MacBook Air review round-up

Ah, it is that magical time after an Apple announcement: the big media reviews are starting to roll in. As you might be aware Apple loans out new hardware to technology journalists to put through their paces. The MacBook Air, being a new product, was delivered to a few tech heavy hitters (with the slightly less heavy hitters having to wait a little longer to get their review unit. And no, TUAW doesn't get any review units from Apple) sometime last week, and have been subjected to lots of prodding. The first few reviews are up, and they all pretty much say the same thing: the MacBook Air is really thin, and a great machine so long as you don't need the ports it doesn't have. The good news seems to be that Apple's estimate of 5 hours of battery life doesn't seem to be too far off.

Read 'em' for yourself:

Edward Baig's review in USA Today
Steven Levy's review in Newsweek
Walt Mossberg's review in The Wall Street Journal

Our friends at Engadget just received their review unit, and have confirmed what we suspected: the external SuperDrive will not work with other Macs. They also list what you can and can't do with Remote Disc.

And finally, the groovy folks at Gearlog have received their review unit and kindly posted unboxing pictures. Who doesn't like a good set of unboxing pictures?

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Apple MacBook Air

Ah, it is that magical time after an Apple announcement: the big media reviews are starting to roll in. As you might be aware Apple loans...

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Mr. E

Hey, the Mac is 24 years old today! Think I'll celebrate by buying a MacBook Air.

Then again, maybe not... ;)

January 24 2008 at 7:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Petar Smilajkov

What? You didn't link to my review! Shame on you TUAW :)

Here it is for those interested:
http://needtoknowblog.com/2008/01/15/macbook-air-yesterdays-computer-in-tomorrows-body/

January 24 2008 at 5:59 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

With two of the reviews saying they get 3 and a 1/2 hours battery life, it's hardly "nearly the five hours Apple claims".

Especially since other small notebooks manage 6+ without dimming the screen to blanking point and turning off wifi.

January 24 2008 at 5:09 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

BabyGotMac

For some reason, the Newsweek review irritated me. He acts surprised and annoyed by the minimalist feature set, as if he were reviewing it without knowing anything about it.

That said, I think that the Air is going to do nothing more than perpetuate the stereotype of Apple as expensive, proprietary and vanity-buyer oriented. Too bad....it could have been a smash.

January 24 2008 at 4:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to BabyGotMac's comment

Eric

It's another version 1.0 Apple release - a few months down the line, Apple will drop the price, bump the specs, release an FW update...and after how Apple made the V1.0 Touch buyers spend $20 to get a few apps, I don't think I'd want a V1.0 MBA, or another other Apple product from now on.

I'll wait until V2.0 for Apple to get the kinks worked out, and see what the mainstream public reaction is. I don't find the MBA to be a primary laptop, and far too expensive to be a secondary computer, in order to make up for some of its flaws at the moment. I personally don't see it as anything but a vanity accessory at the time being, and I'd rather have the MB or MBP.

January 24 2008 at 10:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply