I’ve got to say, when I first started playing with the Macbook Air, I wasn’t certain I was going to be too thrilled. I love the size, weight, and the marathon battery life…but I’m not as enamored of the graphic interface as I am Windows 7. I can’t get my favorite word processor suite (WordPerfect) for Mac, but I can use Open Office 3 to open the old .wpd files. I’ve been using Pages, which has some very nice features, but I miss being able to configure a button bar in my word processor so I could shortcut everything as I want it.
I’m not a fan of Apple’s lock-it-down mentality, between iTunes trying to take over everything (and not talking to my iPad from time to time) and iPhoto — I can see where this OS is very popular with people who don’t want to delve into how the computer works, what its doing, or where its putting files. That aside…
I love this bloody thing! So far, the fan has kicked on twice since I’ve had it: once was during an upload for Acrobat Pro 9. The other, not surprisingly, was while running Flash video. (Yes, Flash eats battery life [supposedly knocking almost a third your battery time on the Air] and processing cycles — even on my Dell!) The computer is fast enough for most things I do, and I’ve only gotten the beach ball of doom twice — during the iTunes/iPad snafu last week and Acrobat load. The screen is bright, crisp, and I have used it outside in full sunlight without issue. It runs cool, and usually noiselessly thanks to the SSD hard drive. I got around the lack of an optical drive with the external SuperDrive, I’m using a USB thumbdrive for media I don’t want to clog the 128GB SSD with, and I really appreciate the 12-14 second boot time from off to up and running.
As an aside, I have left Flash off of the machine (it doesn’t ship with it; you have to download it), and instead use this workaround when I want to watch Flash video: I boot up Google Chrome (it has a Flash extension) and watch the clip in question. I then shut down Chrome, killing the Flash process, and getting back my processing and memory cycles.
So the verdict after 2 weeks with the Macbook Air 13″: It’s a damned good laptop that looks fantastic and works very very well. Is it worth the $1300 or so the girlfriend paid for it?
Yes.
The Black Campbell 
11 December, 2010 at 21:46
Really enjoyed your review, I agree with pretty much everything you’ve said about Apple.
I have some questions, though. Does the MBA overheat? Do you live in a cold weather place? How long is your battery lasting? Do you (or know someone who does) use it for big processing tasks (such as developing softwares and stuff)? I’m a developer, but Im sort of in love with the MBA. However, these questions keep pop’ing in my mind. 😛
I would be really glad if you could answer them for me! 🙂
Thanks in advance!
11 December, 2010 at 22:27
It runs very cool and quiet. About the only heat it generates is when Flash is up and running for more than a few minutes. Battery life for me with moderate to heavy wifi use is about 6.5 to 7 hours. I don’t know how useful it would be for development software — you’ve got a max SSD of 256gb and a top RAM of 4gb. I think it might be fast enough, if you’re a bit patient, but I suspect you would need to USB or wifi to more storage. As a personal or business machine with some heavy spreadsheet usage, and may e smaller databases, it might work.
Since I don’t do that sort of work, I really can’t say, Luca. But it is one beautiful machine.
Thanks for reading and the comments!
11 December, 2010 at 22:40
Wow, that was fast! 🙂
Thanks a lot for the answers! I did not know that Flash would take up so much battery life (although it was quite obvious, since the processor usage rises instantly when you start using it :P).
My kind of software development actually requires more from the processor and (in smaller amounts) the RAM. With the 1.86Ghz Dual Core Processor, I got a little concerned that it might take more time than I’m used to perform the tasks…
Well, thanks again for your time! I was a little afraid the battery life wouldn’t reach the advertised 7h, but now I know it’s possible! Haha. I’ll just have to find out about that processing part, but you’ve covered a lot of my doubts 🙂
Have a good night, and congratulations for that beautiful piece of machinery!
11 December, 2010 at 22:59
According to the girlfriend, it’s got enough horsepower for basic development and database use.
11 December, 2010 at 23:22
Oh, thanks for the effort of asking! 😀
I’m going to the US tomorrow, and I’ll stop by an Apple store to get a feeling of the two (MB Pro and Air), to see if the certainty of the MBP’s power overwhelms the coolness of MBA 😛
Since you’ve been so attentive, I’ll make sure to stop by once I’ve made my decision (hopefully posting from my brand new Mac – whichever it is)!
Best wishes!
24 December, 2010 at 19:48
Ok, just to do as I promised, here I am again! 😛
I’ve ended up buying the MBP, as it would definatly fill all my needs (except for the ultra low weight :P). Maybe next time, once the Air gets enough processing power.. Anyways, thanks for the help! 🙂
25 December, 2010 at 10:13
I’m sure you won’t be disappointed! I’m intrigued by some of the hints concerning the new operating system — especially the shift to a more iOS-style interface. Anyway, Happy Christmas/ Hannukah/ or whatever holiday you might observe!
26 December, 2010 at 08:51
They’re saying the new OS X will be iOS-like? Perhaps that means that the new MBPs and MBAs will be touchscreen? :O