COX Newspapers Washington Bureau

Home > Plugged In > Archives > 2008 > January > 17 > Entry

MacBook Air: Thin, stylish and flawed

By Steve Pounds | Thursday, January 17, 2008, 01:28 PM

Steve Jobs did it again — upstaged the Consumer Electronics Show. At least that’s what some bloggers at Wired say.

The blogosphere has been abuzz about the MacBook Air, which was unveiled at the MacWorld this week. The thing was pulled from a manila envelop. It’s that small.

Alright, we get that it’s the thinnest laptop in the world. Light and stylish. One blogger at MacWorld.com called it a really big Nano. It sports a solid-state hard-drive which could make for less computer crashes.

Now for a few of its flaws. A trap door under the computer contains the USB, DVI and headphone ports. Some bloggers found that awkward. Typical of some Apple products, such as the iPhone, the battery isn’t removable.

Five hours of battery life makes that less of an issue. But if a manufacturer says its laptop has five hours of battery life, it usually mean four. Does everyone have that nit to pick?

$1,800. Is it worth it? One Mac user is an Air hater. A blogger with the handle, Ashcraft, complained that heavy users will be buying plenty of peripherals to get their work done. Meaning more expense.

A quick pros-and-cons review can be found on Eweek.com.

Permalink | Comments (8) |

Comments

Commenting is now closed for this entry.

By debutaunt

January 17, 2008 2:52 PM | Link to this

So you’ve seen and used the product yourself? Or, are you just trolling around the web looking for negative comments from “bloggers” that fit your preconceived attitude toward this product?

Just asking…

By Michael

January 17, 2008 4:34 PM | Link to this

If you’re a heavy user then why would you even consider a Macbook Air? It’s not like the 13” Macbook Pro or even standard macbook are leaden anchors. This model is clearly designed for the “coffeeshop user” who doesn’t need that level of connectivity.

By Michael

January 17, 2008 4:35 PM | Link to this

If you’re a heavy user then why would you even consider a Macbook Air? It’s not like the 13” Macbook Pro or even standard macbook are leaden anchors. This model is clearly designed for the “coffeeshop user” who doesn’t need that level of connectivity.

By sgs

January 17, 2008 4:40 PM | Link to this

There is no such thing as 13” inch MacBook Pro. The MacBook comes in that size. The wireless everything of the MacBook Air does make it very intriguing. One thing that scares me is the 4200 RPM drive. The 64GB solid state drive isn’t quite big enough.

By T-Bone

January 17, 2008 5:47 PM | Link to this

It’s so funny how the Mac zombies can get worked up into a fervor when anyone challenges the holiness of the Apple product.

It’s a simple, overpriced laptop with an money-is-no-object Apple attitude that charges extra for everything and gives the user no advantage in return. What’s the advantage, that it’s thin? A battery that doesn’t come out and a dvd player that hangs like a colostomy bag?

Have fun MacHeads, Jobs continues to hypnotize.

By Robert C.

January 17, 2008 9:06 PM | Link to this

MacBook Air is the new wave of laptops eliminating everything you don’t use while saving you space not your pocket. While the Air sports its thin frame attachments will only take up more space than a normal sized laptop. Apple is turning the optical drive into a printer. Another device that must be networked. Understandable since USB memory drives are the new blank media format. Most people see the format war between HD-DVD and BLURAY disc formats for HD content but neglect external usb storage devices for HD content. Digital downloads will win the war in the end and Apple knows this. Getting rid of the optical drive saves space and gets rid of the disc. Find a way to upload your CD collections now while you still have time.

By MT

January 18, 2008 12:25 AM | Link to this

Lack of firewire is a killer for me. Why would Apple takes its strongest feature, multimedia, out of the picture on the MacBook Air? The trap door screams “break me”. Not quite fully developed. Maybe next year…

By pb12

January 23, 2008 7:25 PM | Link to this

http://mbp12.com

!!!