

Apple: Macbook Air isn't suitable for simultaneous use of Xcode and external display - TimH
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14238829/MacBook-Air-Decision

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PStamatiou
I had a first gen MBA for 9 months. Exact same kernel task issue - it was
always hooked up to my 24-inch. Ended up going out of my way doing some
undervolting to keep one of the cores from shutting down. It's not like it was
actually overheating when it would shutdown one of the cores before my little
hack. It was maintaining regular temperatures, even tested with a fan on it on
a raised platform.

Anywho, 9 months was enough for me to realize I needed more juice and I've
since graduated and hack from home full-time so I don't really need mobility.
My new MBP+ Intel SSD is working just fine.

As for the MacBook Air.. I fell asleep with it one night and woke up to a
cracked screen. After I got that fixed I took it to Apple for another issue
and they returned it to me with a _german_ keyboard. Huge mess up on their
part, got it on the consumerist and such. They gave me a new one which I sold.
/rant

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timdorr
Is it possible to a transcript from the court proceedings? I'm not familiar
with NZ law at all. I'm mainly curious to see how Apple argued that plugging
in an external monitor into an external monitor port and running an Apple-
built program on an Apple-built computer could be argued as "inappropriate
use". That's some crack lawyering!

~~~
ubernostrum
So, reading the order it seems that what happened was:

1\. Guy is shopping for a computer for dev use.

2\. Guy talks to sales consultant, explaining what he needs to do, and is told
"get a MacBook Air".

3\. Guy discovers MacBook Air isn't capable of handling the workload he's
putting on it, it overheats and shuts down CPU cores.

4\. Guy files dispute.

5\. Apple says "yeah, the the MacBook Air can't handle this type of load".

6\. Dispute judge says sales consultant shouldn't have recommended the MacBook
Air, then.

7\. Dispute judge says guy can return MacBook Air for a full refund since he
was misled into believing it could handle the work he needed to do.

Moral of the story: an ultra-thin laptop which explicitly trades off
performance for size probably isn't the ideal machine for compiling lots of
stuff while also powering a monitor the size of a breakfast table, and
salespeople who tell you it is shouldn't be trusted.

~~~
TimH
Nope, not the ideal machine. a $10k Mac Pro would be much better. I was given
the impression it would be adequate though, and I picked it for it's
portability.

If it's not adequate for the tasks it shouldn't be promoted as such. The web
page for the Macbook Air says it comes with Xcode, and runs a large external
display. Perhaps I should have known better, but I tried to do my research.
;-)

~~~
jamie
Yea, I don't think people quite understand what the Macbook Air issue is. As a
fellow MBA owner, I can vouch for this behavior. The system will become
completely unusable while the 'kernel_task' takes over the system trying to
cool it down.

I've experienced the exact same thing running a 24" LCD, firefox, and
Entourage. Hardly an uncommon or extreme setup, but it's enough to throw the
system off kilter. And when kernel_task goes into "cool this thing off NOW"
mode, the system is unusable for 4-5 minutes.

The MBA is a beautiful monster.

~~~
laut
Is your MBA a revision A or revision B?

I've heard that the revision B (128GB or 120GB hard disk) is more stable.

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enneff
My boss had serious problems with his MacBook Air using Firefox on JavaScript-
heavy web sites all day. They refuse to fix it / replace it under AppleCare
saying that using a web browser is inappropriate use! Crazy.

Obviously they can't afford to just come clean and admit the issues.

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ojbyrne
Interesting. I bought a (march'09 macmini) to run dual monitors both at
1920x1200. So far it's doing the job quite well. Xcode included. Though I had
to upgrade (max out) the ram.

~~~
mattmaroon
Do they now have two monitor ports of some sort? My mini had only one DVI.

~~~
whacked_new
Yes: Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI

<http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html>

~~~
alex_c
I don't think this is related to the Macbook Air problem, but Apple doesn't
seem to be doing so well with Mini DisplayPort and large displays:

[http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB571Z/A?fnode=MTY1NDA3Ng&...](http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB571Z/A?fnode=MTY1NDA3Ng&mco=MjE0ODQ2Nw)

~~~
TimH
This story is about my Macbook Air. In January I'd had enough of Apple and
Renaissance mucking me about, so gave them another week to respond, they
didn't so I filed the dispute. I also purchased a new 15 inch Macbook Pro to
use in the mean time. Got it home, and it started exhibiting problems too:
<http://vimeo.com/2911394>

Apple said to switch the power settings to "high performance" and leave them
there. Basically I think this forces it to use one of the video cards and not
the other. Since then it hasn't shown the problem, but the battery doesn't
last as long...

Apple. Love 'em, Hate 'em.

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cpr
To understand the problem fully, you have to make a serious distinction
between first and second generation Airs.

I have both, and the first generation becomes completely unuseable rather
quickly, external display or not, when you push it even mildly. (Youtube (non-
HD) alone will do it.)

The second generation is much more resistant, but if the room gets hot, with
my 24" external monitor connected, I do see the kernel_task slowdown at times.
(E.g., when a Time Machine backup kicks in, with 10-12 apps going, mostly in
the background, and I'm doing something mildly computation-intensive in the
foreground.)

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kragen
Is there a version of whatever this is that _isn't_ on scribd?

~~~
icey
There's a download button.

~~~
kragen
It doesn't work.

By "doesn't work" I mean that after turning on JavaScript for scribd.com, it
tries to pop up a menu over the top of the Flash embed. But popping up
anything on top of embedded Flash doesn't work in my browser (FF3 with Gnash
on Linux), so I use AdBlock to block the embedded Flash. Then the download
menu offers me a "PDF" option. Clicking on that ought to give me a file
download; instead, it pops up a box prompting me to sign up for an account
with Scribd.

In short, Scribd is a privacy-invading pain in the ass. So, is there a copy of
the document that isn't on Scribd?

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jrockway
Amusing. My eeepc can handle a 24" display and a maxed-out CPU load without
any problems. All for about $2000 less than the MBA.

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wmf
I didn't bother reading all the legalese, but I have a feeling the external
monitor has nothing to do with it.

~~~
TimH
I agree, but it's what Apple used as it's legal defense.

~~~
nailer
Well the cause of the issue is poor design on Apple's behalf, but:

External monitor -> greater use of video memory -> greater heat -> kernel_task
pegging the CPU. See the discussions above.

