First Impressions of MacBook Air

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So my Macbook Air just arrived today, 5 days early!

My first impressions I wanted to share with you guys... (for you guys appreciate them at least, unlike parents and siblings :- )

- It really is very compact and pictures don't do it justice.
- The screen is surprisingly large inside this thing.
- The tilt of the screen is limited, I'd liked having it tilt a bit more (i like 150°, this thing ends at around 100° because of the hinge design that makes it so thin).

- Keyboard feels like any Macbook keyboard I've typed on. Very nice. I never owned a notebook before, so this laptop layout confuses me a bit.

- The Touchpad is absolutely amazing. After a couple of hours, the gestures just flowed of my wrist as if naturally. This Macbook is a brilliant reader - you can scroll, resize text, go back and forth in Safari all with your right hand while sipping a coke with the other.

It's a Wikipedia-Machine!

- Battery life seems reasonable so far, I've managed to come around 3 hours of light surfing, no music yet but some youtube watching and I still have 1:06 left by the battery meter. If it can take me a whole afternoon from 12-16, I'm very happy with it.

- Disk speed seems slightly noticeable when installing new apps, but isn't much of an issue.

- This things fast, especially to me because I've been on a G5 til now. The 2Gig Ram chimes in as well. Leopard sings so far. (I stuck with 10.5.0).


- The screen brightness and keybord backlight seems a bit haywire, maybe I'm just not used ot ti yet, but it's strange: The screen went super-dark when i switched off lights around the room. I'll look into that.


- The packaging was super compact and stylish as usual.


- Pics to follow.

Any questions from you I'll be happy to answer :) !
 
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did you opt for the superdrive? have you used another computers cd/dvd drive to install any software?
 
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Actually I didn't order a superdirve. I bought this laptop for the sole reason that I don't need CDs.

I haven't tried using remote disc yet, but will try it out. I don't have any apps on CDs to install :)


One thing I jsut noticed is that the top of it gets really filthy and in the wrong light, looks like you sweat all over it.

But I guess that's just because of the oohs and aahs while turning this thing like 100 times in my hand when I first saw it.
 
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Actually I didn't order a superdirve. I bought this laptop for the sole reason that I don't need CDs.

I haven't tried using remote disc yet, but will try it out. I don't have any apps on CDs to install :)

You had better order one. Otherwise, you'll be SOL if you need to reinstall the OS. Hint: The remote disk won't work without an OS.
 
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You had better order one. Otherwise, you'll be SOL if you need to reinstall the OS. Hint: The remote disk won't work without an OS.

Incorrect, from what I've read on Apple's site you can remote disk without the OS if you need to reinstall. That would be a major fault in the product if it didn't, and Apple doesn't usually make bad mistakes like that. Also, MBA owners have confirmed this in the discussion forums.
 
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Incorrect, from what I've read on Apple's site you can remote disk without the OS if you need to reinstall. That would be a major fault in the product if it didn't, and Apple doesn't usually make bad mistakes like that. Also, MBA owners have confirmed this in the discussion forums.
I stand corrected -- sort of. I found a link that discusses it here. It seems that you have to install OS X on the host computer in order for Remote Disk to work, which is fine if your host computer happens to be a Mac, but kind of problematic if it isn't. Also, the install process via Remote Disk is ... well, quite slow to put it mildly. So, yes, I guess I could live without the external DVD-ROM drive, but I would definitely test out Remote Disk thoroughly before I relied on it as a disaster recovery plan.
 

dtravis7


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Yogi, can't wait for the pics. On the 10.5.0, are you going to upgrade to 10.5.1? You should for sure.
 
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What do you mean install the OS? It's just a tiny bit of software that's there on the MBA install disc. It installs on Windows as well.
 
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I woulda gone with the superdrive jst for convenience. The remote disk would mean that you hae to have the two computers near each other (unless you want to run around putting the disk in and accepting it etc.)
 
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For the screen brightness, it's working correctly. It's supposed to dim in the dark so you don't have a super bright screen blinding you and brighten in the light so you can see the screen better with the ambient light. iPhone, MB, and MBP work the same way. I would think that the iPod touch does as well as any other light sensing Apple product.
 
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For the screen brightness, it's working correctly. It's supposed to dim in the dark so you don't have a super bright screen blinding you and brighten in the light so you can see the screen better with the ambient light. iPhone, MB, and MBP work the same way. I would think that the iPod touch does as well as any other light sensing Apple product.

Exactly. It is adjusting to ambient light to save battery power wherever possible.

If you don't like this behavior hunt around the Preference Panels. I believe that you can disable it. Check the Energy Saver panel in particular.
 
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This Macbook is a brilliant reader - you can scroll, resize text, go back and forth in Safari all with your right hand while sipping a coke with the other.
Ahhh!
 
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This Macbook is a brilliant reader - you can scroll, resize text, go back and forth in Safari all with your right hand while sipping a coke with the other.

I can only imagine what this will mean for us in the future.

Matter of time before someone posts, "HELP! I spilled Coke on my MacBook Air while using the multitouch trackpad!"
 

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Tech, were you reading my mind? That was the exact thing I thought earlier when I first read that line.

I can hear it now, It's Apples fault, I spilt a whole Coke or Coffee in my MB Air and I demand a new AIR! :D
 
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Lol!

Well guys, I've been beating this machine for a day now and it's a pleasure to use. The keyboard is really nice and I think I'll get the same for my iMac. The keys are much lighter to depress and it feels less strainful on the fingertips.

As for the drive, I'll probably get one in the near future, but for now I think I'm quite set.

Really, the last time I inserted a disc into my iMac was a classical music CD last August.

The screen brightness thing takes some getting used to, but makes sense. It just startled me when suddenly my screen starting dimming off at dusk yesterday. It got so dark that it became unreadable. But it seems to work better now. If it gets annoying I'll switch it off.

A note on the connection ports, this thing is quite tight - i was barely able to push in my Sennheiser headphones - and these things have a standard stereo jack connector. The sound is fine, but it just doesn't go in flush. The mono speaker is also pretty crappy.

Not a machine for audiophiles. But it's really great for watching a movie, reading blogs, writing and working in Office.

It's nice and light and lets me move around the house whenever I feel like.
 
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Looking forward to some pics Yogi. :)

For the screen brightness, it's working correctly. It's supposed to dim in the dark so you don't have a super bright screen blinding you and brighten in the light so you can see the screen better with the ambient light. iPhone, MB, and MBP work the same way. I would think that the iPod touch does as well as any other light sensing Apple product.

I didn't realise that the MB had this feature. I want to try it out but unfortunately I'm sat in an office with nothing but this fine forum and my iPohne to keep me company.

I've had mine for a year and not noticed it - is it something you have to enable or do you know if it's only on the newer ones?
 
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I think the dimming is there even in Powerbook G4s... just check out System prefs -> Display and look for a checkbox
 
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Great job with the pics, I appreciate the commentary, please give updates as you work with it more.
 
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GREAT job Yogi - lovingly photographed, that is clear! I hope your new toy brings you much enjoyment in times to come!

By the way, what tool did you use to create that gallery? It was fabulous. Is this an iWeb creation? iWeb 06 or iWeb 08? If it is, I am going to have to give iWeb another look!
 

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