New MacBook Air Issues summary

Apple unveiled its new MacBook Air at the WWDC conference in June. However, after the listing, users found that the new MacBook Air in the screen, network connectivity and other aspects of the problems, and the normal use of a certain degree of impact.

1. Intermittent splash screen (not resolved)

According to foreign media reports, some users in the Apple support forum recently said that their hands of the 11-inch and 13-inch two versions of the MacBook Air have intermittent black screen problems. This user indicates that when the new MacBook Air is powered on battery, the screen flashes until it is black, or goes into sleep mode and needs to press any key to wake up. There are also users who say that when the MacBook Air uses power, a similar situation has occurred.

Because the problem is not long, so the cause of the problem is not yet known, in addition to the extent of the problem is not statistically significant, and Apple has not yet made a statement on this issue, and naturally did not give the official solution.

But you don't have to panic if your MacBook Air is in your hand, and you can try resetting the hardware to resolve the problem. First, you can reset the pram. Restart the system, while pressing the OPTION-COMMAND-P-R key quickly, until the system automatically resets, hear the startup sound after releasing the button, and then let the system start normally. The next thing you need to do is reset the System Management Controller (SMC). The system Management controller is in charge of the control power and sensor. First, you need to turn off the system, connect the power, then press the Shift-control-option key on the left-hand side of the keyboard and then press the power button. Finally, release all the keys at the same time, then press the power switch again to boot. If the above steps do not solve the problem, you need to contact Apple for after-sales maintenance.

2. Wi-Fi connectivity issues (resolved)

Earlier, a week after the new MacBook Air was released, users said in Apple's official support forum that the new MacBook Air had a Wi-Fi connection problem and would be disconnected without warning, only to return to normal by restarting. The Wi-Fi connection problem is even worse when you put the MacBook Air on the table.

Technology Media Gizmode says this is because the MacBook Air's black stripe Wi-Fi antenna is placed in the bottom border of the screen, thus affecting the Wi-Fi signal. 9to5mac, however, thinks Mac OS X is the cause of the problem. In addition, Anand Lal Shimpi from AnandTech also said that while the new MacBook Air is equipped with a 802.11AC standard Wi-Fi wireless card, it can become very slow when transferring files in a wireless environment.

To further verify the Wi-Fi problem with the new MacBook Air, Michael Brown, from Macworld, tested it independently. When in the same network environment, from a new MacBook Air to another earlier MacBook Pro wirelessly transmits a series of small files with a total size of 10GB, Although the two laptops are only 2.44 meters away from the wireless router, and both laptops use SSD all-solid-state drives, the measured transmission speed is only 140mb/s, which is quite unsatisfactory. From the results, Michael Brown thinks that the dynamic TCP window size is the cause of the Wi-Fi problem.

After receiving feedback from users, Apple also investigated the issue and informed Apple care and Apple Store "Genius Bar" staff to temporarily detain the problematic 11-inch and 13-inch new MacBook Air and send it back to Apple's headquarters. For further testing and to propose corresponding solutions. While Apple did not reveal exactly where the problem was, it eventually sent a message to users of the new MacBook Air, inviting them to join the MacBook Air Wi-Fi Update 1.0 program to address the problems they are currently experiencing. In Apple's MacBook Air (Mid) Software Update 1.0 updates package, the Wi-Fi connection issue was finally resolved effectively.

3. Video volume fluctuation problem (resolved)

According to previous reports from foreign media, some users at Apple's official support forum said they were experiencing abnormal volume fluctuations when using the new MacBook Air to play video.

From the user's description of the problem, this problem can be seen in Apple's own software (such as QuickTime Player and itunes) and some third-party software such as Google Chrome and VLC player. In the current situation, other products running the Mac OS X operating system do not have this problem, so this is probably the problem with the new MacBook Air itself.

In addition, before Apple releases the MacBook Air (Mid) Software Update 1.0 package to completely resolve the issue, In the official support forum, users have indicated that they can use an audio control software called boom in the itunes App Store to resolve volume fluctuations in video playback.

4. Screen flicker problem when using Photoshop (Resolved)

In addition, in addition to the above issues, there are users who have said that the use of Adobe Photoshop software on the new MacBook Air will have a very serious screen flicker, the problem is most serious when using the larger brush tool.

Adobe representative Chris Cox said in the Adobe official forum that the problem may have been caused by the graphics card or the LCD display driver, but because of the inability to reproduce the problem at the time, it was not appreciated by Apple. But Apple also fixed the issue in the MacBook Air Software Update 1.0 update package that was released later, and it appears that Adobe and Apple have finally achieved more effective communication.

From the current problems encountered in the resolution process, Apple's response speed is very rapid, the final solution is also effective, I believe that the user encountered the intermittent splash screen problem, Apple will also give us a satisfactory answer. But after a succession of problems, it's curious how the new MacBook Air is going to happen.