MacBook Air review
Posted: Monday, February 23, 2009
by Ben T Wilson
http://www.considermac.com
At first sight Computer manufacturers have responded positively to our demands for laptops that are as functional as possible. Too often, however, the results are machines that are space savers on desks but are not as convenient to carry around or prop on your knees as their name suggests. Apple has therefore gone back to the basic purpose of a laptop portability and introduced its light and thin MacBook Air.
Pick up the MacBook Air and you further appreciate what Apple has achieved. At 1.36kg (3 pounds), the MacBook Air easily beats Apples previous lightweight, the 2.26kg (5 pounds) MacBook.
With such a drop in weight, you cannot help but wonder if youre 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. Whats more, a large trackpad complements these to give an overall impression that this is a laptop thats 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 thats 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
- a headphone/speaker jack
- a USB 2.0 port
- a micro DVI port
You may have noticed by now a hardware omission: the MacBook Air doesnt 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 Apples 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 doesnt 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 isnt 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 youd expect from all other Macs. Whats more, you can swiftly navigate and manage the software with the responsive features of the MacBook Air trackpad.
Battery The MacBook Airs 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 cant replace it with one thats fully charged. Your only alternative is to find an electric socket for the MagSafe Power Adaptor, an option thats not always available if youre on the move.
MacBook Air performance For standard tasks such as keeping up with your email, writing, and browsing the Internet, you wont 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 processors 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
- 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
This Article has been viewed 173 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.