So although we don’t do any work on Macs here at TechBower, for the purpose of writing about them we decided to go into Best Buy and hog the MacBook Air they had on display.
First off, we really don’t understand why anyone needs a laptop that small. Its almost too small in our opinion. I guess die hard Mac fans will appreciate the slim and sleek design. Everything Mac is going more towards design it seems, and since they can pretty much charge whatever they want for their machines, Apple stock is something worth checking out.
Back to the Air. Our first impression of it was wow, this thing is small! And then we realized that the standard version does not even come with a CD drive. What would you be doing with it? Most large businesses these days work on Microsoft machines, so the avid business traveler may not like this.
Pros:
- Really small
- Looks really cool
- Full keyboard
- Multitouch
Cons:
- Kind of pointless to have unless you do an insane amount of traveling and want something really light
- No CD drive on standard version
- A bit pricey for what you are buying
So before you go out and buy the smallest laptop in the world, ask yourself if you really need something that small. You can get a much more powerful machine at a much cheaper price if you go with Windows.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:01 am
you act like having a lite laptop is a ridiculous excess… maybe if you only travel moderately, or you walk across town daily with your laptop on your back (millions a day most likely) then having your OSX operating system
in such a small package seems quiet smart… and you can’t compare size and weight based on the OS… most apple users won’t switch to windows just to get a more powerful and cheaper computer. i never use my cd drive except when installing, which is how often again? with OSX most drivers seem to already be in there so its really not missed.
to be honest (i mean it is your page and you’re entitled) but it reeks of dislike regardless of its true merit
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:02 am
This is a pretty poor write up. I’m not personally a big fan of the Mac Book Air, but it appears that you’re just writing about the product because everyone else is, which I believe is pretty poor form.
That aside, your points are mostly moot. Your “pros” section looks like it was copy and pasted from the “features” area of a product description.
One of your main points against the product appears to be its lack of CD drive. Why would someone utilizing the Mac Book Air need a CD drive? Most portable information is either stored via thumb drive or servers these days. Program installations are not going to be done while traveling, so they can be done near a desktop, so that the Air can use its CD drive, or via downloads. Given that the Air is built purely for portability, it is not likely that the user is going to be hauling around a bunch of CDs on a daily basis.
As I said, I’m not a huge fan of the product. You’re right in that it’s pointless unless you do a lot of traveling or want something really light, but honestly, there are a lot of people that fit exactly that niche these days, and Apple is smart for cornering that area of the market. It is a bit pricey, and you can get something more powerful for less. But come on - if you’re going to review a product, especially something as talked about as the Mac Book Air, you can do a little better than spending ten minutes at Best Buy and reading a product description.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Hey guys thanks for the feedback.
This wasn’t meant to be a full blown review as we don’t even have one. It was simply a review from going into a Best Buy and playing around with it for awhile. It was just our opinon and nothing more. Mac users dis Windows all day…
@Austin, you’re right tons of people travel but what we meant was most people who are traveling on business 4 days out of the week do not use Mac products.
But anyway’s, thanks for the feedback!