Macbook Air - Review
Thursday 16 April 2009
When we refer to computers, we all know what an Apple is. We are also sure of what Macbook is. So what in the world is an Apple Macbook Air? In quite simplistic terms as listed by Apple, it is the Worlds Thinnest Notebook Computer. Now that is quite a statement. I mean notebooks have been shrinking for years to the point that they are small enough to almost fit and go anywhere. So let's look at the Macbook Air and see what the hoopla is all about.
The unit was unveiled on the 15th of January 2008 at the Macworld Convention and was an immediate hit with the public despite the fact that in order to make it so thin and portable, certain traditional notebook features have had to be left off the actual unit.
If you look at the unit the first thing that you will probably notice is that there is no removable drive medium. Meaning there is no CD or DVD attached. Instead the drive as well as other things area available via high speed USB connection, which means that they don't need to take up space and add size and weight and for the majority of the time it is just an addition of wasted space and weight. You can also use the included software to allow you to access another drive on other computers so that you might not even need to purchase an additional drive.
This is a true sub-compact computer in every sense of the word. But there are some things missing that you should be aware of which may or may not be of importance in the unit depending on how you use it. In addition to the lack of optical drive, there is no Ethernet port so you will need a USB version to hook to a network, there are no accessory card slots for expansion and there is no Firewire port so that video and expanded Hard Drives that utilize this connection can not be used on the Macbook Air.
Another possible drawback, depending on your needs and usage patterns is that the Macbook Air comes with non-upgradeable ram. Granted it is two full gigabytes of ram, but you can never add more to it. So if you have huge ram intensive programs you might be testing the limits of the Macbook Air when you get to really pushing it.
Another thing that could potentially be seen as a draw back is that everything is permanently housed in the unit so nothing is user serviceable. That includes, as mentioned above, the ram, the hard drive and the battery. All of these are hard soldered to the motherboard inside the unit. This can be a good thing because it lightens the weight and makes it less likely that a failure based on use will happen. But from the standpoint of repair costs down the line, it will certainly make those higher.
All in all, the features and size of the Macbook Air may far outweigh the limitations of the built in items and lack of drives for most folks.
The unit was unveiled on the 15th of January 2008 at the Macworld Convention and was an immediate hit with the public despite the fact that in order to make it so thin and portable, certain traditional notebook features have had to be left off the actual unit.
If you look at the unit the first thing that you will probably notice is that there is no removable drive medium. Meaning there is no CD or DVD attached. Instead the drive as well as other things area available via high speed USB connection, which means that they don't need to take up space and add size and weight and for the majority of the time it is just an addition of wasted space and weight. You can also use the included software to allow you to access another drive on other computers so that you might not even need to purchase an additional drive.
This is a true sub-compact computer in every sense of the word. But there are some things missing that you should be aware of which may or may not be of importance in the unit depending on how you use it. In addition to the lack of optical drive, there is no Ethernet port so you will need a USB version to hook to a network, there are no accessory card slots for expansion and there is no Firewire port so that video and expanded Hard Drives that utilize this connection can not be used on the Macbook Air.
Another possible drawback, depending on your needs and usage patterns is that the Macbook Air comes with non-upgradeable ram. Granted it is two full gigabytes of ram, but you can never add more to it. So if you have huge ram intensive programs you might be testing the limits of the Macbook Air when you get to really pushing it.
Another thing that could potentially be seen as a draw back is that everything is permanently housed in the unit so nothing is user serviceable. That includes, as mentioned above, the ram, the hard drive and the battery. All of these are hard soldered to the motherboard inside the unit. This can be a good thing because it lightens the weight and makes it less likely that a failure based on use will happen. But from the standpoint of repair costs down the line, it will certainly make those higher.
All in all, the features and size of the Macbook Air may far outweigh the limitations of the built in items and lack of drives for most folks.
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