, save it, etc.

Bootcamp works fine, but dual boot is more complicated and less versatile.

[ckh1272]

@ikramerica--Thanks for your opinion, but it is subjective at best. I will agree, however, that it is more convenient to have Windows running at the same time. However, in my case, Boot Camp has worked fine in my situation since I only use Windows at my job for about an hour a night. Also, the itch to play a game or two makes Boot Camp a more viable solution for me. Just to reiterate, I am not slamming on your choice to use Fusion, Parallels, or any other form of virtualization. I am just saying, in some situations, Boot Camp is more than adequate.

[sanjayb]

What's even better is to have both Boot Camp and Parallels using your Boot Camp partition so u would have the best of both worlds.

[tipoo_]

Did they ever fix the heat issue with the first version? Some hardwaresites are claiming that the second version, despite being clocked higher, actualy performs worse in CPU related benchmarks, indicating that the problem was never fixed and they are simply throttling its performance to avoid heat issues.

[seven7dust]

500$ more for the Dell, thats not even as thin !
talk about dell Tax ,lol!

[monkeyfun14]

I'll bet you that the Dell is alot more rugged then that MBA is.

[ckh1272]

@monkeyfun14--Why would you care? You will never know, because you won't use either one of them. However, I am willing to bet that, on average, the Dell wouldn't last as long as a MacBook Air. IMO, the only "rugged" laptop are the Panasonic Toughbook. BTW, you just find more and more ways to confirm your troll status with baseless statements like that.

[sanjayb]

Under useless comment from *********.

[globalodie]

@Brooke

You might do something about the third to last paragraph. The review you cite, while making several references to the Air, uses the 2.4ghz MacBook instead in the benchmarks. I understand the Air now uses the same 9400M chip but I'm not sure it's fair to say the Adamo is "consistently bested" by the AIR when the article you cite only shows a direct comparison to the MacBook.

[ckh1272]

@globalodie--I guess he missed where the article mentions "Macbook" at least ten times with accompanying bar graphs that also say "Macbook". Too funny.