First Impressions

Hello,

I just wanted to share my opinions/impressions of the Macbook Air. There are so many differing opinions online and I've found that user opinions seem very valuable. I've had the Macbook Air for just under a week (granted not quite that long, but long enough for a few opinions). I purchased the 1.6 version with a the standard harddrive. I just couldn't justify the extra grand on an SSD. For about $179 I also picked up a 750mb Mybook as a back-up drive for all my photos and music.

I chose the Air for a few reasons (after exhaustive research/debate). The first is just the simple fact that it's really quite sleek and it fascinated me (that was the big debate, form over function). That leads me to the second reason, the Air meets my needs. I really thought about what I needed in a laptop and what I use it for (and yes this is my primary computer after having used a 20" imac for quite a while). I use my laptop for surfing the web, mail, itunes and storing photos. I don't process photos or videos and don't need the higher-end specs of the macbook pro. I also haven't used the DVD drive in my imac for over a year so I didn't want or need the drive.

After comparing the screens of the macbook air, macbook pro and macbook, I really felt like there was a clearer picture on the air. Could be my imagination but I really thought the air looked better.

After using the air for a while, I really like the following features:

1. Backlit keyboard - works very well when surfing the net in bed (may sound funny but I've found it convenient)
2. Full size keyboard - I've had subcompact PC laptops before (sony U1) and the mini keyboards drove me crazy.
3. Ease of connecting to the external drives (common to all mac's I'm sure)
4. Speed - many people have complained of the slow speed but I've not really had that experience. The system has been quite quick and startups and load times are fine. Even when installing multiple programs, surfing the web, and downloading bittorrents simultaneously, the system was able to keep up quite well and didn't overheat or shutdown.
5. The fact that the laptop is relatively "green" is a plus. Not a huge point, but it doesn't hurt either.
6. Speedy Wifi. I have quite a quick cable network and a wireless printer. Both work quite well and were extremely easy to set up.
7. The gesture functions for the trackpads are quite nice and easy to get used to.

Now for the less-than ideal points:
1. The backlit keyboard sometimes stops working and I have to hit the manual button on the keyboard. That seems to reset the program to work again. I have double-checked the settings and have it set to never expire but for some reason it does.
2. The auto-adjusting brightness of the screen is both a pro and a con. I've noticed in dimly lit rooms that if I move the laptop (like while typing), the screen can dim and lighten if the light hits it just right.
3. The bottom of the laptop does get hot sometimes. It's never shut down or overheated but I've registered temps of 82C during full loads.
4. The fact that time machine can't backup to a network drive (though I've heard rumors that there are programs in the works to correct this).
5. Obviously the lack of expandability is an issue but I knew that going in and this is not a concern.

Firstly, congratz on the new macbook air! Hope you enjoy using it! Now, down to business. Regarding the screen brightness changing automatically, go to system prefs << displays << uncheck automatically adjust brightness.

Now as far as time machine to a network drive, there is always time capsule. I have one and it works like a charm.

Are you sitting the MacBook Air on your lap, or is it on a desk? You said it gets hot sometimes, that could be due to lack of ventilation.

I love mine, it came on the first shipment, and loving it ever since.

The Macbook air at first didn't look very good, but when I looked at reviews like this one, I changed my mind....anyway... i agree with you, the Air's speed doesn't differ that much from that of the regular Macbook, in my opinion people are just plain impatient, I have an iBook G3, it's not the fastest but I can deal with it.

The bottom of a Powerbook as well as MBP gets quite hot. It's the aluminum that conducts the heat. All the aluminum notebooks get quite warm on the bottom so I am not too shocked the MBA does also.

Steve jobs said that they made it out of aluminum because they wanted the laptop to be a huge heat-sink, it seems that they missed heat sink and make a heater...

I recently repaired a Compaq laptop, quite thick also, and the bottom almost burned me. P4 CPU if I remember correctly.

I have problem with BT internet connection to my Nokia E51 phone.
Using HSDPA internet service I measured 1200kbps/20kbps download/upload speed. The upload is very slow. I tested with some E51 and all has this problem with MBA. All of them works well with Windows based Sony Vaio and Lenovo X61s. On windows I managed to upload with 350kbps.

I used the builtin modem script (GSM/3G), then I used the script from the following page: http://www.taniwha.org.uk/.
Both worked on download side... But the upload was very slow. On USB connection the upload is 350kbps on MBA with E51.

Did anyone used this baby with Hsdpa internet on BT?
Was the upload slow or worked as expected?
Which hsdpa phone did you used?

Thanks in advance!

dtravis7 said:

I recently repaired a Compaq laptop, quite thick also, and the bottom almost burned me. P4 CPU if I remember correctly.

Click to expand...

The Pentium 4 was a power hog, as well as running too hot for it's own good.

Hmm... I wonder why Intel went back to the Pentium Pro architecture for the Core series? ;D

The Core CPU's in MBP's run VERY hot. Small thin case and a dual core CPU.

I agree, the P4 especially toward the end when it hit 800FSB and the Prescott core was a very HOT cpu.

I got my macbook air a good month ago now, and it's never really heated up that badly.(not any worse than my old macbook anyways)

I don't see why some people have a problem with the macbook air, if it' not for them then it's not for them, so they don't have to keep on going on about it.

This does not even get hot, My macbook and macbook pro was much hotter.

Hello, and thank you to the many people that have responded to my original thread. As for the heat of the laptop, perhaps this sounded worse in text than actuality. I've noticed the heat only when resting the laptop on my bare legs while running multiple programs. I have ensured that the openings in the back remain unblocked just to avoid any issues with heat dispersion.

As for the screen brightness, I actually like the autodimming/brightening function. There are only a few occasions where the lighting in the room is too low or variable and causes issues.

One other major difference I noted in the Air and the iMac is the quality of the iSight camera. I know they're supposed to be the same but the Air quite lower in quality at the same lighting conditions. Again, not something I use regularly, just an observation.

Now that I can use time machine on my airport extreme I am even happier with this purchase.

jim

I went to the Silicon Valley today with friends to Frys Electronics. Got to mess with the Macbook Air for the first time.

Amazing little and I mean THIN machine! It's really not slow at all for anything it was designed to do. It makes my iBook 1.33Ghz seem slow on Leopard. Very snappy overall. Loading is a little slower due to the small Hard Drive but not bad at all. Screen is FIRST RATE. Made the Macbook's look bad especially at more extreme viewing angles. The LED is amazingly bright and clear. I tried a BlackBook and White Macbook. I had to adjust the viewing angle to really see it. They were side by side on the same table with same lighting. Keyboard is great just like a Macbook.

As long as one does not need it for advanced Video Editing (No firewire) or any other demanding usage, it's a great machine. I was way more impressed than I felt I would be. It is a way more useable machine than any of the other Sub Notebooks or Thin and Lights out there due to that first rate keyboard and display.

I loved the Multi Touch trackpad. Went and turned on all the features and was very impressed. Got the hang of it very quickly.

It's so light and felt pretty cold. Some Mac Hater put all kind of junk on the desktop. Empty folders. They were next door using a Mac Pro and calling it Apple Junk, so I zapped all the empty folders and cleaned it all up.

Anyway that is my take on the MBA.

Only thing I forgot to try was the MagSafe to see if it really comes out only on an angle as some have wondered. Next trip!