MacBook Air owners find latest Apple fix producing mixed results

[AppleInsider]

Users of Apple's ultraportable Mac are increasingly reporting that a firmware update might be taming processor usage, but is still leaving many of their systems too hot to use and prone to software freezes.

While a number of owners at Apple's discussion forums say the hardware patch solved a problem that would force a core to shut down entirely and ramp up the internal temperature, others still note the slim system continues to overheat and in some cases will bog down as the MacBook Air is unable to cope with a given application's demand, particularly an OS component known as kernel_task.

This happens regardless of whether any peripherals are attached that might ask more of the system.

Others also notice that their systems are simply slowing down in different ways: instead of switching off a single core, a handful report their systems keeping both cores active under most temperatures but lowering the clock speed, producing much the same result.

"This 'update' is a farce - all that it does is step the processor down to 800MHz as soon as the [temperature] rises to some ridiculously low [level]," one Air user explains.

Common troubleshooting steps appear to rule out software as the cause, even with complete operating system reinstalls. A number of less cautious owners have taken to installing the unofficial third-party app CoolBook to adjust system voltages and force the system to run at full speed but at lower voltages and thus lower heat.

For those determined to get an official solution, Apple's frontline technicians have had little success. More than one customer bringing his MacBook Air to the Genius Bar was told that a hardware repair was unlikely to help and to hope for "a software update or some other word" from Apple to provide a more permanent remedy.

While candid, the response comes with no public Apple response and is described as little consolation to customers who feel the system either too hot or too slow to be workable in real conditions.

"How long am I expected to wait? Currently, my computer isn't fit for the purpose for which it was built and sold," an affected owner says.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Jimzip]

Hmm, that's unfortunate for the Air owners.

Maybe I missed something, but if a third party app is cooling the processor while maintaining performance, why can't apple do something similar? Anyone care to explain that one?

Jimzip

[0SX]

coolbook still works after applying the update. thank god!

[nagromme]

I've never experienced such problems with my Air 1.8, so I decided to skip this update (for now). I think I'll keep it that way.

It gets hot when playing 3D games or watching HD video, but not unusably so, and I've never seen a core drop away in Activity Viewer.

If it ain't broke, I don't want to try to fix it!

Now, I HAVE had slow or failed WiFi connection issues--even though the signal is very strong and reliable once connected. I can walk a hundred feet way through concrete walls and not lose my WiFi--but establishing the connection in the first place, even 2 feet from the Time Capsule, takes some retries. I think it's a WiFi n issue, because my iMac once had a similar issue with n only--but the latest Airport software update fixed the iMac. The same update seemed to improve the Air but not fix the problem entirely.

[sflocal]

I've been a MBA owner for three months now and have been very happy with it. I don't believe it to be as big a problem as some vocal people say it is.

I've noticed mine does get quite warm when I'm viewing videos. I just don't watch that many videos on mine anymore. No big deal. It's not meant to be my primary machine. The 99% of the time I use the MBA for what it is intended for. Low-performance office apps/email/browsing. For those things, it works just fine for me and heat is not an issue.

I could see it being a problem if it was in a hot environment like Vegas and no A/C. But I would think that would be a problem for most laptops.

Every other laptop I've owned from other manufacturers have always cooked my lap and ran hot. This is not any different so I'm not sure why the heat issues are focused on this particular laptop.

[solipsism]

— The next MBAs should go from 20W to 17W so hopefully that will no longer be an issue.

— Is anyone use iStat and recording the system load and temps when it's acting up?

[sausage&Onion]

Originally Posted by sflocal

Every other laptop I've owned from other manufacturers have always cooked my lap and ran hot. This is not any different so I'm not sure why the heat issues are focused on this particular laptop.

Not sure. It seems like people have been reporting heat related performance issues, however reducing the processor speed just mimics the problem. Gah!

[Virgil-TB2]

While I have no doubt these reports are true, I have never, ever seen anyone with an overheating problem with their MacBook Air "in the flesh" sort of speak, and I've seen quite a few MacBook Airs. I've never even heard the fan go on high with the one at our house.

I wonder if most of the people having the problem are living in a really hot climate, or simply prone to blocking the ventilation port through the manner in which they hold or use the thing. Even though it doesn't alleviate the need for a fix for those people, up here in the cooler North, I don't know anyone who has had a problem with this.

[S10]

My MBA was heating up significantly when watching youtube videos or, especially, when using video in SKYPE... after 20 minutes, the video image would begin to stutter and then the whole MBA would become slower and slower, and then it would just hang... closing the MBA was the only solution.
I love my MBA but I was seriously thinking of getting MB pro to replace.... then this update came out and my MBA does no longer have these symptoms. It works as it should have done... so I'm no longer considering another Mac.

If you have Coolbook, reset the factory settings and uninstall all Coolbook related files first, then upgrade... if not your problems may continue as before...

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by S10

My MBA was heating up significantly when watching youtube videos or, especially, when using video in SKYPE... after 20 minutes, the video image would begin to stutter and then the whole MBA would become slower and slower, and then it would just hang... closing the MBA was the only solution.

I can't speak for Skype, but Flash on OS X is huge system hog.

[julesburt]

Originally Posted by S10

My MBA was heating up significantly when watching youtube videos or, especially, when using video in SKYPE... after 20 minutes, the video image would begin to stutter and then the whole MBA would become slower and slower, and then it would just hang... closing the MBA was the only solution.
I love my MBA but I was seriously thinking of getting MB pro to replace.... then this update came out and my MBA does no longer have these symptoms. It works as it should have done... so I'm no longer considering another Mac.

If you have Coolbook, reset the factory settings and uninstall all Coolbook related files first, then upgrade... if not your problems may continue as before...

I can also confirm my Macbook Air used to get hot, slow down and almost become unusable - however this update fixed it all...

[MacNutter]

I'm one of these MBA owners that this has affected.
I had a 1.6 that a kernel task would bring it to its virtual knees on a regular basis.
Swapped it and upgraded to a 1.8 SSD and same thing.
Applied update and it still happened.
Of course Help Desk says this is not a known issue which is crap.
I cleared out my startup items and that seemed to help but it gets very hot from time to time and I have to restart.
In truth it doesn't happen as often now after the update but I am seriously considering getting a new MB Pro when they are updated.
This is a real bug and my guess is Apple knows it and it cannot be fixed by a software update.
This feels like a hardware config issue around trying to have MB Pro functionality with an architecture that is woefully inadequate.
I must say that the transition to SSD is the future and apps simply fly open.
Safari barely bounces once and is open compared to the 1.6 MBA I owned.
Apple, gives this thing a video card even if it makes it a hair thicker and my guess is problem solved.
I had a 17 MacBook Pro and this thing is simply amazing in its portability.
I even bought a leather folio from Levenger to put it in a-la the Apple envelope commercial and people are wowed that I'm not hunched over pulling out a big laptop.
I simply love this laptop and hope they fix its Achilles heel.

[Tummy]

I got my 1.6 the day it was released and had lots of problems with a core shutting down before getting coolbook.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=429626

I was using it how I typically do, downloading a torrent and encoding a video for my iPhone. I had lots of things open, but just encoding a video causes it to overheat and shut a core down.

[PaulSorensen]

it works for me - my Air still gets pretty warm if I push it...but so does my wife's Macbook Pro.

The update certainly seems to make the system handle load in a more graceful way than shutting down a core of the processor (which causes whatever was taxing the system to stall). When I was first trying to work out if I had a problem, I used Google Earth with all of the 3D options turned on (like buildings). I requested directions from a major city (with lots of buildings) to somewhere else - and then pressed "play" to cause it to fly along the directions.

Before the update - my Air would heat up and eventually one of the cores would indeed shut down. The result was that Google Earth become extremely choppy. After the update, it still heats up but there is no obvious slowdown or choppiness even when I leave it going for a long time.

[RonAnnArbor]

I've been using my MBA now for months, and I am one of the people this does NOT affect at all -- it doesn't overheat, and it doesn't slow down or have any core shutdowns while watching movies or anything else.

In fact, it functions in no way differently than my MBP in similar situations.

What it does raise, it that ongoing Apple bug-a-boo (that's a great word) of sample variation -- just like with the iPhone, some people just have zero problems and can't reproduce the problems others are having, while some very clearly have problems in similar situations.

The interesting thing is -- people can recreate the problem with their own macbook air, yet someone sitting right next to them with identical settings and functions can't reproduce it.

That smacks of Sample Variation to me -- and it makes you wonder how Apple is dealing with it in the longrun -- is it like the iPhone? WHere they are manufactured in different plants, and those coming out of one plant have problems, while those coming out of another plant do not have any problems? Is it particular chips? How are those distributed? FOr some, the software update seemed to have fixed the problem, others never saw the problem, and for still others it didn't do anything -- now that starts to smack of hardware problems rather than software problems....

Makes you wonder, right?

[cameronj]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

While I have no doubt these reports are true, I have never, ever seen anyone with an overheating problem with their MacBook Air "in the flesh" sort of speak

Sort of speak?!?

[gingofthesouth]

I had no issues before the update but just blindly applied it since it appeared in my software update list.

However now that I have applied the update system performance has dropped significantly. I used some software to check the core speed and ran the good old yes > /dev/null test in terminal and it shows my cores dropping to 0.8 ghz, wtf?

I ordered a 1.6ghz dual core MacBook Air, not a dual 800mhz machine. Seriously what is the point of have dual 1.6ghz processors when you actually want to use the power it just under-clocks them!

Cant remember the update process whether it was a software or firmware update. If a software update only I am going to try and roll back.

All you idiots out there who think I am a whiner and that I should just be happy with my machine as it is needs to pull your head out of Apples PR arse.

Why do we put up with this practice from Apple but if it was Dell or M$ or somebody else doing something similar we would hang them out to dry. I have been an Apple user since the Apple IIe and have increasingly seen this behaviour from Apple of late. I certainly believe now mre than ever that Apple and Google = Next generation M$

[LookingUp]

New lawsuit tomorrow?

[cameronj]

Originally Posted by gingofthesouth

I had no issues before the update but just blindly applied it since it appeared in my software update list.

However now that I have applied the update system performance has dropped significantly. I used some software to check the core speed and ran the good old yes > /dev/null test in terminal and it shows my cores dropping to 0.8 ghz, wtf?

I ordered a 1.6ghz dual core MacBook Air, not a dual 800mhz machine. Seriously what is the point of have dual 1.6ghz processors when you actually want to use the power it just under-clocks them!

Cant remember the update process whether it was a software or firmware update. If a software update only I am going to try and roll back.

All you idiots out there who think I am a whiner and that I should just be happy with my machine as it is needs to pull your head out of Apples PR arse.

Why do we put up with this practice from Apple but if it was Dell or M$ or somebody else doing something similar we would hang them out to dry. I have been an Apple user since the Apple IIe and have increasingly seen this behaviour from Apple of late. I certainly believe now mre than ever that Apple and Google = Next generation M$

Sounds more like placebo effect to me. You never checked the performance before the update, how can you be sure that its not just the suggestion that something has changed that is making you think you're noticing a difference?

[teckstud]

It's all a bunch of hot air.
I wonder if they'll have an update to cool down my AppleTV? Then again we're heading into winter and I could use a space heater.

[applebook]

I quickly sold my 1.6 Air after I discovered that it cannot handle something as basic as watching MLB.TV games.

On my Core 2 2.16 MBP, watching the 800kbps feed with Safari uses about 25% of both cores, with CPU temperatures usually below 60C. On the Air, the MLB.TV feed made the CPU run well over 65C. If I did anything else, like basic web-surfing with FireFox (which I'm using right now as I watch the Dodger vs. Padres game), the temps skyrocketed to over 70C, and everything became sluggish. Watching the 1.2mbps feed was almost impossible even when I was not doing anything else.

The Air is a dud for those of us who actually need decent portable power.

My machine was built in May and had the latest firmware and updates, so it wasn't an older unit.

[mvo]

What surprises me here is that Apple takes so long to take this problem seriously I think they are totally occupied with their iPhone development and they don't do anything serious about this issue. My macbook air is also one that suffers serious slowdowns when doing anything with video. This goes from using iChat, after 5 min the ichat conversation stalls completely, skype video it last like 10 min and then everything freezes. I'm MacOS user since 1986 and I use my Mac to write software on it, so I tried myself to debug the issue using some low level debugging tools and I realize that this just a hardware issue. The processor gets overloaded,... this is something that Apple Engineers could figure it out too. I Just think this product is wrongly designed the whole unit is not designed well enough and the cooling that the fans provide is just not adequate enough. The processor runs constantly at 160 Fahrenheit same thing for the airport card... I'm thinking seriously to take some legal action on Apple for this inadequate behavior. Apple shame on you...

[applebook]

I think that the Air will prove to be a complete lemon.

Look at other ultraportable laptops from Lenovo and Sony, and they all run with ULV Core 2 CPUs clocking around 1.2GHz. Plus, they are all thicker and have better cooling. There is just no way, at present, for a laptop that is .76" thin to run Core 2 chips at 1.6 and 1.8. This is just not possible without better cooling and fans.

[wizard69]

Originally Posted by nagromme

I can walk a hundred feet way through concrete walls and not lose my WiFi--but establishing the connection in the first place, even 2 feet from the Time Capsule....

Do you realize that not even Superman can do that. Nagromme you could be a new super hero!!

Dave

[wizard69]

I don't want to be mean here but there was a big stink made by me and others about the utility of AIR but people ran out and purchased the machines by the thousands. It is not like I'm against progress or smaller lighter machines in general, what I object to is form winning out over function. Unfortunately this is a example in the extreme of just that.

As to the variability in the different machines there can be a number of reasons for that problem. The first potential culprit is Intel. First the wattage ratings are typical as there can be significant difference from lot to lot. Overclockers dicovered this a long time ago.

The second issue is the use of the high speed fan. A larger fan blowing over a larger heat sink would work better.

The third issue is Apple or Apples management and the desire to ship products based on deadlines. This seems to be the root cause of the problems with a number of recent products from Apple. This seems to stem from a management philosophies that equate missing a deadline with the worst of the sins one can engage in. Usually this gets taken to the extreme until the company stumbles badly and sort of reboots.

In any event there are other possibilities but we won't dwell on them. What is interesting is what will Apple do to salvage the problem. I don't know about Apples view but what this machine really needs is a dual core Atom processor. It is about the only way I could see power usage dropped enough to make running the processors flat out possible.

Of course there are issues with Atom and Apple might want to get completely away from 32 bit hardware but I don't see an intel solution otherwise. On the good side a dual core Atom might actually excel dealing with some of the problems described above. That given running at something more than 1.6 GHz without throttling. In a nut shell AIR has the wrong processor technology for it's form factor. AIRs dimensions simply limit the ability to remove heat from traditional laptop processors.

What is also worth noting is that a three watt drop in average power usage does mean a lot from intel. The real question is what is the power usage when the machine is working hard AND how much does that vary from lot to lot. The new laptop chips might not be much better.

As to going after Apple legally in this case I think there might be good cause if Apple is refusing to fix or exchange problem laptops. From the perspective of a layman this is a far different problem than the whining we hear about iPhone 3G. Frankly with the way things are going at Apple maybe they need to be slapped silly. It is not unreasonable for people to expect their hardware to run at advertised speed at least part of the time.

In any event you have to take the attitude of buyer be aware even when dealing with Apple products. Apple I'd nothing more than a corporation and suffers the same issues as all corporations. Further I have to wonder if people will run out and madly snap up the new Mac Books and Mac Book Pros when they finally do come out. Or will people sit back and let the market shake out the devices. Especially in light of intel having delivery issues.


Dave

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by applebook

I think that the Air will prove to be a complete lemon.

Look at other ultraportable laptops from Lenovo and Sony, and they all run with ULV Core 2 CPUs clocking around 1.2GHz. Plus, they are all thicker and have better cooling. There is just no way, at present, for a laptop that is .76" thin to run Core 2 chips at 1.6 and 1.8. This is just not possible without better cooling and fans.

What do you mean by a lemon, exactly? If you mean that the first models will have to be replaced in some fashion with non-defective parts, that may very well happen. These issues as stated are greatly affecting the performance and usage and not living up to what is commonly expected. Of all these BS lawsuits that have across these boards each week, this would be the only one I agree with, if Apple isn't doing anything to make the machine function properly with due diligence.

As for the CPU heat issue, that should be resolved with the next upgrade. The current chips use 20W of power for the small form factor (22mm^2) Santa Rosa/Merom LV packages at 1.60 and 1.80GHz chips. The next ones will come natively as 22mm^2 and only have 17W for the Montevina/Penryn LV packages at 1.60 and 1.83GHz.

There are now 3 other OEMs copying Apple's 13.3" display in an ultra-thin form factor so I'm thinking it's hear to stay. Plus, it is more popular than i would have thought it would be for it's power and speed.

The others you mention that use the ULVs are really too slow. they are thicker, but so are their regular notebooks too. They tend to be plastic which means the casing to be thicker than aluminium and more structural reinforcements, as well as needing better internal cooling because plastic doesn't take in heat like metals do. These other machines usually have much smaller screens which reduces the footprint, which means the case has to be deeper to get the same basic components inside. I hate to mention this last part as it's very minor compared to the other things, IMO, but I don't someone will: the others have a lot of extra ports and connectors which require a more standard flat side for entry.

PS: I really like how Lenovo put an 802.11b router into the power supply of their model so you plug a hotel Ethernet into it and then use the machine from anywhere in the room. Seeing how small Airport Express is extra features I hope Apple incorporates that into future MBA models.


edit: What Dave said.

[sflocal]

Originally Posted by applebook

I think that the Air will prove to be a complete lemon.

With any product, there is always a percentage of people that feel the product does not live up to their level of expectation. If every satisfied MBA owner out there were to speak up, I think it would far exceed the number of unsatisfied owners. Owners that know what the MBA was for and what the MBA was not for. I know several people that own MBA's. They all do not exhibit the issues that are being discussed here. I'm not saying there is no problem. Just perhaps the problem has more to do with demands that the users are placing on their units or maybe their environment might be to blame too. It's hard to say.

I believe the upset MBA owners do have a valid issue. Apple has made an effort during the initial MBA launch to make sure a potential buyer's expectations fit within the MBA's abilities. Even when I purchased my MBA at the Apple store in San Francisco, the salesperson even asked me to make sure I wasn't planning on using it beyond the basic limits of the MBA.

Just because the MBA runs every app like its bigger siblings, it doesn't mean that you should. And if you do, don't expect it to perform to at a high level and then complain as to why it does not. I read comments from people complaining of MBA overheating after playing 3D games, encoding videos, or doing a lot of resource-intensive multitasking. The fix is easy. Don't use an MBA for that. That is what the MB's and MBP's are for.

Those buyers refuse to accept that the MBA was meant (and advertised) as an ultra-mobile business machine. Office apps, email, basic browsing is what it does best.

My MBA works flawlessly. It's my mobile business laptop, and nothing more. When my colleagues ask about it and expressing a desire to purchase it based on its looks and design, I give them a realistic warning that they will be disappointed if they expect it to replace a high-performance laptop or for use as a primary computer.

Apple did a great job with the MBA. Of course there is room for improvement. It's my opinion only as a satisfied owner. However, people will be disappointed when they expect more from less.

Don't buy an ultra-compact car and then get upset as to why it overheats from carrying eight people while towing a 5th wheel and driving uphill at 120mph.

[benmilo]

In my office, we are 5 unlucky guys who bought a MBA (at different times with different kind of configs). We all suffered from the core shutting down problem. Since we are all working in an open space together without air conditioning, the problem appeared for all of us the exact same week, when summer came in May... We all applied the "fix" in hope it would solve the issue.

Unfortunatly none of us were cured (instead of having one core going down to 0% and the other at 100%, now both core goe up to 100%) and here is a list of things we cannot do (among many others)

- watch a youtube video for more than a few minutes
- play a flash game
- watch a full screen movies bought on itunes
- Plug a 23" monitor

I have installed tools to monitor temp and fan speed. The problem seem to happen when ambient temperature is around 25°C or higher. Then the CPU temp goes up to 62°c and fan run at 6200RPM.

THIS IS A SHAME APPLE CANNOT FIX this kind of widespread issues. SHAME ON YOU APPLE.

[applebook]

Most ultraportables are made of carbon fibre (X300 and Sony) or magnesium (Fujitsu LifeBook and Panasonic).

For Apple to use faster and hotter running CPUs in the Air compared to the competition, it really had to design the Air to be thicker than the other ultraportables, yet Apple did the opposite, by using faster chips but providing less space for cooling.

Like most people, I want a 12" or even an 11" Air that is 1" thick. There is no excuse for Apple not to trim 1" off the width and .75" off the depth of the Air. At its current size, its only size advantage is thinness, which, as we all know, is the biggest problem of overheating.

[applebook]

The problem with your rationale is that the Air's issues are not experienced by only a minority. In fact, I daresay most Air owners have the same problems. You must realize that the Air WAS designed to do basic computing like stream an 800kbps MLB game! This is not asking much from a modern computer. Why? I had an MSI Wind with a 1.6GHz Atom that did these exact things very well and ran extremely cool...

...and yes, I was running 10.5.4 on the MSI Wind.

How is it unreasonable for Air owners to expect their $1800 machine to run a simple 1.2mbps (even lower than DVD bit-rate) stream from a major website like MLB.TV? Am I being unreasonable? I wasn't running hardcore Photoshop or 1080p clips on my Air.

I'm lucky also to live in Vancouver, where the ambient temperature rarely goes above 25C even in summer months. If I live in Brazil or somewhere around the Equator, I imagine that even basic web-surfing with few Flash animations would cause the Air to overheat.

[cnocbui]

Well, I suppose at least one can't accuse the MBA of being a half-baked product when it is obvioulsy over-cooked.

I wonder what will be wrong with the totally inadequately tested products Steve is set to unveil today? Will they spontaneously combust if used anywhere where there is no airconditioning?

Will they fail to sync with anything except the two most recent generations of hardware?

Aren't releases of new Apple products so exciting? Eeeeeee! I can hardly wait!

Hey, Casper, can you run a competition where we all 'Guess the Fault' and the person with the most accurate guess wins a prize - preferably something reliable that actually works, so I guess that rules out most Apple Products?

[ArthurAscii]

Could Apple leverage their newly-acquired chip-design expertise down the road, and switch to something like a customized ARM processor for this model?

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by sflocal

With any product, there is always a percentage of people that feel the product does not live up to their level of expectation. If every satisfied MBA owner out there were to speak up, I think it would far exceed the number of unsatisfied owners. Owners that know what the MBA was for and what the MBA was not for. I know several people that own MBA's. They all do not exhibit the issues that are being discussed here. I'm not saying there is no problem. Just perhaps the problem has more to do with demands that the users are placing on their units or maybe their environment might be to blame too. It's hard to say.

I believe the upset MBA owners do have a valid issue. Apple has made an effort during the initial MBA launch to make sure a potential buyer's expectations fit within the MBA's abilities. Even when I purchased my MBA at the Apple store in San Francisco, the salesperson even asked me to make sure I wasn't planning on using it beyond the basic limits of the MBA.

Just because the MBA runs every app like its bigger siblings, it doesn't mean that you should. And if you do, don't expect it to perform to at a high level and then complain as to why it does not. I read comments from people complaining of MBA overheating after playing 3D games, encoding videos, or doing a lot of resource-intensive multitasking. The fix is easy. Don't use an MBA for that. That is what the MB's and MBP's are for.

Those buyers refuse to accept that the MBA was meant (and advertised) as an ultra-mobile business machine. Office apps, email, basic browsing is what it does best.

My MBA works flawlessly. It's my mobile business laptop, and nothing more. When my colleagues ask about it and expressing a desire to purchase it based on its looks and design, I give them a realistic warning that they will be disappointed if they expect it to replace a high-performance laptop or for use as a primary computer.

Apple did a great job with the MBA. Of course there is room for improvement. It's my opinion only as a satisfied owner. However, people will be disappointed when they expect more from less.

Don't buy an ultra-compact car and then get upset as to why it overheats from carrying eight people while towing a 5th wheel and driving uphill at 120mph.

Yeah and I'm sure Edsel owners loved that car also.

[gingofthesouth]

Originally Posted by cameronj

Sounds more like placebo effect to me. You never checked the performance before the update, how can you be sure that its not just the suggestion that something has changed that is making you think you're noticing a difference?

How I know is that I use the machine every day, for 8 hours + a day doing development on. I have an Air so I can take it from one coffee shop to another, back home etc (I like to vary my working environment.

Anyhow. I always use it on a table with good ventilation etc. The speed difference was immediately obvious during some of the tasks I usually perform that push the little laptop. I noticed this well before anybody said anything. Infact, I was in a cafe using my iPhone tethered to my MacBook Air when The update became available so I quit xcode etc and installed the update, had a coffee and next thing you know everything is slowed down. I can no longer have xcode IB open, Safari say with 10 tabs and say mail and iChat.

Slows to a crawl. Thats why i did the tests, then I noticed this thread today when I decided I was going to throw my MacBook Air at the wall and return to my MacBook Pro to see if anybody else experienced the issue. Clearly many people have.

Its not that I am not happy with the performance before the update, I am just unhappy with it since. If I manage to roll back the update I will be happy. I can deal with the heat and I know it is no MacBook Pro performance wise. I just want both cores working @ 1.6ghz even when pushed.

[gingofthesouth]

Originally Posted by sflocal

With any product, there is always a percentage of people that feel the product does not live up to their level of expectation. If every satisfied MBA owner out there were to speak up, I think it would far exceed the number of unsatisfied owners. Owners that know what the MBA was for and what the MBA was not for. I know several people that own MBA's. They all do not exhibit the issues that are being discussed here. I'm not saying there is no problem. Just perhaps the problem has more to do with demands that the users are placing on their units or maybe their environment might be to blame too. It's hard to say.

I believe the upset MBA owners do have a valid issue. Apple has made an effort during the initial MBA launch to make sure a potential buyer's expectations fit within the MBA's abilities. Even when I purchased my MBA at the Apple store in San Francisco, the salesperson even asked me to make sure I wasn't planning on using it beyond the basic limits of the MBA.

Just because the MBA runs every app like its bigger siblings, it doesn't mean that you should. And if you do, don't expect it to perform to at a high level and then complain as to why it does not. I read comments from people complaining of MBA overheating after playing 3D games, encoding videos, or doing a lot of resource-intensive multitasking. The fix is easy. Don't use an MBA for that. That is what the MB's and MBP's are for.

Those buyers refuse to accept that the MBA was meant (and advertised) as an ultra-mobile business machine. Office apps, email, basic browsing is what it does best.

My MBA works flawlessly. It's my mobile business laptop, and nothing more. When my colleagues ask about it and expressing a desire to purchase it based on its looks and design, I give them a realistic warning that they will be disappointed if they expect it to replace a high-performance laptop or for use as a primary computer.

Apple did a great job with the MBA. Of course there is room for improvement. It's my opinion only as a satisfied owner. However, people will be disappointed when they expect more from less.

Don't buy an ultra-compact car and then get upset as to why it overheats from carrying eight people while towing a 5th wheel and driving uphill at 120mph.

No, but we dont purchase a compact 4 cylinder vehicle, send it in for a wee tune up and then hapily accept it back running on 2 cylinders now do we??

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by solipsism

There are now 3 other OEMs copying Apple's 13.3" display in an ultra-thin form factor so I'm thinking it's hear to stay. Plus, it is more popular than i would have thought it would be for it's power and speed.

??? WTF?? And I guess you think the Sony Vaio TZ is copying the 12" Powerbook.
You are kidding about its "it's power and speed."? As compared to what- the old toilet seat iBook? A Texas instrument calculator? You must mean - lack of power and lack of speed.
Boy are you in denial. You obviously never read the MacWorld article I sent to you. Here it is again.
3 1/2 mice "CONS
Slow processor; slow and small hard drive; limited configuration options; unswappable battery."

http://www.macworld.com/article/1318...acbookair.html

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by applebook

I quickly sold my 1.6 Air after I discovered that it cannot handle something as basic as watching MLB.TV games.

On my Core 2 2.16 MBP, watching the 800kbps feed with Safari uses about 25% of both cores, with CPU temperatures usually below 60C. On the Air, the MLB.TV feed made the CPU run well over 65C. If I did anything else, like basic web-surfing with FireFox (which I'm using right now as I watch the Dodger vs. Padres game), the temps skyrocketed to over 70C, and everything became sluggish. Watching the 1.2mbps feed was almost impossible even when I was not doing anything else.

The Air is a dud for those of us who actually need decent portable power.

My machine was built in May and had the latest firmware and updates, so it wasn't an older unit.

A friend of mine has it and says iCHat video conferencing is useless on it.- constantly stalls.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by mvo

What surprises me here is that Apple takes so long to take this problem seriously I think they are totally occupied with their iPhone development and they don't do anything serious about this issue. My macbook air is also one that suffers serious slowdowns when doing anything with video. This goes from using iChat, after 5 min the ichat conversation stalls completely, skype video it last like 10 min and then everything freezes. I'm MacOS user since 1986 and I use my Mac to write software on it, so I tried myself to debug the issue using some low level debugging tools and I realize that this just a hardware issue. The processor gets overloaded,... this is something that Apple Engineers could figure it out too. I Just think this product is wrongly designed the whole unit is not designed well enough and the cooling that the fans provide is just not adequate enough. The processor runs constantly at 160 Fahrenheit same thing for the airport card... I'm thinking seriously to take some legal action on Apple for this inadequate behavior. Apple shame on you...

I'm sorry to hear this. I've heard the same. But let me ask you - didn't you read any reviews before you bought this sucker?
Or were you just caught up in "the next best thing from Apple" syndrome. I know I fell for it too with the Apple TV- the other lemon. You want to talk heat- Williams Sonoma could sell that as a crepe maker.

[ncee]

Folks, if we al stopped buying "New" stuff from Apple in records numbers, then they (Apple) would start to ask questions… like why aren't you buying?

Then we / you could answer by saying … look at your track record:

- Apple TV
- MBA
- iPhone I & 3G
and a host of other items we all purchase because we want the latest and greatest … before anyone else.

So today when Apple announces the "New" stuff, let's all just yawn, and walk away. Apple WILL get the hint, and WILL start making sure that the products they announce will be as trouble free as they can make them.

Now the downside to this is we won't see new / upgraded Apple products but once, maybe twice a year.

- No more Lemons from Big Red
- More happy customers

- Less hype about the company, so in the end, less folks will buy Apple products, but were all ok with this, because we want great products from Apple, even if it means less often.

- It will mean living with our iPhone … for a year before it's updated, made better
- It will mean living with our MBA … for a year before it's made better or cooler (no pun intended)
- It will mean living with our Apple monitors … for a year (several years at this point) before they are made thinner, thicker, light, darker, smaller, larger, with a better camera and so on … for a year

I for one, buy into the hype and like Apple coming out with stuff more often, but then again, I wait a few months before buying the latest and greatest … most of the time.

So Apple - bring on the new stuff today and let's see how well it sells right off.

Skip

[applebook]

I bought the Air because I thought that it could handle what I wanted to: just use it to surf, e-mail, Office, watch a baseball game everyday, a DVD every now and then, and an occasional 720p film. The Air managed to perform decently in all the tasks that I threw at it, except for MLB.TV. I didn't dare try watching a long 720p movie (which, even the 1.6 Atom can handle, BTW) and didn't push the Air too hard on Flash crazy websites.

The Air should easily do what I had intended it for, but mine didn't. Boy am I glad to be typing this on a Core 2 2.16 MBP (running at 48C) that I got used for several hundred LESS than the Air.