Some early Macbook Air adopters have reported seeing video anomalies on the new 11-inch and 13-inch models of the Macbook Air which may be related to sleep/wake issues. Apple Discussion forum user, DanRyb, had this to say about the problem on an 11-inch model:
I ordered a MacBook Air 11″ with 1.6 GHz, 4GB ram and 128GB SSD. Every so often while using it, the screen has a ton of weird colors in vertical lines (extends the whole display) and the entire laptop has frozen. I have to force it off with the power button and reboot it. It happens at random times. Is this a symptom of overheating perhaps?
I’ve done some research online and can’t seem to find anyone else experiencing the same issue so I’m thinking I got a bad apple. (;Before I take it in or send it in, I’m more or less wondering if someone knows what I’m talking about, like having happened on another model Mac and knows if it’s due to overheating or something. Thanks!
Additional reports about this problem have been posted to the forum and for the people reporting it the symptoms can vary. I also encountered a video problem on my 13-in MacBook Pro last night.
Another forum user, Hobokendippy, had the following to say about the 13-inch model:
Just had this happen to me as well. I have a new 13.3. So far it’s crashed three times on me. Two times with just a blank screen and the other time with the lines through the screen like you describe. Wondering if I got a dud.
I’ve also encountered a video problem on my 13-inch MacBook Air. I observed horizontal sparkling bands running up and down the screen, but the computer did not freeze. Subsequently after rebooting the problem hasn’t happened again.
Apple did release a technical bulletin titled: About MacBook Air (Late 2010) Software Update 1.0 which according to Apple provides the following fixes:
MacBook Air (Late 2010) Software Update 1.0 resolves an issue where a MacBook Air (Late 2010) computer may become unresponsive while playing back movie trailers in iMovie. The update also addresses an issue where the computer may become unresponsive after waking from sleep when an external display is connected and also contains general graphics performance updates.
The update will appear automatically in Software Update or you can download it directly. Just for the sake of a sanity check I went ahead and applied the update to my MacBook Air again. I’m anxious to see what happens this week when I start using my new computer as my primary mobile notebook.
You can see a video of what YouTube user, angrychinesedriver, witnessed  and subsequently recorded on his 11-inch MacBook Air below.
I hate to say this, but my luck with Apple products may have run out. Considering that I’m on my fourth iPhone 4, I had problems getting a Mac Mini repaired, and now I’m on my second MacBook Air (unibody cover on the bottom was warped) things are not looking so good. However, if Apple continues to fix or replace things I’ll keep plugging along until my patience runs out.
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