A year after announcing the iPhone, Apple presents its most recent laptop: the MacBook Air, which they claim is the thinnest laptop in the world. Is the MacBook Air truly the dream laptop for all travelers or does it conceal irreparable gaps?
Presentation
The MacBook Air features a 13.3-inch Led-backlit widescreen display, the MacBook Air has similar dimensions than the MacBook, but its maximum thickness does not exceed 0.76 inches. Just as its predecessor, it presents a wide keyboard, an integrated webcam and the most recent operating theory Mac Os X "Leopard". In its basic version, it comes with a processor Core 2 signed Duets Intel and rhythmical to 1.6 Ghz, the MacBook Air is adequate of 2 Go of Ram, Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11n, and a 80 Gb hardrive.
Look, keyboard, touchpad
The MacBook Air is immediately enticing. Breaking with the construct of the MacBook and Pro MacBook, that present comparatively rectilinear lines, Apple chose to conceive a chassis with very lightly rounded edges, which contributes to reinforce its thinness impression. The normal dimensions construct themselves to 12.8 inches wide and 8.95 inches deep, same as the one of the MacBook, it features a 13.3-inch Led-backlit widescreen display that has a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution.
The MacBook Air weighs a minuscule less than 3 pounds. The body of the shell of the MacBook Air adopts a gray anodized face similar to what one rediscovers on the Pro MacBook or on the rear face of the iPhone. Rather rigid, this shell makes good impression in the measure where the MacBook Air adorned clearly less fragile than one could have concept initially. Nevertheless, this soft face to the key marks enough easily, the true nomadic will need a protection slip-cover.
As on the Pro MacBook, this keyboard takes benefit of a back light, rather pleasant when one uses the engine in obscurity, of which the intensity can be regulated regardless of the one of the screen. After several days of use, and the primary moments of adaptation, the keyboard of the MacBook Air reveals itself very pleasant.
The screen
The MacBook Air has a webcam (640 x 480) of poor quality and a microphone. It has a luminosity sensor that automatically adjusts the intensity of the backlight Led when one is settled in a dark area. In this case, the intensity of the lighting of the keyboard diminishes. When you put your finger on the sensor: this one detects at once obscurity, and the screen intensity diminishes. With a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, the screen of the MacBook Air offers a work face less foremost than the one of safe bet models 11 inches, with which these the resolution climbs to 1366 x 768 pixels, but Apple guarantees thus a safe bet optic comfort, with a definition that will suit fully most users. Of fantastic type, the flagstone Lcd is luminous, and returns hot colors, rather faithful. By expanding the luminosity, use the Macbook Air in the face light.
The MacBook Air inaugurates a new generation of touchpad, inspired by the iPhone, the first conveyable telephone of Apple. It is wider, a primary touchpad. With three fingers, you can use the navigator Safari... But not with Firefox. Most of these small functionalities do not radically transform the user experience, but are part of the charm of the Apple products.
Connections
The three connectors proposed by the MacBook Air are settled on left side, sheltered by a small trap door that, once opened, leaves only minuscule space to reach them. Concretely, if your connector is thick, or if you use a wide Usb key, you will not be able to connect them directly. In order to remedy the problem, Apple suggests suing an extension. These are rather inexpensive, but one is now obliged to multiply the cables, which somewhat diminishes the ultra conveyable aspect of the machine.
WiFi but no Dvd
The absence of Dvd reader is voluntary (there is not enough thickness anyway). Apple's marketing states that at a time where wires are going away, is it still primary to have a Dvd reader? Apple plays the network card, with an application compatible with Mac as well as Windows Xp and Windows Vista that allows Dav and Cd use wirelessly. The reader of your primary engine will be able therefore you to serve to setup applications, transfer contents towards the MacBook Air and even resettle your operating theory but it may take 5 to 10 times longer than using a Dvd reader. If that is a major issue you will have to buy an external Usb 2.0 based Dvd reader.
Speed
Powered by a processor Core 2 rhythmical Duets to 1.6 Ghz, engraved in 65 nanometers, the MacBook Air is not a speed demon, and is slower than the other Apple laptops. The option of Apple is therefore supposed to guarantee a level of accepted performances for light and medium users.
If you are ready to spend more the MacBook Air comes with a more noteworthy processor posting a frequency of 1.8 Ghz but also and especially of a hard disc to memory Flash of type Ssd of 64 Go, similar to the one that integrates in accepted Lenovo in his Thinkpad X300. To take benefit of these two improvements, it will be primary nevertheless to pay out a supplement of some ,300, which will carry the final price of the MacBook Air to about ,098.
Performance
Certain applications highly resource oppressive work clearly gently on the MacBook Air, due to its 1.6 Ghz processor. In other words the manipulation of pictures of big size under Photoshop or video editing will put your patience to a safe bet test.
On the other hand, the manipulation of photos or video sequences by means of iMovie will work without difficulties, and without any supreme discomfort. The interface preserves the fluidity that you can expect of Leopard in spite of the poor performances of its processor. The Web navigation, office, music and video use do not suffer from any problem. As for games, let's keep it simple, just select a dissimilar laptop.
Battery Life
Apple talks about an autonomy of about five hours with activated WiFi. While choosing the eco mode proposed by Mac Os X and the screen luminosity to 75% of his capacity, the MacBook Air was able to work during 3h15 before the low battery warning showed up.
Conclusion
One could think that with his MacBook Air, stretched Apple to originate a new segment on the laptop market. Its irreproachable design, moderate weight and extreme thinness makes it a good candidate for the ultra conveyable category. But the impossibility to change the battery or the highly minuscule connectivity will stop many professionals who ordinarily like this type of machines. The performance of the MacBook Air will suffice for light tourist users i.e. Bloggers, associated fanatics, journalists, and other sales representatives. They will have no difficulty working with photos, construct bills and items or prepare, then to assure a presentation, all profiting from it of his perfect flagstone Lcd screen.
Apple has attempted to circumvent some of the handicaps of the MacBook Air. The absence of Dvd is compensated by the functionality of take in payment of a reader network on a distant machine, Pc or Mac. The idea is interesting, even if in the facts, we cannot envision installing anyone sizeable that way. The touchpad is improved, integrating more functionalities coming from the iPhone. Although these improvements do not revolutionize the way one interacts with a computer, they are rather pleasant.
It will be primary to add to the MacBook Air an external Dvd, as well as a Usb hub and an adapter Usb for the Ethernet to assure a real comfort of usage, and to put it on an equal foot with other machines with equivalent price and functionality. Therefore this diminishes what makes the charm of the MacBook Air: its thinness. The other clarification would be to cleave to the idea that the MacBook Air is conceived only as an auxiliary machine, a light conveyable and elegant one coming to unblemished your work center for the days where you tour and only do light work.
This beautiful engine suffers from cruel limitations that other computers, sometimes lighter or less costly, do not have. In spite of the beautiful lines and user friendliness of the MacBook Air, it does not deliver the ultra conveyable promise as expected. The previous MacBook performs better, is more functional, and cheaper!
MacBook Air Laptop Detailed delineate - Think Thin, Learn From iPhone
