Apple MacBook Air Review

Overview & Features

Apple’s much anticipated and much talked about ultra-portable notebook computer has arrived and it’s definitely a looker. This incredibly razor-thin computer is quite possibly the sexiest little laptop to come around. Ever. With a height of just 0.76 inches at its thickest (0.16” at the tip), the MacBook Air is the thinnest notebook on the market. And with looks that Paris Hilton will certainly love, the MBA is going to attract attention wherever you tote this 3 lb. aluminum beauty around…even inside a manila folder!

While this is Apple’s first ultraportable, it is still considerably larger sitting next to the sub notebooks from the likes of Sony and Fujitsu. The glossy 13.3” widescreen LCD, borrowed from the consumer MacBook line, displays bright and crisp visuals with plenty of real estate. At 12.8” wide by 8.94” deep, the MacBook Air even has dimensions that are near-identical to the “regular” MacBook’s. In fact, aside from the weight and depth factor, the MacBook Air is literally just a really, really thin MacBook. Moreover, it’s even 2” wider than the now-defunct PowerBook 12”, hardly “ultraportable” in comparison. Sorry, but once you go beyond 13 inches, the computer is no longer ultraportable to me.

Features & Technology

At $1799 starting, you don’t get a lot of features or performance compared to comparably priced notebooks, but it is amazing how much Apple was able to cram into such a thin frame. The base model comes with a 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Low Voltage processor with 2GB of DDR2 RAM (which is not user replaceable or upgradeable), 802.11b/g/n WiFi, iSight camera built-in, illuminated keyboard, and a 60GB 1.8" hard-drive running at 4200RPM. Unique to the MBA is the large multi-touch touchpad with technology borrowed from the iPhone for finger gesture commands within applications The three-finger scroll is particularly useful, allowing the user to scroll forward or back in-between web pages, and pinching allows for zooming functionality. Expect this technology to make its way across future Apple laptops.

Those with extra money to burn can option for the 1.8GHz processor and ridiculously expensive $1000 "upgrade" for the faster yet smaller 64GB solid state disk (SSD) drive, which we strongly urge against as the performance gains are minimal. Fully loaded, you're looking at a $3000 laptop that doesn't really do much for you other than lighten your wallet. But then again, value isn’t the name of the game here. The MacBook Air is a status symbol; kind of like a tiny, expensive purse. It isn’t practical, but damn does it look good under your arm out & about.

Intel went to great lengths to engineer a micro-sized version of the venerable Low Voltage Core 2 Duo processor exclusively for the MacBook Air. The CPU is 60% smaller than the standard C2D laptop processor which is no easy feat, and thus for the lucky MBA buyer, much of the development costs get passed down in the price tag. The re-engineering was necessary to meet the real estate demands of this diminutive system.

Connectivity, Performance, & Conclusion

Those looking to find a fully featured multimedia notebook will certainly have to look elsewhere. There's just ONE USB 2.0 port available to connect an external device and FYI: not all USB devices may fit into the port - a major design flaw. There is an audio out jack and a micro-DVI port, but that is all! No Ethernet jack, no 56K model, no media card reader or firewire ports. Nothing. Not even stereo sound! This is definitely a companion laptop for the fashion conscious mobile user, but that is about the limit of its practicality. Out of the box, you will have rely on WiFi only to access data without a USB cable. To install off a CD or DVD, a special utility allows the MacBook Air to remotely access a nearby computer’s optical drive and stream the data over WiFi. However, the utility cripples the drive’s capabilities, limiting the user to read/write capabilities only, meaning no remote video viewing, music playback or disc burning. Bummer. If you desperately need dedicated optical support, you'll have to shell out another $99 for the external SuperDrive, which of course only works with the MacBook Air. There is also a USB Ethernet adapter available for $29. At least these “optional” accessories are priced fairly reasonably.

Performance

Performance-wise, the MacBook Air is decent at best. It works wonderfully like any Mac would, with the excellent and swift Leopard OS X, but it lags behind the considerably cheaper MacBooks and upmarket MacBook Pros. 3D performance is a non-starter of course, with integrated graphics. Worse, the fixed battery only manages a disappointing 3-4 hours of juice under normal usage.

Specs	MacBook Air	iMac	PowerBook 12"
Specs	Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz, 2GB RAM, 1.8" 4200rpm HDD, GMA X3100 graphics, OSX 10.5.2	Core Duo 2.0GHz, 2GB RAM, 3.5" 7200rpm HDD, ATi Radeon X1600 128MB, OSX 10.5.2	PowerPC 1.33GHz, 512MB RAM, 2.5" 5400rpm HDD, NVIDIA GeForce FX Go 5200 64MB, OSX 10.4.10
CPU Test	85.14	85.97	54.39
Memory Test	139.41	134.26	33.80
Quartz Graphics Test	97.63	137.66	65.97
OpenGL Graphics Test	17.15	145.39	67.33
Disk Test	26.29	78.73	20.28

As you can see from the table above, the Intel processor platform has a significant processing advantage over the old PowerPC days. Even more interesting is the fact that despite being higher clocked, the Core Duo is about as fast as the lower clocked Core 2 Duo.

Conclusion

Pros:

• Incredibly thin and light
• Incredibly sexy
• Multi-touch trackpad
• Multi-finger scrolling for web browsing
• Illuminated keyboard
• Gorgeous widescreen screen
• Impeccable build quality

Cons:

• Incredibly expensive
• External optical drive is an optional purchase
• Only 1 USB port - doesn't fit all devices
• No additional ports nor expandiblility
• So-so battery life
• So-so performance - slower than MacBook
• No stereo sound (mono speaker)
• Large for a ultra-portable class laptop
• Did I mention it's incredibly expensive?

So is the MacBook Air worth the hype? Sure, the super thin profile is very unique and eye catching, but once the eye candy wears off you aren’t left with much. If you are purely out on the go, perhaps with a desktop to handle connectivity and storage needs, the MacBook Air will fit anywhere, but will leave you wanting with no replaceable battery for additional runtime and no integrated mobile broadband; you would have to occupy your only USB port if you needed connectivity other than WiFi. For users who have a notebook as their primary computer, they will have to buy a plethora of accessories just to make the MacBook Air usable. The MBA-specific optical drive, USB Ethernet adapter, and a USB hub come to mind as the bare minimum one would need to run the MBA at a desk without feeling constrained. Did I mention you can’t add any more memory?

Now does all this mean it is a terrible notebook? Not at all. It does succeed in its goal: to be the ‘halo’ product for Apple, the uber-high end machine that isn’t incredibly practical – think of it as using a Lamborghini to get groceries. But true mobile computing users need to carefully consider their needs before making the plunge with the MacBook Air. When you consider that the MacBook Pro is 1.0” thin with far more practical features and a similar starting price, you might wonder if a 0.16-0.76” thickness is all it’s cracked up to be. Well, at least it brings a whole new meaning to the term, "I got an MBA."