MacBook Air Refurbs

[chris]

Although the model I purchased last year was a bit slow for my needs, I still suffer from MacBook Air envy. My trip to Vegas didn't help matters. Seems like everyone live blogging was using the MBA. Now, my current MBP is no slouch, but there is something about the Air. I'm guessing MBA owners know what I'm talking about.

I went to the Apple Store today and noticed the 1.8GHz 64GB SSD is down to $1299 refurbed. Wasn't this model $3098 just months ago. I know the graphics card got bumped up in the refresh, but am I missing anything else. I don't need a ton of storage space. Would then have to make a decision between the MBP and MBA. Just don't want to miss the boat on this deal.

Anyone see speed comparisons between the two and perhaps the early-2008 MBP?

What about Firewire cards? Imported video at CES via Firewire, so this is a must.

Must resist the urge....

[macgirl]

I know what you're talking about, Chris.

While that is a good deal, I've read too much negative stuff about the rev. A's performance to want to get one. Maybe wait for the rev. B refurbs?

[chris]

Originally Posted by macgirl

I know what you're talking about, Chris.

While that is a good deal, I've read too much negative stuff about the rev. A's performance to want to get one. Maybe wait for the rev. B refurbs?

The first review is the 1.6GHz 80GB HD, same model I ended up returning. From the first review...

The Air also uses a slower 80GB 1.8-inch drive, the same kind that powers many portable media players. While probably sturdy enough to withstand normal use, it's nowhere near as fast as your average 2.5-inch laptop drive, and will always be behind in storage should you chose to upgrade later. If you can afford to spring for the 64GB SSD option, we highly suggest it -- your machine's reliability, performance, and battery life will all get a boost (at the expense of 16GB of space and a ton of cash, naturally).

I wish the second rev.B review would reference what model was being used.

I guess I wonder how much faster the 1.8GHz 64GB model is vs the 1.6Ghz 80GB?

I probably wouldn't consider it if not for the price. Just very tempting. The 128MB SSD model is $2500, over $1000 more than the 64GB Rev. A. Hard drive space is not an issue for me. Graphics performance...light Photoshop work, iMovie is 30% of my usage. 60% light HTML, coding, blogging. 10% fun.

[chris]

Found some nice fancy charts to check out some speed data comparisons.

[chris]

This is a pretty interesting and comedic take between the two...

However, one major difference I saw while using the SSD model is that it didn't suffer entire machine slowdowns when there was a lot of disk activity—or at least less so than the HDD model. When reviewing the HDD model, using a high I/O browser like Firefox or transferring files over the network to my hard drive threw me more beachballs than a Girls Gone Wild party and rendered the machine relatively useless. The SSD model exhibited little of this behavior—if I were to take my totally unscientific experience and translate it into a number, I would say that such slowdowns were reduced by 90 percent.

[PepeRB29]

once i finish my PhD and my MBP needs a replacement i fully intend on getting a new imac (decked out) as well as a MBA. i'm not in the market now but you can't beat these prices. great post chris!

[chris]

Originally Posted by PepeRB29

once i finish my PhD and my MBP needs a replacement i fully intend on getting a new imac (decked out) as well as a MBA. i'm not in the market now but you can't beat these prices. great post chris!

Weeks later and I'm still very happy with the MBA. I haven't used my MBP at all, but haven't really needed all the horsepower. Grabbing the MBA is just comfortable.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to kick the MBP to the curb just yet. If my AT&T card would have worked at CES, my MBP was a champ at processing images of the event on the fly. The bottleneck was my data card which was failing throughout my live blog event.