[Machappy]

I am giving the Macbook Air a serious look although at this time it's not something I NEED. That gives me the luxury to see how it plays out and if it changes in version 2. Anyway I have been a mac switcher since the first Mac Mini was released. We purchased the Mac Mini to see if we liked it. It was a wonderful experience but after editing a few iMovies I longed to jump in with something a bit more powerful and I was finally convinced I would still have access to all my windows docs, pictures, mp3s, etc. and now the whole family uses macs. The original MacMini resides in my kitchen and we still use it without issue. I just checked on the specs. It is PowerMac G4 1.48GHZ with 512MB RAM and 80GB hard drive!!!!
I'm convinced the MBA would be a wonderful computer for the right purpose. It won't replace my Mac Pro but it will be a perfect travel computer.

[sglewis]

I quit - every review seems to evaluate this machine as a powerful primary notebook. It's not! It's a travel laptop. If you've ever had to travel extensively, you should appreciate that. Same reason the 12" PowerBook wowed me when IT first came out.
I have a 24" Intel iMac at home, and a MacBook (the original MacBook, pre-speed bump in fact). I won't be getting one yet for the simple reason that the MacBook isn't THAT heavy, and is still super fast. But when that MacBook is ready to be replaced, I will get an Air.
I don't need everything on my MacBook - regular or Air. For that matter, it won't fit. There's a reason I have a 500gb and a 1tb external drive on my iMac. One holds pictures and music, and the other is for Time Machine backups.
My media wouldn't fit on any laptop, nor should it. When I'm at home, I have networking. When I'm on the road, I have documents. If you remove video, music and pictures (there's a reason they are in separate directories), your files likely fit. Right now I use Chronosync to synchronize the home directory, so when I'm on the road I have my docs, and when I get home changes are synched up.
I will agree that THIS functionality should be built in to the Air, or at least sold as an option, since not every user is going to know of or configure Chronosync or a similar solution.
If I needed to do professional video or photo editing on the road, I think a 17" MBP is the solution. I just need to stay mobile - I need access to docs, email, etc, and a 3lb laptop fits the bill. If I thought I needed to burn CDs commonly outside of my home or office, I'd get the $99 drive - but frankly, that's rarely a necessity.
It doesn't have to be full-featured - it has to be small. There already are several options for full featured laptops - three in fact - Macbook, and two sizes of Macbook Pro.

[prw2732]

Petricola said:

Quote

But if this will still take several hours to transfer my Mail folders (3 GB) and my iPhoto library (12 GB) and other assorted files (3 GB), that would be a deal breaker. Could you provide some more info on this? Thanks.

A file synchronization program, like Decimus Synk Pro, scans and transfers only new information, instead of all the files each time. The transfer time becomes almost negligible, even with a wireless connection. Snell mentions another program, Chronosync, but I am not familiar with it. I am sure there are others.

Scripts can be setup to synchronize folders between machines, so that deletes on one machine are applied to the other. This can lead to unanticipated results, however. But if your main machine is using Time Machine, that should avoid calamities.

[worldboy]

The MBA is not your father's Macintosh. There is nothing here for the traditional Mac user. It does not excel at media creation, video, 3D, Games, Music, 2D Graphics, Compositing, etc. So it's not meant for the Final Cut, Logic, iMovie, Shake, Photoshop, After Effects crowds. So then it's a failure right? No way.

As a travelling sales person for a media corporation I have been provided with a Toshiba 12" Portege tablet, a second battery, a USB thumb drive, a 3G wireless card and an internal DVD drive to do my job. The small footprint of the Toshiba is mostly defeated by the need to use an external battery to get through 1 day, adding dramaticly to the weight. The DVD drive is a waste because I only read/burn media back at the office and I prefer to use the USB thumb drive or email for graphics if possible. (Hard media is too easily lost or damaged in transit).

In any given work day I don't have time or battery life to waste on iTunes, ripping/burning music or DVDs, watching movies, editing photos in iPhoto, playing games, installing software (IT does that) or any of the other tests that the Air performs so slowly.

The traditional buyers of the MBP, Mac Pro, iMac even MacBook should move on, there's nothing here for you.

Hello Windows corporate/business professionals! Come on in! This is not a play for the the Mac user base. It's a play for more (read over 6%) market share and I predict over 70% of all MBA buyers will be Windows users. (Not necessarily switchers, 'cause this is a second computer remember, not a primary desktop replacement). (And don't tell me business users can't afford it as a second computer when their primary computer is a $699 Dell paid for by the company). These people will be doctors, lawyers, accountants, consultants, sales reps & marketing types who have an image to protect as well, not forgeting their wifes & or partners who don't want to be left behind.

MBA means:
- no second battery to carry to get nearly 5 hours (work related) use.
- Build quality
- Full size LED lit display & full size backlit keyboard
- No active viruses, high security
- Most essential business applications will run in OS X or in Windows + Parallels
- MS Office for Mac 2008 running at native Intel speed
- Multi-touch trackpad replaces external mouse (and wows clients)
- Flexible video out options
- iDisk replaces USB thumb drive in many situations (and it can't be lost or left behind like an SD card - who uses one of those in business except for photography? And why remove it from the camera/phone anyway?)
- Back To My Mac - remote access from hotel room to home is great!
- Tiny Airport Express is a instant wireless network at the hotel/office or client's premises (or the even smaller ethernet adapter just goes with the CAT5 cable you remembered to bring if Ethernet access is a must).
- Most of us (in Australia where I live) already have a 3G wireless contract - the wireless modem is the only thing that absolutely must go into that lonely USB port. I am so glad Apple didn't lock everyone into the same wireless carrier with an internal 3G card.
- Time Machine backups and file storage on Time Capsule NAS, looking forward to this!
- iSync
- Bluetooth for loading contacts to and from my phone and remote control of presentations.

Notice I didn't mention "gorgeous, cool, thin, sleek or fashionable" yet? 'Cause they're not the real reasons that this product will be a hit in the long term. The real reason is the"ecosytem" Apple has built. (There's one obvious fault that I suspect was out of Apple's control - you absolutely must have an external CD/DVD drive to install Windows - just borrow one from IT for the day).

Corporate/professional business users and IT - there are some new words to learn that describe a new way of working.

[Martian]

Mister Snitch said:

It's obvious to me what this machine is, though I have seldom (if ever) heard it mentioned. This machine is the vessel into which Apple will place the most forward-looking new laptop-applicable technologies.

Into this "vessel", Apple’s next model will place Ethernet, Firewire, extra USB port, a battery hatch, ExpressCard slot, and a memory card reader. And be just as thin.

If you don’t think this is possible, just look at the Sony TZ ultra-portable. If you remove its optical drive—a very large component—you will free up all kinds of room for these necessary ports while retaining MBA’s bragging rights of “The World’s Thinnest Notebook”.
There is no justification, size, weight or cost to have left off these ports. Omitting these basic functions were not a compromise or trade-off. They were Steve's Reality Distortion Field marketing. So why make excuses for the Air when it has gained virtually nothing in portability or price for giving up these basic computer requirements?

[thePlate]

I'm wondering how you can deem the MBA's performance poor. Just from reading the specs? Personal experience? Or are you thinking of batch processing a bunch of multilayered Photoshop files for work? My guess is that it's going to work great for 99% of the people who will buy it. Maybe the best way to understand the damned thing is to realize that Apple is expanding. For the last ten years they've had a very limited hardware line, but now they are branching out and targeting niche areas within their market. Take the shuffle for example - some people just don't get it. But it sells like you wouldn't believe. I'm guessing it'll be the same for the MBA. One thing is for sure, the target market isn't people who comment on websites.

Mine arrives on Monday.

[palane]

There's an interesting article in the Washington Post today. The overall impressions are favorable and there is an interesting comparison to a competing Toshiba. The Air does well in the comparison (faster, cooler) and, of course, the OS. I remain convinced this is a good second machine, but wouldn't work as a desktop replacement.
Spinoza--you're making far too many assumptions about the American market and mentality. The SUV comparison fails when one is talking about a subnotebook. It's more like a Mini vs Smart. The Mini has done quite well in the U.S., but not the Smart. Futhermore, this is not a review for an Asian magazine. It's done by an American reviewer. Perhaps MacUser Japan (or whatever its equivalent is) will go wild over this computer.

[bigpics]

bq. GJG said: I find many of the comments on the MacBook Air both here and elsewhere hilarious. They often remind me of the reactions to 3.5" stiffies vs 5.25" floppies, the switch to CD-ROMs rather than stiffies; various micro-processor changes, etc. Technology changes folks, and what the MacBook Air offers is an excellent fore-runner of what you're going to see.....
bq. etc., etc.
What I take from the tenor of your comments is that the MacBook Air seems almost more a proof-of-concept prototype of Apple's future directions on several fronts than a real production machine ready for prime time. And in some ways, based on its reception in the forums around the web, this appears to be an underlying consensus view.
Toshiba has a 120 GB 5mm HDD ready to release later this year. 128 GB solid state disks are on the way, which will also help drive down the price of the 64 GB as always happens. Better sync solutions seem logically in the offing. And Apple and Intel may find ways to put a smaller bezel around the screen, and further miniaturize the MB with the next gen of processors, allowing them to shrink the width and breadth (and weight!) of the machine while maintaining screen and keyboard size. etc.

Meaning they need to hang there with some profits on this first foray. And I think they will, because most of the target market for this unveiling are not the folks who hang out here. This will appeal to casual, Macophilic, non-status-symbol averse Road Warriors, CEO's who can't open their own email but want something new and sexy on their desks, a fair number of college students who spend all day on foot on huge campuses, and also to another group that Apple clearly has their sights on incorporating into the Apple, Inc. user base, and who probably make up less than 5% of Apple site visitors: women, a legion of "fan girls" now sporting iPods and iPhones as functional life style accessories. So the Prada crowd and their wannabes are likely to buy more than a few.

Also, and no sexism intended, the Air is 40% lighter than an MB, and the average lugging strength of men (not all men!) is greater than the average woman's (not all women!), so women and men with creaky joints (like my bad back) will also give a second look.

Interestingly, looking at the bigger picture Apple now has more version 1 and 1A products than at any time I can remember. The iPhone, iPod Touch, iPod vNano, ATV-T2, the new movie rental biz, Time Capsule.... ...meaning they have a LOT to build on and elaborate from .

So if all they did in the next year or so was to build on these foundations (e.g., certainly both upward and downward looking devices implementing the phone and multi-touch technologies and adding multi-touch gestures and LED screens across the Macintosh line) they should still maintain their mind share and improve their bottom line (at least relative to competitors if a recession materializes).

[Mister Snitch]

I completely agree with "BigPics'. Apple is laying a foundation for the future in these "version 1" products such as the MacBook Air and iPhone. If you buy them today, you are buying into their forward-looking direction and design. There are certainly more capable and robust products on the market, but then again there are far more practical shoes than Manolo Blahnik's, as well. Yet, they seem to have found their place in the market.

The difference is, of course, that those Jimmy Choos won't have changed much in the next 5-10 years, while the MB Air and iPhone will have evolved into much more capable products, with perhaps a wider price range. There will still be an entry-level, midrange, and cutting edge model. And so it goes.

It's a bit surprising how many commenters can't see the Big Pic here.

[Grunnagle]

After reading all the reviews on the macbook air, i've decided to buy one!! Jason snell's review was honest and real world! This was the upgrade i was looking for.....I am a proud owner of an 466mhz graphite ibook. It has a 20 gb hd, 576mb ram,dvd drive,airport, and runs tiger 10.4.11 Very well. This laptop is still going strong, but its starting to show its age. When i bought this ibook, i paid a little over $1700, the $1799.00 Price is a deal in my opinion. I've been wanting a new laptop for some time now, i take my ibook everywhere. I have a small itunes & photo library, so the meager 80gb hd is perfect for me. Jason is right about one thing, the macbook air is not for everybody, and it was not intended to be a hd movie/photo editing machine. But for the people on the go and live through email, internet, small itunes/iphoto library, and use iwork alott....This is perfect. Apple now has a wide range of desktop and note books for every kind of user! The macbook air fits my needs very well. My old ibook has always and still turns heads, macbook air i'm sure will do the same.

I do have one question though:
Is re-installing the software slow using the the external apple super drive?? I was going to trim down some of the ilife applications, extra languages & trial software i don't use to free up some gig's on the hd.
Thanks for the good review jason!
Message was edited by: Jason Snell

[jweller]

"I'm sitting here in Tokyo right now surrounded by guys with little IBMs and Panasonic subnotebooks - these are their main/only machines and they are all quite happy with these small keyboard, underpowered laptops because they have to carry them back and forth on the train every day."



How would you possibly know this about a bunch of strangers sitting around you?

[maxwell]

I know that some will attack me for this but I believe it is a 'girls computer'
and I don't mean that in an insulting way.
My wife and I both use a 1.5GHz G4 12"PB - still to be surpassed by more recent versions- around the house as a laptop to sit with on the sofa and surf, shop on-line, research for events, read and write e-mails and generally connect to the web in a very 'consumer' like fashion.
If I want to rip / burn / edit video etc we use the iMac.
This computer meets that niche - and I don't think its as small as you make out. My wife wouldn't know a USB2 from a whole in the ground. A full size screen & keyboard and the light, easy to use power of OSX has a great simplicity and the ability to open the machine from sleep with an instant on stable OS just adds to that feeling that this is a product - like an electronic magazine - to surf with in a wireless home. That's why it will be successful.

[kawika]

Jason, thanks for the detailed review on such short notice! Curious to know what EVDO modem from Franklin Wireless you use and why.
Also, I have far more files on my current computer than will fit on the Air. Is there a way to use Time Capsule to store movies, music and photos I won't keep on a MacBook Air but still back the computer up to the wireless hard drive?
Until solid state drives are capacious and cheap, and until wireless data is as fast as Ethernet and ubiquitous as cell phone coverage, the Air will require some tough compromises. I'm just hoping your EVDO modem and a storage solution fit the bill.

[kawika]

Grunnagle said:

AFTER READING ALL THE REVIEWS ON THE MACBOOK AIR, I'VE DECIDED TO BUY ONE!!

Great! Have someone show you how the Caps Lock key works when you get it. ;-)