Personal Review 1.6Ghz 80GB/1.8Ghz 64SSD

ibookmobile007 · Mar 2, 2008

Before i start.I did not find anyone reviewing the Mac Book Air 1.6 GHz 80 GB HDD , So i thought i would give my hypothesis from a business man's perspective.

After purchasing one for myself and one for my wife.I can say that i am completely satisfied.If you have a desktop and need something portable...This is the best machine going!

I purchased mine for portability.I said i wouldn't purchase one at first because it lacked so many things that i thought needed on a day to day basis as far as when im traveling abroad which we will get to a wee bit later.

I noticed once you boot up for the first time that the loading time is a little slow:
Initial boot time was:
1 minute then to Safari's web browser

After the very first initial boot the cache made boot time a whole lot better:
22 - 30 Seconds which is considerably good--
Mind you that i have nothing in start up for when the mba is booting...(and to have Safari up at the same time!Not too far behind the likes of the SSD).Seeing as it is that my ibook G4 would take allot longer to boot totally up (Meaning to be on the main leopard screen and ready to rock and roll).

The magnetic latch is a blessing in disguise! Its allot easier to open the lid. (Like when im talking with someone and i don't want to break that eye contact i can just open the lid and there is the screen!)Which comes in handy if you are dealing in the business world.This was sort of a hindrance on previous model apple notebooks as well as windows based notebooks.Problem solved!

As far as the speed of the processor...I personally have not noticed the speed being a dragged out slow and disappointing performance.It Will suit your needs unless you are a super surfer(22 web pages open at one time....)or your trying to do more of a powerhouse type of ordeal ,then you would be good.
The RAM makes up for the processor speed.I can pull up aperture almost the same exact time on the mba as i do on an iMac 2.0 Ghz (3 1/2 second difference).

Battery:
The battery can be your best friend!
If your settings are set correctly.I actually turned the keyboard lighting totally off(well all the way down),No wifi and the screen brightness minimized to the 4th bar from the left.I received a total of 4 1/2 hours.Wifi off a little over 5 hours.Thats without closing the lid.

Screen:
The clarity of the screen is simply to die for.Its amazingly clear and crisp.No complaints!Too bad i cannot have the same screen on my iMac's!
The only problem is if you are in a lightly lit room and your keyboard lighting is set to 6 bars from the left for brightness.You get that nice reflection of the keyboard on the screen.(As i read from another review on the SSD version,Same problem on the standard MBA )Its nothing that would bother you if you simply adjust the settings down on your keyboard then your good!

Graphics:Seeing as it is that i do on site graphics with my business.I couldn't find any depreciation , even though the graphics chip is the GMA X3100.I'm not a gamer so the chip set still does render a good enough display.

Ram:To be honest the 2GB of ram that are inside the MBA i feel are plenty.I am a power user but even with all the zip zip zipping, i did not see any slow up periods.Only the bottom top left corner get a wee bit warm when pushing the mba to perform several tasks.
Example:
10 web pages open -4 with Giff animations 3 with looping music files
adium chat running- with 5 conversations going on-2 with uploads transferring 1 with download transfers
The built in iSight running
iTunes running
Aperture Version 2 importing photos.

Now the 1 usb Hub.....(I have attached pictures)
This posed no problem for me.For several reasons.
I purchased a mini 4 port hub from a super walmart for $7.00 .I also purchased and all in 1 card reader from eBay for $2.00.
Even though i purchased myself a super drive and also one for my wife.I have yet seen the need to use it.(I have 2 external DVD burners set to be used if need be without having to goto the Desktop and give access,they are set to be used automatically)

Weight:
This little puppy might look light but it does carry its weight.
I have a Toshiba Satellite as a back up primary which weighs 5 1/2 lbs. The MBA starts to feel as heavy if not heavier (This is carrying the mba in just a sleeve with nothing else) after toting it around for the day in just a sleeve.

Battery:I have been able to complete a full day of presentations on 1 full charge (Charging the mba and starting the day @ 6:30 am and ending the day @ 4:30 pm.This means closing the lid and not actually turning the mba off).I am able to come home and still have sufficient power to read a few emails.This test is not a constantly on power test , but rather a test with the mba being in sleep mode and just opening the device to input information or to load a design submitted by a potential business partner...Trust me, the battery does its job and then some.

Track Pad:The track pad is a plus and kills the need to hook up an external mouse.Even though i have one.I have not seen the need to use it with the mac book air as i have with other notebooks in the past.The extra iPhone type interface is very accurate and i have yet had any problems with using it thus far.It cuts out the need to move the cursor around or make your hand leave the current position which is good on your wrists and creates more of a relaxed feel.

Design:The form factor is to die for.The mba is very well constructed and feels more solid than the pictures that you might see floating around.Looks and feels like a high end sexy looking hour glass but feels solid like a mini tank!

My Conclusion:
The Mac Book Air is a seriously great edition to the business professional(Speaking from my standpoint as a business professional).You really will not miss the likes of not having the drive built in.You wont even miss having a ton of extra usb ports.(I have yet seen the need for the extras that i have to have on my desktop on this portable device)
.As i have seen reports of people disappointed with the mba
.If you were to carry one for a day , then your opinions might change for the better.
Far as forking out for the 64SSD to me its not worth it if you want to install more than the standard programs that come with leopard.By the time the system installs you have a small margin of programs you can install on the mba (I have an friend that purchased one).By the time he installed the same amount of programs i currently have on my mba he had no "elbow room" for a regular workflow....

That being said.If you want to fork out for the SSD then go for it.But for the economical businessman that can wait for bigger SSD's to emerge then the current mba 80GB HDD will be suffice....
Any questions are welcome:

Blade753 · Mar 2, 2008

Yea the Macbook Air is starting to look better to me, maybe if I could have one for a week I would change my mind. I would just be worried about cracking it in half.

ibookmobile007 · Mar 2, 2008

Blade753 said:
Yea the Macbook Air is starting to look better to me, maybe if I could have one for a week I would change my mind. I would just be worried about cracking it in half.

If you had it for 1 day i can honestly say that you will lean to purchasing one if not doing so.If you had it for a week , you might not want to give it back to the person whom lent it to you.

To be honest my wife's cost me a total of $1,692.00 after taxes.This also included an apple care protection plan,messenger bag and an external super drive.They kept dropping the price after 2 phone calls. The first was to notify them of how they fluctuated my shipping.I paid for overnight shipping charges for her MBA and then they changed my order to normal delivery status (Ground delivery)setting the dates totally off.So they took money off.(I had already received $150.00 taken off of the initial order when placing the order and never once did i mention i was a business owner.)Then once the new laptops emerged, i called and asked why didn't someone let me know that there were going to be newer models within 3 weeks after my initial order when i was on the phone placing the order and inquiring about something new coming about.Better yet why wasn't i informed when i called just 2 days prior inquiring if there was going to be new mac book/mac book pro 's emerging and i was told no. So i felt they might have been compelled to appease my emotions or better yet, they dropped the price because there might be a price cut on the way...who knows.My wife has actually dropped hers not ONCE BUT TWICE in the entertainment room which is the only room with alpaca carpet (The rest of the house is tile)and it shows no signs of any sort of damage.She is really rough on things.So i also purchased a accidental damage,water damage, theft, fire,vandalism warranty with www.safeware.com for an extra $100.00 which covers mishaps that the Apple Care Warranty does not cover..

Blade753 · Mar 2, 2008

Wow that was luck, I'm surprised that there wasn't any damage. I would buy it but I don't have the money

ibookmobile007 · Mar 2, 2008

Blade753 said:
Yea the Macbook Air is starting to look better to me, maybe if I could have one for a week I would change my mind. I would just be worried about cracking it in half.

Blade753 said:
Wow that was luck, I'm surprised that there wasn't any damage. I would buy it but I don't have the money

They are allot more sturdy than it's pictures

Blade753 · Mar 2, 2008

When I went to my local Apple store they had a few MBA's there and i picked one up and it felt like i could break it with one hand, that was the main reason I didn't want one, also there were the I/O ports. I would have like 2 USB ports, and lastly the heat, How hot does yours get after it's been on for about an hour?

ibookmobile007 · Mar 2, 2008

It's still cool after an hour.The only time the temperature rose and got a little uncomfortable on my lap was about 3 hours into doing a ton of multitasking at once. But then again it really was not the heat it just felt like my wife blowing hot air on my leg(On the bottom top left corner) I too thought it would break but the feel of the ones on display and owning one seem to have a different feel to me.I am a pretty big guy and i find it would be just as easy to snap a normal notebook just as easy as the mba. The difference is that if i squeeze the Toshiba Satellite and squeeze the mba, the Toshiba bends much more easy.Mind you that the Toshiba is a full laptop.If you are looking for something more on the lines of indestructible.I would go with something else.I seriously have not babied it since it has touched my hands.
Apple makes pretty solid notebooks,desktops and other peripherals.
If you are seriously worried about snapping it, then i would suggest getting extra accidental protection with safeware. That way if you did "Snap" it in half , you can get a new one without paying a deductible.

ibookmobile007 · Mar 2, 2008

A few extra pictures

Here are some pictures i just took in my "Relaxation Spot"
There is a bit of a glare ,because the window is directly behind me and the room is only lit by the Window.
As you can see from the various angles the screen tends to be a bit of a glare.But if you turn your settings down then it does not obscure your viewing the screen.

Blade753 · Mar 2, 2008

ibookmobile007 said:
It's still cool after an hour.The only time the temperature rose and got a little uncomfortable on my lap was about 3 hours into doing a ton of multitasking at once. But then again it really was not the heat it just felt like my wife blowing hot air on my leg(On the bottom top left corner) I too thought it would break but the feel of the ones on display and owning one seem to have a different feel to me.I am a pretty big guy and i find it would be just as easy to snap a normal notebook just as easy as the mba. The difference is that if i squeeze the Toshiba Satellite and squeeze the mba, the Toshiba bends much more easy.Mind you that the Toshiba is a full laptop.If you are looking for something more on the lines of indestructible.I would go with something else.I seriously have not babied it since it has touched my hands.
Apple makes pretty solid notebooks,desktops and other peripherals.
If you are seriously worried about snapping it, then i would suggest getting extra accidental protection with safeware. That way if you did "Snap" it in half , you can get a new one without paying a deductible.

Maybe I'll get it for school when I got to college, but thats so far away that they might have a Macbook super pro or something like that, for now i have an iBook.

walkerj · Mar 2, 2008

I help out with a fairly popular website, and every year we attend this convention to meet, greet, and just bond in person. At our table at the hotel, in addition to Macbooks among our group if not outnumbering the PC laptops at the very least equalling them in numbers, one of our folks was sporting a brand new Macbook Air, so that was my first opportunity to fondle one.

She uses hers for her job, which is primarily mod-perl programming, and the web site runs on FreeBSD so she uses the UNIX side of Mac OS X quite a bit. She had sold her Blackbook (to one of the other staffers, no less) to buy the air, and is absolutely thrilled with it. She doesn't even really travel so much, as she's more 'do my programming from my bed' type of person. I didn't really get to play with her MBA so much, since she sort of had a bunch of personal stuff on it, and forgot about the guest account.

One of our other members, however, works for Apple as his 'day job', so naturally he brought his own MBA which I did get to fondle. Amazing bit of tech, and much sturdier than it looks.

When I think of it, I very rarely bother with the battery on my Macbook other than plugging it in to charge it, so the lack of replaceable battery isn't that big of a deal. Screen's the same size/resolution as my Macbook and I'm quite pleased with that. While I do have a firewire external AND a USB external drive the lack of firewire and single USB port is a bit constraining, but I only use those (along with a printer and scanner) when I'm at my desk. The Macbook when with me is just the Macbook. I could even see going without a DVD drive fairly easily. On the flight over to the place I watched a TV show on my Macbook that did not come from a DVD in the first place so I didn't even really need my DVD drive for that, which is the first thing come to mind you'd miss with a DVD player on the go. I could totally live with a Macbook Air given the opportunity.

However, what with price, the fact that my Macbook is just small enough, just thin enough, and just light enough that I can get by just fine with my regular old Macbook and not be too burdened. Oh, and one other thing. Macbooks have magnetic latches too, so we can do the same thing with the opening of the screen while walking along just like with the Macbook Air. It's a little heavier, obviously, but single-handed lid opening on the go isn't necessarily limited to the Air crowd.

Still a dang sexy computer though.

ibookmobile007 · Mar 2, 2008

walkerj said:
I help out with a fairly popular website, and every year we attend this convention to meet, greet, and just bond in person. At our table at the hotel, in addition to Macbooks among our group if not outnumbering the PC laptops at the very least equalling them in numbers, one of our folks was sporting a brand new Macbook Air, so that was my first opportunity to fondle one.

She uses hers for her job, which is primarily mod-perl programming, and the web site runs on FreeBSD so she uses the UNIX side of Mac OS X quite a bit. She had sold her Blackbook (to one of the other staffers, no less) to buy the air, and is absolutely thrilled with it. She doesn't even really travel so much, as she's more 'do my programming from my bed' type of person. I didn't really get to play with her MBA so much, since she sort of had a bunch of personal stuff on it, and forgot about the guest account.

One of our other members, however, works for Apple as his 'day job', so naturally he brought his own MBA which I did get to fondle. Amazing bit of tech, and much sturdier than it looks.

When I think of it, I very rarely bother with the battery on my Macbook other than plugging it in to charge it, so the lack of replaceable battery isn't that big of a deal. Screen's the same size/resolution as my Macbook and I'm quite pleased with that. While I do have a firewire external AND a USB external drive the lack of firewire and single USB port is a bit constraining, but I only use those (along with a printer and scanner) when I'm at my desk. The Macbook when with me is just the Macbook. I could even see going without a DVD drive fairly easily. On the flight over to the place I watched a TV show on my Macbook that did not come from a DVD in the first place so I didn't even really need my DVD drive for that, which is the first thing come to mind you'd miss with a DVD player on the go. I could totally live with a Macbook Air given the opportunity.

However, what with price, the fact that my Macbook is just small enough, just thin enough, and just light enough that I can get by just fine with my regular old Macbook and not be too burdened. Oh, and one other thing. Macbooks have magnetic latches too, so we can do the same thing with the opening of the screen while walking along just like with the Macbook Air. It's a little heavier, obviously, but single-handed lid opening on the go isn't necessarily limited to the Air crowd.

Still a dang sexy computer though.

So you are telling me that your macbook (Not the one that just came out but previous versions)Have a magnetic strip like the mba?I never heard of one being like that,meaning previous models. But im very satisfied and im not trying to encourage or discourage the sale of one mac over another.I had a ibook G4 and it was only 1 1/2 years - 2 years old and it had a magnetic latch that you could not just open without releasing the magnetic latch first.The top of the mba's you can just open without any extra steps or without your eyes deterring from who you are talking to.But to each his/her own.

walkerj · Mar 2, 2008

ibookmobile007 said:
So you are telling me that your macbook (Not the one that just came out but previous versions)Have a magnetic strip like the mba?I never heard of one being like that,meaning previous models. But im very satisfied and im not trying to encourage or discourage the sale of one mac over another.I had a ibook G4 and it was only 1 1/2 years - 2 years old and it had a magnetic latch that you could not just open without releasing the magnetic latch first.The top of the mba's you can just open without any extra steps or without your eyes deterring from who you are talking to.But to each his/her own.

Yep, sure am. The magnetic latch is on the left side of the screen, and also works to secure my Apple remote to the screen when it's on my desk. Also it works as the trigger to make it go to sleep when the screen closes.

Interesting effect of this, I have eyeglasses which use a couple of small, but powerful magnets to affix my clip-on shades, which are also magnetic. If I put the bridge of my glasses on one of the magnetic parts on the Macbook, it makes it go to sleep without closing the lid. Kind of weird when it happened.

Anyway, the Macbook is essentially the same form factor as the Air, other than the extreme thin-ness. No physical latches at all between screen and chassis. The only thing I worry about when opening the lid is the fact that the iSight camera is right where I would lever the screen open, but so far, so good. One handed screen opening is exactly the same. Mine is a second generation C2D at 2.0Ghz, and the magnetic latch is awesome; much better than my old Dell in, well, just about every way.

Still nothing wrong with the MBA, just not what I need for now that I've got this.

ibookmobile007 · Mar 2, 2008

walkerj said:
I help out with a fairly popular website, and every year we attend this convention to meet, greet, and just bond in person. At our table at the hotel, in addition to Macbooks among our group if not outnumbering the PC laptops at the very least equalling them in numbers, one of our folks was sporting a brand new Macbook Air, so that was my first opportunity to fondle one.

She uses hers for her job, which is primarily mod-perl programming, and the web site runs on FreeBSD so she uses the UNIX side of Mac OS X quite a bit. She had sold her Blackbook (to one of the other staffers, no less) to buy the air, and is absolutely thrilled with it. She doesn't even really travel so much, as she's more 'do my programming from my bed' type of person. I didn't really get to play with her MBA so much, since she sort of had a bunch of personal stuff on it, and forgot about the guest account.

One of our other members, however, works for Apple as his 'day job', so naturally he brought his own MBA which I did get to fondle. Amazing bit of tech, and much sturdier than it looks.

When I think of it, I very rarely bother with the battery on my Macbook other than plugging it in to charge it, so the lack of replaceable battery isn't that big of a deal. Screen's the same size/resolution as my Macbook and I'm quite pleased with that. While I do have a firewire external AND a USB external drive the lack of firewire and single USB port is a bit constraining, but I only use those (along with a printer and scanner) when I'm at my desk. The Macbook when with me is just the Macbook. I could even see going without a DVD drive fairly easily. On the flight over to the place I watched a TV show on my Macbook that did not come from a DVD in the first place so I didn't even really need my DVD drive for that, which is the first thing come to mind you'd miss with a DVD player on the go. I could totally live with a Macbook Air given the opportunity.

However, what with price, the fact that my Macbook is just small enough, just thin enough, and just light enough that I can get by just fine with my regular old Macbook and not be too burdened. Oh, and one other thing. Macbooks have magnetic latches too, so we can do the same thing with the opening of the screen while walking along just like with the Macbook Air. It's a little heavier, obviously, but single-handed lid opening on the go isn't necessarily limited to the Air crowd.

Still a dang sexy computer though.

walkerj said:
Yep, sure am. The magnetic latch is on the left side of the screen, and also works to secure my Apple remote to the screen when it's on my desk. Also it works as the trigger to make it go to sleep when the screen closes.

Interesting effect of this, I have eyeglasses which use a couple of small, but powerful magnets to affix my clip-on shades, which are also magnetic. If I put the bridge of my glasses on one of the magnetic parts on the Macbook, it makes it go to sleep without closing the lid. Kind of weird when it happened.

Anyway, the Macbook is essentially the same form factor as the Air, other than the extreme thin-ness. No physical latches at all between screen and chassis. The only thing I worry about when opening the lid is the fact that the iSight camera is right where I would lever the screen open, but so far, so good. One handed screen opening is exactly the same. Mine is a second generation C2D at 2.0Ghz, and the magnetic latch is awesome; much better than my old Dell in, well, just about every way.

Still nothing wrong with the MBA, just not what I need for now that I've got this.

Yes your macbook has the same latching effect that my ibook had.I think they are totally different by far.The groove on the mba is deep enough and curved just right where your fingers dont topple the isight camera , although i find the camera to be not as clear unless the iGlasses plug in is installed.But yes cool all the way around.As long as you have some sort of Mac then you are fine with me!lol!thanks for the input as well as responses!

Blade753 · Mar 2, 2008

The one thing that i both like and dislike about the Macbook and Macbook air are the magnetic latches. I don't see the problem with having one like the iBook or the MBP......I just don't like the way that they kind of snap open like that.

ibookmobile007 · Mar 3, 2008

Blade753 said:
The one thing that i both like and dislike about the Macbook and Macbook air are the magnetic latches. I don't see the problem with having one like the iBook or the MBP......I just don't like the way that they kind of snap open like that.

Its a tight fit.I was concerned after playing with one in the apple store versus a business associates personal one(Before my purchases).The one at the apple store was still snug but felt and showed no signs of the same strength of my business partners one.I believe it is because thousands of people playing with the merchandise.Although the mechanism was still tight,it felt like it was a year senior to my business associates one.All in all you will enjoy it.And if it does go faulty then you can always get a replacement for the part under the Apple care warranty.

AirAddict · Mar 28, 2008

Very Nice review