[rab777hp]

What's with the _Old? Old account?

And you still didn't answer my point:
Apple claims they didn't compromise on anything- yet every laptop in the world practically has an optical drive- that's kind of like cheating- if you add the optical drive back in, I'm guessing the air wouldn't have had that title.

[robco]

The price drop is nice. My only complaint remains the rather meager 2GB of RAM. This will be more of an issue when Snow Leopard comes out and OS X goes 64-bit. 2GB may be adequate now, but a year? two years from now?

[Dan Frakes]

rab777hp said:

And you still didn't answer my point:
Apple claims they didn't compromise on anything

Apple has never claimed they didn't compromise on anything. Rather, they've said that they refused to compromise on three very specific things: screen size, keyboard size, and performance. Clearly, the Air does sacrifice a bit when it comes to performance, but if the point of comparison is a netbook (which it was, roughly, in Apple's PR pitch), it's not a ridiculous claim.

Quote

yet every laptop in the world practically has an optical drive- that's kind of like cheating

The Air was designed to be a 3-pound laptop. When it comes to 3-pound laptops, very few come with an optical drive, and even fewer have a built-in optical drive. If your point of reference isn't other 3-pound laptops, the Air is going to seem limited.

[Dan Frakes]

Martian said:

In the real world, a 13" MB/MBP will fit anywhere an Air will fit.

As someone who's owned both an Air and a unibody MacBook, I can tell you that for me, twice the thickness and two pounds heavier means the Air fit in places the MacBook didn't. More important, it ended up going places the MacBook didn't. And that's really the appeal of the Air in a nutshell.

[spinoza2]

@rab777hp: It's not a question of compromising on optical drives, VGA, serial, and extra USB ports, and the like, it's just that Apple has a different design philosophy from the Wintel world. I happen to be one that is a strong supporter of Apple's design philosophy, and the optical drive is a good example. I own a MacBook Pro, and in the four years that I've had it I think I've used the drive, maybe, four or five times a year. Now, a company like Apple goes out and learns that only 10% or so of us MacBook owners use an optical drive regularly, so they decide on an ultralight notebook it's not necessary.

The Wintel world, on the other hand, looks at that 10% and goes, "Ooh, some people use this doodad, so as a selling point we should include it standard on all laptops." And that's why a typical Wintel notebook still has VGA, serial, and any other number of ports and the like. For me, all that legacy schmuck is pure waste, it's junk I have to schlepp around even though it's useless to me. For those that want any of those ports or accesories, getting it as an add-on is easy enough. So for me--and for the legions of other Apple notebook owners--seeing an optical drive on a laptop, along with all that other Wintel schmuck, is reason for not buying the machine, it's pure ugliness.

[linkinparklover81]

@Jason Snell:
I love your reviews of the MacBook Air. I think you capture the essence of its existence perfectly, not to mention you're one of the only reviewers I know that actually LIKES the thing.
Personally, the Air's always intrigued me. I love the thinness of it -- in my own little computer utopia, I'd love MacBook specs in an Air's body. I bought the $1599 2.4GHz MacBook last October when they were released. I wanted a notebook for school stuff and something light enough to carry around. I flirted with the idea of getting an Air because my school needs don't require much power (I kept the base config of the MB and it's great), but the price turned me off and admittedly, I was a little disappointed with the specs. So,in the end, I thought the MacBook was the perfect marriage of size and performance at a lower price. The Air would've fit my needs great overall, but I guess I'm one of those "in between" people that like portability but performance as well.
I love my MacBook, no doubt, but I'll always lust after the Air's form factor.
Steven

[newuser1980]

after years of using the 1st generation of macbook, I need to full stop to all apple macbook, after 2 years of using it, the battery was dead and there is a 'X' on the battery icon, and at the same time, the power supply make a big explosure fire spready out that was nerly on fire, grad i was there so that i can stop it. after 3 years, the built-in webcam so called isight, it has stopped working, no matter how many time i re-install the system format the HD it is the same. after 4 years, the keys started to loosen and keep dropping off, after i took a closer look i found that all the keys, inside were hold by 2 very tiny plastic just 4X bigger than a hair, I wonder what was apple thinking, when they use these cheap plastic.

each of these problem I also did a net search to find a solution, and i was amazed I'm not alone, there are alot of user has the same problem as me, and what really stocked me is that apple still didn't fix their power supply problem, and the keys still break down from the new macbook, i also own a 15 years ibm notebook, although it is very slow, but everything still work as new, and the power supply still working perfect with no fire exploresure.

and now apple has sealed the built-in battery on all their macbook, which make these problem more hard to solve, what happen if the battery dead on the 2nd year? you have no way to replace it without driving hours to apple for a expensive fix.

I personaly don't believe apple battery can last more than 2 years, their 5 years is just a lab test.

[Podesta]

My setup mostly closely resembles Spinoza2's - a two-year-old MacBook Pro that is my desktop replacement computer and an October 2008 MacBook Air. (The latter replaced an original hard drive MacBook Air when it was one year old.) I do appreciate the lighter weight and volume of the MacBook Air, since it means I carry it more often than I ever did my MacBook Pros and PowerBooks. Even with a Speck shield it is more than a pound lighter than a MacBook.

But, I don't find the operation of my MacBook Air a cause for lamentations at all. The programs I am likely to use most often -- Microsoft Word, Pages, iPhoto, Mail, iTunes, etc., run fine. I did have some stuttering and frame rate issues with my original MacBook Air when playing Web and iTunes video, but those problems ended with the newer model because of the better graphics chip.

Like other MacBook Air owners, I think this review does not quite communicate the ineffable suitability of the MacBook Air to the life of the on-the-go person who writes or uses the Internet on and off throughout the day. The Air fits the space between the iPhone and a MacBook or MacBook Pro seamlessly. One gets the portability without the limitations of Safari on the iPhone and a full-size keyboard. But, a the same time, one doesn't have the weight and awkwardness of a full-size laptop. I can literally forget I have my Air in a tote with other items. Certainly, one wants any laptop to meet the standards necessary to perform tasks reasonably. But, the speed tests don't capture what most matters about this computer.

[rogerinlondon]

It does not seem logical to me that the Air now is the only laptop that does not have the new superbattery. You would have thought that the Air would be in most need of that.
Likely to come in next update?

[sporks]

Don't forget the hidden easter egg in the high-end version:
http://xo.typepad.co...-spaceship.html

[grossnicklaus_a]

I think they could have put a little more rigidity into the screen and made it ever so slightly thicker. I always feel afraid that I'm going to bend the backing plate on mine and have nice looking colors all over. Other than that I think the speed on my new one is great. I still think it could be a little cheaper but you can't have everything you want. They are going up against a netboot crowd with an average price point of $300. Or course they do have more ram and a better processor but the product I think won't be what it's supposed to be until Apple can manufacture it at the MB's price but at a slower speed that's thinner.

[fyrefly]

I think it's more that the air has the original (non-removable) superbattery. And it has to fit into a smaller place than the battery in the MBPs... And they have to keep the weight below 3lbs. I don't think the battery in the Air could get any bigger w/o increasing the size and weight of the notebook.

[paulwf]

I have the original MBA with the 80GB PATA drive. Does anyone know if the hard drive is upgradable?

[newuser1980]

Air reminded me the cube, it look cool from the outside, but more expensive and slower then their desktop. I have seen many people using the macbook on the street, but yet to see anyone holding an Air