My thoughts on the mac book air

Recently I was asked my thoughts on the mac book air by my boss I thought I would post my response. 

Sent from my iPhone!

Begin forwarded message:

From: M <m@musingsonamac.com>
Date: 25 February 2008 14:28:14 GMT
To: Your boss <yourboss@yourwork.com>
Subject: Re:

People I have spoken to who own one all rave about the mac book air. As long as you know what it is for. That is to say its an executive level machine perfect for normal computer use. Great for word processing, e-mail and browsing the web. It isnt good for high end computing for example I couldn't develop on it as I run too many large applications at once. It is for executive computing needs. 

It is a beautifully designed machine with sleek lines and its weight is almost imperceptable I've heard of people picking up their bags and not knowing if the machine is inside the bag or still on the desk because they just can't feel its weight. Having held one in store myself I can confirm it is crazy light. However you are paying a bit of a premium for that level of design and true portability whilst still keeping a large widescreen and full sized keyboard. Certainly if someone got one out a meeting it would turn heads. 

All that as well as having all the plus points of being an Apple (next to no viruses, great bundled software solid and reliable) 

To ensure I'm offering the fair and balanced opinion of a decent technical consultant I should point out some of what people might call drawbacks. The lack of a cd or DVD drive is mitigated by some great software by apple that you install on another computer (windows or apple) and share its drive when in the office or home to install software. I agree I barely use the cd drive on mine - except when I get new music to copy it to my computer. Apples thought is actually that you will be tempted into buying your media online. 

There is no network port included only wireless. Now with most locations and offices offering wireless that's too not too big an issue because if needs be you can buy an adapter to plug it into the network at work for example. 

Yes it would be nice to see it with more USB ports but when you're buying a portable how much can you plug in when you're out and about ?

The biggest shortcoming to my mind is battery life at a predicated 4.5 hours it is a bit on the short side. But again if you want to use it on a journey to London all seats on virgin trains or all virgin Atlantic flights to the states have sockets to power devices like laptops. 

Hope that helps if I can answer any more questions dont hesitate to ask. Can ask who you're thinking of when thinking of the mac book air and what kind of circumstances it might be used ?

M. 

Sent from my iPhone!

On 22 Feb 2008, at 14:16, "your boss" <yourboss@yourwork.com> wrote:

M,

 I'd appreciate your views on the new Applemac air laptop.

Thanks

Your boss