Apple and Macs: New products, iMacs, iWork, iLife

[dbdynsty25]

Yeah, I haven't had any issues at all with my Lion install. It's definitely not the Vista of the Apple world.

[greggsand]

Upgraded both my mac's & haven't had any issues so far. Even all my recording software works (a FIRST ever!!). Full Screen mode is too weird to me after all these years on the mac. Overall, things seems much "snappier" & the price was def right.

[Murph]

This just looks cool.

Make your iPad look like a Gameboy.

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2011/08/02 ... o-gameboy/

[dbdynsty25]

Has anyone picked up one of the new MacBook airs? I'm contemplating selling my Macbook 13" (late 2008) and my Galaxy Tab 10.1 and just picking one up. I can't decide if the 11inch will be enough just from an overall use standpoint. 13 just seems to big (since that's what i'm using now anyway) and I'm not opposed to the 10 inch Tab screen...so hopefully the 11 would be enough. Not sure though. Just curious if anyone has used the newer models. They look sick...and I still don't use my Tablet all that much compared to my Macbook, so might as well consolidate if I can sell both for enough to cover the new gear (which I can).

[greggsand]

Has anyone picked up one of the new MacBook airs? I'm contemplating selling my Macbook 13" (late 2008) and my Galaxy Tab 10.1 and just picking one up. I can't decide if the 11inch will be enough just from an overall use standpoint. 13 just seems to big (since that's what i'm using now anyway) and I'm not opposed to the 10 inch Tab screen...so hopefully the 11 would be enough. Not sure though. Just curious if anyone has used the newer models. They look sick...and I still don't use my Tablet all that much compared to my Macbook, so might as well consolidate if I can sell both for enough to cover the new gear (which I can).

Funny, I was thinking the same thing. I have a 2010 MBP, and am thinking of ebay'ing it & getting an air (prob the 13). They are just too cool.

[dbdynsty25]

Funny, I was thinking the same thing. I have a 2010 MBP, and am thinking of ebay'ing it & getting an air (prob the 13). They are just too cool.

I love my 2008...LOVE it. It's just to big to sit on the couch with. And if I consolidate my Tab and my Macbook...now I've only got one device. That's my goal. Everyone claims I'm so Anti-Apple, yet I'm the first one to recommend their laptops. I think they are fantastic. Now that the Airs have some power to them, they are mighty enticing. I can essentially trade my 2008 and my Tablet for one, so it seems silly not to really. We'll see. Trying to move my hardware without having to ebay and get hit with 10% fees.

Anyone need a Macbook?

[Rodster]

Traitor

[dbdynsty25]

Traitor

Why? I've had a Macbook since 2008...not like I'm just NOW going to Apple. No way a Mac would ever replace my desktop at home. I actually want to play games on that.

[Dave]

I have the 11" MacBook Air and love it. Perfect for everything I need it to do, by far the most convenient computer I've ever used. Basically fires up immediately after flipping it open, is obviously portable as hell, and has enough power to do everything I ask it to do.

Honestly, my only complaint is that the damn feet on the bottom of it are too slick.

[dbdynsty25]

I have the 11" MacBook Air and love it. Perfect for everything I need it to do, by far the most convenient computer I've ever used. Basically fires up immediately after flipping it open, is obviously portable as hell, and has enough power to do everything I ask it to do.

Honestly, my only complaint is that the damn feet on the bottom of it are too slick.

Did you compare it to the 13" model and if so what made you pick the 11? I can't decide which to get. Lol.

[Dave]

I did make the comparison, and while the 13 is still really light I figured it wouldn't end up being much different than a MacBook Pro and the power/HD/cost trade-off wasn't worth it at that point.

[wco81]

If you're mostly going to use it around the home, might as well get the 13-inch for the bigger desktop, though I wonder if using applications in Lion's full-screen mode makes the resolution differences less pronounced.

Of course, web pages and documents will be better with the higher resolution.

The 11-inch seems to appeal to women because it can fit inside some normal purses. Maybe it would fit inside mens coats or jackets but what are those in CA?

I think the 13-inch may have some higher processor options but you're not likely to run things like Photoshop or Handbrake since storage is limited and expensive.

13-inch will still be a lot lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Pro, since it won't have the optical drive. RAM isn't user-upgradeable so you have to max it to 4 GB when you buy it.

I've tried both for an hour or two each. The 11-inch didn't seem too different typing-wise. Thought it might make typing more awkward. Didn't really try carrying around either that much though either would be a big improvement over the 15-inch MacBook Pro that I carry to meetings and toss in the messenger bag now and then.

[dbdynsty25]

There are really two applications that will take up 90% of the time with the laptop. Connected to my 24" monitor at work through a DVI KVM switch and sitting on the couch at home...which is why I am pretty sure the 11" would be best for me. I want small and light...its rare that I'll sit on the laptop at a desk and do stuff. And with regards to the small hard drives...128gb isn't small...I'd do some picture and video stuff and then transfer it off to external storage and to my server at home. So I wouldn't be housing a lot of data on my Air. Hell, I've got a 64gb SSD in my Macbook now and I've only used 20GB of it with apps and stuff I keep on the drive at all times. The rest comes and goes to my desktop as needed.

I understand your points about the resolution...but hell, the res on the 11" screen is better than my 13" Macbook already (1366x768 compared to 1280x800)...not to mention the display technology is significantly better as well.

[wco81]

You mentioned surfing on the couch so it sounded like using mostly at home.

You will probably have to get some kind of a dongle to hook up from the Thunderbolt port to the DVI monitor a work.

I have tens of gigs of photos and music/video so transferring to external drives can eat up some time. One thing I'm hoping Apple does is to add USB 3.0 ports. Thunderbolt is faster but so much more expensive ($50 cables) and so far, there are no external storage options except a $1000 RAID box (fast but only 4 TB). Meanwhile there are cheap USB 3.0 external drives, though USB 3.0 is still evolving (they're going to increase the power of USB 3.0 ports so that they could charge other laptops through USB 3.0 ports!).

Ivy Bridge chipsets next year are suppose to integrate USB 3.0.

Apple is coming out with a 27-inch monitor with Thunderbolt ports and Firewire 800, gigabit ethernet and USB 2.0 ports. So it's kind of like a breakout box with an IPS display. You can run a Thunderbolt cable to the monitor and then use the ports on the monitor to hook up wired networking and peripherals. Slick, minimalist package with a MBA (one cable for video, ethernet and peripherals) but it's a $1000 monitor.

The other thing is, you figure Apple is going to drop optical drives on all laptops sooner or later. They're not even shipping Lion on DVDs. Of course people like to watch DVDs on laptops when on planes. They can't quite go SSD-only on the MBP line yet, because a lot of people still need hundreds of gigs of storage out on the field. But you could see them get rid of the 13-inch MBP and then offer the 15-inch without optical drives but more storage and faster processors than the MBA line.

[dbdynsty25]

You mentioned surfing on the couch so it sounded like using mostly at home.

You will probably have to get some kind of a dongle to hook up from the Thunderbolt port to the DVI monitor a work.

From what I read, the current Mini DVI adapter that I have currently on my 13" MacBook will work just fine. If not, just another 30 bucks. No biggie.

I'm sure the 3.0 drives will be great when they are supported by hardware in the market, but that's still so new, it probably won't be fully implemented like 2.0 for another year or so at least. I'm not a huge file transfer guy so its not that big of a deal.

One thing I'm pissed about is that they didn't put an SD slot in the 11". If they had done that, I'd get the 11" in half a second, but that is what's giving me pause. I do transfer pics and stuff from my camera, and obviously stuff from my phone MicroSD card (with the adapter) so I'd like to have it built in instead of having to use the adapter, but it's not 100% necessary. Hell, my 13" MacBook doesn't have one either since I got it when the aluminums first came out in 2008.

I don't know...I just can't decide between the two sizes. I definitely don't use it at home as much as at work, with the lid closed completely, so the size isn't a huge deal, but nights like tonight where I'm in my office in my recliner playing some games and messing around on the internet, I'd like 13" screen because I'm not on my couch w/ my Tablet or a smaller MacBook air. So I don't know...pluses and minuses all around. Dammit.

[Rodster]

Traitor

Why? I've had a Macbook since 2008...not like I'm just NOW going to Apple. No way a Mac would ever replace my desktop at home. I actually want to play games on that.

I'm mean you're selling your Galaxy Tablet? You were the one that said Rod get it this is the real deal.

[HipE]

I had the mid 2010 11" Air for a few weeks and loved it. The problem was, I needed it as an imac replacement and didn't want to deal with using an external hard drive all the time, so I exchanged it for the current 13" macbook pro.

The biggest pro was obviously the size. I would pick the 11" Air over a tablet for web surfing on the couch any day of the week. You get the same great trackpad as the macbook pros, and you can pretty easily do the pinch to zoom in and out (which I did quite often due to the high resolution on a small screen) just like on a tablet. It is also much more comfortable to type on than the macbook pro as you don't have that raised sharp edge to deal with that always digs into your wrists. I found the keyboard to be quieter as well which is nice.

The biggest negative for me besides the lack of storage is the battery life. You will be shocked at how little 4 hours really is after you've gotten used to 7 on the macbook or 10 on a tablet. I also didn't like the increased resolution on that small screen as text was just too small to be comfortable for me to read by default.

Overall, if you don't need the Air as your main system, I would make the swap in a heartbeat. I'm not a big tablet fan, and the Air really is a joy to carry around the house and use.

[Sport73]

I (of course) have both an 11" and a 13" MacBook Air. Both are the best computers I've ever owned. My 11" is the stock 2010 64GB model, while the 13" is a maxed out 2011 model (for work).

My recommendation is always for the 11", it's plenty powerful for all but the most demanding users, and the lightness/portability can't be beat. The 13" is great, and I suppose it may be a better option if it's your 'main' computer, but I have a special place in my heart for the 11", which just somehow feels 'perfect' in size, weight, portability, performance, etc.

The 13" doesn't feel nearly as much like a take it anywwhere device, while the 11" is iPad like in how it welcomes you to tote it about.

[dbdynsty25]

@Rod

You asked what tablet to get. The Galaxy is awesome as a tablet. I would just rather have a laptop. The same thing I've been saying since the first iPad came out. Just don't have space in my technology library for it really. The cost per use or cost per thing I'm doing on it is severely out of whack so why not trade it in when there is still value. Same goes for my 2008 Macbook...still worth over 600 bucks, so why not trade both for a new, more portable model? Now is the time.

@HipE

I'm not so worried about battery life at all...the 2.5 hours I'm getting on my 2008 MacBook is plenty sufficient for me so if I can bump it to 4-5 hours on the 11" (or 7 hours on the 13") that is more than sufficient for me. Like I mentioned to Wco...the storage thing isn't a big deal for me. I'd bump the specs of the 11" to the 128gb SSD and the 4GB of ram for $1200 if I got it, so I wouldn't be on the complete bottom end as far as storage space/ram goes. I too, kind of wonder if the resolution (although really nice for a screen that size) will make things a bit too small. It's weird, while researching these things, I figured out you can pinch to zoom on web pages on my 2008. I've had the thing for almost three years and NEVER knew that. WTF? LOL...guess I just never needed to because the text size is fine on it.

@Sport

I'm pretty sure I'm thinking along the same lines as you when it comes to the portability. I want the convenience of a table, but with the power of a laptop and netbooks are too small (the 9-10") which is why I'm hesitating with the 11". I guess I gotta hit up the Apple store and check them out and decide. I have no problem with the 10" tablet screen and I think adding an inch and half for the 11" is probably the way to go as you mention. It's not my main computer at all (PC all the way, lol) so it's strictly my "fun" device. No need to have a tablet and a macbook in my estimation, especially if I go with the air. But I do carry it nearly every day so the portability will be very nice, regardless of if it's the 13" or the 11".

Thanks guys for the input. Except Rod, who's just complaining.

[fanatic]

Any game advice for a first time iMac owner (27")?

Ideally, I'd like to find a cool city building sim, or something else that's not combat-based.

Thanks!

[wco81]

There's an old version of Sim City probably still available.

I see in the Mac App Store something called Virtual City, with a free version to try out.

Sim City is available for iPhone and iPad.

Otherwise, Bootcamp and install Windows to play Windows games?

[fanatic]

There's an old version of Sim City probably still available.

I see in the Mac App Store something called Virtual City, with a free version to try out.

Sim City is available for iPhone and iPad.

Otherwise, Bootcamp and install Windows to play Windows games?

Thanks...I haven't played anything from a desktop since the original Doom, so it's been a while!

[dbdynsty25]

Just picked up my 11" Air (128gb HD and the 4GB ram version)...man this thing is sweet compared to my archaic 2008 13" Aluminum, lol. It was a good three years for sure!

[Sport73]

Just picked up my 11" Air (128gb HD and the 4GB ram version)...man this thing is sweet compared to my archaic 2008 13" Aluminum, lol. It was a good three years for sure!

Welcome aboard; you're going to love it. Recommended apps:

FantastiCal
Reeder
Dropbox
Evernote
Wallet (or 1Password)
iWork
Sparrow
Moom

[dbdynsty25]

LOL...it's not like I haven't used a Mac before...come on now Sport, this is my second.