Plus:* Way cool thin body with hidden ports
* Longer battery life
* "Pinch, swipe & rotate" trackpad for those iPhone users (not me)
* Enough built-in memory
Minus (US prices):
* $1800 80gb 4200rpm HD or $3100 for the flash mem 64gb HD
* $100 for an external superdrive (Otherwise, you need to syphon off another computer to access a DVD! But Apple rightly assumes that 99.9% of the Air buyers have another computer to do that with.)
* $20 for an Apple Remote
* Slower processors
Verdict:
* Buy a MacBook non-Air and save at least $600
* Or: very cool, if you can afford it
More from my friend Bob (all minuses):
* Non-user replaceable battery - you can't have an extra battery for traveling purposes or purchase a 3rd-party replacement
* No ethernet port - what do you do when there's no wireless?
* No Firewire port - no booting in target disk mode
* No card slot - no cell phone type wireless connections
5 comments:
Despite being quite happy with my three year old iBook, and understanding that a regular MacBook would be so much more practical. MacBook Air looks wonderful and I feel slightly bad for wanting one so much!
Minus:
° Non-user replaceable battery -- so much for an extra battery for traveling purposes or purchasing a 3rd-party replacement
° No ethernet port -- what do you do when there's no wireless?
° No Firewire port -- no more network via Firewire or booting in target disk mode
° There doesn't appear to be a PC-card type slot -- so no cell phone type wireless data connections
I think I'll stick with my MacBook Pro. I'm not overly impressed.
Bob
Thanks for the review. When I saw the coverage I was wondering what you would think!
When Dave told me about this new Mac all I could say is, "How thin does a notebook have to be??" I'd rather they figure a way to cut the cost on their computers then redesign it to be sleeker.
"I'd rather they figure a way to cut the cost on their computers then redesign it to be sleeker."
Cheaper instead of sleeker? PSHH! You're obviously new to the cult of mac. (side note: Try the Asus Eee PC if you want cheap. you can get 10 of them for the price of the high end macbook air)
no battery replacement... yes a minus, but considering that 5 hour battery life is nearly double what some macbook pros get, i'm not sure it's that big of a deal.
no ethernet - plugging into ethernet sort of defeats the purpose of an ultra mobile. The ipod touch only does wifi internet as well... no ethernet port there. you can get ethernet with an optional usb adapter
no firewire... yeah that's a big minus. it's not hard to place a mini 4 pin firewire port, since it'd be 1/4 the size of the usb port.
no pc-card slot... not a big deal, it's got bluetooth so you can tether your mobile phone. if your mobile doesn't have bluetooth or data abilities, then maybe you should rethink your mobile strategy and get a decent phone instead of a macbook air.
here's a fun read... macbook air case:
http://gizmodo.com/345406/apple-introduces-manila-casethe-worlds-thinnest-notebook-case
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