New AIR and About the Old Ones?

The firmware upgrades and patches didn't work, so Apple should do something about it, because this problem affects a lot of MacBook Air. It is extremely frustrating trying to do some work with this machine, initially it shutdown a core, now this kernel_task takes all of your CPU cycles.

I bought one in late June and sold it last month. I used it heavily in the summer in a cross country trip in adverse conditions many times. It was a lovely machine for that task.

No problems.

Don't know what you're talking about.

Well, that is just the situation, Zebra...some people have had zero problems, none of the kernal problems, none of the overheating core problems (I myself have had no problems at all that others have reported)...but for those who DO have the problems, and it seems to be many people, the lack of solutions is frustrating.

Here's one approach though: if you have sent your macbook air in for repair several times and you still have the problem, when Apple released new models, they will frequently send you one of the new models rather than repairing your old model. I'm not saying that they WILL, but that they have that option, especially if you have a documented series of attempted repairs -- not just phone calls, but actual returns and repairs.

We should start a thread: One message a day until Apple respond to 1G defective MacBook Air owners. I've already paid US $3,000 for my MBA/SSD. I this is a piece of junk, Steve Jobs is supposed to be high standard, did he really use this machine?

Who are you going to send a message to? Apple doesn't read these forums. And if you send them feedback, they don't read them either. They use a bot program to scan the messages for the most common thread of words/phrases and flags only unusual ones.

The only way you can really get help is by calling Apple Care and making sure they physically look at your equipment, wether that is at the Apple Store, or if that is sent in. Otherwise, there isn't much they are going to do.

They do read the forums, but they don't necessarily provide individual direct answers. I can understand the hurt, the new hardware in the MB Air looks pretty sweat now. The original Air was cutting edge and used a lot of custom chip technology, this produced a trend in ultra-portable Notebooks and now you see much better chips being produced for these types of machine. Best bet in short -term is to perhaps the firmware tweak and if slowdowns still encountered then some form of cooling pad.

That is BS, Apple should do something about, Steve Jobs did a full show with Paul Otellini handing him a custom chip, they didn't say this is a beta chip and it will overheat your machine, they didn't say you know what this chip runs at 1.8gz but only in paper, because if we put it in this marvel of engineering the chip will only run at 800mhz, and maybe one of the cores will stop working.

We pay full price for this machine in my case USD $3,099 for the MBA/SSD, at least we deserve the machine to work as advertised.

Return it for repair.

I agree Apple should be honest about the problem and the limitations (don't use in a room with a temperature of 75 Fahrenheit) of the MacBook Air v1 and give the people that beta tested this technology for them a way to upgrade. I'm still waiting for a statement from Apple. In case nothing happens in November. I gonna bring my machine to Apple store until they fix it... Of course I know I gonna get a standard answer from them... We can't simulate the issue....

Apple is never going to issue any kind of statement about it. Just keep returning it. I would go a step further instead of going to the APple Store, I would call Apple Care and make sure they look at it at the repair center, not just the "genius" nongenius boys.

I think the problem is in many cases they seem to have to combine heavy usage with a hot environment to see any problem, and in some cases they have used third party software to alter the way their computer operates. The guys at apple store will basically go through a check list when someone brings a laptop to them, if they don't take it for repair resending it endlessly won't achieve much I think. Might be best just to learn to live with your 1st generation machine, if that means using it more in the style of an ausus eee pc subnotebook for tasks rather than as Macbook Pro desktop replacement type of notebook then that's the way you may have to go with it.

The problem is easy to replicate, it is not third party software. You only need to watch a Youtube video for 10 minutes or more in a room at 26ºC or higher, then the kernel_task process start eating your CPU, you cannot do anything else. Is this an acceptable behavior for a $3K computer from the company with the "highest standards"?

I think you're starting to get a little vague in describing the problem the +or higher+ probably is a bit more accurate and +just youtube+ can mean quite large GB multiple files in some cases via wifi network. The third-party software alterations is a valid point to make as I think many MB Air owners who report this type of issue have also utilized undervolting applications. Anyway, I reckon there is bound to be some grief from 1st gen owners, in the year since initial release prices and technology have leaped forward making 2nd gen MB Air a very good slim-form laptop.

Ok let me add other test example. Have a room of 26 Celsius or 80 Fahrenheit and start iChat Video. Try to do that for 15 minutes and you will notice that Kernel_task will take over the cpu usage very soon and interrupts the iChat video conversation. Your CPU temperature will be super hot...

That does not happen on my MBA. I've had no issues with run away cpu usage.

Glor