First Month with a MacBook Air

When the MacBook Pro was announced I preordered and could not wait for it to get to me.  I ended up having to wait a couple months before it was finally shipped to me, but it was well worth the wait.  I kept it for three fantastic years before finally upgrading to a newer MacBook Pro.  Then about three months ago I was looking to upgrade again and started thinking about whether I should get the 17" instead of the 15" or go with a Mac Mini.  I actually got a Mac Mini only to find that it was not for me.  That is a story for another day, but after having the Mini I realized that portability was something that I valued a lot and the processing power of the Mini was plenty for most of my needs.  So why not try a MacBook Air I thought, and here I am writing this post on my MacBook Air.

Reasons the MacBook Air is Great

The MacBook Air is unmistakably small and light.  This is the main reason that I decided to give it a try.  I went with the 13" since I had my doubts I could transition to such a smaller screen as the 11" would have been coming from the MacBook Pro 15".  It is still incredibly thin and light at least as compared to the pro I had.  Having a smaller laptop really makes a difference when carrying around and using in bed.  The screen is still excellent as compared to my work laptop (its a dell), and the built in camera which is standard on all Apple laptops is perfect for video chat.  The instant on feature when you just let it sleep is great, but not a lot faster than my MacBook pro was from sleep.  The big difference is in booting which is much faster due to the SSD instead of HDD.  The SSD is also much zippier when opening programs or files.  If you open a lot of programs frequently or boot every time you use your computer then the SSD is a definite advantage.  You can get an SSD for a pro however and it could be an even faster model since the one in the Air is not user replaceable and therefore you do not get any choice aside from size.

Reasons the MacBook Air is Not so Great

So not everything is all that great.  First and most obvious is the lack of a physical disc drive.  Although I thought I could do without it has actually been annoying and I have found myself really wanting a disc drive again.  However, it did give me a good excuse to get an external blu-ray drive which it seems Apple will never carry in their laptops so at least there is that.  Ripping blu-ray movies in order to get them on other devices though is not that fun due to the size of the file, so really the blu-ray is not that big of an advantage unless you just really need to use blu-rays versus DVDs or you are planning to play blu-rays on your computer and output to your TV.  Another large complaint I have is the lack of user replaceable components.  The 4GB of RAM and the 250GB SSD are good and plenty for my current needs with the exception of those blu-ray rips, but if down the road I need to upgrade I will be forced to get a new computer entirely rather than just refreshing.  The last point to make on the disappointments list is the super loud fan which seems to kick on at the slightest load to the processor which happens frequently with the 1.7 Ghz i5 in there.

Conclusion

At this point, the tradeoffs are worth it.  I love the size and weight of this MacBook Air and it matches or exceeds the performance of my previous laptop in almost every way.  I still don't think I am entirely ready to rid myself of the disc drive as I still rent from Blockbuster and use my computer to watch the movies often, but the quick SSD and excellent portability are great.  If you find yourself looking for a very portable computer that still has good specs then the MacBook Air is a very difficult computer to beat.

New MacBook and MacBook Pros Coming Soon

I always get excited about new Apple products coming out and new notebooks are long overdue in my opinion.  I love my MacBook Pro and I got it when they first came out (yes I am one of those crazy people).  Sometimes you just have to have it I guess.  That exciting time for new notebooks has finally come again though.  Apple will announce the new MacBook and MacBook Pro models on Tuesday the 14th and will likely explain all of the new exciting features.  I have been checking out the rumors and general rumors and photos indicate a few things about the new laptops:

 - There is going to be an aluminum version of the MacBook now and not just the Pro

 - The new notebooks will be using a dedicated NVIDIA graphics cards to provide higher quality graphics 

 - The larger trackpads that are included on the MacBook Air are going to be on the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros

There are other rumors surfacing about possible LCD HDTVs made by Apple that would include the Apple TV functionality right out of the box.  I am not so sure about the HDTVs, but most of the notebook stuff seems to be feasible.  the other thing is the possible inclusion of Blu-ray drives in the notebooks rather than the DVD drives included now.  We will have to see on Tuesday how it pans out.  In  the mean time take a look at these pictures at Mac Rumors; they should wet your appetite for the new all aluminum notebooks. 

Could Apple Pull The Plug on the MacBook Air

I have heard grumblings that Apple may in fact pull the plug on the MacBook Air because of its lackluster performance and reviews.  This could make sense for a number of reasons.  All of the reasons point back to one observation of mine; the MacBook Air is ahead of its time.

The MacBook Air is Ahead of its time for a few reasons:

- The lack of a disc drive is difficult for people to take at this point in time

- The battery life is not long enough considering the things you sacrifice

- There are cheaper alternatives out there that seem enticing enough to avoid the high price tag of the MacBook Air.

There are plenty of reasons I do not have a MacBook Air, but the most obvious one is the price tag.  I could not afford one even if I wanted it.  The second problem I had was the lack of a disc drive, but I think I could get over that quickly.  Battery life would have been a clincher though.  I can not imagine a laptop of that size and with a lack of a disc drive having a poor battery life.  That would be the first thing that I wanted it to have.  We will have to see if Apple is going to redo the MacBook Air or just can it completely.  One thing is for sure though, battery technology has not caught up to where the manufacturers of these laptops want to take their devices.  

Implications of a Driveless Laptop

So driveless is not a word you say? Well Apple has decided with its MacBook Air that driveless is the way to go. What does this mean for all of those people out there that want to take a DVD on the plan ride and watch it on their computer? Or what if you have a game that you really want to load on the computer? Do I really have to have an external drive to get those things working on the MacBook Air?

It would seem the answer is Apple is pushing for a driveless line of notebook computers. At first I thought that this was an incredibly bad idea because watching movies is something that I love to do and do frequently on my MacBook Pro. But the more I thought about it the more this reminds me of how Apple got rid of the floppy drive before everyone else. Everyone thought that was a terrible idea because you may need it some time, but in retrospect it was never really missed. How does the lack of a disc drive relate you ask? Well this is Apple's push for you to use high speed internet to download what you need rather than rely on a disc drive and tangible media to use on the laptop. Can you say "forcing you to download movies from say iTunes?" This is a great way to get people to use Apple's already exsiting services to gain more profits for them and make people less cluttered.

I already have an external DVD burner so I can rip my movies onto my laptop as I frequently doanyway and then I would not have to worry about the battery draining drive spinning. In the case of the MacBook Air though, the decision has already been made for you and you get a great portable notebook computer that is thinner than it looks on TV.