Some other MacBook Air Videos

Whoops!

Just realised I didn't create a blog post for some of the other YouTube videos I did on the MacBook Air! These are a week or so old, but I'm including them here for completeness!

MacBook Air 11" Un-Boxing Video

Picked up the 11" MacBook Air over the weekend. Here's a brief un-boxing video:

I'll be doing a few more to compare the 11" to my current MacBook Pro as well as to compare it to the 13" fully maxed out MacBook Air when that arrives.

Watch this space!

Thoughts on the new MacBook Air

Let's get this over with and I'll say it straight out...

I've just ordered a new MacBook Air.

Now I know that my initial reaction to the MBA was that it was a great machine and I'd tweeted I'd pass for now, but I've had a change of heart.

This post isn't really meant to justify my actions (honest, it isn't!) but I thought it might be useful to explain how I reached my decision.

I popped into an Apple store on Friday and saw the machine in the flesh. I'd previously owned one of the original MacBook Airs, so the form factor was no real surprise, even though the new machine is even thinner.

The 11" machine is cute but a bit too ultra portable for my needs, but the 13" seems to be perfect. I really enjoyed my original MacBook Air but had eventually become frustrated with some of the limitations of the original machine and upgraded to a 15" MacBook Pro (15" 2.66GHz) about 18 months ago.

I still wasn't convinced that the new MacBook Air was a good fit for me however, especially with the iPad fulfilling most of my mobile computing needs...

But by now, there were plenty of reviews of the MacBook Air on the web and three things really impressed me:

1 - The screen resolution of the 13" MacBook Air is the same as my existing 15" MacBook Pro. Seriously! One of the major reasons for swapping away from the original MBA to the MBP was the need for some additional screen real estate.

2 - The speed! The MacBook Air has a Core 2 Duo processor but only running at 1.4GHz for the 11" or 1.86Ghz for the 13" (with an optional 2.13GHz available as a BTO option).

A far cry from my 2.66 Core 2 Duo processor in my 18 month old MacBook Pro.

However, the Air doesn't have a standard hard drive but uses Solid State memory, attached directly to the motherboard. From all accounts, this boosts performance significantly. In general day to day usage, it would appear that the MBA is faster that current MacBook Pros with the i5 and i7 chips. Not in heavy number crunching of course but in speed of response, opening apps, browsing etc,.

I did upgrade my current MacBook Pro to a 256GB SSD so I have some experience of the difference in using a solid state drive. I have to say though that allow the 3rd party SSD exhibited stunning performance initially, it does exhibit some performance degradation over time, something the Apple supplied Flash storage should not.

3 - The graphics chip has been improved and on spec is now faster than my existing MacBook Pro.

Now as you know, I'm a video editor by trade and as such, my recent thought process had been to upgrade to a 17" MacBook Pro for off site video editing and use my iPad for all my mobile needs. I held off and held off upgrading to the 17" MacBook Pro for reasons I couldn't quite put my finger on. On reflection, it was most likely the price (which is significant for the 17" MacBook Pro), and the realisation that I don't actually do much editing when I'm away from my home studio. If I needed a portable machine to be my primary machine, then the 17" MacBook Pro would probably be the one. As it is, I can't really justify the expense, for the limited time I need to be able to edit on the move.

The MacBook Air will probably suffice for editing the occasional YouTube clip and I may experiment more with using the Elgato Turbo H.264  HD USB stick for encoding with the MacBook Air, as hey, there's now two USB ports.

So the final spec I decided on was:

• 13" MacBook Air
• 2.13Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4 GB RAM
• 256GB Flash Storage

The only thing that the MacBook Air is lacking is the backlit keyboard, something I really like on the MacBook Pro.

One other thing I need to point out is that I also had an Apple Developer Discount available from my Apple Developer Select membership. This got me around 10% discount off the price of the notebook plus I can claim back the VAT as it's a business machine, making the additional options more affordable. If I didn't use the discount by November, I'd have lost the discount and I'm not in the market for another Mac Pro!

So, the new MacBook Air is ordered and should be here in a week or so expect to see a review and some YouTube footage once it arrives.

Just one thing if your a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member (or thinking of becoming one)...

It's been a while since I did a members prize draw so I've decided to acquire an 11" MacBook Air and give it away as during a members prize draw at the end of November.

If you're and existing member (as long as you're not on a complimentary membership) there's no action to take, just make sure your membership is current on the 30th November and you'll be enetered into the draw automatically. Any new members who sign up between now and the end of November will also be entered automatically. If you want to sign up as a member, you can do that here!

Caveat Emptor - AppleCare via eBay

I've previously bought Applecare for various Macs at hugely discounted prices via eBay, from a couple of reputable eBayers of good standing.

These have previously been accepted by Apple and the AppleCare agreements have gone through without a hitch.

So, with my Mac mini approaching the end of it's 12 month warranty period, I had a quick look on eBay for any bargain AppleCare agreements. I found one from an eBay merchant with a good record and they confirmed that the AppleCare was not just a number, but a legitimate boxed version, fully sealed.

I week or two later, the sealed AppleCare box arrived and I duly set about registering the AppleCare agreement.

To my surprise, I consequently received an email from Apple requesting a copy of the original valid sales receipt documenting the purchase of the AppleCare Protection Plan from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller.

It would appear that proof of purchase via eBay (or any other online auction or classified advertisement service) is not sufficient. I've sent off the request to the eBay merchant and if it's not forthcoming, I'll be requesting a refund,

So, does that spell the end of cheap AppleCare via eBay?

I hope not.

But in future, before you enter into any arrangement with eBay or similar, you might want to confirm in advance that a copy of the original valid sales receipt documenting the purchase of the AppleCare Protection Plan from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller is available, otherwise, forget it!

Update: I've been in touch with the eBay vendor and she bought a bulk load of AppleCare packages from another eBay merchant. Mine is the first to have required proof of purchase via Apple. She has agreed to refund the cost of the package on return.

Looks like I'll be sticking to Apple and Apple authorised resellers for my AppleCare in future.

Final Update - The eBay vendor has refunded my money and is confused as to why this has affected me and no-one else from the batch of AppleCare products she has resold.

Bottom line for me now is that I'll be buying my AppleCare from Apple or Amazon - pity!

Apple TV - 8GB Local Storage - Oh my!

Well despite Apple not mentioning the amount of local storage on the new Apple TV we know know just what's in this little baby. iFixit have done their usual fabulous job of tearing down the new device and made some interesting discoveries.

What is this? A Samsung K9LCG08U1M 8GB NAND Flash chip?

Why, yes it is. It's the same part we found during the iPad teardown! This is a pretty remarkable amount of storage for a $99 device.

So the Apple TV does have a decent amount of internal storage - a whopping 8GB. Not only that, but it also has an empty memory slot next to the existing 8GB that could indicate an option for a 16GB version of higher.

As the device is intended to be a streaming device only, the local storage must only be for one thing and that that's the local installation of iOS applications.

Not yet, but Apple only have to flip a switch and we could have apps on our Apple TVs

OK, it's probably a bit more than that, including some changes to the iOS SDK, but at least the hardware platform is in place.

The iFixit teardown also brought up some other interesting points:

• It includes the exact same A4 chip as found in the iPad (but not in the iPhone)
• It has 256MB of RAM as found in the iPad
• It has the same 802.11n Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM chip as found in the iPad
• It's very power efficient and should run cool to the touch (just like the iPad)
• The logic board appears to have some pin outs on the logic board that matches the size of a dock connector? Something for the future or maybe the logic board is to be used in a different device.

In all, a lot of power for a low price.

It will be interesting to see how Apple ramps up the functionality of the Apple TV over time with the introduction of new features and services.

We've barely seen a fraction of what they have planned for the Apple TV.

By the way, I've revised the results of my predications for the new Apple TV in the blog post I published the day before the announcement.  In it, I said:

8 or 16GB local storage for Apps and Games

I think I'm going to say I nailed that particular prediction ;-)