Review: Macbook Air 2

As promised, some thoughts after using the MacBook Air for the past couple of weeks (in a somewhat awkward question and answer format, since I love talking to myself):

What is it?

It's the second-generation MacBook Air, the recently refreshed version of Apple's line of ultrathin and ultraportable laptop computers. For this hardware generation, the Air comes in 11- and 13-inch versions. Mine is the 11-inch one.

So...how do you like it so far?

I like it very much, thanks. The 11-incher is very compact, practically the size of a netbook but with most of a laptop's range of functionality (that is to say, with a full keyboard but without an optical disk drive). And when I say compact, it's impossible to exaggerate: at its thinnest, it measures 0.11 of an inch (that's 0.3 centimeters); at its thickest, it's 0.68 of an inch (1.7 centimeters).

It should be clear from the beginning that one is paying a premium for this laptop's portability; such is the tradeoff. Certainly, for the same price one can easily buy a more powerful laptop running on an updated processor (while beautiful to behold on the outside, the MacBook Air boasts practically the same Intel Core Duo 2 processor as its predecessor inside). Yet when you're coming from a five-year old 15-inch PowerBook G4 like I am, the MacBook Air's processing power is already a huge leap forward and you immediately appreciate how you aren't lugging around a five-pound machine.

Also, with its solid-state (flash) memory in lieu of a traditional hard drive, it's ridiculously fast and quiet. Indeed, if Apple accomplishes anything with this laptop, it'll be to get other manufacturers to begin thinking very seriously about switching to solid state very soon. Gauntlet thrown!

The 11-incher also promises a five-hour battery life, although I haven't validated whether this is the case. I do note that it has no removable battery (which might be a dealbreaker for some), a problem I'm willing to confront when the time comes.

Don't you miss the optical drive and Ethernet port?

Not really. For one thing, the drive-sharing settings for the Air are rather simple to figure out (well, for Apple computers anyway), so much so that I feel a bit guilty using my PowerBook as an external DVD drive.

The Ethernet port would have been nice to have. Fortunately, I don't really need it much, but I can imagine situations where it would come in handy. I could buy a USB Ethernet adapter of course...but the more I think about it I can live without it.

Isn't the 11-inch screen a little small?

Yes, to be honest. Coming from a larger screen, it takes a lot of getting used to. As David Pogue notes, the pixels on the screen are also tinier, which makes anything you view look that much smaller.

Any other thoughts on the MacBook Air?

Because it's so small and light, I can't seem to open the lid without also holding it down; otherwise, the entire thing gets lifted off the table. Now that the keys aren't backlit, I appreciate the feature on my PowerBook -- not that I used that feature much before. I do wish Apple kept the alternative "Enter" key to the right of the spacebar, like that on the PowerBook's keyboard, instead of replacing it with another "Option".

The geek in me also wishes that the USB recovery drive that comes with the laptop were re-writeable. That would've been a definite plus.

Who should be interested in a MacBook Air then?

The MacBook Air lives up to its promise of being a useful ultraportable, but one whose tradeoffs probably won't appeal to everyone in the market for a new laptop. If you're looking for a utility laptop to complement your existing desktop computer or otherwise aren't at all interested in the limitations of a netbook, the MacBook Air will appeal to you.

Final Thoughts?

I'd like to think that this second generation MacBook Air is a window into the direction that Apple designers and engineers think laptop computers are headed, and in this they are way ahead of the competition. It's sleek, functional, and -- with flash storage, which I'm guessing will become industry standard fairly soon -- ridiculously fast. I'm sure some techies will decry its limited features, particularly in terms of processing power (Core Duo instead of i5), media versatility (no optical drive) and networking capability (no Ethernet port). But for my purposes, I've come to realize that I didn't really need these things as much as I thought, and am quite happy with a laptop that's nearly lighter than air.