I have to say, with all of the hype surrounding the iPad, many people forgot that 2010 was also the year that Apple introduced the latest and greatest MacBook Air. Now, I may be late to the game with this review, but having just picked up one, I can’t help but put up a quick review and my impressions. BUT, instead of talking about what it does have, I’m going to focus on what it DOESN’T have, and why that… well, doesn’t even matter.
First, a bit about why I even bought one. I decided to go for the 11″ instead of the 13″ because it was for a sole purpose: travel. Weighing in at 2.3 lbs, this is the ultimate road warrior computer. Perfect for all of the essential tasks, the MBA does everything the iPad doesn’t. 2 USB ports, an actual OS, the ability to run your typical programs. What’s not to like?
Well, if you are picky, there are a few drawbacks. Yet, the drawbacks don’t seem to matter all that much:
No SD Card Slot: This is probably my biggest complaint. If you are on the road, you’ll want to probably download photos, and of course SD is the most popular storage device on the market today. Not a worry though, because most devices use the same USB cable, so you can just sync up that way. Or, get a cheap card reader.
Slower Processor: I have to admit, with the speed of the SSD drive (no moving parts!), I haven’t noticed this at all. Excel starts in about 3 seconds. Literally. I increased the RAM from the factory 2GB to 4GB and now I’m running Word, Excel, Photoshop, Safari, Chrome and even Coda – all at the same time. And its operating fine.
Small SSD Storage: The max size is 128GB. At first this alarmed me… But after installing all of the “essentials”, I have about 45GB free. That means on my next trip, there is room to sync up my Flip camera or store some photos and there shouldn’t be any worries. So how much space do you need? This isn’t a primary machine – so iTunes can be on your primary. And if you have a mobile music player, who cares?
Screen Size: I will tell you right now, this DOESN’T matter. The resolution is great and I actually like it better than my 15″ MacBook Pro.
Battery Life: People are complaining about the battery life but so far I haven’t had an issue with it. Of course, over time it will get worse, but I’m getting 4 hours per charge and thats really pretty good for something this size.
My Recommendation
For most professional users, the MBA is going to be a secondary machine. Some extremely lightweight (pardon the pun) users may be able to get away with this as a primary device. Let me just say this very clearly… This is NOT a “NetBook”. It definitely has enough power to bang out day to day tasks for most people. And as a travel device, it’s ideal. I’ve even read somewhere that the TSA doesn’t require it taken out of your bag at security checkpoints. How nice!
In the week since I’ve gotten it, I’ve used it almost exclusively as opposed to my MacBook Pro. That’s saying a lot as I had 4 projects under deadline this week. So if you are considering getting one but have some doubts, I assure you that you won’t be disappointed with this machine. What seems like disappointments are actually very carefully considered and in the end, not so important after all.
