MacBook Air!

[bbloke]

Spoilsport!

[fryke]

The photos have to wait 'til later. Can't find my camera right now, and I don't want to abuse an iSight for this.

As for the review...

I've been asking for an Apple subnotebook for a long time. And I wasn't happy with a 12" PowerBook, of course, because it was still too heavy and too complete. I was asking for things like 10h battery life, SSD, 10" screen etc. So The MacBook Air isn't exactly it, either.

I'd still like the MacBook Air to have a smaller footprint than the 13" MB, but it's comfortable.
I'd still like an SSD, but didn't get one because of the freakishly high price. Maybe I can replace the drive later in the life of my MacBook Air (can't call it MBA, that doesn't sound right), or I'll just live with the HD. Hope it won't die on me.

The weight of the machine is wonderful. The stability of the materials used is great. I love the backlit keyboard, even though I rarely ever need that (I've learnt the 10-finger-system early in life, thankyouverymuch), just because it's a cool effect and looks nice. The thing's a dog, though. It's quite certainly not your primary machine, even with the SuperDrive. (Didn't get one, have enough drives and Macs around.) It's simply too slow a machine. I don't think the 1.8 GHz version would be much better. I think it's mainly about the smaller harddrive. I'm sure the SSD feels zippier. It's a great machine for me, since I mainly use it for web/mail/text. I'm a writer, so the main thing for me, really, is to be able to sit out in the green for a couple of hours typing page after page on the keyboard. It's a great device for that. Forget about games, forget about graphics design etc. It'll work, but it'll be slow. My two year old MacBook certainly is quite a bit faster, even with the older GMA 950.

So when Apple released this in January, I didn't think I'd want one. It was too 13", it was too big, too expensive. We recently got the first shipment here in Switzerland, and I just had to have one. I've been waiting for really negative reports, but they failed to come in.

I'm sure in a year or two, this machine and its specs will look outdated, but it's the first true attempt of Apple for a subnotebook running OS X. And I just had to have one. (I know, I've already said that.)

[fryke]

Guess what: Just found that camera. Chevy might recognise what this is.

[chevy]

M-Budget Air.... nice concept !

[fryke]

It's the plastic sleeve their T-Shirts come in when you order from their "mbudgetkult.ch" Shop. They should actually sell those to MacBook Air owners.