[El_Gigantes]

I'm in agreement with Martian, I do forsee a next Macbook Air "Pro" that may just right the few niggling wrongs. When talking about ultraportables affordability is not an issue because one generally "needs" something in this range or doesn't. However, when investing in something in this range it would be near stupid to buy on looks alone or without considering the alternatives, in this case (which has split the IT community square down the middle) I believe the alternatives are squarely thumping the air purely on the "functional diversity" level.

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{quote:title=Martian wrote:}Ethernet, firewire, and another USB port could have been accommodated with virtually no increase in size or weight.{quote}

Swappable battery be damned, but to have so few ports necessitating the purchase of additional peripheral devices belies the initial cost of this device. Let's see how many people feel cheated when the upgrade comes out.

[spinoza2]

As a former Vaio Ultralight owner (three-times over), there's no "market-driven" compromises made by Apple with the MacBook Air: the Vaios I owned had many more compromises than my MacBook Air. All the decisions Apple made in leaving out features were strategic ones based on the type of computer and its targeted user base. Having owned my MacBook Air for several months now, it's plenty powerful for most any type of mobile computing I could imagine. For my primary mobile use (word and image processing, email, Web, audio, etc.), I notice little or no need to 'ratchet down' my expectations when comparing to my MacBook Pro: the MacBook Air handles all of these tasks with aplomb. Ergonomically I just don't see how Apple can improve on the portable concept, the MBA is pretty darn close to reaching the optimal form/performance balance.

That being said, if I had $2000 to spend on my only computer there's no question I would go with the MacBook Pro, which I consider the best computer, by far, I have owned in my some twenty years of personal computing (and more desktops (including the legendary NeXT Workstation) and laptops than I would care to count...).

[Adesmar]

Well as of yesterday I just became a former Vaoi user my self, and thanks to your comment instead of buying the MBA

I went for the MB PRO, as you said if you had the money you'll go for it, so I did. It's on it's way to California.

You know, being my first Mac I don't want to feel let down, and as Dougtaua said for a primary computer the MBA is not the best option, I still love the looks but I think I will have to wait for the MBA2.

From a 'Soon to become a MacBook PRO & Apple Devotee'

Regards.

Adesmar

[spinoza2]

Good decision, Adesmar, you definitely will not feel let down with a MacBook Pro. You forfeit a bit in weight and sleek elegance in comparison with the MB Air, but as a true desktop replacement it will give you all the power you need (I'm writing this from home with it connected to a 23" Cinema Display). Just give yourself time to learn the Mac's user interface and operating system--there are some things that may seem odd at first, but it's only because Apple takes a different approach than Microsoft with a number of things. Get David Pogue's Switching to the Mac book from the Missing Manual series, which is well written and is filled with really useful tips on orienting yourself to the new environment.

Enjoy the new computer, it'll be fun learning!

[Jackhamma]

I'm looking at it from a college student's standpoint:
1) I have a good 60-70lbs. worth of books in my backpack as it is (no lockers, and home's a long ways away), and on top of that I have a bad leg (like... need surgery bad) so the smaller laptop the better!
2) I would be using a laptop mainly for school work and such, no gaming, nothing that requires a lot of processor work.
3) Our campus is pretty much set up for the wireless world, I believe a MacBook Air would be perfect.
If it wasn't for the rather pricey tag (the student discount gives a whopping $100 off) I would have one of these beauties in my hands right now. I won't have need for a CD drive, USB ports, etc. etc. I think Apple is on the right track with this product!

[MacUser2008]

MacBook Air (1.6 GHz and 1.8 GHz) has a problem with Video Playback. Since this does not have a DVD drive how is one expected to plugin a HD containing DVD movies and play them back on the MacBook. The processor cannot keep up with even standard DVD playback. With a standa{color}
shutting down during video playback. Not everyone seems to experience
this issue, however a number of users on MacRumors forum had been
complaining about this shutdown which apparently is heat related. In
order to work around the issue they’d been using a program called CoolBook which kept the Air running even when video playback maxed out the MacUser2008 

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Posted 31 August 2008 - 06:15 PM

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[filmstar12]

Much much slower than basic macbook - slower processor. runs very hot to the point that the graphics card cannot function or process streaming video without hiccuping. The reason I know its because of the heat is because I have the free widget 'istat pro' and it tells me the CPU heats up to sometimes more than 152 degrees fahrenheit, very quickly - after maybe 20 minutes of use. The airport heats up to 113 degrees very fast. I notice when this happens, if I'm streaming video off the web - the video starts hiccuping a lot, even with all the other programs closed. The only solution is to turn off the computer for a while to cool down. Then when I turn it on again, everything's fine.
In sleep mode, the battery continues to drain very fast until it's completely out of juice. Takes a very long time to charge, possibly 5 hours from 0% to 100%.
It takes literally :45 seconds to even just load microsoft word when I open it, compared with about :05 seconds on a macbook due to the much slower processor. Doesn't matter how much memory you have, it's the processor that dictates speed in many cases.
Since I bought this computer mostly for use on film sets, to stream video in during shooting, the graphics card / and CPU heats up so much, that I have to turn the computer off after 25 minutes and let it cool down, otherwise it refuses to process or receive that live video image - freezing even my entire computer.
If I had it to do over again, I would have bought the $999 macbook. Don't think that one runs as hot. It's like 5 times faster, cheaper, and the battery doesn't drain like a mother when it's on sleep mode.
It is a great computer for it's size - and is definitely the right choice for a lot of people. I'd say it's not the right choice if you like to stream lots of video, or will need it to be on battery for very lengthy periods of time because it takes so long to charge.

[El_Gigantes]

Well who would've thought. The emergence of "netbooks" has now put the macbook air squarely in a category where it has a chance to prove its worth. Let's not forget that this book wasn't released with the to do the sort of work filmstar12 had in mind, but more for jackhamma's sort of work purpose, or less, (lack of optical drive, scarcity of ports,intel GPU, less than generous hard drive, e.t.c.).
I believe the arrival of the netbook has now crystallised the issues for and against the macbook air. Looking back we could even dare to say that whilst it may not have been it's intention, the air ushered in the arrival of the netbook which is a more refined and well honed tool, better at doing exactly what the air set out to in the 1st place. So Jackhamma, (and the rest of you people) the air may have a bigger screen and be beautifully designed but in light of the new arrival of these netbooks what could make us possibly want an air at the moment?

[spinoza2]

If you consider the MB Air a netbook, then you'd have to class all ultralights netbooks as well, so this would include the two and a half pound Sony Vaio, which has been around for almost a decade now. Most people haven't done this because netbooks are different from ultralights in their being trimmed down significantly in both power and size to act as specialized mobile Internet devices. Netbooks tend to have smaller keyboards and displays (around 7-8 inches), and their build quality reflects as low a price point as possible. This makes them feel like plasticky toys, but they apparently serve their purpose for people on a budget or who simply want an inexpensive email device for on the road. For all these reasons you really can't put the high-quality (and correspondingly highly priced) MB Air in the same category as a netbook. Most people who try to do this usually trash the MB Air as being way ?overpriced? (which is ridiculous).