Hands-on: The MacBook Air beyond the hype

Computerworld - By now, you've read all about the wildly hyped MacBook Air, the slenderized version of Apple's MacBook line that looks like it's been run over by a steamroller.

I had a chance to bang on one of these for awhile, and I'm here to report that Mac-centric road warriors used to lugging around a 5-lb. MacBook or a 6.8-lb. MacBook Pro — count me in the latter camp — will find the 3-lb. Air to be just what they've been waiting for.

This ultralight (if not exactly ultrasmall) laptop comes with a heaping helping of Mac OS X, a full-size keyboard, a 13.3-in. backlit LCD and even an optional state-of-the-art solid-state drive.

What more could you want?

Well, how about more than one USB port, a FireWire port or two, an ExpressCard slot and an optical drive? The fact that the Air offers only a single USB port, a micro-DVI port and a headphone jack means that if you tend to hook up a lot of peripherals, you're going to have to rethink how you use your laptop.

Is smaller better?

For a lot of people, smaller and lighter is better when it comes to their laptops. I am not one of those people. I have a late-model 17-in. MacBook Pro with a high-res screen that's still perfect for me. Since I rarely travel, about the farthest my laptop goes is from my desk to the couch, with an occasional foray to the screen porch or the office. (I keep secretly hoping Apple will offer up a 20-in. laptop. Silly me.)

Having made my bias clear, I can say that the model Apple sent over for this review is probably one of the coolest-looking laptops to appear in years — both in terms of size and hipness. "Cute" is the word that keeps popping up when friends and co-workers give it the once-over. This is really a laptop where form has overtaken function. It's so slim that no pictures do it justice, so if you're at all interested in buying one, get down to an Apple Store and eyeball it yourself. And be sure to pick it up so you can judge how light it feels.

The MacBook Air next to the MacBook Pro.
Click to view larger image.

In case you missed the details when Apple CEO Steve Jobs pulled the Air out of an envelope at Macworld on Jan. 15, here are the basics: It's 0.16 in. thin at the front, and 0.76 in. thick at the back where the screen hinges are located. It weighs 3 lb., has those three ports hidden behind a small door, offers a built-in iSight webcam and uses a revamped multitouch trackpad.