KEY POINTS:
The Apple Store on Regent Street in London is, I'm told, the biggest Apple store in the world and was two floors of bustling retail action the day I dropped in to check out the new MacBook Air.
As I weighed the MacBook up with one hand a heavily-attended session was going on in the background where an Apple employee was teaching anyone interested the ins and out of Apple iLife.
I'm sure most of the people in the audience were there for the free Wi-fi but it's a great novelty to have such free seminars happening in a technology store. You won't get that at your local Dick Smith.
Anyway, the MacBook Air is in person just as it looks in the photos - sleek, simple and outrageously thin. You're almost worried when typing on its keyboard that you're going to tap too hard and go right through the thing.
It's got the biggest touch pad I've ever seen on a laptop but that's for good reason as the MacBook Air incorporates multi-touch, which allows you to use hand gestures and swipes of your fingers to carry out functions.
I gave that a go with moderate success - maybe I need more time to get the hang of it. But having got used to the iPhone by now I was able to effortlessly scroll around and zoom in and out on web pages on the MacBook Air which was very cool.
I can definitely see owners of this pricey uber-thin computer doing less scrabbling around with the mouse.
When I got over the beautifully curved bottom of the MacBook Air, the miniscule profile it has when its closed, the way it made me want to slip it into my copy of the Guardian and just walk out of the store with it, the MacBook Air is really just like any other MacBook.
It does all the same stuff. Frankly, I'd rather have the flexibility of a regular MacBook, which is what many other people seem to be realising and is a factor behind some of that Apple angst going on at the moment.
Also, I get the feeling that after a few days of solid usage, its well-documented shortcomings will start to become really annoying.
There's the lack of a built-in optical drive and the absence of the usual connectors you'd find on the average laptop - my Mac fanatic friend shook his head distastefully when I suggest Apple should have bundled a docking station for the MacBook Air, incorporating all those useful things like Ethernet and VGA ports, another few USB slots, HDMI etc. I was told that that is the type of thing Dell would do.
There's a very un-Apple-like flap covering the power and single USB connector on the MacBook's side. I wonder how long it will take for that to break off?
Anyway, they're already talking about the next MacBook Air, which is likely to be based on Intel's 45-nanometer chip technology. Then there's the new MacBook Pro rumours to consider.
I think the first generation of the MacBook Air's greatest contribution to computing may be the kick in the butt it gives to laptop makers in general.
I certainly found that last week at the mobile show in Barcelona that the iPhone has shaken the traditional mobile phone giants into action. Hopefully the Air will spark a new focus on laptop design to the benefit of us PC users too.
