My thoughts on the Macbook Air

For the past two days I’ve had the pleasure of unpacking, tweaking, and stress testing a brand new Macbook Air. No, I didn’t get to keep it. It is currently being flown overnight via UPS to my laptop-less mother in New Orleans, in hopes of being a suitable replacement to her much loved (but aging) 1.5ghz 12″ Powerbook. When Apple rolled out the intel laptops and discontinued the smallest member of their family, many people where miffed (if not downright angry). 13.3 inches is a small difference to some because of the extra speak space and wrist support, but a bigger issue to those where every inch occupied in the travel bag matters. Whether or not they had this planned all along (I’m going with “planned”), I personally think that Apple has successfully created a computer that can appease the road warriors like my mother without sacrificing horizontal form factor.

With that disclosed, let’s get to the review. While testing my first solid state drive would have been nice, it was hard to justify to my dear mom that it was actually an improvement to spend $1k on less storage than the standard model. I strolled into the new West 14th Apple Store less than a block away from the office and walked out with a 1.6ghz standard HD Macbook Air. The box was noticeably lighter, almost 2.5 lbs lighter than my MBP, and my wallet was $2k lighter after sales tax and Apple Care. While I had forgotten all the install CD’s I’d planned to bring to work, I couldn’t resist starting the unboxing ceremony early and parading the computer around the office. First stop was to fellow Front End Michael’s desk (a die-hard PC user) who had never seen the Magsafe, magnetic lids, or Mac startup videos. With him sufficiently wooed by its undeniable beauty, I headed over to the boss’s office. A recent Apple-convert, Jay instantly saw an opportunity to gloat over the VP of product design who resides near him. Everyone feel in love within minutes of touching the exquisitely compact yet sturdy piece of engineering magic. Even my project manager Reggie, who frequently refers to macs as “platinum refrigerators” began singing the Yael Naim song that was showcased on the Air TV commercial and suggested that this would probably be the machine to make him switch. Needless to say, I was happy.

If there is one thing that surprised me immediately, it is how sturdy this laptop really is. Maybe it’s the lack of a battery bay and removable door, the lack of an optical drive cavity, or simply how little metal there is to flex, but the Air feels rock solid. Tucked under my arm, and propped open on a desk, it feels less flimsy than both my work Macbook and my personal Macbook Pro. The screen has just the right amount of firmness to stay open and not snap down when it closes, and the port bay door opens and closes like precision instrument. My only lament (and something that Wil Shipley touched on) is that they should have gone with 3 rubber feet instead of 4. 3 points always forms a perfect plane while the light-on-its-feet Air is quite easily put off balance on anything other than a perfectly level surface.

Since my mom has 3 macs with disc drives at her disposal at home (iMac, Dad’s Macbook, and her old Mac Mini which now services my father), I didn’t feel the need to order the external USB disc drive. I was also curious to see how bulletproof Remote Disc really is. Turns out: Very. After dropping the MS Office CD into my MBP and turning on disc sharing via System Preferences, the install window appeared on the Air as if it were running the CD itself. What was missing was the annoying spinning sounds and vibration I’ve come to know well because it was tucked away halfway across the apartment. I will say that I noticed a little lag between double clicking to start the install and the actual process beginning, but once things were underway, it was as if it was local. I doubt that it is as easy on a PC, but I won’t pass judgement until I attempt it myself. One thing I found myself wondering about was re-imaging the device with a fresh install of OSX. While I’m not an “average user,” I find myself doing a clean install of OSX at least once a year. While it is a slightly tedious process, it forces me to evaluate what programs I use and what programs are just taking up space on my drive. I also get a brand new machine at no extra cost to me. I fear that a software solution may not cut it in a critical moment like that. I half expected to see a thumb drive with Leopard in the box, but unfortunately, it came with the familiar 2-CD paper sleeve.

At the end of the day, I came away impressed and confident that this is the perfect replacement computer for someone like my mother. Someone who largely checks email, composes word documents, copies pictures off a digital camera for uploading, and listens to music. I have little doubt that the machine would choke if you tried to run photoshop or god forbid any serious video editing software like final cut. I noticed the fans kick on audibly under a couple safari windows and some app installs while on battery, although it became quiet again once plugged in. The 45-degree magsafe looks better and feels better than the regular one, something I would hope they move over to the other devices as well.

It is not my custom to endorse Rev. A Apple products, having been burned badly by the first Macbook (not physically, it was a lemon), but this machine re-affirmed my faith in the company. As I prepared to buy this computer, I realized that I have purchased for myself and family no less than 10 Apple computers in slightly less than 4 years. I have converted everyone willing to lend an ear, not only because I think they are “cool,” but because I honestly believe that Apple creates superior computers through attention to detail and careful equipment selection. Without any kind of insider knowledge, I anticipate that the technology seen here is the direction all other models are headed. Not skinnier or shallower, but thinner. We will be dropping disc drives, gaining multi-touch interfaces, and heading towards solid state. And as that becomes accepted by the populace (who still thinks they need to lug around the ability to burn a CD, something I do maybe 3 times a year tops), the prices will drop and we will all benefit. I can’t wait.

Now if only they’d release my 3g 32GB iPhone or at least the SDK so I can take that off my “no buy” list.

(on a side note: I’d like to apologize to Josh Bryant and everyone else who subscribes to my feed for the incessant string of recent “twitter posts.” As I became increasingly occupied with work, I thought (stupidly) that republishing the day’s tweets in a post would serve as a stop gap measure for those who have been kind enough to visit my site. Instead of content in a vacuum, I distributed static and noise. Exactly the opposite of my intent, I annoyed you, especially those who already follow me on twitter. While it is a great medium, and a phenomenon in and of itself, twitter activity does not bear republishing as a true post. As of right now, that feature has been turned off. You may see my tweets appear elsewhere on the site once the redesign is live, but they will never again be distributed via my main RSS feed. Apologies.)