So today I saw a macbook air...

...and man, is the screen nice. I also like how thin it is, and I know I'm gonna get killed/snapped in half/beaten to death for this, but I didn't find the weight difference between the macbook and the air to be thaaaat big. I guess 2lbs is not that noticeable to me.

Anyway, dissapointment ensues, as I spent about 15 minutes testing the unit (1.6ghz, 80gb hdd), and sadly, I found the laptop to be quite umm... unsnappy... I didn't really notice it when opening programs and such, since safarim, address book, mail, etc, opened up relatively quick, but all the animations were pretty jerky, like the dock, minimizing and maximizing, expose, etc, and I guess it's fine for the average user, but I'm coming from a 2.2ghz macbook pro with a 8600gt video card, so I guess I might have a different point of view, or maybe I was expecting more.

Yeah, for an ultraportable it's got pretty good power, and I thought I would be willing to make the sacrifice for the lighter weight, and nicer display, but now I don't think I will. I wouldn't dare say it's a gimmick, i mean, it is a nice looking machine, slim, lighter, really nice screen and backlit keyboard, but I guess I just thought I was going to be blown away by the lightness of the machine and everythig else.

Looking at the air and the macbook, I wouldn't be able to help feeling guilty if I ever spent $1800 or €1649 on the macbook air, when the macbook is not that much heavier, has more power, and has a pretty nice design as well. Of course the screen isn't as good, and the keyboard isn't backlit, but that is not worth $700 for me, or the weight.

Anyway, just my 2 cents, as everyone else seems to be toying around with one and giving their opinion these days.

Final verdict, I will get a base macbook (which should keep me away from awesome gaming on the 8600gt mbp), upgrade to 4 gigs of ram, and maybe down the road upgrade the hdd. I will use the extra $600 on clothes, probably blow it away on zara, or use it for train passes and visit as many places in spain as I can, who knows, I just know now that I won't feel bad I didn't get the air now that I had the chance to compare both.

 

I though it was okay as well it was thin but didn't seem amazingly light. I also didn't really like the tapered edge it seemed too much of the notebook was off the table. However the screen was great the keyboard however fell short I didn't like it.

 

I agree with your assessment. I would add that the keyboard is really nice! As you said though, it is rather tough to justify the Air over the MacBook. However, if I had a powerful machine at home (iMac/Mac Pro/MacBook Pro), and was looking exclusively for portability, then I would definitely look at the Air.

 

Its a good portable. Thats all it is I think.

 

I didn't notice any jerky animations when I tested the MacBook Air...but the keyboard and the screen is just gorgeous. And it feels amazingly sturdy considering how thin it is.

 

it is a gimick. the MAJOR downfall for the laptop IMO is the lack of optical drives.

 

give it 2 or 3 optical drives and it's a winner

 

I was too terribly impressed with it either... basic operations were noticeably slow to me.

 

Here we go again...

 

its not for replacing ur primary machine
its for those who want an additional lappy which is very light n enough to do basic work

 

I've thought about making an 'Air my main machine. Maybe the 2nd generation but not the current model. Obstacles are cost and performance. I need an optical drive. Just yesterday I had to install the drivers for my new Palm smartphone and I would not want to be bothered with that "drive mooching" software that ships with the 'Air. I lived with a Dell without an optical drive for 3 years and I know how painful it is. When I'm walking around with a notebook, I'm likely to pop in an optical disk more than once a day. That's way too often for me to pull out that external thing and plug it in to the only available usb port. And no ethernet? No ethernet? You would have to swap the only usb port between the ethernet dongle and the optical drive or else bring along a hub. Now all of a sudden the amount of junk I am bringing along to get around the 'Air limitations weighs almost as much as the difference in weight between the 'Air and the Macbook.

It's still tempting, though. Lighter is almost always better and hopefully the 2nd generation 'Air will deal with these limitations creatively, ie built in ethernet, multiple usb ports and free included external optical drive. Hopefully the price will fall as well. I could see the 'Air taking over for the Macbook user. It could offer almost everything the Macbook has now for the price of the Blackbook and I bet it would sell a lot better. Price isn't always the answer, but when you look at the add-on stuff you need to make the 'Air do everything you need, price becomes a consideration.

The 'Air is a beautiful machine and I hope Apple figures out all these minor snags soon.

 

Well... Maybe I'm the only one not struggling with it as a primary machine hehe

 

I too am curious and waiting to see what direction apple will take the MBA. I guess it all depends on how this first iteration is received. The price is a big hindrance for me right now, mainly the SSD-equipped model being $3250 (CAD).

With SSD dropping in price while increasing capacity coupled with new smaller chips, I'm hoping the second generation will be considerably cheaper and faster, at least for SSD equipped models. Personally, the build quality of the Air as it is is awesome and hope they continue with that. The omission of the optical drive was a huge issue for me but I now think I can make do with the USB-optical drive. I can see myself buying one if they address the cost and configuration (bigger SSD and faster CPU for less than $3k).

 

what do you do if you need to reinstall the OS?

 

Not sure if your addressing me, but for the one in every few years I reinstall OS's I guess I'd plug in my superdrive and start installing...

 

I've heard Apple addressed this in one way...I don't remember what, but the Remote Disc thing works when you need to reinstall. Or something. They just got it covered .