43 days later …
It’s been 43 days since I got my new Air and I guess it’s time for a first resumé of what the Air is like. Well I could easily sum it all up by saying that I am still stunned by the Air, but let me elaborate on that a bit.
It’s kind of funny, but there seems to be a common belief that the MacBook Air is not a full fledged computer resp. laptop. Yea, the Air is thin and light and due to the small form factor it is also limited in terms of performance. I had shared that concern myself, but with the latest revision of the Air, those concerns are no longer valid.
Yes, on paper there are more powerful laptops out there but what I can tell you after having used a couple hundred of hours, the Air is one of the fastest computers I have ever worked with. And that’s not because of its sheer processor power. Not really. It’s the SSD disk in combination of Apples hard and software design that obviously leverages the SSD to the max within the Air.
To be honest with you, processor power does do only so much when it comes to the experienced speed of a computer. It’s the whole package that counts and the Air is just perfect in doing that.
All of the apps I am using so far feel like instant on no matter if you talk heavy weights like Office or Aperture or some of those little apps coming from the App Store. The app is ready for your inputs just after you clicked on it. The same is the true for starting up the Air from zero. After hitting the on button, the Air is basically ready for your input after 15 sec or so. The same is true for shutting it down. No reason anymore not to turn off the power. But there is actually no need to do so either, as the standby time is just amazing. Ever left a Windows PC in standby for more that a couple of days? No way you can revive those machines.
Other than that, the Air is just perfect when it comes to its finish. The unibody case results in a stiff and endurable body one I haven’t seen yet in that class. That this is possible with such small form factor is simply amazing.
Do I miss the ethernet port, Firewire or any of the more advanced IOs that are available with your regular MacBook Pros? Well, you could argue that those major drawbacks, but in my case this is just on paper. In 99% of all cases they are not necessary. What I really missing though is the ability to connect to your 3G network instead of WIFI only. It’s kind of weird that you can get 3G access with iPad, but there is no way to do that on the Air.
That’s why I got myself an MIFI access point that basically creates a WIFI hotspot on top of a 3G connection packaged in a small case which is even smaller than a regular cell phone. Not perfect, but you become sort of independent of WIFI hotspots all together.
One of the other every time mentioned issues with the Air is the missing backlit keyboard. Yes, it’s a limitation to some extend, but what I experienced over the last one and a half month shows me that it is not really required. The light from the screen is actually good enough to find some of the keys you can’t hit in darkness. I guess adding the backlight would have caused more caveats in the end.
Would I buy the Air once again? 100% yes. I guess it’s quite unlikely that I will own a regular size laptop ever again. There is simply no need for that. And what about my iPad? I guess it actually envies the Air due to the fact that I am using the Air more often than the iPad these days …
