Summary:

design_displayair20080115.jpg

Features:

  • Intel Core 2 Duo processor
  • Environmental friendly design
  • Wifi network connection and Bluetooth
  • Li Polymer battery
  • The price starts from £950 and goes up to £1600 depending on the configuration

PROS:

  • Lightweight (just 3lbs), and ultra thin (0.16 to 0.76″), claimed to be world’s thinnest
  • Battery lasts up to 5 hours
  • Powered by Intel Core 2 Duo processor
  • Has intelligent wireless networking card and blue tooth for connecting peripherals without cables

CONS:

  • No traditional Ethernet card or optical storage drive.

Detailed Specification:

Processor Intel Core 2 Duo ( 1.6 GHz standard and 1.8 GHz optional)
Memory 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Hard drive 80 GB 4200 rpm parallel ATA; Optional 64 GB solid state drive
Optical CD / DVD drive External USB-based 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Display 13.3 in TFT LED
Video RAM 144 MB shared RAM
Weight 3 lbs
Dimension 12.8 x 8.94 x 0.76 in
Network type 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1
Graphics Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor
Audio Analogue audio output, mono speaker, omni directional microphone
Ethernet / Modem External USB Ethernet Adapter and modem
Keyboard Backlit keyboard with ambient light sensor
OS Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard
Price starting at £950

Expert Review: 

design_keyboardair20080115.jpg

Apple is back in the news as a leader in innovation with the release of the super thin MacBook Air at the Mac World of January 2008 held in San Francisco. It is claimed to be world’s thinnest laptop with the maximum thickness, just 0.76in. It has rightly branded the release as ‘Thinnovation’. The slimness has come at a cost: there is only one USB port, no built in CD / DVD drive and Ethernet port.
Despite its thinness, the MacBook Air has normal size screen and keyboard. The 13.3 in (diagonal) wide screen LED display consumes minimal power while still providing sharp pictures with up to 1280 x 800 pixels resolution in built in display and 1920 by 1200 pixels on external display. The full size keyboard is backlit with ambient light sensor for automatic adjustment of keyboard illumination and screen brightness. The overall dimensions are 12.8 x 8.94 x 0.76 in and it weighs just 3 lbs.

wireless_hero20080115big.jpg

The MacBook Air is powered by custom built Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB on chip shared L2 cache and 800 MHz front side bus. It has 2 GB, 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM on board and is available with 1.6 GHz CPU cycle as standard and 1.8 GHz optional. The 80GB 4200 rpm parallel ATA hard disk may be a little short on speed as well as size for video buffs and music lovers. It has optional 64 GB solid state drive with no moving parts and optional external USB 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW).

The graphics is handled by Intel GMA X3100 processor with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory. The audio system includes analogue audio output / headphone, built-in mono speaker and omni directional microphone. There is also a built-in iSight camera.

macbook_air_thinovatopnbig.jpg

Apple has adapted the multi-touch innovations of the iPhone in the multifunctional trackpad of MacBook Air. It has retained Mac’s two finger scroll and tap feature. The I/O ports include a USB 2.0 port, a headphone jack, a micro DVI port for video output and a power adapter connection. The single USB port is an obvious handicap. The laptop is powered by 37-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery that can last up to 5 hours with normal usage. The charging is done through 45W MagSafe power adapter with cable management system.

The operating system is Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard which includes a host of software packages like Time Machine, Quick Look, Spaces, Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Photo Booth, Front Row, Xcode Developer Tools and for handling music, photos and videos, iLife ’08 which includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand. Time machine allows wireless backup of files to an external drive – a hard drive with a Wifi base station, called Time Capsule. All in all a bunch of useful application packages that make life easy even for a novice user.

To summarize, MacBook Air has innovative features and great design but it comes with a price tag of over $3000 with all the accessories included.

Looking for cheap Mac laptops?

Visit our cheap Mac laptops price comparison page for the 50 cheapest Mac laptops from the best laptop shops on the web. Price comparison updated at least twice a day.