PlasmaBlog

I have been using a MacBook Air as my sole laptop for a month or so now. In general I feel very positive about my experience with it. However, there is one issue that seems to be plaguing myself and other MacBook Air owners. When taxing the CPU for extended periods, the MacBook Air shuts down one of it’s cores to prevent overheating. The easiest way to reproduce the problem is to watch a few YouTube videos. After approximately 15 minutes the Mac OS X Activity Monitor clearly shows only one core running. Within a few minutes of the CPU load being lightened, the dormant core springs back to life.

While running on only one CPU core, the MacBook Air is barely usable. The UI becomes jittery and the onscreen trackpad pointer jumps around.

While trying to find a solution to the problem I came across this forum post. The author suggests an application called ‘Coolbook‘ which purports to underclock the laptops CPU by lowering the voltage supplied to the processor and by more agressively throttling the speed of the CPU. My initial reaction was one of extreme skepticism. Alarm bells were ringing. While I consider myself a geek I have never dabbled with overclocking of CPU’s and have never even heard of underclocking. But after reading five pages of positive responses I decided to take the plunge and install ‘Coolbook’.

Firstly, let’s describe the applications UI as abysmal. There is no getting away from it. Maybe it would make more sense to someone with experience in underclocking but the whole point in a GUI is to assist the uninitiated in achieving their goals without having to resort to technical manuals. Needless to say I had to resort to the manual which is thankfully quite good.

After tinkering with the various parameters and following the advice of others on the forum I settled on the following settings…

When power adaptor is plugged in…

600HMz = 0.9V
800MHz = 0.9V
1200MHz = 0.9V
1400Mhz = 0.9V
1600Mhz = 0.95V

When the MacBook is running on battery…

600MHz = 0.9V
800Mhz = 0.9V
1200Mhz = 0.9V

This lowers the voltage supplied to the CPU by 0.2V. Also of note is the removal of the 1400MHz and 1600MHz setting when running on batteries. This has had the following results…

Before Coolbook

Approx CPU temperature under light load 52C
Approx CPU temperature under heavy load 75C
Fan speed under light load 2500rpm
Fan speed under heavy load 6500rpm
Battery life under light load - 3.35

After Coolbook

Approx CPU temperature under light load 43C
Approx CPU temperature under heavy load 62C
Fan speed under light load 2500rpm
Fan speed under heavy load 4250rpm
Battery life under light load - 4.25

Since installing Coolbook, my MacBook Air has suffered no core shutdowns, it has run significantly cooler to the touch, it is quieter (as a result of the lower fan speeds) and it lasts almost an hour longer than usual when running on battery power. As of yet I have found no downsides and I have not experienced any instability.

There is some debate about the possibilities of damaging the CPU by underclocking it. My research leads me to believe that such damage is unlikely and that using too low a voltage will simply result in OS instability. However, I am not advising anyone else rushes into underclocking their MacBook Air. All I offer is my experience with ‘Coolbook‘ for those who might be interested I will update this post should my experience change over the coming weeks.

Apple have just upgraded their Airport Express to 802.11n. The previous model was only 802.11g. Apple claims a 5x speed improvement over the old version although in my experience users are more likely to get about three times the throughput; a nice speed bump nevertheless. The new Airport Express also boasts twice the range and is selling for the same price ($99) as the model it supersedes.

The MacBook Air is the latest in a long line of Apple notebooks to find a home at ‘Chez Randtoul’. Until its arrival I had considered the MacBook Pro to be the gold standard for build quality in a notebook. However, there are a few issues with the MacBook Pro, caused by less-than-perfect design.

1) When closed the screen touches the keys. Over time this leaves permanent marks on the display. Ultimately caused by a lack of clearance between the screen and keyboard, the problem is exasperated by the amount of flex in the lid. Apple has made modifications to the MacBook Pro/Powerbook over the years to try and address the issue (mainly through the addition of rubber pads around the screen bezel). A number of third party solutions have also sprung up, including screen protecting microfiber cloths that are placed on the keyboard before the lid is closed. However, in my mind these are band-aids developed to mask a fundamental design flaw.

2) While the casing for the MacBook Pro is beautifully anodized aluminum, the bevelled edge just below the space bar is painted. Whether this becomes a problem for the user depends heavily on how they type, and where they rest their thumbs. If, like me your thumbs tend to sit on the space bar, over time the painted area can become discolored and eventually wear off altogether, revealing the bare aluminum underneath.

3) Under certain circumstances the backlighting of the keyboard can actually make the keys more difficult to read. Since the death of the Titanium Powerbook, Apple have chosen to match the color of the keys to the notebooks casing, resulting in a light grey keyboard on the Macbook Pros. During daylight this is fine (light grey keys, black characters). During darkness (once the backlighting is activated) again all is well (black keys, white characters). But in a room with a low light the result is white characters on light grey keys. While not too much of a problem for touch typists, the low contrast between the keys and characters tends to negate the supposed benefits of a backlit keyboard.

Back to the MacBook Air. There has of course been much debate about its merits since it’s launch. However, what cannot be denied is it’s exceptional build quality. The curved surfaces of the casing give the notebook an amazing amount of rigidity, especially when the ultra-thin form factor is taking into consideration. Indeed, I have heard many people comment that the MacBook Air feels as though it is carved from a solid slab of aluminum.

Stanley Kubrick once said “Sometimes the truth of a thing is not so much in the think of it, as in the feel of it.“

While the MacBook Air feature set is a lesson in compromise and sacrifice, the ‘feel’ of the Air is of undeniable quality and craftsmanship.

So what about those three design flaws still present in the Air’s big brother, the Macbook Pro?

1) The keys no longer touch the screen. This has been achieved by making three changes. Firstly a rubber bumper now runs around the entire circumference of the screen. Secondly, the use of the MacBooks chiclet style recessed and flat-surface keyboard results in more clearance between the screen and keys. Thirdly, the curves of the lids casing provide much more rigidity, resulting in less screen flex.

2) There are no painted areas. While I haven’t taken a sheet of sandpaper to my new MacBook Air, I have given it a thorough inspection and it appears that all surfaces are anodized aluminum.

3) The keyboard is now black. While this is cosmetically a little jarring for some (although it brings back fond memories of the Titanium Powerbook for me), it provides high contrast between the keys and characters under all lighting conditions. Is this a rare case of Apple choosing function over form? Surely not
After two weeks with my MacBook Air I find it difficult to levy any significant criticism of the units build quality and engineering. It truly is the gold standard of notebook design. Alas poor MacBook Pro. I knew him well.

The diminutive Macbook Air must be Apples most controversial product in years. Designing a subnotebook is an exercise in compromise. By it’s very nature, certain features must be left out or cut back to achieve the compact form factor that subnotebook users demand. Each persons opinion of the Macbook Air is determined by whether the compromise in features outweigh the benefits of the machines physical attributes. Still undecided? Here is a roundup of early Macbook Air reviews…

Ars Technica (in my opinion the definative review site)

Macworld (an epic review by Jason Snell)

MacNN - Initial impressions

Engadget (a balanced review by Ryan Block)

Gizmodo - disassembly (self explanatory)

Gizmodo - review

PC Mag

Crave

CNET

Wall Street Journal (a suprisingly critical review from Walt Mossberg who is considered by many to be biased towards Apple)

Newsweek (an early review by the author of the fantastic iPod book ‘The Perfect Thing’)

USA Today

Gearlog - unboxing

NotebookReview.com (good review with video)

O2 have today announced that it is revamping the cost of it’s monthly tariffs for iPhone users. Effective 1st Feb for new customers and by mid-March for existing customers, the new deal will give up to three times as many free calls and text messages for the same monthly fee. All existing iPhone users will be migrated to the new plans automatically.

I am sure many will read between the lines and see this as a “desperate pitch” by O2 to bolster the sales of iPhones. Do I care? Hell no. I just got an extra 600 minutes of talk time per month for free.

Details on the new tariffs can be found at the O2 site.

At last years ‘All Things Digital’ Conference Steve Jobs labelled Apple TV ‘a hobby’, playing down the significance of the product and lowering expectations for it’s future. it is rare for Jobs to comment on such matters but I believe he did so as a damage limitation exercise. It has become clear in the months since that Apple TV has not gone down well with consumers. Sure, geeks have put their hand in the pocket and ponied up the cash. But in a clear sign that they felt the product was crippled, many went on to hack their Apple TV’s, increasing HD space and installing workarounds that enable the device to cope with many more codecs (such as DivX and XVid). In comparison to other Apple products of recent years, Apple TV 1.0 was a failure.

Fast forward to Macworld 2008 and Jobs unveils Apple TV 2.0 admitting on stage that their first stab at the digital living room was flawed. Although Macbook Air went on to steal the limelight at this years keynote, the real game-changing news to come from Cupertino was that Apple had secured digital rental deals with every major movie studio. In addition Jobs showed off a complete rewrite of the Apple TV software which no longer require the device to interact with a computer. Movies, TV shows, podcasts and music can now be purchased directly from the iTunes Music Store without the user ever having to leave the comfort of their sofa. To top it off Jobs went on to announce that the new features would be a free upgrade to existing customers and that the software update would usher in the ability to play HD content encoded in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, all using the existing hardware out in the field. Sounds like a home run right?

Well maybe not. I believe the Apple TV’s future rests in the hands of the advertising agency. In recent years Apple’s ad campaigns have been schizophrenic. No-one can dispute the success of the silhouette iPod adverts. And the iPhone ads do wonders to demonstrate the capabilities of the touchscreen marvel. But despite the increase in Mac market share over the last couple of years I seriously doubt whether the current ‘I’m A Mac, and I’m A PC’ ads do much to encourage the average Windows user to switch platforms.

Sure, they are witty. If you are already a Mac user.

But to a PC user I suspect ‘Mac’ comes across as condescending. Macs have many advantages over their competition, two of these being the beauty of their hardware coupled with the elegance and robustness of Mac OS X. The ads do little to demonstrate either.

As of yet Cupertino has done Apple TV no favors. In the twelve months between its launch at Macworld 2007 and the unveiling of Apple TV 2.0 at Macworld 2008 it’s reputation has been left to languish. First impressions are hard to shift. And although the second coming of the device elevates it to one of the most compelling devices released by Apple in recent years, it’s announcement by Jobs was overshadowed by the Macbook Air (which secured the psuedo ‘One Last Thing…’ spot at this years keynote).

As of now, subtlety is not an option. If the marketing department decide to use the Apple TV adverts as a demonstration of the devices abilities it could spell the end for Blockbuster and seriously dent the HD-DVD/Blue Ray formats. However, if they opt to make the adverts more cryptic and artsy then Apple TV will struggle to shake off its reputation as a lemon.

Read the tech blogs at the moment and you can’t help but notice how controversial Apples new Macbook Air is. Although it is not yet shipping to the general public I was lucky enough to spend 20 minutes with one while attending MWSF2008. First impressions? Super sexy. This thing is impossibly thin and is typically well engineered. However, as noted by many pundits, the size comes at a cost. No optical drive, no replaceable battery, no firewire port, no ethernet port, non-upgradeable memory.

I have read many vitriolic user comments on the tech blogs lambasting the high costs/low feature set of the Macbook Air since its announcement at Macworld. The consensus seems to be that the MBA is for a niche market. Yet it has reminded me of another Apple product launch from the not too distant past.

When the iPod nano was released there were many people who questioned why anyone would purchase a 4GB MP3 player when for only $50 more the same person could purchase a full sized 30GB iPod. It was labelled over priced and under specced. Yet the nano went on to be Apples most successful iPod to date selling many more units than the classic iPod.

My point? The vast majority of the population are not posting on Engadget or Gizmodo. They have little need for more than one USB port at a time. They spend the majority of their computer time surfing the web, sending mail, instant messaging and working within general office apps. And dare I say it, they are more fashion conscience than your average geek. I would argue that the authors of countless negative blog posts are missing the point. It is in fact they who are the niche market. The pro user. The nerd. Apple is targeting the Macbook Air at everyone but them.