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  • Overall Rating
    5 stars 5 Star Review
    Reviewed by: fk51785

    Updated:02-19-08

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Light weight, thinness, design

    Weaknesses: Price, Weak processor, Batteries

    Overall Evaluation: Macbook Air is not for everyone. It's a portable notebook for people who travel alot. Because of it's thinness and light weight, it's easier to carry around. However because of the reduced size and weight, there's no optical drive (CD/DVD). Also you get a weaker processor then both Macbook and Macbook Pro. It also only has 1 USB port and no Firewire port. So if you are a mac notebook user who needs all the features that I just listed, maybe Macbook Air is not for you. But if you are somebody who cares more about the notebook's portability over features then the Macbook Air is for you. Many people ask how fast Macbook Air is and after using it for about a week, I have no problems with its speed. I use iLife, iWork, Safari with no problems. So if the price is right and you are looking for portable notebook, I strongly recommend Macbook Air.

  • Overall Rating
    4 stars 4 Star Review
    Reviewed by: sononkyo

    Updated:02-17-08

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Design, Mac Leopard, LED Screen, Keyboard, tapered edges, "little things"

    Weaknesses: no firewire, SSD options prohibitive, battery life; Superdrive needs to be made a bundle

    Overall Evaluation: After using Windows/DOS in its many versions for 20 years, the feeling to switch to an alternative came about on the confluence of two things: Mac Leopard and the release of Vista. After seeing what Vista was (Windows ME all over again) and what Leopard was (an intuitive Windows XP Service Pack 2), it gave me reason to finally consider a Mac system. I needed three big requirements: The Screen had to be as good as the Sony TX screen, a full size keyboard this time, and the weight to remain 3lbs. Striking from consideration was the upgraded Sony TZ - I miss the full size keyboard and Windows Vista was on there and the gimped duo core took away from the small footprint I so adored. So I looked at a Macbook and Macbook Pro - the Macbook's SCREEN was ghastly. Everything else I loved. The Macbook Pro Screen was great, but I wasn't a fan of paying for what I didn't need - a dedicated video card and too many ports I don't use. Browsing the apple website, I came to a solution, a notebook with such great focus for writing that I decided to use as my initial platform for trying Leopard. What better way to start Mac OS X with the latest hardware from Apple, right?Unpacking it, I felt familiar feeling of marvel. Great engineering has always been one of my motifs for buying any gadget and while it wasn't a novel feeling (I had the same initial reaction to my Sony), it felt re-affirming. Sleek lines and the metal felt cohesive, not out of place. The first thing was the keyboard feel - leagues better than my TX miniature ones. Yes, it felt very good. The sreen was the same and had better reds. LED screens I found sometimes oversaturated colors too much - this Macbook Air screen case trumps the TX LED screen only on this regard. Besides the bigger 2 inches, everything I loved about the Sony screen remain very much so on the Macbook screen. Performance wise, everything flowed. The Mac OS X just makes sense. Tinkering with computers for far too long made me forget that a computer needs to be a tool to get things done. I felt very much that motif - i just got things done. No more tweaking, no more this and that - everything was thought of. Thank you MAC OS X. Once SSD prices come down, hopefully, the upgrade path will make the 80mb 1.8 inch drive a dinosaur remanant for first generation purchasers. I can envision the 128gb SSD as base model within early 2009.For the negatives, charging for the superdrive add-on was nickel and dimeing to the extreme. The penalty for flexibility I guess - Apple better make it a bundle because I can see people getting annoyed. Note, I don't watch DVDs. I have Blu-ray for my entertainment needs and a PC EAC method for extracting audio. Yet, I still needed the optical because CD-Roms need to be burned for clients - quick exchanges is the theme here. Wireless 802.11b/g/n cannot still even approximate a good ethernet 100mb, let alone 1000mb interface. I also didn't see what the big deal what the trackpad was about. I hate all pointing devices on laptops, this one did not dissuade me from that stance. I appreciated the large trackpad, I have big hands and finers. The pinching, three finger swiping - eh. My logitech nano is taking up permanent residence on that usb port. I miss the firewire--i thought the great thing about macs was the transfer of files through a firewire interface. Battery life is abysmal - though its the fault of lithium ion research rather than the apple machine.For all its first generation warts, it does enough little things right. The fiber optic lighting, the tapered edges (unlike the suicide macbook edges), and the LED screen makes this purchase a no brainer. It's a perfect system as of right now, and looking far too ahead in the future to nitpicks its fault always is a risky proposition. The efficiency of the system in what it does sparkles with meticulous engineering. What I'm doing, writing papers and listening to music (streaming with airtunes to my stereo system) while surfing the web, makes this system perfect for WHAT I DO. What you do dictates this purchase - I haven't seen a machine this focused and polished on the initial attempt ever in my short lifetime here. For that, it deserves tremendous accolades and kudos from me and a no-brainer first generation purchase, even though everybody knows apple needs two revisions before it gets the system polished.

  • Overall Rating
    4 stars 4 Star Review
    Reviewed by: joshyf89

    Updated:02-14-08

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Really compact, lightweight, Leopard included, advanced trackpad.

    Weaknesses: Missing a lot of ports, no optical drive, hard drive a little slow.

    Overall Evaluation: This is a great computer for a student, office professional, or someone who just wants something in a small package that can be transported around easily. It has a bit too small of a hard drive (and it can be sluggish), but those are some of the sacrifices you have to make if you want a really compact, portable computer for everyday use. The screen is really nice, and the keyboard is full-sized, and the trackpad is better than any trackpad you've ever used in a laptop before. Overall, I'd say it's a pretty good laptop, a bit overpriced, but I enjoy it.

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Apple 13.3" MacBook Air Notebook
$1499.00 • •Specs
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