The MacBook Air: Sleek, light, classy ? and limited

Morshad published 09 Feb 2008, 16:08 in apple - 183 views

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Would you pay $1,000 to get less? That's what Apple is wagering on with its new MacBook Air, which early purchasers just started receiving last week. The MacBook Air is blissfully light and free of encumbrances, but you're paying a premium to shed some pounds.

Apple emphasizes that the Air is designed around a lifestyle in which all media is digital and all files downloadable. They stress this because the MacBook Air has the fewest networking options of any computer Apple has ever shipped. That's not necessarily a minus — something had to give to make it this light.

The MacBook Air has no noticeable openings. Even the power jack, which accepts a plug that uses magnetism instead of friction to attach, is tucked slightly out of view. The monitor, USB 2.0, and audio jack are discreetly hidden with a pop-down panel.

The Air is a joy to behold. It's the most beautiful and stylish computer I've ever touched, and it works precisely as expected. It's a Mac, albeit one that runs slightly slower than even the slowest of other Apple laptop models, but fast enough to avoid feeling sluggish.

The Air also incorporates an expanded set of iPhone-like touch pad gestures that let you navigate through photos, rotate items, Control-click, and zoom entirely with your fingers, making up for some of loss of the flexibility of a mouse that laptop-toters contend with.

Physically fit: It doesn't feel like Apple gave up much to sacrifice 2 pounds. The Air has none of the hallmarks of similarly priced Windows systems that use underpowered processors, have small screens, shrunken keyboards and no pizazz.

For those keeping score, what you get with a MacBook Air is a computer that runs more slowly than a $1,099 MacBook, omits that MacBook's Ethernet, FireWire and second USB 2.0 ports, and doesn't include a CD/DVD optical drive. It does have a backlit keyboard and twice as much RAM.

Factoring both performance and features into the price difference, I see a premium between $700 and $1,000 to get the world's greatest subnotebook.