1 Macbook Air Review

Pros:
Ridiculously light and thin
Stylish
Backlit Keyboard
LED screen

Cons:
different power connector
no dvd drive
limited expandability
maybe a little underpowered
small hd
non-replaceable battery
price?

Conclusion:
Not for the power user, but perfect for doing light computer work.  Depending on the use, may be great for travelers.  This is a very specific use machine.

My Thoughts:
I'm writing this review on my Macbook Air.  :)  Despite the cons above, I really do love the Air.  I haven't played around with the Macbook Pro's, but am coming from a black Macbook.  Its amazing because going back to the Macbook is like lugging around a sack of bricks.  The weight difference is amazing! 

I think that the primary consideration for this purchase is what you intend on using the laptop for.  If you're a traveler, then this may be a good option.  Or in my case, I use a laptop for web browsing, email, and other internet type applications.  Anything more cpu intensive such as image editing would be done on my desktop.  So for my very specific tasks, the Air suits me fine.

For those of you who are turned off by a lack of dvd reader/burner, how often do you use it on your laptop?  I actually very rarely use my burner on my macbook.  Occasionally I do watch dvd's (which in turn eat up the battery at an intense rate), or I might want to burn some files.  For the first, I guess I will either have to purchase the external dvd drive, or I will have to xfer everything to the HD.  Yes this is a pain, but to be honest, it will save my battery AND I wont have to carry multiple dvds.  I can just keep multiple movies on the HD.  For the second, yes, I will be forced to buy the external drive which isnt too much of a big deal to me.

Since I mentioned encoding movies to my HD, lets talk about that.  80gig, come on!!  Could they have not made a couple mm more space to put a regular laptop drive in there?!?!  Their flash drive is even smaller at 64gb.  I guess this just means being particular with what you install, and watching what you keep on the drive.  I guess I'll lug around a 250gb laptop drive in an external enclosure.

Now that I'm talking about all these peripherals, where do I plug them into?  The Air has only 1 USB port!  At home I've got a laptop cooler, I will be getting the external dvd burner, external HD, and printer.  Well I guess now I need a USB hub. 

I sure do seem to be complaining a lot!!  Well despite all of this, I really like it!!  Weird, huh?  I suppose all of the above doesn't really bother me because I very rarely do any of the above.  It will be interesting to travel with the Air, because I will either have to travel with all these accessories, or I leave them at home, and see if I can make do without 'em. 

Battery life.  I never seem to look at the clock when I start a battery test, but I would say that my Air lasts about 3-4hrs.  I'll have to update this section once I condition the battery and do a legit test.

I like how the keyboard is now backlit.  I have played around with my friends macbook pro, and have always wished my macbook had the backlit keyboard.  Well now that I have the Air, working in the dark is no longer a frustrating job.  I don't really have symbols or numbers memorized, so hunting in the dark can be a chore.  No longer the case with the Air. 

LED screen vs LCD.  I haven't done any side by side comparisons, but the new LED screen may seem to get a bit brighter, but aside from this, it doesnt seem to be any different.  I'd like to see some tests on power consumption.  The keyboard and screen adjust to ambient lighting which is pretty cool. 

The HD and CPU.  I researched a few benchmarks and it looks like the 1.6 c2d chip is slightly faster than the 1.8 cd chip of a few yrs back in the 1st gen intel macbook.  However, this HD on the other hand is slower.  Sometimes I think that when opening apps, or booting up, seems to be slower than on my macbook.  I'm not sure if its the cpu or the HD.  One thing I dont like is when the Air is off, if I push the power button, the screen stays dark for a few seconds and then it will finally boot up.  On my macbook, when I push the power button, it immediately lights up.  I will have to research these various quirks and find out if this is normal or not. 

I've had the Air for about a week now, so am still learning about it.  The 3 finger swipe to navigate safari is pretty cool.  Rotate and zoom I'm not sure I'll use that much.  If your laptop habits are similar to mine, and you want the Air, I would recommend it.  If you're more of a power user, then you may want to look at the Pro instead.  I will stick with light work on the laptop and power use on the desktop.

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