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Apple MacBook Air MB003LL/A 13.3 Inch Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive)
Rating:  - I own a MacBook Air... (update)I just came back from a 3-day trip - my first travel experience with the MacBook Air. I do own a first generation MacBook Pro and was honestly tempted at first to bring it along in case I need "it". "It" mainly referred to the DVD drive, built-in ethernet and perhaps superior hard-drive speed/access time. I decided to go with the MacBook Air alone (and the USB ethernet adapter) - and see what happens. It went great. First of all, the bag on my shoulder felt almost unreasonably light. Battery life was more than sufficient to support my three-hour flight with about 25% of capacity left at the end. Connecting to the internet at the airport (via wi-fi) and in the hotel (USB-ethernet adapter) was a breeze (note, however, that I did need the $29 USB-ethernet adapter). At the conference, laptop-envy abounded... quite amazing, actually. The reaction of someone who has never seen it to its size, sturdiness, and form factor is quite impressive. I ichatted with my family without problems with good quality video; the systems overall felt a bit more responsive than my 2-year old MacBook Pro with the first-generation Core Duo chip. If you want a light, thin, sturdy laptop with full-size keyboard, a gorgeous screen, MacOS X (10.5), and you don't necessarily need a CD/DVD drive (you can buy an external one, but somehow lugging this extra piece around somehow defies the purpose of the MBA), and can put up with not "optimal" hard-drive performance, then the MBA is exactly what you want! I would buy the USB-ethernet adapter, though. If you need high-speed performance, FireWire, a high-end graphics card, a built-in DVD/CD drive etc, then the MBA is not for you - but I guess then you would not be looking at this page...;) Honestly, I could not be happier with my purchase. My MB Pro will be up on eBay soon... Update: I have been using my MacBook Air now for 4 weeks and have taken it on several trips. This now allows me to update some of the comments made before. - Battery life: I am quite happy with the battery life which easily allows 3-4 hours of text processing, PowerPoint slide generation, and EndNote work. For me this mainly happens on flights which allows to lower the brightness of the LED screen to save power. I have not pushed my MBA to play videos. In fact, I have no digital entertainment files on it since these files can fill up the (limited) space on the drive quite fast. - Ports: One USB port is not enough! For instance, if you have to connect to the internet via USB adapter (again, still indispensable!), you block the one and only USB port - unless you carry a USB hub along (Belkin has a nice 4-port one with a swivel design, but quite pricey). Thus, I have added a small USB hub to my travel utensils. - Design: The MBA still turns heads and sparks comments. In fact, on one of my flights the captain himself left the cockpit to take a look after one of the flight attendants had told him about the MBA on my lap... - Heat: The MBA is MUCH cooler than my MacBook Pro. You can easily keep it on your lap without feeling uncomfortable. My wish list for future MBA generations: - At least 2 USB ports. Should be easy to do. - Reconsider built-in ethernet - the USB adapter works fine, but blocks the one USB port at this point. - As soon as larger 1.8'' drives (HD or SSD) are available, they will surely find its way into the MBA to overcome some space limitations. - It might surprise some, but I honestly do not see a great need for a swapable battery. I would leave it as is in order to keep the amazing form factor. Rating: - Wow!Was one of the first to order this as it was just what I was looking for...it's stunning! Beautiful! I noticed that I never used my dvd/cd drives so this laptop works perfect for me as I travel a lot and with everything else I carry around, I don't need a big clunky laptop in a big clunky case to carry around too. This laptop fits in my existing briefcase easily with my other inter-office envelopes! Like the iphone, its solidly built but not heavy. I have no fear that it will break in my briefcase. I have been pondering for years to buy a 10" vaio from Sony. This is many times better with the large screen, full size keyboard, and of course Mac OS operating system means I don't have to have an anti-virus software that slows my computer down to a crawl and screws up my computer every time it is upgraded. Its cheaper than the vaio I was going to buy also. This is perfect for me. I have a few year old powerbook I keep at home, just in case, but I think I'm going to have to turn that on every once in awhile to keep the battery going as I'm using the MBA all the time. |
