MacBook Air
MacWorld San FranciscoKEY POINTS:
Weighing slightly less than a size-zero supermodel, and much slimmer with it, the MacBook Air has created a bit of a buzz since its release.
That's hardly surprising, as Apple has been re-cementing its reputation as a consumer electronics innovator recently - iPhone, iPod Touch and even the svelte iMac raise eyebrows, especially when shown to those still handcuffed to the beige box.
When Steve Jobs smugly pulled a MacBook Air from an envelope at MacWorld, he knew that the Apple engineers had again set the bar another notch higher.
In terms of flat-out laptop performance, the Air looks brilliant on paper. There's a mercury-free LED display that's Apple-crisp and can adjust itself to ambient light - not to mention the illuminated keyboard that does the same useful trick.
In keeping with the shift towards solid state media, there's the choice of an 80 gigabyte hard drive or a 64 gig option for those wanting the extra durability factor that comes with having no moving parts. Of course, it's always nice to have the flagship model when it comes to geeky bragging rights.
Processor pace is another decision - there's the option of either a 1.6 or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo on a slick 800MHz front-side bus with 2GB of 667MHz of DDR2 RAM for fuel and a 4MB Level 2 cache.
The machine received from Apple for this review was fitted with the 1.6 Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 80GB Samsung drive.
In real world terms, there's more than enough grunt to run demanding graphics packages like Adobe Creative Suite, and even quickly editing video is possible, although Final Cut Studio won't play with the Air's integrated Intel graphics processors. If it's every day software like Mac Office 2008 you want to run, it's extremely effective.
Apple software bundled with the Air includes iLife 08 plus extras Photo Booth and Front Row, which, along with standard apps like Mail and Safari, will cover most users. Dumping Safari for Mozilla Firefox is recommended.
For streaming web video Air can't be outdone by any broadband service available in the go-slow zone that is New Zealand, and it coped ably when streaming movies from another machine's hard drive over 802.11g Wi-Fi - but will run over the draft 802.11n standard if your router is capable.
So the Air can do the business, and it does so in a trim form factor that, until the Jobs MacWorld reveal, seemed at least a couple of years of laptop engineering away. At its thinnest point, Apple's star du jour is a sliver over 4mm, and at only 19mm at its fattest, there's no doubt that it looks the part.
But with memories of early incarnations of G3 and G4 Powerbooks inexplicably letting the blue smoke out, one could be forgiven for having niggling doubts about just how good the Air was going to be in its first version.
There are compromises you'll make by buying a 1.36 kilogram computer - and the most glaring one is the omission of an optical drive. It is possible to buy an add-on 'SuperDrive' (DVD reader/writer) for $149, and it's not too huge to lug around, but does fill another pocket in the laptop bag - and that can be premium real estate.
So unless you're prepared to cart round the USB-attaching drive, watching movies in exotic locations is out for anything other than content that can be watched wirelessly or is already stored on the laptop.
Despite the missing DVD drive, and the lack of a wired Ethernet connection, it is still possible to use discs. It isn't the perfect process by any means, no more than a necessary workaround, and works by installing Apple's Home Base software on another computer. This machine can either be an OSX Mac running 'Tiger' updated to version 10.4.10, or Windows Vista or XP. A couple of simple settings and it's good to share.
Trying this process on my aging Apple desktop running 10.4 was surprisingly painless, although unless installing software, it seems ever-so-slightly quicker to transfer files directly over Wi-fi than semi-directly using a remote disc.
Another major compromise to deal with is the lack of physical connections that the Air carries. There's only one USB plug, a micro-DVI connection (although there are two adapters in the box, one to DVI and one to VGA) a headphone out jack - all hidden behind a dinky flap on the right-hand underside.
On the left is a magnetic power plug, rounding out the hard-connectivity options on offer - slim pickings, compared to the MacBook and MacBook Pro ranges.
And one gripe about the USB connection - it doesn't fit all of the USB-powered gadgets and goodies that I've accumulated over the years, and using anything in that port means it's far more comfortable using the machine on a table than just perching it on your knee.
Either way, anyone looking at a MacBook Air is likely to be spending a fair amount on USB 2.0 interfaces.
The trackpad makes an interesting move away from the 'normal' approach - and a larger pad has been fitted with a narrower button than usual. This was unique to the Air until the new Pro and MacBook models were revealed last week with the same feature.
Its big trackpad area is to allow iPhone/iPod Touch style gestures to spin photos and to zoom in or out - very cool, but currently only supported by Apple's software.
Its button strip took a while to get used to as well - being used to the standard 'pad and one clicker' approach, there were numerous occasions where I simply missed it. Others who had took the Air for a spin came back with similar thoughts. After a few days use, it became easier to get right, first time, but the odd lapse was still recorded.
Worth the effort?
Many people looking to drop over $3000 on a laptop are looking for a machine that does everything and this, to put it quite bluntly, doesn't. But if you're equipped with a decent wireless set up at home, or willing to spend up on Apple's excellent Time Capsule it's a pretty good option.
Time Capsule combines an AirPort Extreme wireless router with either a 500GB or 1 terabyte hard drive and will automatically back up your Air when it comes into range. You'll still need access to a wireless-capable computer with a DVD drive to use the remote disc facility, meaning a low cost, early-Intel MacMini might be worth a look.
So comes the big question - is the MacBook Air worth it? I see it as a very impressive machine with an excellent spec and it looks frickin awesome - but it's a touch pointless without an optical drive and all of the plugs and ports that we know and love. A fashion accessory? Definitely.
A reasonably unscientific - and some may say incredibly sexist - survey of men and women of various backgrounds and computer orientations found that 90 per cent of the fairer sex were smitten with the lithe laptop. Its form factor, lightness and its handbaggable portability were the definite winners for that part of the market, apparently.
But the boys were more focussed on what the Air couldn't do - not what it could - and of the ten who had a play with the review unit, four were still keen. The other six (slightly more gadget-geeky than the others, granted) thought that a MacBook Pro would be more their speed, with every connection known to man already on board, and capable of playing a DVD on a plane without any need for an add-on.
MacBook Air
(spec as tested)
1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
80GB hard drive
Price $2999
Accessories: Time Capsule 1TB $799, 500GB $498; SuperDrive $159.
For: Ultra cool, thin, fast and interesting
Against: Light on connectivity, no DVD drive
