Review

Short Review: Hands-on With the New MacBook Air

on 9 August at 10:50 pm

Mission Control

The MacBook Air has come a long way since the first iteration in 2008.  Back then there was no App Store, the CPU was slow and underpowered, and SSD drives weren’t quite up to par.  Since then we’ve seen processor power take giant leaps forward.  Apple has learned a lot of things about portability, power, peripheral support, and Lion is a streamlined and fast OS that I found, in my use, to be quick at doing just about anything.  The App Store that’s been integrated into Mac OS X for a while now is an amazing way to shop at home for your software, and on the go it’s become something that Apple users can’t live without.  With the latest refresh of Apple’s super-light laptop, we get a glimpse at what an ultra-portable laptop really should be, and other companies need to take note.  For reference, I am not an Apple user in my day-to-day life, and most of my experience has been with PC’s.  As such, I am coming to the Air as pretty much a first-time user, and so Apple’s Mac OS is outside the realm of my previous experience.  I am a tinkerer by nature, and thus PC’s have always been my toy of choice due to the easy customization available.  With that in mind, it’s difficult to write as in-depth a review as someone who has had extensive Mac experience.  I will endeavor to hit the high points that an average user would care about.

Let’s begin with a spec sheet for the 13-inch Air:

  • CPU: 1.8GHz Intel Core i7
  • Memory: 4GB
  • Storage: 256GB solid state flash drive
  • Screen: 13.3″ / 33.8 cm diagonally, 1440 x 900 pixels
  • Size: 0.1-0.7 x 11.8 x 8.9 inches, 0.3-1.7 x 32.5 x 22.7 cm
  • Weight: 3 pounds, 1.35 kg
The Hardware:

Case Closed

The design of the Air is brilliantly slim and light.  That 3 lb. weight, when you carry the device, seems like much less.  It’s easy to grip in one hand and seems even lighter than some tablets I’ve used.

Mission Control

The bezel around the monitor seems a little over-sized, and I can’t help but wonder if they could have given us a little more screen real estate.  It’s by no means a deal breaker, though.  The screen itself is not covered in glass, which is a good thing for the anti-glare coating, but also leaves it susceptible to damage.  The computer also has an in-built ambient light sensor, so the screen brightness will adjust automatically for those moments in the sun.  Screen resolution has increased as well, and this model features 1440×900 resolution with a high pixel density for great viewing.  That comes with a downside, though, as it makes some text quite small and unreadable.

Keyboard

The last model of the Air lost the backlit keyboard, and after an outcry Apple has decided to put it back in.  Aside from that, nothing really new is happening here.  Someone more familiar with previous Mac iterations might be able to discern changes in the shortcut keys, though.

Ports

On the side you have a Thunderbolt port.  This is a great way to attach highspeed peripherals such as external disks, FireWire 800 connections, and Gigabit Ethernet.  On both sides you’ll find USB 2.0 ports, and this side also features an SD card slot.  Less noticeable just by looking is the improved BlueTooth 4.0.

Lion:

Lion is a beast.  As I mentioned, I’m not a Mac user, so I have no frame of reference with Snow Leopard.  Using Lion, though, I was pleased to see that it was very, very fast.  Animations are handled very well and things zip along quite nicely.  The Safari browser was quick to connect to any site I pointed it to as well.

Safari

The enhancements in Lion are right out front in most cases.  I have used Snow Leopard very briefly in the past, and the first thing I noticed was the changes in the quicklaunch bar across the bottom.  There are far fewer icons starting out than what I had seen in Snow Leopard.

Launchpad

The Launchpad was a very intuitive way to access a variety of apps and options on the machine, and Mission Control does a much better job of showing open windows than does Windows.

App Store

The App store is easy to get at on the quicklaunch bar, and is an awesome way to get at new software without leaving home.

Summary:

Again, I am not an everyday Mac User, and thus it’s a little difficult to form opinions based on use of past Mac devices.  This is certainly not my most in-depth review, but I hope you can at least appreciate the photos and the impressions of a, pretty much, first time Mac user who is looking at things from the lens of a life-long Windows user.  If I could justify the cost, my next computer would probably be a Mac just for the efficiency and ease of use.  I love the look and feel of Lion, and portability of the Air is something that almost makes me salivate.  Mac OS X is a very clean-running system, though, and coming from the botch-job that is Windows, it was a refreshing little vacation.  For further pictures, scroll down and check out the gallery.

  • light and easy to carry around
  • looks great
  • screen is bright and display is fantastic
  • backlit keyboard
  • thunderbolt port
  • processor speed is on par with most other laptops of similar spec, if not similar price.
  • App Store is great to have right on the desktop
  • it’s been reported that the network file transfer speeds leave something to be desired.
  • difficult to gauge battery life for everyday use

Related Stories