Apple Posts Helpful MacBook Air Tech Notes, Pulls Some

by , 5:00 PM EST, February 4th, 2008

Apple has posted some helpful tech notes recently on issues related to the Mac Book Air. However, some were pulled and some were heavily modified, according to Macworld UK on Monday.

The notes that were published covered areas such as:

• If the MacBook Air is connected to an external monitor, and the lid is closed, some may notice a reduction in their wireless networks that use the 2.4 GHz band.
• MacBook Air users who want to install Windows XP or Vista in Boot Camp cannot use remote disks. Instead, they must use an external optical drive, like the SuperDrive that Apple sells as an accessory.
• Some headphones won't fit into the recessed jack, and Apple suggested a third-part headphone jack extender, such as the ones used for the iPhone.

More importantly, some of the documents were removed with no explanation. One had an extensive discussion of the use of the MacBook Air with third party 802.11n routers and possible conflicts. (#307288).

"The company had identified some other MacBook Air problems and solutions, but these tech notes were also later removed from the Apple website. One tech note identified jumpy or jerky video when using the MacBook Air's iSight camera. Apple recommended installing QuickTime 7.4 as a cure for this. The company also noted a problem with using the MacBook Air for prolonged periods. According to that note, also now removed from the site, after long periods of use the computer may become sluggish as it attempts to protect itself from overheating by shutting down one core of the CPU," Gregg Keizer wrote.

Another note removed from the Apple site, according to Mr. Keizer, described how the MacBook Air may reduce the clock rate of the remaining core under extreme conditions and suggested the user move the computer to a cooling pad or cooler area to let the heat dissipate.