Apple MacBook Air review

Apple MacBook Air Review

Reviewed by: Dan Ackerman

Reviewed on: 29 January 2008

The revamped touchpad is large, measuring nearly 130mm diagonally, and it works with new multitouch gestures. Other MacBooks let you do things such as use two fingers to scroll through documents -- this one lets you use three fingers to go forward and back in your Web browser history, and use your thumb and forefinger to zoom in and out of documents and photos -- much like on the iPhone. The three-finger forward/back gesture was immediately useful, and we're already missing it when using another laptop. Apple tells us these new gestures won't be available on older MacBooks as a firmware upgrade, as the hardware behind the new touchpad is different.

Another noteworthy new feature is the remote disc function. Since the Air lacks an optical drive, you can instead remotely see the optical drives of other systems, PC or Mac, as long as they're on the same network. The setup was a little cumbersome for the 'host' PC -- requiring us to insert the OS X disc that came with the Air, run a small setup program, and then find and turn on 'CD and DVD sharing' in the Windows control panel (the documentation could have been a little clearer on what you need to do to on the Windows side).

Once we set it up, however, it worked like a charm. You won't be able to stream DVD movies or music CDs via remote disc, but it's fine for getting files and installing apps. A matching external USB DVD burner is available from Apple for £65, but any USB DVD drive should work.

The MacBook Air is unbelievably thin, at just 19mm at its widest, it tapers to a practically invisible 4mm

The display offers the same 1,280x800-pixel native resolution as the standard 13-inch MacBook, but the Air's LED backlit screen means its lid is thinner, with an image that was somewhat brighter, at least with both systems set to max brightness.

Features
The real key to finding out whether the MacBook Air is right for you lies in its stripped-down set of ports and connections. Those who regularly use more than one USB device, or need FireWire, an SD card slot or an Express card slot will find the single USB jack too limiting. Likewise, we often say the telephone modem jacks and S-Video outputs on most laptops are a waste of space, but the MacBook Air goes even further, removing the Ethernet jack (a USB-to-Ethernet adaptor will cost you £19) and offloading video output to a pair of included dongles (one VGA, one DVI).

If you live on Wi-Fi hot spots, use Bluetooth for your external mouse, and only need a USB port to occasionally sync and charge your iPod or iPhone, these limitations may not be a deal-breaker for you. While most hardware vendors offer a choice of mobile broadband options, Apple continues to offer none, which is disappointing for a system so clearly meant for life away from home and office.

Without an Express card slot, your only option would be a USB mobile broadband modem, but with the sole USB jack under a tiny flap on the right side of the system with limited clearance, you may need a small USB extension cable to get a bulky USB mobile broadband modem connected (similar to the problems people had with the iPhone's recessed headphone jack).

While the 80GB hard drive included in the base £1,199 model may be smaller than you're used to, the only other option is a 64GB solid-state hard drive. With no moving parts, and advantages in heat, power consumption and reliability, SSD hard drives are certainly the way of the future.

The future may have to wait a few years for prices to come down, however -- swapping the 80GB platter drive for the 64GB SSD drive is a whopping £639 upgrade. The only other internal hardware option is a CPU boost, from 1.6GHz to 1.8GHz for £190. With the upgraded CPU and SSD drive, the £1,119 MacBook Air suddenly becomes a £2,028 laptop.