Apple MacBook Air

Apple MacBook Air

Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz - 13.3″ - 2GB RAM

64GB Solid State Drive - Built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi²

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

Customer Review

By Kenneth B. Strumpf (Manlius, NY USA)

I’ve had my Macbook Air for over two weeks now and it continues to amaze me. I bought it to replace an almost 5 year old 17″ Powerbook and the first thing that struck me was how light it felt on my lap. It’s almost like it isn’t even there. I bought the 64 gig SSD version and the second thing that struck me was how cool the computer felt. Literally. My Powerbook would become uncomfortably hot after a while but the MBA remains cool the whole time I use it. This may be a function of the SSD not having any moving parts but it certainly is welcome, especially for prolonged web-browsing on the couch.

Several other things make this my best laptop. First, it wakes up in a snap when I open the lid, although it does take a few seconds to find the wireless network. As others have mentioned, the screen is bright and absolutely gorgeous. I was a little nervous about these 52 year old eyes reading on the small screen but no problem at all so far. Watching downloaded movies and TV shows is a pleasure. The computer is plenty powerful for my needs. I use a laptop for web-surfing, watching videos, Office type applications and making presentations and the MBA is just fine for this. I have an Imac for heavier duty applications like Photoshop and video creation.

Last week I flew with my MBA on commuter planes, the ultimate test for any laptop. It was great replacing my heavy Powerbook with something so light and easy to handle. I didn’t do any work on the plane (I find it hard to work while flying) but I did watch videos and the computer opened up sufficiently to allow me to enjoy what I was watching. Plus it was easy to store under the seat for takeoff and landing. And as an added benefit, two flight attendants came up to me to ogle my MBA and chat with me. That never happened when I had a Dell!

I bought the external DVD drive and used it to load some software. The lack of a built-in drive is no issue for me. Neither is the port “shortage”. I’ve never had more than one USB device hooked up to a laptop at a time anyway and I don’t need Firewire. So Apple’s compromise is no compromise at all for me.

So if your needs are like mine I’d urge you to strongly consider the MBA. It’s pricey in my configuration- although I did get the 10% education discount available through Apple- but if you plan to keep it for years like I do it’s less of an issue. It’s light, stylish, highly functional and fun to use. What more can you ask for?