As many of you know, Apple introduced a new notebook to their Macbook line yesterday at Macworld. Named, 'Macbook Air', this sleek new product is less then meets the eye.
At first sight, the words that came to my mind were: amazing, sleek, sexy... and I want one.
So I rushed over to Apple.com to get the full scoop. Once I arrived, and saw the truth, the lust ended.
What is the truth you maybe ask?
Well Apple has been on a hot streak the last few years and pretty much every product release (except for the Apple TV- I will have to get into that on another post) has been a knock out of the park. The Macbook Air... is a swing and a miss.
The beautifully slim exterior hides... well not much. What you see is what you get, and with a notebook this small you don't see much. Unlike the feature rich Macbook and Macbook Pro, the Air lacks many of the features that are needed for everyday computing. And at the price of $1799, most would need it to full fill all of their computing needs.
Housed in a stunning aluminum chassis (like the Macbook Pro) the Macbook Air weights only 3 pounds (2 pounds lighter then the Macbook) and has a beautiful 13.3 inch LED lit LCD.
Like the Macbook Pro, the keyboard lights up when in a dark room, and like the new iPhone you can use gestures on the touch pad. A nice touch (pun intended). Sounds like a good starting point, but it is actually the finish.
So what is it missing?
Well first, to save space, there is no CD/DVD drive. Yes they offer an external drive, but if you EVER want to use a CD or DVD on the road you have to carry it with you (which adds more weight and takes up more space then just carrying a Macbook with you).
The second thing it lacks is ports. There is a little drop down on the side that holds the Macbook Air's ports. Once down it gives you a slim selection, one head phone, a mini DVI (which needs dongles to use external monitors... which equals more to carry) and one USB port. Yes your heard me ONE USB PORT. Given the lack of ports only having one USB port is a very bad thing. What if you need to plug into your works Ethernet? Well there is none on the Macbook Air, but Apple does sell a USB one. Ok so you have it plugged into your network, but I you want to listen to a CD while working? Well hopefully you brought your you USB hub (and its external power adapter).
The follies don't end there. If you don't have any head phones you can still listen to your music on the Macbook Airs one speaker. That was not a joke, it only has a mono speaker built in, and since Macs are known for their entertainment uses, this is a head scratcher. Also there is no firewire port (apples own technology) for high speed devices (like DV Cams).On top of all this the battery is not removable (unlike every notebook ever made) which means you would have to pay someone to replace it when it goes bad.
So obviously it is missing alot of features to keep the size and weight down, but how does it stack up again its brothers the Macbook and Macbook Pro?
Well it has a slower processor (even the $3000 dollar model is still slower then the $1099 Macbook.). And in the standard model it uses the same hard drive as the iPod (not a product known for running entire computers off of its drive) which is a measly 4200 RPM PATA ( which stands for "20 year old technology") drive. They do have an option to add a next gen 64 GB Solid State Drive (they are fast, low power drain, and no moving parts!) but that will add and extra $1000 dollars to the cost of the system. The ram in not upgradeable so you will always be stuck with 2 GB (though that is going to be good for most people), and the battery life (as claimed by Apple) is lower then the Macbook.
Things are not looking good for the Macbook Air.
You may be thinking to yourself, isn't Northwest Computer an Apple Dealer now?
Yes, we PROUDLY are. And as a tech here I recommend both the Macbook and Macbook Pro without reservation. They are a great example of design, function and beauty.
The Macbook Air on the other hand fails to live up to the rest of the Apple product line. Not every product from a company (even the seemingly infallible Apple) can be great.
So what is my recommendation?
Unless portability is what you need (and you are willing to sacrifice a lot to get it) I would suggest buying either a Macbook or Macbook Pro. The Macbook is less expensive, faster and has more features (and is only 2 pounds heavier- weight lifting is good for your health anyways). The Macbook Pro eats applications for breakfast, has more features then a swiss army knife and is the nicest notebook I have ever put my hands on. Both are great choices for your next computer.
So is Apple gasping for Air?
Not at all. They are at the top of the game right now. Their line up of products dominate the industry in style, function, durability and ease of use. And with the latest version of OS X fullfilling all of user needs there is a lot of reason to "switch". But the Macbook Air is the one Apple product that just doesn't compute.
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