The Macbook Air is the thinnest laptop on the market, but did Apple sacrifice too much in the sleek ultraportable? Philip Berne has impressions live from Macworld.
Without a doubt, the Macbook Air is one of the coolest looking laptops we've seen. It isn't just the thinness of the device, though it is strikingly thin at the lip. The device is a stack of smoothly rolling, unbroken surfaces. Even the keys seem to emerge from the aluminum like square icebergs. Closed, the device is indeed thin enough to stuff in an inter-office envelope, but the screen is so wide and bright that the experience seems much larger than with any other ultraportable we've used, including the small Dell Latitude D420s we use in the office.
Touch it twice
The multi-touch trackpad is fantastic, and developers haven't even begun to take advantage of it yet. We tried the trackpad in Preview, and loved the rotating action. We see a lot of possibilities for this input method, and surely in the near-future all laptops will have this sort of pad built in. It's a new input paradigm, but Apple should have launched with Photoshop support ready to go. Remember the days when a Steve Jobs keynote included a mandatory Photoshop demonstration? Well, apparently Steve doesn't remember them either.
Shedding just pounds?
To achieve this tiny design, Apple made some sacrifices, both obvious and curious. Losing the optical drive was obvious, and a $99 DVD-RW add-on seems reasonable to us. Less obvious was the omission of Ethernet. Though the device has the most advanced 802.11n Wi-Fi, we don't think this will be enough. Frankly, we're surprised that Apple didn't include any flavor of 3G network, with their good buddy AT&T, perhaps. We're shocked that there isn't an express card slot on the device, which means that wireless internet will be handled by USB dongles.
So, who is an ultra-portable for? The Macbook Air comes in at a good price for this market, but we would still recommend a Macbook for Apple enthusiasts who just want something simple. The Air is for road warriors, but it doesn't serve that community as well as it could. Beyond the wireless internet accessory, we think Macbook Air users are going to find themselves carrying lots of accessories and extra cables. The Superdrive is one. A memory card reader is another. No reason why Apple couldn't simply tack on an SD card reader, the rest of the industry has settled on this standard (with a few notable holdouts in Sony and Olympus). We would definitely give up the iSight camera for a memory card slot. Also, interesting that Apple didn't adopt wireless USB for this device. Apple was a very early adopter for USB, but wireless USB hasn't caught on. Probably a smart move on their part.
But seriously, folks
In the end, though, the Macbook Air has much to redeem it. The LED display and the internal components make this the most environmentally friendly Macintosh yet, and at a time when people are buying their second and third laptops, this is an important accomplishment. Also, Apple reps were adamant that the 5-hour battery claim is what we should expect in the real world, not just an estimate. We also like the playback controls hidden at the top of the keyboard, a feature we've been missing on Apple machines.
Do we want one? Of course, it's design alone is enviable. But, as with most Apple products, buying always means a trade-off between the features you know you want, and the design you didn't realize you'd appreciate so much. With the iPhone, we accepted (grudgingly) the lack of 3G and GPS in exchange for a great interface and superior video performance. With the Macbook Air, customers will sacrifice ubiquitous internet and expandability for a thin, slick design and a sack full of dongles.
The Apple MacBook Air will be available in late January 2008 for approximately $1800.
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