MacBook Air: would you buy it?
Steve Jobs said at Macworld Expo 2008 that Apple has already sold 4 million iPhones and presented the thinnest notebook in the world: MacBook Air.
The good news
The new MacBook Air is so thin (0.16-0.76 inches or 0.41-1.93cm) it even fits inside the envelope. It has a 13.3 inch display, full size backlit keyboard and weights only 3.0 lbs (1.36 kg).
MacBook Air is small and thin but with 1.6GHz (or 1.8GHz) Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB memory, 80GB hard drive (or an optional 60GB SSD hard drive) it is powerful enough to do presentations, browse the internet and even more. What amazes me is the battery – it can last up to 5 hours.
Using the Trackpad you can: pinch – to zoom the page or a photo, swipe – to page forward or backward and move through the photo slideshow. You can also rotate photos using a gesture.
There is a built-in iSight video camera and a microphone for video conferencing, a built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1. With MacBook Air you can wirelessly access the optical drive of another computer and install applications.
The bad news
All the external ports are hidden behind the flip down door. You have pop it open to find a headphone jack, usb 2.0 and micro-DVI port, which supports DVI, VGA, Composite and S-Video. The problem is the only ONE usb 2.0 port. Do I have to carry around a spare usb hub in my pocket? It just doesn’t make sense.
Because the notebook is so thin it also lacks an internal DVD drive, but you can buy an optional external MacBook Air Superdrive for $99. If you don’t have an external optical drive, you can download music and movies from iTunes.
So, what was the purpose in designing MacBook Air? Apple wanted to make it thin and light. But will it deliver the performance?