4 ms·

Also my personal notes on the same, running Ubuntu instead of OS X: http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/11-macbook_air-the_best_computer_i-ve_ever_had/ http://bergie.iki.

by bergie 16y ago

Also my personal notes on the same, running Ubuntu instead of OS X: http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/11-macbook_air-the_best_computer_i-ve_ever_had/ http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/11-macbook_air-the_best_computer_i...

JCB_K 16y ago
Simply put, the 11" MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever had. I've always appreciated small and light laptops as I travel quite a bit, but this one takes portability to a completely new level. The laptop weights only a kilogram, and is small enough to fit pretty much any bag. I also hate the display adapters Apple forces us to buy and carry around. I give a lot of presentations, and this is another piece of equipment to accidentally leave home. Why not just go VGA or HDMI? That wouldn't really go together :)
- bergie 16y ago
  HDMI is almost the same size as the Mini DisplayPort. Apple just loves their own connectors, unfortunately. I was shocked when I noticed the VGA adapter wasn't included in the package. Luckily I realized this before my first conference presentation with the new computer ;-)
  - runjake 16y ago
    If by "almost" you mean "over twice as big", sure. (I happen to have an HDMI connector sitting next to my MBP's Thunderbolt (nee Mini-DisplayPort) port. Edit: They have "mini-HDMI" out, which is an entirely different beast than the mini-HDMI adapters included on many Android smartphones. A mini-HDMI port would require similar adapters to connect to anything useful. A normal "type-A" HDMI port is a sizeable connector, larger than a USB port.
    - bergie 16y ago
      Several mobile phones have HDMI out. For me that is "small enough". I think HDMI would even make the ports on different sides more balanced, as the size is more similar to the magsafe adapter
      - runjake 16y ago
        No they have "mini-HDMI" out, which is an entirely different beast. It would require similar adapters to connect to anything useful. A normal "type-A" HDMI port is a sizeable connector, larger than a USB port.
  - roc 16y ago
    > "Apple just loves their own connectors, unfortunately." Or they knew where they were headed with Thunderbolt...
  - masklinn 16y ago
    > HDMI is almost the same size as the Mini DisplayPort. Not it's not. HDMI is almost the same size as full DisplayPort (and nowhere near as good a format for computers). An HDMI Type A connector is 13.9mm x 4.45mm, a mini-DP connector is 7.4mm x 4.5mm. The mini-DP connector is half as wide. > Apple just loves their own connectors, unfortunately. You are aware mini-DP is now under VESA and has been integrated by a number of laptop manufacturers right? (and again, that DP in general is a much better A/V interface than HDMI for computers)
    - bergie 16y ago
      > You are aware mini-DP is now under VESA and has been integrated by a number of laptop manufacturers right? It is a lot easier to find screens and beamers with HDMI input than mini-DP. Before that changes it is practically "Apple's own connector"
    - glhaynes 16y ago
      Can you say a little bit more about why DP is more suited for computers than HDMI?
      - masklinn 16y ago
        * It's both internal and external, so in a laptop you can drive both the laptop's own screen and the external A/V plug with the same display interface (instead of having an internal LVDS interface and an external HDMI one for instance) * It's backwards compatible with DVI-I (and HDMI for that matter): you can carry DVI-I or HDMI signals on a DP cable and only need a passive adapter (although that is limited to single-link on both DVI and HDMI, there aren't enough pins in the DP connector to handle dual-link DVI and HDMI via passive adapters) * It's packet-based and includes arbitrary pure data transfers (ignoring Thunderbolt) so you don't need a separate data cable to have your screen act as a HUB (USB or 5-in-one for instance), HDMI is TDMS and has no data stream (it comes from TV analog cables) * It includes a Direct Drive Monitor spec (allows for controller-less monitors which are directly driven off of the displayport signals, although this puts limits on the panel's resolution and color depth) * DP 1.2 includes independent video streams (to daisy-chain multiple monitors without the need for multiple connectors or a hub), though AFAIK no monitor handles daisy-chaining so far. * DP includes a mini-connector (mini-displayport) with roughly half the footprint of the full-size one, a boon for ultra-portables (it was developed for Apple, and Apple gifted it to VESA) available under the same royalty-free license-free terms as DP itself (mini-DP was folded into the DisplayPort 1.2 spec) HDMI is a good A/V standard for TVs, but DP is far superior for computers (and it's driven by computer manufacturers). There is probably a future for both (that's VESA's own party line), but I'd much rather find all my computer video output available as DP first and foremost (with HDMI as an option if they want to).
scrod 16y ago
>I also hate the display adapters Apple forces us to buy and carry around. This could turn into an advantage if the next MBA revision adopts Thunderbolt as its display connector — then you'll have incredibly high-speed access to external storage, which would make the MBA much more practical as a single machine.
uggedal 16y ago
I'm also thrilled with my MacBook Air 11" running Debian. The installation and configuration took some time though. Since I manage it all in Puppet it's easy to reproduce. Here is the high level Puppet code to configure everything to my liking: http://paste.pocoo.org/show/379663/ http://paste.pocoo.org/show/379663/
- bergie 16y ago
  Using Puppet for setting up your laptop: love the idea
- callahad 16y ago
  Thank you -- if I may ask, what are in the network::interfaces::wireless and keyboard::apple classes? I'm strongly considering switching my MBA over to Debian in the near future.
  - uggedal 16y ago
    The keyboard::apple just changes the contents of /etc/default/keyboard to: XKBMODEL="apple" XKBLAYOUT="us" XKBVARIANT="mac" XKBOPTIONS="lv3:ralt_switch,compose:rwin,altwin:swap_lalt_lwin" The network::interfaces::wireless class: http://paste.pocoo.org/show/379776/ http://paste.pocoo.org/show/379776/
rufo 16y ago
You say you get 3-4 hours in Linux, but the benchmarks you link to claim easily 7 hours in OS X (though dramatically less if you max out the CPU). Are you pretty much always at high CPU utilization, or is Ubuntu's power management of Mac hardware that poor?
- bergie 16y ago
  7 hours is for the 13" MBA. I have 11".
  - rufo 16y ago
    According to AnandTech's tests [1] (the ones you linked to), the 13" gets over 11 hours in OS X - the 11" is just under 7. [1]: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3991/apples-2010-macbook-air-11-13inch-reviewed/9 http://www.anandtech.com/show/3991/apples-2010-macbook-air-1...
- zcid 16y ago
  I get only about 2.5 hours when running Arch Linux compared to almost double when I used to run OS X on my MBP 5,3. I rarely use my laptop unplugged though so it doesn't make a huge difference to me. I think a large part of the difference on my machine is that you are forced to use the 9600GT for video as opposed to the more efficient 9600M that is available in OS X.
  - rufo 16y ago
    Yeah, that's what I suspected - that's a huge deal to me.
- yardie 16y ago
  It's probably better to say that OSX power management is better on Apple hardware than all the rest. I was getting about 40% less time when using Windows XP than when I was using OSX.

by bergie 16y ago

JCB_K 16y ago

Simply put, the 11" MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever had. I've always appreciated small and light laptops as I travel quite a bit, but this one takes portability to a completely new level. The laptop weights only a kilogram, and is small enough to fit pretty much any bag. I also hate the display adapters Apple forces us to buy and carry around. I give a lot of presentations, and this is another piece of equipment to accidentally leave home. Why not just go VGA or HDMI? That wouldn't really go together :)

bergie 16y ago
HDMI is almost the same size as the Mini DisplayPort. Apple just loves their own connectors, unfortunately. I was shocked when I noticed the VGA adapter wasn't included in the package. Luckily I realized this before my first conference presentation with the new computer ;-)
- runjake 16y ago
  If by "almost" you mean "over twice as big", sure. (I happen to have an HDMI connector sitting next to my MBP's Thunderbolt (nee Mini-DisplayPort) port. Edit: They have "mini-HDMI" out, which is an entirely different beast than the mini-HDMI adapters included on many Android smartphones. A mini-HDMI port would require similar adapters to connect to anything useful. A normal "type-A" HDMI port is a sizeable connector, larger than a USB port.
  - bergie 16y ago
    Several mobile phones have HDMI out. For me that is "small enough". I think HDMI would even make the ports on different sides more balanced, as the size is more similar to the magsafe adapter
    - runjake 16y ago
      No they have "mini-HDMI" out, which is an entirely different beast. It would require similar adapters to connect to anything useful. A normal "type-A" HDMI port is a sizeable connector, larger than a USB port.
- roc 16y ago
  > "Apple just loves their own connectors, unfortunately." Or they knew where they were headed with Thunderbolt...
- masklinn 16y ago
  > HDMI is almost the same size as the Mini DisplayPort. Not it's not. HDMI is almost the same size as full DisplayPort (and nowhere near as good a format for computers). An HDMI Type A connector is 13.9mm x 4.45mm, a mini-DP connector is 7.4mm x 4.5mm. The mini-DP connector is half as wide. > Apple just loves their own connectors, unfortunately. You are aware mini-DP is now under VESA and has been integrated by a number of laptop manufacturers right? (and again, that DP in general is a much better A/V interface than HDMI for computers)
  - bergie 16y ago
    > You are aware mini-DP is now under VESA and has been integrated by a number of laptop manufacturers right? It is a lot easier to find screens and beamers with HDMI input than mini-DP. Before that changes it is practically "Apple's own connector"
  - glhaynes 16y ago
    Can you say a little bit more about why DP is more suited for computers than HDMI?
    - masklinn 16y ago
      * It's both internal and external, so in a laptop you can drive both the laptop's own screen and the external A/V plug with the same display interface (instead of having an internal LVDS interface and an external HDMI one for instance) * It's backwards compatible with DVI-I (and HDMI for that matter): you can carry DVI-I or HDMI signals on a DP cable and only need a passive adapter (although that is limited to single-link on both DVI and HDMI, there aren't enough pins in the DP connector to handle dual-link DVI and HDMI via passive adapters) * It's packet-based and includes arbitrary pure data transfers (ignoring Thunderbolt) so you don't need a separate data cable to have your screen act as a HUB (USB or 5-in-one for instance), HDMI is TDMS and has no data stream (it comes from TV analog cables) * It includes a Direct Drive Monitor spec (allows for controller-less monitors which are directly driven off of the displayport signals, although this puts limits on the panel's resolution and color depth) * DP 1.2 includes independent video streams (to daisy-chain multiple monitors without the need for multiple connectors or a hub), though AFAIK no monitor handles daisy-chaining so far. * DP includes a mini-connector (mini-displayport) with roughly half the footprint of the full-size one, a boon for ultra-portables (it was developed for Apple, and Apple gifted it to VESA) available under the same royalty-free license-free terms as DP itself (mini-DP was folded into the DisplayPort 1.2 spec) HDMI is a good A/V standard for TVs, but DP is far superior for computers (and it's driven by computer manufacturers). There is probably a future for both (that's VESA's own party line), but I'd much rather find all my computer video output available as DP first and foremost (with HDMI as an option if they want to).

scrod 16y ago

>I also hate the display adapters Apple forces us to buy and carry around. This could turn into an advantage if the next MBA revision adopts Thunderbolt as its display connector — then you'll have incredibly high-speed access to external storage, which would make the MBA much more practical as a single machine.

uggedal 16y ago

I'm also thrilled with my MacBook Air 11" running Debian. The installation and configuration took some time though. Since I manage it all in Puppet it's easy to reproduce. Here is the high level Puppet code to configure everything to my liking: http://paste.pocoo.org/show/379663/ http://paste.pocoo.org/show/379663/

bergie 16y ago
Using Puppet for setting up your laptop: love the idea
callahad 16y ago
Thank you -- if I may ask, what are in the network::interfaces::wireless and keyboard::apple classes? I'm strongly considering switching my MBA over to Debian in the near future.
- uggedal 16y ago
  The keyboard::apple just changes the contents of /etc/default/keyboard to: XKBMODEL="apple" XKBLAYOUT="us" XKBVARIANT="mac" XKBOPTIONS="lv3:ralt_switch,compose:rwin,altwin:swap_lalt_lwin" The network::interfaces::wireless class: http://paste.pocoo.org/show/379776/ http://paste.pocoo.org/show/379776/

rufo 16y ago

You say you get 3-4 hours in Linux, but the benchmarks you link to claim easily 7 hours in OS X (though dramatically less if you max out the CPU). Are you pretty much always at high CPU utilization, or is Ubuntu's power management of Mac hardware that poor?

bergie 16y ago
7 hours is for the 13" MBA. I have 11".
- rufo 16y ago
  According to AnandTech's tests [1] (the ones you linked to), the 13" gets over 11 hours in OS X - the 11" is just under 7. [1]: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3991/apples-2010-macbook-air-11-13inch-reviewed/9 http://www.anandtech.com/show/3991/apples-2010-macbook-air-1...
zcid 16y ago
I get only about 2.5 hours when running Arch Linux compared to almost double when I used to run OS X on my MBP 5,3. I rarely use my laptop unplugged though so it doesn't make a huge difference to me. I think a large part of the difference on my machine is that you are forced to use the 9600GT for video as opposed to the more efficient 9600M that is available in OS X.
- rufo 16y ago
  Yeah, that's what I suspected - that's a huge deal to me.
yardie 16y ago
It's probably better to say that OSX power management is better on Apple hardware than all the rest. I was getting about 40% less time when using Windows XP than when I was using OSX.