The MacBook Air is Apple’s attempt at (re)defining the premium sub-notebook segment with an ultra-thin laptop with the bare minimum of expandability and connectivity (the only connectors are power, one USB port, a unique video out port, and a headphone jack).
Like all Apple products that defy established industry practices, it has as many detractors as mindless fanboys. In the end, it is not for everyone, but many people had utterly unrealistic expectations.
Resources
- MacBook Air Developer Note, from where the architecture diagram above was taken.
Reviews
| Date | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 11 | Product review: MacBook Air is light as, well, air | Review is interspersed with annoying ads, but a good read (in prose style if not in actual insights) |
| Jan 25 | MacBook Air review | Engadget posts a number of photos of the machine and its connectors |
| Jan 24 | Apple’s MacBook Air Is Beautiful and Thin, But Omits Features | Walt Mossberg notes that the large screen takes up just as much room on an airplane as a conventional laptop… |
| Jan 23 | MacBook Air: The sexy kind of skinny but with some flaws | Edward Baig mentions lack of mobile broadband connectivity |
| Jan 23 | The Skinny on the MacBook Air | Steven Levy ends his review with a comment on the small available storage |
Items of Note
| Date | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 24 | Adding insult to injury: USB 3G modems won’t fit in the MacBook Air | Whereby the forethought of packing an USB extender with your 3G devices is demonstrated (incidentally, last time I checked the equivalent Novatel device in Europe included one such cable in the box, so this piece is redolent of astroturf…) |
| Jan 21 | How the MacBook Air stacks up against other ultra-light notebooks | From where the following comparison table was taken:
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