MacBook Air with nVidia 9400M and 128GB SSD Review

To see what's wrong with this review, let's take ourselves an imaginary 'typical' Air user. They will buy this laptop because they like the look of it and don't care about the price. Pperhaps they like OS-X for its ease of use, but they probably don't care. They will probably not buy it as a 'second machine' because they're probably not a techie. In my experience most people hate switching between computers (synching files and settings can be a PITA) - this is why they want a portable one in the first place.

They will find themselves one day attempting to copy files from their camera to a USB hard disk, or save files to a memory stick using their 3G dongle, and will realise the need for a USB hub. God forbid you want to do any of that using a mouse (anyone else here hate trackpads?). You do not need to be a power user to find one USB port limiting, in fact I find the opposite is true, as your average user won't want to waste time doing things like copying from camera to laptop to disk to avoid needing a hub.

One day they might want to burn some of their photos to a DVD, and will have to buy an external drive. Doing any of these at the same time will require a power socket for a powered USB hub. At some point, if they're smart, they'll notice that carrying around all this junk takes up more space and weight than a physically larger laptop would. It also means more cables, more hassle, and it certainly makes you look like a complete tit trying to do any of these things in public. Suddenly the Air is not quite so sexy.

The Air is silly because it's geared up all wrong. All they had to do was throw in an ethernet port and one (preferably two) more USB ports and it could be your ultra-thin do-anything executive machine. Forget the tech specs, those are unimportant - this is supposed to be all about no-hassle usability. It fails that test, whilst also using expensive enough components to fail on the 'just enough for me to use' side of things too. It sits in some uncanny valley of computing where you have the power to do things you wouldn't want to do on it.

You could argue that this doesn't matter - and maybe it doesn't - but you cannot argue against the fact that many other companies have done the stylish ultra-portable far better. And that's why it doesn't deserve 8/10. Just like the original iPhone and the 3G before iPhone OS 3, it has so much to commend it but is spoiled by stupid flaws that have no reason to exist. People will go out their way to prove it doesn't matter, but Apple will still make a mint on upgrades when they 'fix' the 'problems' that never existed. That's what they do, and I hate them for it. The shareholders don't though.

As a system administrator, I'm always on-call and have to carry a laptop everywhere I go. For transportation, I use a bike, public transit, or often walk about 30 minutes to get places, so every bit of weight reduction makes a significant difference. I'm always traveling and need something I can work on all day, so a netbook's screen and keyboard is too small to work on all day. At home or the office, it is my primary laptop. I think the MacBook Air is perfect for my needs.

I agree its a little pricey, so I ended up getting a used first generation one for $700. The video on the first generation Air is a little slow for full screen HD video, but is sufficient for non-HD. I often use for Netflix streaming on a 1080p screen.

With the high price, I think this works well for the corporate executive or remote sales rep. If price wasn't as big a consideration, this works well for anyone that needs to sacrifice performance for reduced weight.

Picked-up latest MBA at Dixon's Heathrow T5 for 1,195GBP and can recommend this for those wanting portability and power at same time. I have yet to see a Sony laptop with similar specification of MBA and that can output same processing and video power. Recently Sony released the Vaio X series however, the Sony's processing and video power are nowhere near that of the MAB. The Sony Vaio is feather weight but so is the graphics and processing power. Bottom line the MBA is a complete well rounded solution for someone looking for both portability and power. If you just happen to also need to run Win7 apps then use bootcamp and watch MBA boot Win7 in under 30 secs. Love the product, although it may be pricey for some......but worth every penny.

I read some of the comments regarding the MBA and in the interest of those potentially on the market for portability without sacrificing power this is one of the best out there today. It's hard to believe people here comparing this to a netbook because under the hood its nothing like a net book. The MBA is equipped with an Intel Core-Duo and not some low powered ATOM processor and furthermore, it has an Nvidia 9400 chiptset which is far superior to the Intel or ATI video chipsets used in your typical netbook. Costly, it may very well be.... for some, but the mere fact that you can run WIN7 or Snow Leopard is a bonus that far outweighs the competition. The single USB is limiting but not a hindering factor for me or for most anyone that intends to use this for real work or surfing at SBs. Highly recommend this if you are considering portability, reasonably powerful and flexibility in using multi OS.