Three Air Questions

- Can you really squeeze 5 (or at least 4.5) hours of battery life out of the MacBook Air in any way, shape or form?


- How good is the webcam on the Air? Does it pick up sound well and how is it at recording video clips, generally?


- How is it watching streaming video on the Air? Does it skip, jump, pause or have trouble loading a lot?

 

You can try, though the machine looks fragile so I'd be careful not to squeeze too hard, you might crack it.

Expect 2.5 hours with normal use. If you turned everything off except for the barebones, you might get an extra hour.

 

Yeah, turn off the screen and don't do anything on it

But you should be able to get that kind of time easily if you calibrate your battery properly, turn the screen to its dimmest setting, and run only the lightest tasks. When I got my Macbook new, I could get 3 hours worth of DVD from it at a pretty high brightness setting. I'm sure the MBA is able to beat that.

Webcam is good compared to other webcams.

Streaming video will purely depend on your internet connection.

 

Anyone else have takes on the three q's?

 

- Can you really squeeze 5 (or at least 4.5) hours of battery life out of the MacBook Air in any way, shape or form?

Answer: I can get 2.5-3 hours of battery life just using the machine non-stop, however if I dim the screen I get almost an extra hour. I haven't done too much checking on this I'm only on 4 cycles currently but so far I'm satisfied

- How good is the webcam on the Air? Does it pick up sound well and how is it at recording video clips, generally?

Answer: The webcam works decently I've only recorded using IMovie so far and the screen capture is delayed while recording but when doing video playback the audio and video are both synced perfectly. The picture isn't as great as my former MBP or Macbook but it's still decent enough to record on.

- How is it watching streaming video on the Air? Does it skip, jump, pause or have trouble loading a lot?

Answer: It doesn't do the above unless you have the heat vent blocked then you may have a core shutdown on you. However there was a firmware update released yesterday to correct this. If you stream on a desk or at least on a surface which doesn't cover the heat vents which is located on the back curve you'll have no issues.

 

Thanks for that, Durious... anyone else?

 

Probably possible...although at average settings you probably will get around 3-4 hours. Say no WiFi, 1-level brightness, only doing the most simple task...maybe .

The webcam is fine, great for Photo Booth and iChats when I tested it. General recording video clips are fine, but like most notebook mics, if you want better quality as well as no fuzzy noises, you'll want to get an external mic.

 

if i turn the screen to lowest setting (1bar) and not use the laptop for like 10 seconds then the battery shows over 7hrs. (of if its fully charged)

So real life will be 2-4 hrs depends on settings and usage.

Thats 1.6GHz + SSD


I have no answer for the other 2 questions cuz i didnt try them!

 

I happily get about 4 hours surfing/typing, wifi on with mid to lower brightness. Webcam is also fine quality. No skipping on videos for me, even 720p ones. I lub the MBA.

 

I find it kind of sad that the MBA can only get that short battery life. I really did expect it to be able to beat out the MBP/MB.

If the webcam is the same as on the MBP (I assume it is) then the quality is pretty good. Still need lots of light though.

 

I find it kinda sad that you can't swap out the battery on the MBA .

 

lol yeah... very true!

With the paltry battery life it has and the poor battery life, it certainly is not for road warriors

 

So, if I want something to be truly portable in case I ever want to go out with it, is the consensus overall here that I'd be better off with a Sony VAIO SZ (since that is the other I am deciding between)?

 

That or a MB or MBP. MB is cheaper, has more power, ports, storage, and battery life. MBP starts at pretty much the same price, has more power, bigger screen, more ports, better storage, and again, better battery life. Both are heavier, but honestly... 5.4lbs for the MBP is pretty darn light. I understand wanting a light laptop... but your loosing a LOT withe MBA.

all 3 run hot. Some benchmarks I saw, I swear showed the MBA the hottest of all 3 (doing same stuff).

But the SZ seems nice. It's expensive, but it has the ability to have an extended battery and you can also swap batteries.

I'm not sure what you need a notebook for, so it's a bit harder for me to suggest what unit to go for. If you're looking at spending over $2000 for a laptop, I'd really say go with the MBP out of all of them. Seriously... when I carried this thing to and from school (walked almost a mile) I never noticed the weight of the laptop. Books were much more of a burdern. When I got another MBP from work, I was carrying both my personal and work MBP around, and it still was not bad at all.

 

I guess I'll go with the SZ then (the MacBook or MacBookPro just doesn't appeal to me stylistically... plus the SZ is a bit more powerful if I understand/remember correctly).


It's too bad, because the Air has many things going for it (i.e. style, weight, keyboard etc.) that I'd absolutely love.

 

You watch 720p videos on a 13" screen? Interesting.

 

I do the same sometimes. Of course, I'm only about 30-50cm away from the screen when watching, not a few meters away as I would if watching it on a plasma.

 

How does a MacBookPro compare to a Sony VAIO SZ? Which one in that scenario is more powerful/reliable?

 

MBP... But to be fair the SZ is a 13.3" model and weights a lot less.

 

Are you sure the MBP is more powerful than an SZ (even the top-of-the-line model)?

 

Just in terms of GPU and resolution, but again it's a 15" compared to a 13.3".... and multi-touch gestures... Go MBP!

As well I'm a fan of the backlit keyboards... But anyway if you wanted a Macbook Air due to lightness, the vaio woud serve at 4 lbs closer to that goal then the 15" MBP at around 5.5 lbs.

MBA = 3.0 lbs

 

Different categories, really. The MacBook Pro is a larger notebook, therefore can fit larger parts, so is more powerful than the Sony VAIO SZ. Of course, the SZ is lighter and more portable.

 

4.5 hours is possible - if there screen's set to minimum brightness, WiFi and Bluetooth are off, you have the SSD, you don't run any programs, and the computer is muted

 

I get 4-5 hrs of life with screen dim down.