[Requiring therapy] Broke down and got a Macbook Air... I feel so dirty

lowteckh said:
Like total shit lol. Expected too much, but it can only produce "almost playable" frames at low res/low settings. Someone on another forum said he can get up to 70fps on the same config but I have no idea how the hell you can manage that. I get like 40 or 45fps when just my base + 5 SCVs are on screen, huge dips in battles.
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Thats always the problem when people test SC2. They test it in the early levels of single player and low unit 1v1 games.

But, I'd imagine that in windows the 13" MBA should not do too bad.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
I think it would be better to not think about computer's and their peripherals to not have these sorts of adjectives. I would simply recommend becoming hardware agnostic. I'm sure there are plenty who would preach the advantages of OSX (I am a fan myself) but at the end of the day it's just about the end-user and what piece of hardware and operating system best suit you. I don't as a default recommend a Mac to everyone...

In other words, I invite you to a larger and hopefully less bias world.
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Spot on.

Fanboyism is ridiculous and idiotic when so many of these "opposing" companies make such great products. Take each on their own terms and get the best tool for the job. Confining yourself to a limited slice of products because you "hate" the other company is frigging stupid.
 
100inch said:
Thats always the problem when people test SC2. They test it in the early levels of single player and low unit 1v1 games.

But, I'd imagine that in windows the 13" MBA should not do too bad.
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It should be fine running under Windows.

Note that the upcoming patch, previewed in the Public Test Realm, has much better performance in both Windows and OS X than the current version. What was smooth before absolutely flies now, it is really really nice.

EDIT: Also, chat rooms!
 
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Nothing to be ashamed about, its a very nice piece of hardware. With my current income though, I do have to look to machines that offer more value for the dollar than most Apple products, the MBA included. I like to think of Apple as the Harley Davidson of computers. The HD badge adds a bit to the price than if it had a different logo on there, but they are quality assembled with great fit and polish and emphasis on style over function, if not the fastest or most affordable but when you buy one you also buy into a whole community as well which adds a X-factor.

If money were a non-issue though, I'd happily wrap one under my arm.

Instead though I have a HP and a Suzuki, lol!
 
Ducman69 said:
Nothing to be ashamed about, its a very nice piece of hardware. With my current income though, I do have to look to machines that offer more value for the dollar than most Apple products, the MBA included. I like to think of Apple as the Harley Davidson of computers. The HD badge adds a bit to the price than if it had a different logo on there, but they are quality assembled with great fit and polish and emphasis on style over function, if not the fastest or most affordable but when you buy one you also buy into a whole community as well which adds a X-factor.

If money were a non-issue though, I'd happily wrap one under my arm.

Instead though I have a HP and a Suzuki, lol!
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I like the Harley analogy. You get a quality built machine that costs a little bit more. For some people it's worth it, for some it isn't. It's really not that great of a divide.
 
The new Airs are gorgeous, I don't blame you. I wish they would push their price down $100 or 2, but of course Apple knows exactly how many they're going to sell before they release their product.
 
It's been mentioned, but VAIO Z. As light as a netbook, high 1600x900 matte screen, i5 or i7 processor, dual or quad SSD in RAID, and a 330M make any gaming a total breeze.

Never been happier with a laptop. It's so light I can't feel it in my shoulder bag, and I can play BC2 at 50-60fps during the weekends when I'm away from my gaming rig.

Only possible downside is that it doesn't run OS X (my main work machine is a hackintosh), so I can't access some of my documents.
 
Yes and the Z is also at least $1600 at a minimum. You can stop mentioning it now.

And, I've found not being to maximize windows pretty stupid, even though Apple fanboys will say that maximizing things is a stupid Windows-era idea (goto: Macrumors). Trackpad is pure awesomeness, keyboard too. Searching through Windows folders is a complete PITA (something to do with indexing, or lack of) so it'll take minutes to find something off my WHS, vs. seconds at most with a PC.

And this thing is awesome for hitting on guys and girls alike. Walk into a store, hot chick glares at the MB with wide eyes and conversation begins: "OMG, is that the new Apple?" "Yup" "OMG, it's sooo small" "Yup" "Can I hold it?". I'm guessing the MB would have churned out little babies with her had I left it any longer.
 
lowteckh said:
And this thing is awesome for hitting on guys and girls alike. "OMG, it's sooo small" "Yup" "Can I hold it?".
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You should not enter marketing.

Telling me that if I carry a Mac that girls AND guys will start hitting on me (hey bro, please stop massaging my shoulders), and that hot chicks will tell me my thingie is so small is not a confidence booster... :D

It is true though, just like w/ Harley Davidson you have name recognition thanks to the epic marketing machine. Harley Softtail and Apple Macbook are far more recognizable than Suzuki Boulevard M109R2 LE or Acer Aspire TimelineX 5820TG.
 
@lowteckh:

My view: you don't have to like everything Apple does to like what it does well. It's why I still use an iPhone: in the end, getting on-time updates, no carrier cruft and very good app support trumps a lot of things Android brings.

Plus, it's easier to jive with Apple's policies on the Mac, since in the end you have something based on an open-source kernel and with a full Unix command-line terminal.
 
lowteckh said:
Bah, was hoping that wouldn't come up. I've been beating myself up for not checking SD (and I was awake!!) when it went down to ~$900, 'else I wouldn't be beating myself again for getting a Mac. All i can do now is pop over to Frys and drool (and not look at the price tag), or drool over the shoulders of a student who has one.
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So return the Mac and buy the Sony if it bugs you so much. You'll have a nice chunk of change left over to have some fun with.
 
Harry1969 said:
So return the Mac and buy the Sony if it bugs you so much. You'll have a nice chunk of change left over to have some fun with.
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10 days late to the thread and all its responses.

You should have just not posted at all.... And find me a Z that's less than a MB Air now.
 
Hizzo said:
Is the screen problematic? It looks super fragile.
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Aluminum is fragile? Most laptops will have their hinges die on them before the screen gets "crushed". It's not made of glass y'know.

And I'm uber surprised how much higher performance the 13" MBAir has over the 11" with just the change in CPU.

This video shows it running pretty damn smooth at what, medium settings.

http://www.youtube.com/user/KadMac25#p/u/1/VTULKStb7NM

I'm in the teens with an expanded base and built army.... at minimum res and lowest settings. Also getting hiccups every now and then with all games (SC2, L4D2, TF2 so far), slight "lag"/chop whatever. Bleh.

They shoulda stuck a desktop i7 and GTX580 in this. Yup.
 
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I said it looks super fragile, ie, being millimeters thin. Despite it being made of aluminum, it is still absurdly thin, can anyone with actual experience with the machine comment?
 
The screen does not seem any more fragile than any other laptops. It has no flex to it, I just tried grabbing mine by the corner and picking up the laptop and had no issues.

I really have no idea how they made it so thin but I love it ;)
 
Hizzo said:
I said it looks super fragile, ie, being millimeters thin. Despite it being made of aluminum, it is still absurdly thin, can anyone with actual experience with the machine comment?
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Rofl ok. Because I don't have "actual experience" with my own Macbook Air in a thread I started which I happen to be using right this moment, and the moments before it.
 
I've seen a few with issues, but at a service center you will Hizzo.

No issues with the display, but based on issues with the Mac Book air original and 2nd gen the screens held up pretty well. There were more issues with the hinges on those, but those should be rectified by going to a similar hinge as the macbook pro like they did with the new gen. I expect as they start to age you are going to see a lot of 'bent' corners on the display, which we saw a lot of on the 1st and 2nd gens (and to some extent with the MacBook Pro's). According to their users the system's weren't dropped, just carried in a backpack with padding.

Bigger issues have been with the batteries and with drop / mishandling damage causing hinge alignment issues. Nothing bad though for a 1st gen / redesign apple product.

Also, it is still not a business/work machine unless you're in management. Even then depending on how things are setup you may not be happy with the performance. For an office environment I wish they would have dropped the Core2's and went with an i series without the better GPU. Here's hoping the next refresh drops in sandy.

I see a certain sample set across a certain demographic. It is not statistically significant. Take what I say with that in mind.
 
LOL i feel the same exact way OP.

But look at me now... typing on this mbp 13" and texting with an iphone 4.

Goodness.
 
lowteckh, hope you enjoy it. The MBA is a nice looking computer and, although I don't care for Mac OS, it's not that hard to get used to. A good friend of mine just bought a MBP and he really likes it.

If you ever need service, on the other hand, I hope your experience with apple "care" goes better than mine did. My one and only experience with apple support sent me screaming for the hills and into the arms of a samsung focus. I'll never own an apple product again, which is a shame because I LOVED my iphone 3G and probably would've upgraded to an iphone 4, even though that meant still having to deal with itunes.

Their customer service needs some real help. Not everyone will put up with their shit.
 
I'm about to pull the trigger on an Air too. It's the perfect little device for presenting at conferences and stuff and I have a handful set for next year. I won't be doing Photoshop on this thing, but I will do some Flash and other dev.

nvm, just saw on Apple site, I can get 4GB RAM. Ok then, I think I'm sold.
 
I'm in the same boat as the OP. Looking for a small machine to play WoW/SC2 on and I'll probably get a 13" MBA. The new MBAs are great pieces of hardware, nothing else even comes close. The only thing that concerns me is the screen resolutions, 1440x900 is nowhere near enough to run a decent raiding UI on...I have a 1680x1050 screen on my desktop and it's still not enough, most guys in my guild run 1900x1200 or 2560x1600.

Although the first thing I'll be doing is completely removing OS X and putting Win7 with native EFI booting on it...I used Mac OS for over a year back in the Leopard days and I simply cannot stand that OS. It doesn't do a single thing better than Windows and only brings a load of compatibility complications with it.
 
InorganicMatter said:
I'm in the same boat as the OP. Looking for a small machine to play WoW/SC2 on and I'll probably get a 13" MBA. The new MBAs are great pieces of hardware, nothing else even comes close. The only thing that concerns me is the screen resolutions, 1440x900 is nowhere near enough to run a decent raiding UI on...I have a 1680x1050 screen on my desktop and it's still not enough, most guys in my guild run 1900x1200 or 2560x1600.

Although the first thing I'll be doing is completely removing OS X and putting Win7 with native EFI booting on it...I used Mac OS for over a year back in the Leopard days and I simply cannot stand that OS. It doesn't do a single thing better than Windows and only brings a load of compatibility complications with it.
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I wouldnt get a MBA for WoW and SC2. A MBP yes, I use it and it is fantastic, but the air, that will struggle with the graphics on SC2.

Anyways, I have been using mac os for as long as I have owned a computer, and I love it. I do triple boot osx, win7 and ubuntu10, but the only time I switch to win or ubuntu is for programming or gaming purposes. WoW runs great on osx.
 
ranviper said:
I wouldnt get a MBA for WoW and SC2. A MBP yes, I use it and it is fantastic, but the air, that will struggle with the graphics on SC2.

Anyways, I have been using mac os for as long as I have owned a computer, and I love it. I do triple boot osx, win7 and ubuntu10, but the only time I switch to win or ubuntu is for programming or gaming purposes. WoW runs great on osx.
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If your MBP doesn't struggle with SC2, a MBA shouldn't have trouble. I haven't tried it myself, but in windows 7 it should run decent.
 
I would rather get one of the slim Thinkpads, but for a small laptop the air is not too bad.
 
InorganicMatter said:
I used Mac OS for over a year back in the Leopard days and I simply cannot stand that OS. It doesn't do a single thing better than Windows and only brings a load of compatibility complications with it.
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Heh. Thanks for the laugh, buddy.
 
phide said:
Heh. Thanks for the laugh, buddy.
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No need to be rude. Something you consider a necessity might be useless for him. The two operating systems aren't night and day. One isn't pong and one isn't crysis.
 
It's a factual inaccuracy, and a claim I found amusing. It's akin to saying that Windows doesn't do a single thing better than OS X, which would be just as inaccurate as claiming the reverse.
 
Windows has more apps plan and simple, but that doesn't mean Apple doesn't also have a lot. If you can get what functionality you need from both OS, you have a choice. Programmers/gamers like me don't, so I'm really glad that Windows is so widespread and hardware competition so fierce that I can still get a good deal.
 
phide said:
Heh. Thanks for the laugh, buddy.
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OK. Why don't you detail exactly what it does better that improves day-to-day computing productivity over its competitor. And don't think about pulling the security strawman, that hasn't been a valid point of comparison years now and you know it.

Here's my checklist of functionality:
Web Browser - both
Text Editor - both
C Compiler - both
World of Wracraft - both
Ventrilo - both
CoD:BO - Windows

Looks like 6-5 Windows for me. ;) My point still stands: great hardware I'd buy if I had the cash, terrible software.
 
A few things. Built-in multi-desktop support, system search in all file open/file save dialogs, Expose for application switching via window previews (Windows has Flip 3D, which is in some ways comparable, but it's not a true functional analogue to Expose), the ability to do basic calculations in Spotlight, QuickLook on any file type with a QuickLook filter, overall quite a bit less focus-stealing from applications than you see in Windows, built-in scripting support that works in the OS itself and in apps that support AppleScript (which I would say is the majority of productivity apps as well as others that aren't productivity-focused), built-in script-based automation, a built-in password manager that hooks into nearly every third-party application that can take advantage of it (web browsers, but also FTP clients and various other types of applications). OS X supports application bundles, which tends to make software installation faster and more straightforward, whereas Windows does not. There are fewer user escalation prompts in OS X than there are in Windows. There's also a near-ubiquitous notification support with the third-party Growl app. Growl has a Windows app, and there are other notification systems like Growl for Windows, but none with the level of application support that Growl has on OS X. Alerts for system updates are much less frequent than in Windows, particularly compared to XP (where alerts are issued, what, every thirty minutes or some ridiculous interval?).

As far as security concerns go, no, there is a real difference. OS X has some limited built-in protection against malware (which functions more like an alerter, but it's handy because it's a proactive measure as opposed to reactive, though it's infrequently updated). Windows has no such feature that I'm aware of. OS X, at this time, also doesn't have any in-the-wild viruses and a much lower susceptibility to malware, mainly because there's significantly less malware. To me, that seems like a genuine advantage.

Windows has the obvious edge in terms of software compatibility (because it's Windows) and gaming support (via DirectX). It also has some better UI elements like taskbar window previews, which OS X lacks. There's better compatibility with third-party hardware devices like printers, scanners and input devices. Mouse acceleration is easily disabled in Windows, which isn't the case with OS X. Windows 7 supports TRIM for SSDs while OS X does not. Accessing system search in Windows is only one key while in OS X it's two. Windows supports cut+paste while OS X does not. Windows has one-click window maximization. Windows has Libraries which are generally more functional than OS X's Smart Folders. And so on and so forth.

So, clearly, OS X has some functionality that Windows simply does not. The opposite is also true. To say that OS X offers nothing over Windows, however, is simply incorrect. There is absolutely no debating that.
 
InorganicMatter said:
OK. Why don't you detail exactly what it does better that improves day-to-day computing productivity over its competitor. And don't think about pulling the security strawman, that hasn't been a valid point of comparison years now and you know it.

Here's my checklist of functionality:
Web Browser - both
Text Editor - both
C Compiler - both
World of Wracraft - both
Ventrilo - both
CoD:BO - Windows

Looks like 6-5 Windows for me. ;) My point still stands: great hardware I'd buy if I had the cash, terrible software.
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I was willing to listen until you said Call Of Duty: Black Ops.

REALLY? Seriously dude, trot out a good game if you're going to make the "games" argument. ;)

On a serious note, they make excellent Windows laptops, I boot both operating systems on mine. I really miss the OS X UI when I'm in Windows 7, but that OS is basically a game console for me at this point so no big deal as all I really use on it is Steam and maybe FTP.
 
phide said:
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You basically quoted every single "little thing" in OS X, all of which are nice marketing checkboxes to tick, none of which improve your 8-5 work performance (except arguably AppleScript, if you dedicate yourself to basically learning a new language). I'm pretty sure the wording used was "day-to-day computing productivity" and not "a cool preview button to click so you can avoid launching an audio player that takes 0.25s to open and consumes 4MB of memory."

I'll go along though and demonstrate the big "little thing" missing from Mac OS and the reason I don't use it even on Apple-branded Intel computers: you can't do an entire days' work without leaving the keyboard. It's something leftover from the DOS days that Microsoft has (thankfully) continued to carry over to every version of Windows and kept in Visual Studio even after completely rewriting the new UI, and it's also something Apple has completely forgotten from their Unix roots. A keyboard is faster than a mouse, there's simply no use arguing that point. I can sit down and code for 8 hours straight without touching my mouse. Ctrl+K+R+Enter to find all variable references, versus scroll...find variable...right-click (or I guess command-left-click :p)....scroll more...find all references...move cursor to results list...double-click first result. There are some things you simply cannot do in Mac OS without a mouse - snapping, moving, and resizing windows are the most obvious that come to mind, and that's unacceptable. As long as Apple continues to ignore programmers, which are arguably the single most important users in their user base, I'll continue to ignore their ridiculous UI.

Serpico said:
I was willing to listen until you said Call Of Duty: Black Ops.

REALLY? Seriously dude, trot out a good game if you're going to make the "games" argument. ;)
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Meh, it was just an example. Guess I should have just said "DirectX" which basically encompasses every good game made in the last 10 years except for Blizzard and ID's stuff.
 
What are you talking about? You just shot out your argument when you tried to claim you can't do a complete day's work without leaving the keyboard on OSX. WTF are you talking about when you claim that Apple has completely forgotten their Unix roots? The single most productive "little thing" that OSX has over Windows is the damn terminal.

The things phide listed aren't a checklist of marketing points; they're actual functionality you'd notice impacting your workflow if you *actually* used OSX for longer than a week instead of poking at it in the computer lab or Apple store.
 
mope54 said:
What are you talking about? You just shot out your argument when you tried to claim you can't do a complete day's work without leaving the keyboard on OSX. WTF are you talking about when you claim that Apple has completely forgotten their Unix roots? The single most productive "little thing" that OSX has over Windows is the damn terminal.
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Pray tell, which modern C++ and C# IDE+debugger and MCU flashing utility did you plan on running in the terminal? Vim?

mope54 said:
The things phide listed aren't a checklist of marketing points; they're actual functionality you'd notice impacting your workflow if you *actually* used OSX for longer than a week instead of poking at it in the computer lab or Apple store.
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Actually I used it for well over a year and was so glad to be rid of it that I formatted on the Windows 7 launch day. The only thing of any worth he mention is AppleScript, and even then it takes a large investment of time to script actions that unless you are going to reuse it at least 10 times it's not worth the effort of setting up.
 
InorganicMatter said:
You basically quoted every single "little thing" in OS X, all of which are nice marketing checkboxes to tick, none of which improve your 8-5 work performance (except arguably AppleScript, if you dedicate yourself to basically learning a new language).
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What would lead you believe that multi-desktop support, search capability in file open/save dialogs, Expose, QuickLook and less frequent application focus stealing do nothing to increase my day-to-day productivity? How is it that you could critique features of a workflow you have absolutely no knowledge of? This I cannot understand.

Besides, you've shifted your original argument. You original statement was, and I quote, "[OS X] doesn't do a single thing better than Windows", which I just clearly refuted. You know that if you continually shift your argument, you give yourself the opportunity to believe that you are never in the wrong, but what you may believe (or, rather, what you intend to convince yourself of) and what is actually true aren't exactly the same here.
 
Well, he's just talking out his ass anyway so no use in trying to take him too seriously.

One *can* snap and resize windows in OSX without a mouse. One can also scroll without a mouse just fine. Obviously one doesn't have to use a mouse at all if one knows the correct shortcuts since many people do so just fine...although why one would bother when he has access to the incredible multitouch trackpad, which once again has no peer and would be a clear OSX trump card, is beyond me. But whether a mouse is useful or necessary really is one of the most silliest arguments against an OS that I've ever heard.

Originally it was OSX doesn't do anything better, but the terminal is a clear case in which that's both untrue as well clearly demonstrative that Apple hasn't "forgotten" it's Unix roots, which is why I chose it as an example. I had no idea what he does for a living and that wasn't his original argument anyway. Since he brought up which modern IDE one might be concerned about in OSX, something that Windows simply can *not* do in any shape or form would be Xcode. And while he might not care about it, that's certainly one that is simply ridiculous to ignore.
 
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