Greetings fellow Mac friends!

I am going to buy one of these because I think its quite cute looking and would work well around my home. I like the minimilist aspect of it. Anyone done a review on it? Peter is the only person I have noticed has bought one. Anyone else? Would like some feedback as to how you find it please. Obviously the spec is a lot lower due to size constraints, which is understandable. The design is gorgeous and I am a sucker for lovely designs. How well do you think it would run Windows and what else realistically would you need to buy with it. An external CD/DVD drive surely?

Simon.

PS Yes Flappo, its really me, I am here posting on the MAC forum, and yes, I am about to try buying a MAC again!!

Note:

I mentioned about running Windows and how well the spec would handle it because it would be very useful for me to use XP if I can, but I will of course have it as a dual boot option and use the MAC OS just as much. I believe it ships with Leopard.

Cheers, Simon.

I don't want to bust your mac balloon but that thing has a 80GB harddrive. If you install Windows next to Leopard there won't be much space for other things.

If you still want it, I would get an NAS like Infrant that sits in your wireless network and offers you additional space.

 

Also, in my opinion Tiger and Leopard are OSes where you really want a big screen. i am typing this from my 12" Powerbook and be sure my next one will the the 15" with a 200GB harddrive. That comes right after I divested my BV8/BC2 combination that I bought this month. 

Cheers

JK

 

 

Put Windows on mine - works fine. If you have another Mac you don't normally need an optical drive as you can use the one on the other Mac by remote - not for copyright discs though.

Limited connections but fast and a lovely design. Very pleased with it. 

I've just bought a MacBook Air having not using Mac since it's early days.

The elegant design attracted me, but I have to say having used Windows XP and Vista for some years Leopard is a breath of fresh air - IT WORKS!

As a traveller it is an ideal machine. The lack of DVD/CD drive is no problem I simply network over the wifi to a shared one on the nearest PC or Mac (I carry the sharing software on a USB stick) and at home it connects to my server.

Battery life is good for a laptop 3-5 hours to date (depending on wifi, screen brightness settings), keyboard is excellent and the screen resolution better than most laptops and equal to my Sony Vaio.

Not a cheap machine but when did quality and superb design come cheap - given we all share a love of B&O?

If you get one you won't be dissapointed, just a little lighter in the wallet :-)

 Rob 

 

 

The MBA has the same screen space as the MacBook, which in my experience works fine for OS X.

The issue with running Windows on the MBA is it's relatively limited hard drive capacity (80 gb, or 64 gb if you opt for the solid state drive). OS X needs a good 15 gb or so free to run smoothly (as does Windows) and once you add the space needed by both up, you'll have practically no space left.

I am planning on using the Windows portion to run the Beo5 software - which it does perfectly! I have only given Windows XP Pro 5GB ! I use the MBA purely as a mobile computer and keep my large files on my PowerMac.

 

I am thinking of buying a MBA to use as my main computer in the house. I will give my exisitng Toshiba laptop to a family member probably. The 13" screen is probably quite small I suppose but then that's the whole point of it being a portable computer and lets face it this laptop is aimed at the business traveller community according to Apple's website, so not many people would be using it for the reasons I want to. However, my computing needs are not really that much. Word preocessing mainly, printing, moving/copying data and surfing the web. I don't need high performance graphics cards, not into games, don't require heavy multimedia processing, just Media Player or iTiunes to play my small collection of media files. My BS9000 will play my music and I will watch my films on my BV7-40. I am thinking that if I get the MBA then I can literally get rid of my office in the spare room, out with the big table, out with the chair, save space etc. There will probably be a way to use the printer (OKI Laser) wirelessly, perhaps Netgear offer such a print server, anyway I need to look into that aspect more. Just toying with the idea at the moment but I do really like the MBA its a lovely piece of kit and if it works well and proves to be reliable then I may well use it as my main machine. Any other thoughts from people?

Simon.

You can certainly do that, as the MBA is designed for wireless operation. Wireless printing is no problem - I do that anyway. If you have an Airport Extreme then you can have a network disc and printer. Or get Time Capsule.

I have to say that I would not use it as my main computer though.  

Thanks for your thoughts Peter. I suppose I could try an iMac 24 again but I rather like the design of the MBA. It would be perfect to use on my lap while sitting in the sofa in the lounge. The battery life is supposed to be quite good.

Simon.

I hadn't realised that you took the imac back. The design of the MBA is wonderful but I really wouldn't use it as my only computer. It is, as advertised, a wonderful portable, but I think its limitations should not be ignored. It has limited HDD space, has only one USB and is unlikely to be very upgradeable. I bought mine to use when out and about - it has mobile broadband - and for that it is great. I don't use it at home as a proper keyboard is better and my PowerMac has more memory and all my programs on it.

as a main computer you should get a macbook pro , almost as slim as the air and also has a very nice video card , arguably the only real limitation of the air is it's weedy graphics capability , apart from the lack of a dvd drive of course..

ok , you can load movies onto the air and watch them , but that 80 gb disk will sure fill up quick with ripped dvds

the pro comes with 200-250 gig hd's - much more like it ! 

 

the air IS lovely though ! oh darnit , why not get both ? 

Or just get the 1TB Time capsule and use that as a remote disc.

doesn't get round the graphical deficiencies of the air , though

 leopard already places a certain amount of the load on the gpu and it's only going to increase with the net release , lion ( 10.6 )

the mba is nice , but a mbpa is what i'd like

and no doubt it will be here soon with the new intel atom chips etc 

Agree - but the MBA is a very nice toy!!
 

If you want a laptop Simon, I would recommend you look at a MacBook Pro. The MacBook Air and MacBook don't really cut it as main computers, but the MBP does...

Thanks for all the comments. I'll keep you posted as to what I decide. Its not that I need a laptop. Its not that I need a desktop. Its simply that I am a sucker for nice designs and the MBA really appeals to me as a WOW! factor gadget. I don't need one. Perhaps I am just getting carried away with the moment. I saw one in PC World last week and I was really impressed. Very intuitive design.

Simon.

I have a really nice Apple Cinema Display on my home office desk, connected to a MacBook Pro. The best of both worlds -- and a solution I'd definitely recommend.

As Peter says above, if you are traveling a lot, the Air is a handy solution, but then you should have a larger unit at home.

I can't really add anything to effective solutions, though. I have two MBPs and one iMac and one Mac mini in my house. When I meet Steve Jobs in Mac Heaven he'll kiss my feet for the support I've proffered to Apple ever since 1985. 

Agree - very useful when out and about - typing from my consulting room via mobile broadband!! When you see Steve, ask for a quick slurp in my direction as well! I have the afore mentioned MBA, a PowerMac G5, MacBook black and a PowerBook 12" in my household! And a collection of iPods etc! Rivalling the B&O these days!!

funny how worlds can collide...

i went from collecting apple to collecting b&o...

Well, I've always found Apple and B&O complement one another - similar philosphies, similar achievements each in their own fields, though B&O is lagging in digital applications. (But then you haven't really seen any good loudspeakers or televisions from Apple, either!)

true on all counts!

i sure do love my apple tv! i suppose jobs is just smart enough to know when not to venture in certain fields (tv). 
i thk that maybe this is why that have had so much success as of late??? and why i thk apple has achieved that "i need it" feeling that b&o has seemed to let go of...

at any rate -back to the point of the thread... i thk that the air is fantastic as the portable device that it is intended to be. it doesn't sound like you have a great deal of stored media, so imho, the 80g w/ a dual boot should be fine. if you find you need more space -then look at nas or similar later on. i also like the prev mentioned idea of a second monitor (perhaps a bt kb/mouse would be nice too) for times when you want to spread out...

Any thoughts on the negatives mentioned in this thread as they relate to the new Mac Airs?  I understand there are limited connections but what about the other statistics?

Even though I have an Imac my Air became my main computer at work and at home

 

What bugs me the most is that it is "crapping" out when trying to stream videos over the internet. Watching a HD movie from netflix or Hulu is a no go. Temperature management will kick in and slow down the processor so much that videos become unwatchable.

Also the display developed the much discussed "hinge" issue, it's flopping around and I am nervous about that.

I understand that there was no design change in the current model, also, speed is slower then MK2 as they tried to improve thermal management.

 

I would look at the 13" Macbook Pro ... when I bought mine this wasnt available and the display on the 13" macbook was crap back then.

 

The missing CD drive or single USB did not cause issues sofar. But the 80GB that I got  is way not enough these days ..... I don't have an Itunes library on it .....

 

JK

Thanks. So you think the new 120/128 GB is still not enough?  We don't have any desire to stream movies to it. Our desired use is for simple web surfing and email as well as being light for travel.