On the Air

Erica Kastner · February 26, 2008

It’s official!  This last Saturday, I hopped over to Grand Rapids, got to the Apple Store as it opened, and made use of my MSU ID (good as gold!) to purchase a brand new MacBook Air.

As I stated in a previous post, I realized that top-of-the-line performance was not a major factor for me and I liked the ultra-portability it offered.  Plus, the price was just right.  So far, I’ve just been setting up apps and moving over data, but it is plenty speedy.  The only time I’ve run into slowdowns is when copying files over the network while running iPhoto from a shared network and copying files from an external hard drive.  Otherwise, it’s been running SO much faster than my PowerBook G4.

I haven’t done any web development on it yet, so I’ll throw up a post when that happens.

My comments so far:

  • The build quality is absolutely the best I’ve seen in a Mac.  It’s rock solid and there are no gaps in the seams of the case.
  • It’s very lightweight!  I hardly notice I’m using a laptop.  It’s like a natural extension of my body.
  • MagSafe is a GodSend.
  • The function keys are all messed up..but getting used to it.  The modifier keys combined with the expose key replace F9-F11.
  • The black keys make the back-lit keyboard much more functional.  With the PowerBooks, there wasn’t enough contrast between the silver keys and the white lit letters to make the lighting effective, except in pitch black.
  • I’m not missing the CD/DVD drive.
  • I’m not missing FireWire…yet
  • The monaural speaker is on the right side and sort of causes an imbalance when sounds are played - makes you think something is coming at you from the side.  Freaky!
  • The iPhone-like touchpad is awesome.  Three-finger swipe to go back/forward in Safari!  The system preferences also shows videos of all the different “moves.”

This really is the ninja’s laptop!  The MacBook Pro/PowerBook is more of an armored knight.