Home > Consumer Reviews > Apple MacBook Air 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo/2GB/80GB

Apple does great computers and I am a massive apple fan an has been using Macs for the past 6 years I currently own a Black Macbook a unibody Macbook pro and an Imac. But I have to say the Macbook Air is the most useless apple computer of all time. Extreme Apple fanatics will probably ask "why?". Here are a few reason.

1. I really struggle to find its place in the computer market. I mean surely people spend £1400 on Macs so they can put it in an envelope do they?

2. It's at 13.3" screen Laptop... my questions are : why another 13.3"? and what exactly is the matter with the cheaper more powerful productive and also fit in an envelope MacBook?

3. It doesn't have a superdrive... so basically install software you need to spend extra on a Macbook Air external CD drive, or have another mac (not MacBook Air) around.

4. The specifications are too low and it's not upgradeable. Even a cheaper MacBook runs faster than the Macbook Air and i way more practical.

5. Poor value for money. why spend that much money on a small useless computer when the small money gets you a new Macbook Pro?

To conclude this review I'll just say that I work as a Graphic Designer an our work is based around using Macs and we have an extended knowledge of Macs and my colleagues and I all agree that If you have enough cash to buy a Macbook Air, buy a MacBook or a MacBook Pro instead. and just in case you want to put your laptop in an envelope, the MacBook is already thin enough to do so.

I felt I had to write this review in reply to the first comments that have been left for this item.

I have been an I.T. Professional for just over 10 years, I work closely with all types of computers from various manufacturers.

The comparison by the previous person is largely unfounded and inaccurate.

You can not compare this notebook to a £450 bargain basement machine, even on a specification level, most £400-500 notebooks come with Intel Celeron, Intel Pentium D or AMD Sempron CPU's, they have between 512mb-1GB of Ram, an 1-1.5 hour battery. By comparison you are getting a specially customised Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB of the fastest ram available and a battery life of between 4-5 hours.

Please remember that this laptop is designed for a niche market of users, who require ultra portability, this is not a desktop replacement machine.

Yes this machine does not have an optical drive, the ports it comes with are limited and the hard drive is relatively small, but that is not the point, if you require these features then by all means look at a standard MacBook or MacBook Pro.

Ultra portable notebook's are ultra expensive, this is because they require specially designed "Ultra Small" parts, if you wish to compare apples with apples then look at the other ultra portables in the market and compare their feature to price ratio's, this is not a £400-500 notebook and it is unfair in every way to compare it as such.

For the money, you get the thinnest notebook in the industry, there had to be some sacrifices made to achieve this target, however you get a durable aluminium enclosure, a beautiful high resolution 13" display, a light up keyboard, a full speed Intel Core 2 Duo, 2gb of ram and more.

Kindly do not complain about a product that you obviously do not understand or have a need for.

I have been a user of Apple for over 18 months having lost my cool with the endless crashes and poor launch of Vista proving to me Gates & Co were losing it. I started with the Mini Mac, buying a Mac Book and an i Mac in the short period afterwards and I cannot get my kids off them now at home!

All that kept me going with a Windows system was I needed an ultra-portable laptop given my travel by air a lot and the Sony Vaio I had was fine for this purpose. With the launch of the Air I at last had the missing piece.

After 6 weeks using with the 1.8 Ghz upgrade, I am very satisfied and suspect I will never be going back to Windows based laptops. I do not propose to repeat others comments on its features but would comment on a few aspects that any buyer should consider:

1. The item as with all Apple models is beautifully designed. Be prepared to invest in a safety sleeve for travel and avoid scratching the aluminum cover - I found the Huzzk range the best for the job with their "open up and zip around" and rubber stud design cover design perfect for this model.

2. The case being aluminum does get heated especially when resting on top of your knees! Another reason for buying a travel sleeve and investing in one which is thick enough to help on this point - again a reason why the Huzzk range was my choice.

3. The comments on battery replacement are lacking in understanding that when traveling a lot the key is being able to carry and insert a spare battery. However technology moves on and I have offset this problem by investing in the portable Power Monkey kit which is both small and light plus provides several hours power if a mains supply is not available.

4. On battery life the personal experience and many of the Apple magazine reviews are now also stating the same point, that the Apple batteries seem to take some time to build up to their maximum life/charge, so expect only just over a few hours in early days of portable usage. Whether it makes the 5 hours target remains to be seen but again the Power Monkey option addresses if needed.

5. However much people rave about the looks and the great Leopard OS, be prepared to accept this is an ultra portable and so speed, performance and storage will not be as great as larger Macs (including the Mac Books at cheaper prices) - that is not a criticism just the reality. The beautiful screen and excellent size and feel keyboard however leave all other ultra portables (including Sony Vaio range) in the shade.

Overall I am thus very satisfied and would strongly recommend this model long as you are happy with the above compromises - I just wish Apple in their publicity and claims would accept that in terms of comparability it cannot match the rest of their laptop range but as an ultra portable it is KIng versus the competition (hence my "mistress" title to this review!

Seeing the MacBook Air on a website or in a magazine is totally different to seeing and touching it in person, something which is true of most Apple products. When you see it in person you realise just how thin it is. And when you feel it you realise just how elegant and precise the engineering is. This really is the most desirable laptop in the World. Once you've picked it up, you'll want one. Trust me, I saw dozens of people in the Apple Store saying "wow" and picking it up in disbelief of how thin it is! It's light too, as in, so light it doesn't feel like a computer. It's really a stunning piece of technology.

Obviously there are drawbacks to creating a laptop so thin and so light (no DVD drive, no Ethernet, no Firewire). But the fact is, the MacBook Air runs Mac OS X Leopard, and from the brief go I had on it, it runs it very satisfactorily indeed. So if you're an average user who wants to go on the Internet, check your e-mail, sync your iPod with iTunes and organise your photos with iPhoto, the MacBook Air will get the job done.

What really impressed me about the MacBook Air is its large Multi-touch trackpad; a feature bound to be copied to death on all the 2009 Windows Laptops! With Multi-touch on the MacBook Air you can zoom into photos by spreading your fingers, rotate photos by twisting your fingers, and go forward and back through web pages by swiping. It's very intuitive and so natural you'll wonder how you used to get by without it.

At £1299, the MacBook Air is still a luxury item, and (let's face it) pretty poor value for money when compared to the MacBook. Relying primarily on wireless connections, it's a product that really demands you to "think different". However, give it a couple of years and the MacBook Air will be far more affordable, and the current "standard" features it lacks will seem a non-issue. And maybe, just maybe, Apple will integrate 3G into it, and allow the MacBook Air to share the same O2 tariff as your 3G iPhone.

Well let me start off saying that this is not a laptop for people who would use a laptop just to watch movies on the go. As a person in the IT industry this is what's future of technology is all about. I cannot remember the day I used a CD or a DVD in my laptop. I always rip the DVDss so its easily accessible without having to search through a CD book or waste all my space on storing those DVDs.

It is extremely light and the Multi-touch track-pad is truly amazing. For people who carries a heavy and big laptop everywhere for their work this is the solution.

unbelievable 5Hrs battery life.

If the this is not technology at its best better stick to your old Black and White TVs and the VCRs.