Apple just released the world’s thinnest notebook yesterday at MacWorld. With a super slim 0.16 inch at it’s thinnest side, the MacBook Air makes Paris Hilton look fat.
Despite it being the thinnest notebook around, it doesn’t sacrifice on screen real estate. It features a 13.3 inch TFT LED display, that has a native resolution of 1280×800. It also has a full size keyboard similar to that of the MacBook’s except that it has backlighting.
Does being thin mean sacrificing power? To a certain extent yes but it’s no weakling either. It features a 1.6 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with an option to upgrade to a 1.8 Ghz processor. Intel designed a much much smaller version of it’s Core 2 Duo processors for the MBA.
Other features of the MBA include a 1.8″ 80GB hard drive similar to those found on iPod Classics. An option to change it to a 64GB solid-state drive is available but pricey. The MBA comes with 2GB RAM standard.
Built-in iSight, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR are also some of the features of the MBA. This baby was built with wireless in mind. The ports are kept to a bare minimum. Featuring just one USB port, headphone jack, micro-dvi and the magsafe power adaptor are the only ports available on the MBA.
The MBA does not come with an optical drive. An optional external SuperDrive is available. Although MacBook Air has one great feature called Remote Disc. This allows you to “borrow” another computer’s optical drive. Just install Remote disc on the other computer, pop the disc you want to read and MacBook Air will detect it.
Now is the MacBook Air for everyone? Nope it’s not. In my opinion if you use a laptop as your primary computer the MBA might not be the right one for you. It’s perfect for people who have an iMac or Mac Pro at home or the office and want an ultra portable to bring on the road with them.
At $1799 a lot of people are saying that for 200 more you get a MacBook Pro or for 200 less you get a MacBook. The MacBook Air is expensive for a laptop with less features than its siblings.
Well the size and portability make up for the features. I can’t really say that you should compare the MBA with its siblings. It’s just not in the same class. What you’re buying is the size and the portability that it brings. Not the power. If you’re looking for raw power then get a MacBook Pro or a desktop. It will definitely run circles around the MBA but then again, try fitting a MacBook Pro in a Manila Envelope and we’ll see how that goes.
The MBA is good for surfing, email, word processing and most office tasks but it won’t be a graphics work station.
Would I buy one? Not at the moment. Although I did consider selling my MacBook Pro and getting an iMac and the MacBook Air. However I think I’d want to wait for the second revision of the product just to let Apple work the kinks out. It’s definitely a great start.
For more info check out the MacBook Air here.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Entries (RSS)