Macbook Air Review

When describing Apple products, there抯 always a possibility that words such as 搒tylish?and 揺legant?will appear too frequently; but when you first come across a MacBook Air, no one can blame you if these words spring to mind. 揑 want people to see me with this,?is the sort of comment that may run through your head. The MacBook Air is sleek: it抯 just 4mm (1/6 inch) at the front, tapering out to a mere 19mm (3/4 inch) at its deepest point. It抯 also robust: the aluminium casing ensures that thinness doesn抰 mean fragility.

Pick up the MacBook Air and you further appreciate what Apple has achieved. At 1.36kg (3 pounds), the MacBook Air easily beats Apple抯 previous lightweight, the 2.26kg (5 pounds) MacBook.



With such a drop in weight, you cannot help but wonder if you抮e going to open up the MacBook Air to find a tiny screen that causes you to squint and a keyboard that bunches up your fingers. The reality is a 13.3 inch widescreen display and a full size keyboard. What抯 more, a large trackpad complements these to give an overall impression that this is a laptop that抯 both practical and a pleasure to use.

The technology of the MacBook Air

It stands to reason that Apple has had to surrender some technological capability to make a laptop that抯 so thin and that has shed so much weight. Or has it? You still get an Intel Core 2 Duo processor of either 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz with 2GB of memory for both. You also have an 80GB 4,200 rpm hard drive for the 1.6GHz model, a 64GB solid-state drive for the 1.8GHz, and built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. These specs are easily good enough for most everyday laptop uses.

Hardware

The hardware of the MacBook Air includes

an iSight camera and microphone
a mono speaker
an infrared receiver
a built-in battery
an ambient light sensor that adjusts the brightness of the backlit LED screen and brightens the keyboard as necessary

Tucked neatly away in a hatch on the right-hand side of the MacBook Air are also three ports:

a headphone/speaker jack
a USB 2.0 port
a micro DVI port

A possible hardware concern is the one USB port. By itself such a port is rarely enough, so if you plan to connect a series of peripheral devices at the same time, you抣l need a USB hub. As for the micro DVI port, the MacBook Air comes with useful VGA and DVI adaptors to improve your connectivity options.

You may have noticed by now a hardware omission: the MacBook Air doesn抰 have an optical drive. Instead, Apple offers an external 8x SuperDrive. Whether you need this depends on your use of CDs and DVDs. Another choice is to employ Apple抯 Remote Disc application so that your MacBook Air connects to a network and links with the optical drive of another Mac or PC.

Remote Disc is very handy because it installs software and gives you access to files. Unfortunately, though, it doesn抰 allow you to play or burn CDs and DVDs remotely. When you want to listen to music, or watch a film or TV programme, you must turn to iTunes. If you already own an iPod, this isn抰 exactly a hardship.

Software

Apple includes Remote Disc with the usual bundle of MacBook Air software. This software comes with the excellent Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard operating system and offers you everything you抎 expect from all other Macs. What抯 more, you can swiftly navigate and manage the software with the responsive features of the MacBook Air trackpad.

Battery

The MacBook Air抯 battery can give you up to five hours continuous service. Once it dies, however, you may have a problem. The MacBook Air has the battery built in, so you can抰 replace it with one that抯 fully charged. Your only alternative is to find an electric socket for the MagSafe Power Adaptor, an option that抯 not always available if you抮e on the move.

MacBook Air performance

For standard tasks such as keeping up with your email, writing, and browsing the Internet, you won抰 find a significant speed difference between a MacBook Air and the more powerful MacBook. Some people may still worry about the smaller processor sizes and the relatively slower speeds of the hard drives on both MacBook Air models compared to other Apple laptops. What you have to do, however, is ask yourself why you want the MacBook Air. Complex graphics applications, for example, will certainly strain the processor抯 capacity, but then again, if you have this sort of use in mind, you probably need a MacBook Pro anyway.

The fact remains that the MacBook Air is a truly portable all-purpose laptop that performs daily computing jobs extremely well. For most of us, this is precisely what we want.

Conclusion

Pros

The MacBook Air is light, thin and unquestionably stylish
The casing is robust
The 13.3 inch screen automatically adjusts its brightness, thanks to a light sensor
The keyboard is full size and lights up in dim conditions
There are technology compromises, but most users will notice little difference in speed and responsiveness to a MacBook

Cons

The lower processor and hard drive specs (compared to the MacBook and MacBook Pro) may disappoint some people
Inability to swap a dead battery for a fresh one may cause difficulties in some circumstances