Camera Labs

Hi folks,

Having been without a laptop for well over a year I decided to have a look around and noticed that Apple have recently refreshed their MacBook Air line. I'm quite tempted by the 13" model for use as a replacement for a machine in a room I call my library where it would be used mainly for web browsing. But more importantly, if less frequently, it could also be used as a machine to which I can tether and from which I can control my 5D Mark II using Canon's DPP software. I've never tried it in its OSX incarnation before but I'm assuming exactly the same functionality as the Windows version with which I'm familiar.

Are there any early MacBook Air (2010) adopters out there who'd like to offer some thoughts? In the meantime AnandTech have done a pretty thorough review of both models which you can read here.

Bob.

Edit: typo corrected.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Here's Bill and Steve's thoughts

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

That strip never gets old!

Bob, I don't know if you might have seen this already but just in case you haven't, this might make the MBA an even more attractive option.

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Graham
Flickr

Hi Graham,

Thanks for that - I hadn't seen it before. I'm pretty sure that the basic 128GB SSD version of the MacBook Air 13" is the one I'd go for as it would by no means be a primary machine for me and I wouldn't be interested in running a dual boot config either. Your post has pretty much confirmed that decision as I now know that the capacity would be upgradable later on should I have a need.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

I don't know how disk-hungry OSX is, but I run Ubuntu (with a mac theme/skin/dock) on my laptop with an 80 GB SSD. Plenty of free space (15 GB) even with about 8 virtual machines.

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

OSX uses up very little HD space and you can claim more by deleting the universal binary files and additional languages, quite hungry for RAM though, I'd go with the 4GB even if not doing any serious editing. I can max out my 4GB without any particularly memory intensive apps running.

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Graham
Flickr

Hi Graham,

Thanks once again. I've seen that point about RAM made elsewhere but I hadn't been particularly convinced until your post as the extra 2GB costs £80 here.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Well that might be really smart memory design. After all, Unused RAM is wasted RAM. It makes perfect sense to load the most commonly used programs in RAM, regardless if you're using them or not. Why not make use of the stuff you have.

this will, however, be perceived as "bloat" by some, even though the OS can quickly clear out the RAM when a program requires exclusive access. Windows calls this Prefetch (I think).

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Yes, OSX uses up as much RAM as it can, unused memory becomes "inactive" and the system keeps it there until needed or can swap it out to the page file for a higher priority task when required. This is great but I can actually feel the slow down so I am quite positive that I am hitting the limit fairly often.

Bob, it's annoying that the MBA has the RAM soldered on and from the company that charges the most for RAM upgrades. Normally my solution is to just throw more RAM at the computer.

On the other hand, the SSD should make reading and writing the page file less bothersome.

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Graham
Flickr

Hi folks,

OMG, what have I done?

I ordered a MacBook Air 13" (1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM, 128GB Flash Storage) from the UK Apple Store this afternoon. Unfortunately the order couldn't go through one of the CameraLabs Affiliate Stores because of the non-standard RAM option - sorry Gordon.

Price was a fairly hefty £1003 (pre-tax) but I've wanted a Mac for a while, if only as a second machine, and the spec of the 2010 version of the Air looks tailor made for my needs.

I'll add a post somewhere with a few first impressions once I've had a chance to familiarise myself with the Air and OS X. Thanks, Graham, for your help. Time to have a strong cup of tea, I think.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Nice one! Happy to help.

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Graham
Flickr

Despite having a MacBook Pro 2.53 Ghz (2009 edition, 4 GB of RAM and a 250 GB harddisk) and absolutely loving it, I now so lust after one of those MBAs...*drools over his Apple keyboard.*

They do look superb, don't they ? Too bad they're so expensive (the 13" model with a faster processor, more RAM and a larger harddisk, that is...).

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Sony α77V/VG-C77AM/α350/18-70/70-400 G SSM/NEX-5/18-55 OSS/Lowepro Pro Trekker 600 AW/CompuTrekker AW/Nova 140 AW/Street & Field gear/Toploader Pro 75 AW. And a huge wishlist...

My photos on Flickr...

.

They don't call it the MacBook Air for nothing!

I'm still waiting with delivery expected tomorrow. It left Shanghai on Tuesday/Wednesday, flew to Incheon in Korea, then popped into Almaty in Kazakhstan, took a detour to Warsaw in Poland and is currently in Cologne in Germany. Presumably it will arrive in the UK later today so that it can go out for delivery tomorrow. Talk about Air miles.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

You will love it Bob. I have a MacBook Pro 13" and you can't go wrong. The "airs" do look fantastic so please tell us know your thoughts once yu recieve it.

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Aidan Hill. com
Nikon D7000 | Nikon 70-200MM f/2.8G VR II | Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 EX DC OS HSM | Tokina 11-16mm F2.8| iMac 27" | MacBook Pro 13" | Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Bag |