Apple MacBook Air 13in review Two years ago Apple got really serious about thin and light laptops - and did something really quite important. It replaced its original Air model – that was by then almost three years old – with two new designs. The first Air had been widely perceived to be an expensive novelty, over-priced and under-powered, and it didn’t look …
Got a Macbook Air just over a year ago - have to say it is 'by far' the best laptop (for me) I have ever had and not just saying that because it's the newest. As someone who actually carries their laptop around (rather than being just a desktop replacement) it's been fantastic - so much smaller and lighter but still just as useable.
No I do not need a built-in DVD drive - so it's fine for me - for the few times I do (perhaps 1-2 times in the last 12 months) I have an external drive than is barely larger than a audio CD case. 9.5/10 - for what it is can't fault it - screen res is perfect for it's size, battery life is great, solid state is more reliable / rugged. The whole lot is like carrying an A4 pad and even the power adapter is barely bigger than a plug on a conventional laptop.
I'll admit it was not the cheapest but for what it is it's near perfect - the real test - if I lost it would I replace it - yes immediately.
Well as a laptop it is typically only used by me - so viewing 'angle' is not really an issue - but I've had 2-3 people (side by side) viewing the screen and also seemed fine - probably as much as you can expect. As for colour - a colleague had a Spyder3Elite so did various tests and calibrations on it and the changes recommended were 'minor' to say the least.
The problem is real. It's not as rich or deep in the blues or reds as a Pro or my ageing Dell professional monitor.
Having said that, the Air screens have better pixel density than the Pro screens, and for me that's more important in actual use. Mine feels much, much sharper than even a pro-grade Dell Ultrasharp at normal viewing distances, and less glossy than a Pro's screen. Unless you're doing very serious pro photo editing the Air screens are near-perfect.
"Yep: try and buy server hard disks or RAM upgrades from HP or IBM, but be prepared to whince!"
The Air is a server? How much is the rack mounting kit?
"I agree that the prices Apple charges for memory are insane. But then, they have always done so, it really shouldn't come as a surprise anymore."
That doesn't make it right.
"Every computer manufacturer since the beginning of time has charged "over the odds" for memory supplied by themselves. IBM, DEC, Sun, HP etc. etc. Apple is no different and this shouldn't be news."
You are being fleeced and no amount of apologist hand waving can hide the fact. I doubt HP get away with a 40%+ mark up these days. Ditto Lenovo, Dell etc.
As to the comment 'that doesn't make it right' - remember part of the extra cost is because that component is then covered by the warranty. I remember buying drives for HP servers and they were significantly more expensive but were then covered on the on-site warranty at no extra cost.
The 11" Macbook air with 64Gb storage is £849 - the same one with 128Gb is £929 - so yes it's £80 for 64Gb. Yes I can get a cheapo 64gb USB stick for £25-30 but it's not got anything like the same performance - so is it really that expensive?
"Every computer manufacturer since the beginning of time has charged "over the odds" for memory supplied by themselves."
Yes, remember this years ago when we were buying our first Sun workstation at work - Sun salesperson actually told us not to order additional memory from them and pointed us to someone who made "compatible" memory for about 1/3rd of their cost!
Again Apple rip you off on the cost of flash memory, and put less ports in so you have to buy adapters.
I have a Toshiba Z830-10U ultrabook which is actually lighter than the 13" Air ... it also has 3 USB ports (one of which is USB3), a full size VGA out, HDMI out and a LAN port.
Beauty is it cost under £500 and is just as good. Only thing that lets it down is the display, not as good quality and only 1366x768.
Apple are just a rip-off!
hmmmm
just as good = inferior display - what planet are you on?
Think what you meant to say was for your particular use case you were only willing to part with £500 (btw was that real retail - a quick google suggests the online price of the current version is closer to £650).
So in short your comment should read" I have no need for the features the air has over my tosh - therefore I question the value of the Air for my own little world but I fully understand that others need to have a better screen or different OS validates their desire to pay more".
Agree with me or just having a thinly veiled dig at Apple for no real reason?
Cost is not the most important factor. You pay a slight premium for the MacBook Air but as soon as you start using the machine you know it was money well spent.
For me, the best feature about any Mac has always been the touchpad. No windows based laptop has ever had a good touchpad. Samsung have got close to having a decent one in some of their premium models, but that’s the exception.
Going back to your daft cost argument, if you pick up a base MBA and intend to use it for 3 years, then that's barely £350 per year. It's an investment even the most hard-up students don't even flinch at when purchasing the machine. Plus if you want to use OS X, then you don't even look at the PC alternatives, your decision is between the MBA or the MBP.
As for spending money on a 1366x768 machine in 2012, I'm not sure what to say. I don't know whether to laugh or sympathise.
There are many great features about mac laptops that I love but you are spot on with the trackpad comment. That is obviously your main means of interacting with the device and every single non Apple trackpad I have personally tried hasn't even come close to the muti touch pads used on macs. Worth the premium alone in my opinion.
I just looked up the Toshiba Z830-10U - don't know where you got it for £500 (inc. VAT) with the same spec. as the Macbook Air - the cheapest ones I saw were much nearer Macbook prices and I've seen the Toshiba - it feels flimsy in comparison and as you say the screen is not as good.
It doesn't matter that XXX brand costs 10x less. After 18 months, brand XXX will be worth exactly 1% of what you paid for it.
In contrast, pretty much any Apple hardware will retain the vast majority of it's value for years. I just sold a 2008 MacBook Air for $630, just as an example. Show me a non-Apple machine from ANY brand that's worth more than 5% of it's value after four years....
Just looking at the initial cost of the machine is shortsighted - over the long term, the Mac's deliver much better TCO.
Of course, if you don't have the money for a new Mac, then it's a moot point. Even then, you should still buy a used Mac, even if you are only going to run Windows on it. Anything else and you are just burning money...
TCO is made up of many factors and for most people / companies Apple kit will cost less - i.e. lasts longer, worth more at resale and the biggie lower support costs or higher productivity. I have a friend who heads who says support time was cut in half for their users that switched to Mac - that is real $$$'s
Less features for the same or more money, but it's (supposedly) pretty.
The original Air was a cheap and heavier take on the Sony TT (Released around 2008 or so IIRC). Hardly revolutionary.
If screen real estate is what you need Asus has a much better option in the same bracket. If power and screen real estate are what you need Sony's Z series without the media dock comes in for a similar price these days with full HD not just 1400*900. Much better SSD, memory and processor (a full spec IvyBridge rather than the U version) - and at 2lb is even lighter, whilst keeping the 6+ hours battery life. (And personally I think the Carbon Fiber Sony looks oodles better...). Oh.. And all the connectors you need for day to day without having to buy an adaptor.
Why does this score so high?
Err, extrememly small, light, ultra portable, with a good screen.
They are the factors that seperate the TT and the Air from other machines. At least until Intel introduced it's UltraBook standard.
The point I was trying to make is that contrary to what the review says the Air was not the first laptop to bring this type of machine to market.
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Re: So like the new iPhone
Bull! How many other 11" laptops from the time had HD Ready screens, built in optical drives, full connectivity and real processors instead of Atoms?
There is a reason it was many times more the cost of a NetBook or 15" laptop - because it was a full computer in a tiny, carbon fiber case! Before I killed it by dropping a large peice of metal on the screen (Oops!) I ran VS 2010, TFS Server 2010 and SQL Server 2008 on mine so that I could develop on the move. If you can say which other 11" laptop from the time would do that I'd be impressed!
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Oops :) I just re-read the review... My bad I thought that the Air was 2009, not 2008. I stand corrected (and in which case, yup I can see that it was pretty impressive for the time).
So yes, it seems to have beaten the TT...
I stand by my comment that the current one isn't that great when comparing with the alternatives though.
"The Reg have started getting comments from Apple now, rather than simply being ignored. Around the same time, this and the iphone 5 both get 90%.
Coincidence?"
Err, have you been reading *all* of El Reg's coverage about Apple? An overly obsequious tone isn’t a criticism that can’t justifiably be made.
Also, IIRC, Apple started giving comments to El Reg before these reviews.
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