Macbook Air 2011 with Windows 7 64 bit.

[kriios]

Great video. I love the quality and design of the air (keyboard is a bit lacking imo), but I just can't bare to run OSX; nice to see battery performance is as good as the OSX estimates.

[iPhone4au]

@kriios - Thanks. It really is pretty much on par compared to what Apple claim for people running MacOS on these.

[cadnyc]

i just installed win7 on my macbook air. any idea why i cant change the brightness of the screen or turn on/off the keyboard backlight light??

[iPhone4au]

@cadnyc - Install the Windows "BootCamp" driver package - part of that package contains the keyboard drivers that allow these features to work in Windows 7.

[darinsargent25]

This video went viral on Kyrgyzstan

[Smolderas]

Did you get your keyboard to light up in windows?

[iPhone4au]

@Smolderas - Yes, you just install the Windows "BootCamp" driver package that you should have downloaded on your MacBook Air *first* under MacOS before you wiped it to install Windows. Otherwise, you can find them somewhere on the Apple website...

[DoorisJ]

hows instant on and off?

[iPhone4au]

@DoorisJ - If you really look at all videos out there for most notebooks, there really ISN'T an "instant on" or off... It takes about 2 seconds for anything to fully complete (waking up from lid closed to going to sleep when closing the lid). Hope this helps!

[Urindunk]

why classic 'theme' in windows?

[iPhone4au]

@Urindunk - it saves RAM. I don't need Aero "Eye Candy", which takes up an extra GB of useable RAM.

[Contradel]

"Macbook Eh"

Thanks for the review. Probably the best one out there for people using Windows. However would have been nice to have seen a side by side comparison of OSX starting Word vs. Windows 7, just to strengthen your argument ;-)

Nice to see that the drivers works well in Windows

[iPhone4au]

@Contradel - Actually, I digress: The Macbook Air I tried using Word on has 2GB of RAM, not 4GB. It actually loads faster with the 4GB of RAM. I noticed the slow loading time of Word on a demo Macbook Air with 2GB.

[blockshark]

did u have any issue with the laptop since u installed the win7 ?

[iPhone4au]

@blockshark - I've had no issues at all. Everything runs very quick and smoothly. Are we supposed to have problems running Windows 7 on Intel hardware like that in the Macbook Air...?

[blockshark]

@iPhone4au no, but i had few issues with mine though

[Gibson299]

@iPhone4au Absolutely Not, As Microsoft Does have full support for Mac computers, As Does apple have their own driver etc for them to.

[Snowbugzz]

Brilliant! How does it handle flash? My late 2010 13" model did not handle well with fan always on high (snow) (Sold it). Also, any compromise by doing this that you've noticed compared to pc/win machine in general? Does touch pad tapping work? Will the apple super drive work as well to load win? Does it matter whether 32 or 64 bit win7? I agree, I have looked everywhere and I can't find anything close to the build quality to go with my daily win usage. Many thanks

[kezikosova]

can you tell me how long the battery lasted with OSX and how much with Windows 7 ?!

thanks for the useful review

[iPhone4au]

@kezikosova - Battery lasts for 5 hours on average with Windows 7 running on it. I can't answer about OS X, it was the first thing I got rid of on it after downloading the Win7 bootcamp drivers I needed.

I have no use for OS X - nothing at my work (or in my job) works with it.

[CorinChellberg]

Any idea why it took so long to boot into Windows 7? ~54 seconds compared to something like 15 for OS X?

[iPhone4au]

@CorinChellberg - it takes this long to boot into Windows until you Activate it with Microsoft (and I don't mean "crack" it).

It boots much, much quicker once Windows is properly activated. Obviously, on my video it was unactivated so it gave the impression it takes ages... :-)

[medeirosdez]

... telling me what max sample rate you can get with it by taking a look at Control Panel - Hardware and sound - Audio - your output device - Advanced? And, would it be possible to output multichannel via HDMI with the proper adaptor? Thanks in advance!

[medeirosdez]

Hello there mate. I just wanted to say you've done THE review I have for long been waiting for. I mean, NO ONE ever talks about audio on Apple products as if it were sinful, and now you show me the f***king name of the chipset Apple uses on Macs for audio! Thank you very much, I'm lack of words of how you've helped me. By googling it I've already found out average sound performance is at 110dB, even more than my Creative's X-Fi offboard card. Now, would you mind telling me what max sample rate

[RobbySmithTV]

What's the point in purchasing a macbook if your gonna run windows. Might as well buy a windows based computer, that's just my opinion.

[Prostreetcrazy]

Can I completely get rid of mac os x lion and use windows 7 only ? Can give me the link to download the drivers ? Thanks

[iPhone4au]

@Prostreetcrazy - See my other video "Installing Win7 64-bit on 2011 Macbook Air". It shows you what you need to do.

[0oDarkLordRevano0]

8:25

It's the windows 8 video :D

[JustaDetail]

Aero is not activated on this machine.

Does Aero (if activated) works smooth on that configuration ?

[iPhone4au]

@JustaDetail - Aero uses 1 GB of RAM, so I disabled it to free up extra memory.

[MarleyNicholeTravis]

Also I just heard you say programs open slow in OS X on a MBA 13", my new 13" i5 MBA opens programs faster (yes Word too) than any computer I've ever had, including the one I sold to get the MBA, which was a Samsung RF7110-S02 with a Quadcore i7 and a nVidia 540m GPU, and the MBA feels way, way faster.

[iPhone4au]

@MarleyNicholeTravis - You are right in this respect; the Macbook model that I first tried playing with Lion on had 2GB of RAM (which makes everything run slow). Lion really does need 4GB to function properly.

[NoMotif]

@MarleyNicholeTravis probably because the MBA has an SSD, vs the machine you sold which had an HDD. Maybe, maybe not; but i think that it is likely

[MarleyNicholeTravis]

@NoMotif Yes your absolutely correct, however both of the machine are "stock" machines so the comparison is definitely valid, but yes the ssd is much faster (250mb read/write) vs the hdd (50ish Read/write speeds).

[BabySherman]

@MarleyNicholeTravis Thats the ssd at work, not really the i7 or gpu working much there.

[MarleyNicholeTravis]

I completely understand the need to run Windows, but saying OS X Lion is boring is just crazy. I've ran Windows pretty much my whole life and you can't get an OS that is more "plain jane", more vanilla, and more boring than Windows. I'm telling you, you really should have given Lion a shot and used it for a couple of weeks to get a feel for it, your REALLY missing out. How could you prefer windows 7 to Lion except for compatibility issue. Would be interested to hear why u like Windows.

[iPhone4au]

@MarleyNicholeTravis - I am an IT technician. It is my job to support PC's running Microsoft Windows. If you read the other comments and replies I have posted, you will find that Lion has nearly zero compatibility with things I use for work. If you like OSX Lion, fine. I prefer Windows.

[MarleyNicholeTravis]

@iPhone4au Yeah I totally get the Windows need, especially since your an IT guy. But why not give Lion a shot with your personal computing needs, I can't see why you wouldn't want to play with it (OSX Lion) for a while an see if you enjoyed it more than Windows. Trust me if you played with OSX Lion for a couple of weeks I dare to say that you would only be using windows when you had to for compatibility issues or to use a specific program. So what ur saying is Compatibility is King?

[DJTEVAdotCOM]

i agree Mac OS is useless for windows users...

[RockTouching]

I tryed a macbook air today and was able to right click by pressing in the right corner of the trackpad!

[applegeek4ever]

so if you wanted windows 7 why did you spend a hell big amount off money on a mac why didn't you buy a simple asus ultra book for a cheaper price

[iSHADOWSTABBING]

@applegeek4ever I'm assuming he bought it because of the design, parts, etc. While the OS is useless, Apple products do have great hardware and their products last a long time.

[deyu888]

the best thumb up yet, thank you

[iPhone3GSCase]

so even when ur on windows, the mac key work perfectly?

[AlexFernandezNigga]

why would you soil this with windows?

[iPhone3GSCase]

@AlexFernandezNigga for things that dont work for mac

[iPhone4au]

@AlexFernandezNigga - so it can run the other 97% of software that Apple OSX can't... And so people like me can get some work done. And print to any printer. And view any website in full. And play some half-decent games. And play blu-rays.

Any other reasons you need that I forgot to add...?

[ayaneforever]

@iPhone4au wait software reason makes sense, work makes sense because of software, but how can't you view any website in full with OSX, or how is there not a printer driver for OSX? Also...gaming? On a MacBook Air? Really? What, like Bejeweled?

[AlexFernandezNigga]

@iPhone4au Good Review.

[Gibson299]

@iPhone4au View any website in fulll....

Don't the Computers have Flash lol?

[sinekonata]

@Gibson299 I guess he's referring to safari which sucks big time. But I guess you can install Firefox instead so full compatibility if safari doesn't provide it.

[jej4000]

How come I only get 5.9 on Disk Data Transfer Rate?

I have a macbook pro 2011, with a 500GB 7200rpm HD.

[ojee99]

Dunno if I have an Toshiba or Samsung HD, it says: Apple SSD TS128C ATA device.

[RockTouching]

@ojee99 TS means toshiba

[jabbMable]

Nice.. You got a great hardware, plus a choice between two great software.

It's like you've got a big penis and you're wife has 2 vaginas (just so you have a choice).

[ojee99]

strange, I have the 1.7 13 inch Air (latest model) with Win7, and only get 5,7 on graphics and 6.8 on the SSD. How comes, you think?

[iPhone4au]

@ojee99 - Not sure about the Graphics score, but the SSD score might indicate you have a Toshiba SSD instead of a Samsung SSD like mine maybe ?

[tjwick63]

Thank you for a nice Windows 7 Review on these new MBA :)

[MegaCoreMagnetizer]

hm i didnt know it could play full HD movies

the screen quality is really good for movies right?

[iPhone4au]

@MegaCoreMagnetizer - Yes very good for playing movies. Of course, you won't get the full HD experience unless you play it through the thunderbolt / mini-display port to a HDTV.

[sonic3243]

Why do people want things like 60 fps, 120fps, or 240fps in videos and movies?

It's terrible! 24 fps is perfect for that stuff, any higher is just blergh

[iPhone4au]

@sonic - the type of compression used as well as the video format used and fps can affect the overall quality of the video when it's played back. You can clearly notice some "ghosting" whenever there is movement of the presenter's hands for example in the video. A better fps and less compression would have given a smoother playback, I believe.

[sonic3243]

@iPhone4au - more fps = less cinematic.

Movies or recorded videos + anything higher than 30 fps = too smooth.

Games are good in 60+ fps, but things like this video and movies look like crap with anything higher than 30 fps.

[waktasz]

Any issues with killing OSX and installing Windows? Any tips or tricks you'd like to share. I think I want one of these bad boys, but if I get it, Lion has got to go.

[iPhone4au]

@waktasz - see my new video here, it shows you how to.

[SRP50]

Quite simply amazing...Super Zippy, and a great Windows experience. Spot on, mate!

Now, was that the default windows tray icon that gave you the Battery/Temperature information?

[iPhone4au]

@SRP50 - that is a free program called BatteryCare. Works great !

[jak712we]

very nice review, I have to sell my ipad2 to buy this :(( to have enough money.

[xpeoxx]

Thanks, great review. My 13" base model MacBook Air is due to arrive this Wednesday and I still haven't decided whether to remove OSX or not. To know that it functions well in windows 7 is definitely making me push a bit more towards the concept of a windows only machine :-)

It's also great to see that you're little machine smashed my 15" dell studio in the WEI in every way... lol. Can't wait for my new lappy.

[TheLegomaniac25]

You do realise how hard it will be to put lion back on now don't you?

[iPhone4au]

@TheLegomaniac25 - I have no use for Lion. I use my iPad for quick emails and pick-me-up internet surfing if I need to.

[TheLegomaniac25]

@iPhone4au okay that is a good idea actually, best of both worlds having the two. great review though, thanks mate!

[ejwt]

Very good overview. How about doing a video showing the Windows 7 installation process, including obtaining drivers, etc.

[iPhone4au]

@ejwt - Done. New video on here now.

[iPhone4au]

I really like the build quality of this product, but don't have any use for Mac OS X Lion, hence why I installed Windows 7 64-bit. We only use Microsoft Windows at work, and I'm a computer technician so again it suits my purpose. The MBA is perfect for running Windows 7 64 bit as a stand-alone OS.

And, no - it's not a bootleg copy of Windows; it will be activated legitimately within the 30 days.

[komoornik]

@iPhone4au Two simple questions: does it support Hyper Threading and TurboBoost ?

[iPhone4au]

@komoornik - Yes and Yes.

[KirbyPwnz13]

I like Windows 7, but why would you remove mac OS?

[iPhone4au]

@KirbyPwnz13 - I don't have any use for Lion, it's not compatible with anything I use at work.

[thisstinks92]

Also, it says you need to activate in 30 days. If it's a bootleg copy you can download a program called win7loader to do that

[iPhone4au]

@thisstinks92 - I have a licensed version of Windows 7 Pro 64-bit that I purchased for this.

[thisstinks92]

I thought the whole reason people bought macs was for the OS lol. Why didn't you just dual boot?

[iPhone4au]

@thisstinks92 - No use for Lion, after downloading the Win7 drivers Lion was the first thing to go.

[RedSky0]

Most useful review so far, cheers.