Apple ’s latestupdates to its MacBook Air laptopshave been getting rave reviews for their incredible battery biography : the 13 - in model clocks more than 12 hours on a undivided charge . Unfortunately , these novel Airs have also been getting some undesirable attention for a potential Internet connector failure . In particular , numerous users describe that their cyberspace connection dangle out within minutes of them catch on-line . A flake astonishingly , this come even though the computer ’s Wi - Fi connection still shows a normal strong signal .
I first became aware of this matter via a Gizmodo article that provokingly asked : “ Is Your New MacBook Air ’s Wi - Fi Crappy ? ” The article claims that “ a span of thousand disfranchised Apple client seem to have descended on the Apple Support Forums . ” Given that there were less than 150 Wiley Post in the citedSupport Communities train of thought , Gizmodo ’s call of “ a duo of thousand ” complaints seems to be a meaning hyperbole . Still , as there are in all probability many touched exploiter who have not post their dismay online , the claim is likely honest in the larger sense .
Although the young models support 802.11ac Wi - Fi , the problem fall out primarily , if not altogether , with one-time connexion applied science . More precisely , the dropped connection come along to come most often with third - company router as match to Apple AirPort router , especially routers that are too quondam to have even 802.11n support . This means that if you take your air travel to a Genius Bar at an Apple Store , the Air will likely do work fine ( as many people have confirm ) . This , in turn , means that the Genius will most probably conclude that the job is in software rather than with the Air ’s hardware . However , in my view , a hardware causal agency remains a possibility ; it may be one that only gets triggered when connected to certain types of routers .
At this other juncture , there is still no consensus root . Some drug user establish that switching channels on their router excrete the drops . Others claimed that deleting one or more files in the SystemConfiguration booklet ( as described in a2012 OS X Daily clause ) solve the problem . Others found that the symptom go aside after a complete reinstall of OS X.
As is too often the case , for each of these solutions , other users fail to get the reported success . On the other helping hand , numerous owners of the latest MacBook Airs have never had this symptom at all .
My hypothesis is that an Apple - supplied software or firmware update will be demand to ultimately dissolve the matter . In the interim , if you ’re design on buying one of these new political machine , be certain to screen its Internet connectivity powerful away — so that you have the option to return the machine if it turns out you are a dupe of this hemipteran and can not get any solution to work .
