MacBook Air Review - iPhone 3G

Ramesh · 02-23-2008, 10:17 PM

Ok, I promised I would do a little write-up/review. Here it is:

Screen:
Well, I am writing this on my SECOND MBA because the first one had a bad pixel. And I actually found ANOTHER one on this machine too! WTH?! No one has the MBA's in stock, so I'm stuck with this one for now. The second one is as noticeable, and seems to only show up after being on for a bit. Aside from that, the screen is amazing! Very clear, vivid, and bright. The ambient sensor works great.

Result: 3.5/5 (would be higher, but 2 dead pixels irk me)

Keyboard:
After using a MBP, MB and and iMac's keyboard, I think this is my favorite keyboard. It's not "mushy", and it's very responsive. I personally like the low profile keys and the back-lit feature. A good, solid keyboard

Result: 5/5

Touchpad/Trackpad:
Definitely growing on me. It's very large, which is good and bad. Good from the sense of using it, bad from the sense that when I type, I inadvertently will touch the pad and move the cursor to some random spot. I thought I could disable the trackpad when I type, but I can't. Using better form, this is avoidable though. The new features are great. I like the triple finger swipe, which will go forward and back with one motion. This works within finder and safari, which is pretty cool. I find this very using while browsing for files and pictures.

Result: 4/5

Performance:
Being 1.6Ghz, it's not a screamer, but it's not that bad. It renders webpages quickly and launches programs at a reasonable speed. I haven't tried anything too intense, but I have run excel, word, etc, and those are fine. The 2 GB of RAM really help. It definitely runs faster than I thought it would, so that scored some points in my book.

Result: 4/5

Overall:
Not a bad machine. The remote disk really acts efficiently. It installs at a speed that doesn't feel slow. Installing office did take a while, but I was installing firefox, updates, and other programs all at once. During this time, I felt no lag. The thinness of this machine is really nice. Also, the charger is not as breakaway as the MBP's or MB's. I have to be mindful that it doesn't get caught on one of the dogs. I think it would break away, but I'm not so sure. It's light, and very, VERY thin.

The coolness factor does make the machine more attractive.

Overall 4.3/5 (not an average of the above scores)

If anyone has any questions, let me know. I wrote this while watching TV.

I may have forgotten a thing or two to include.

patrickj · 02-23-2008, 10:58 PM

Good job. Short and sweet - well, except for the dead pixel sourness

Ramesh · 02-23-2008, 11:09 PM

Thanks.

scandalex · 02-24-2008, 12:42 AM

2 dead pixels? I'm guessing that both your MBA's came from the same store. Wonder if there was a bad patch of deal pixel MBA's produced?!? Anyone else with the Air having DP issues?

Ramesh · 02-24-2008, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scandalex

2 dead pixels? I'm guessing that both your MBA's came from the same store. Wonder if there was a bad patch of deal pixel MBA's produced?!? Anyone else with the Air having DP issues?

2 different store, 2 different cities! 1 from Orange, 1 from Irvine.

scandalex · 02-24-2008, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rxmxsh

2 different store, 2 different cities! 1 from Orange, 1 from Irvine.

I used to live in (Northern) Cali and I dont remember if Orange & Irvine are neighbors.

Ramesh · 02-24-2008, 01:04 AM

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=e...2&ie=UTF8&z=12

There are about 3 or 4 best buys inbetween

kokogirl · 02-24-2008, 02:14 AM

Nice review. Thanks!

I wish I knew when the new macbooks were coming out so I can compare. I am sooo impatient. I want to get a new computer. I do not buy computers very often, so I need to make a good decision.

Ramesh · 02-24-2008, 02:56 AM

Another thing: It's actually quite sturdy for being so thin and small. I was quite surprised, but this casing is very solid. If I didn't have that dead pixel, this machine would be near perfect for what it is.

geordisjd · 02-24-2008, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scandalex

2 dead pixels? I'm guessing that both your MBA's came from the same store. Wonder if there was a bad patch of deal pixel MBA's produced?!? Anyone else with the Air having DP issues?

No dead pixel here.