MacBook Air Review
Many of us have been waiting patiently for this release. The MacBook Air is Apple's new Ultra Light, Ultra Thin notebook. Although this isn't the first ultra thin notebook to hit the market (the first was the X505 from Sony in 2003), this is probably the most hyped.
MacBook Air Review
The MacBook Air will find a following with on-the-go Travelers and Business people no doubt. The Air sports a wedge design that tapers from approximately 3/4" to less than a 1/4" at the front of the "wedge". The little "heavy weight" notebook weighs in at a mere 3lbs.
Other features for the on-the-go Travelers and Business people will find useful are:
- Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking that is IEEE 802.11A/B and C compatible
- Built in BlueTooth and EDR
- 1 Built in USB 2.0 port
- 1 Micro DVI port
- 1 Audio Out Port
- 13.3 inch backlit TFT Glossy Widescreen
- Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 4MB on-chip shared L2 cache and it runs at full speed!
- Built in sight camera
- Built in mono speaker and omnidirectional microphone
MacBook Air Goes Green
Apples states that the MacBook Air is also Environmentally friendly. Apples product information states that the Air uses the least power of any Mac. It uses a highly recyclable aluminum case, Mercury free LCD display and arsenic free glass, PVC free internal cables, most of the packaging is recyclable plus the MacBook Air meets Energy Star requirements. The MacBook Air also received a Silver rating from EPEAT.
The MacBook Air comes with a starting price tag of $1799. You can also add some customized features that will certainly increase this price.
What Comes With the MacBook Air
The MacBook Air ships with a Micro DVI to DVI adapter, a Micro DVI to VGA adapter, a cleaning and polishing cloth, MagSafe power adapter, Install and Restore DVD's plus full documentation.
It seems Apple has really put the software on the Air, the installed software includes:
- Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard (includes Time Machine
- Quick Look
- Spaces
- Spotlight
- Dashboard
- iChat
- Safari
- Address Book
- QuickTime
- iCal
- DVD Player
- Photo Booth
- Front Row
- Xcode Developer Tools)
- iLife '08 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand)
What's Missing?Well, for one, the MacBook Air only has one USB 2.0 port. I would have liked to saw a few more. Plus it doesn't come with an optical drive...hello!
The new MacBook Air's will not start shipping for another 2 weeks. However you can pre-order them now at the Apple Store. Only time will tell whether or not the MacBook Air will be the light weight power house that it has been hyped to be, but with all the features packed into this 3lb giant, it's certainly off to a good start!
Tony Travis is a computer gadget freak. In Tony's eye's, the only bad gadget is the one he doesn't own! Tony is a review of new technology hardware and software and you can find his MacBook Air reviews on his blog. Tony is a fan of both Mac and PC computers. His pre-release MacBook Air Review will be followed by an actual review once his order arrives. You see, Tony had to have a MacBook Air and has pre-ordedred his. Keep watching for an in-depth review in the future.
MacBook Air Review