Lighter Than Air - MacBook Air

Apple's latest notebook turns out to be more than just hot air. Yes, the rumours were true, Apple has launched the MacBook Air, an ultra-light 13.3” laptop that does not have an optical drive. This will give Sony much needed competition in the uber-thin laptop category.

Amazingly thin. Amazingly full-size.

The thinness of MacBook Air is stirring. But perhaps more impressive, there’s a full-size notebook encased in the 0.4 - 1.94 cm of sleek, sturdy anodised aluminium. And at just 1.36 kg, MacBook Air is more than portable — it’s with you everywhere you go.

A no-compromise display

The glossy 13.3-inch, widescreen LED backlit MacBook Air display is the same viewable size as the screen on MacBook. The 1280-by-800 resolution gives you vibrant images and rich colours at full brightness the moment you open MacBook Air. So you get full-screen performance with all the benefits of a slim design. The mercury- and arsenic-free display is also more power efficient, which translates to longer battery life, 5 hours of it to be exact.

Full-size, full-feature keyboard

The keyboard is full-size with crisp keys just like the ones on MacBook. But MacBook Air goes further by adding backlit key illumination, making it easy to work in low-light settings such as airplanes and conference halls. A built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts keyboard and display brightness for optimal visibility. And with the oversize multi-touch trackpad, it just keeps getting better for fingers. You can pinch, swipe, or rotate to zoom in on text, advance through a photo album, or adjust an image. For example, instead if clicking back and next for browsing web pages, simply use 3 fingers to swipe either left or right to screen through your web pages, we like.

Extras

The innovative now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t port hatch flips down to reveal (and closes to hide) all the ports you really need: a USB 2.0 port, a headphone jack and a micro-DVI port that supports DVI, VGA, composite and S-video output. Even the MagSafe power connection has been reconsidered and slimmed to fit MacBook Air.

MacBook Air comes with a way-more-than-generous 2 GB of RAM built in — ample memory for working with your favourite applications. The 80GB hard drive provides plenty of storage space. And you have the option to upgrade to a 64GB solid-state drive, which has no moving parts for enhanced durability.

Unlike most other ultraportable notebooks, MacBook Air includes a built-in iSight camera. It’s so smartly integrated, you hardly notice it’s there. The iSight camera and iChat software make video chatting easy anywhere there’s a wireless network.

To compromise it's slimness, Apple has excluded an optical drive, but for those times when you still need to install software on MacBook Air from a CD or DVD, a new feature called Remote Disc lets you wirelessly use or “borrow” the optical drive of a Mac or PC in the vicinity. So you can have full access to an optical drive without having to haul one around. Other wireless features, include Time Machine, which now wirelessly backs up all your files.

Technical specs

• .16 to .75-inch thickness on top
• 12.8 x 8.94 inches
• 3 pounds
• 5 hours of battery life with everything running

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor at 1.6 or 1.8GHz, motherboard the length of a pencil.
• 800MHz frontside bus.
• 2GB RAM 667MHz DDR2 standard.

• 13.3-inch screen, LED backlit.
• 1,280 x 800 pixels
• Micro-DVI adapter (for DVI, VGA, composite and S-Video output)
• Intel GMA X3100 Graphics processor with 144MB RAM shared

• 1.8-inch 80GB HD or 64GB Solid State Drive (no moving pieces, but for a stunning $1,300 price increase!)
• Multitouch trackpad with gestures. Pans, zooms, rotates, etc.
• 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1.
• Optional external HD for $99, USB-bus powered.
• Full backlit keyboard.
• One USB 2.0, one audio port, one Micro-DVI

Verdict:

This wonderful notebook will set you back around $1,799. Not bad at all considering all the technology Apple threw into this one.

Love: Sexy slimness, light, packed with features, reasonable price.

Hate: No optical drive, limited USB ports.