Meet Matt, a senior technician here at Laptop Broker. Like all our technicians, Matt knows his way around a laptop and has upgraded and rebuilt thousands of computers over the years.
We asked Matt to review a few laptops he is familiar with and have posted them for our customers to review. We hope you find this information helpful and welcome your feedback. |
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Apple MacBook Air Review
Apple MacBook Air is the latest and the thinnest laptop by Apple Inc. Apple Boss, Steve Jobs, displayed the laptop on January 15, 2008. The thinness has not diminished the size of the laptop in any manner. Further, it offers ultra-portability.
Apple MacBook Air offers all essential features in their normal sizes. It also offers all necessary software. You can place your order for your Apple MacBook Air right now through the Apple Store site. It costs $1,799 for 80GB and $3,098 for 64GB solid-state drive.
Features
 Apple MacBook Air has dimensions of 0.16 to 0.76 x 12.8 x 8.94 inches. It weighs 1.36 kg. Apple MacBook Air is thin enough to fit within an interoffice envelope. It has a 1.8-inch hard drive of 80GB Parallel ATA model with 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo to 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. This processor is custom-built to fit within its compact dimensions. Processor speed is 4200 rpm. It also offers a 64GB solid-state disk (SSD) drive as an option.
Apple MacBook Air has an onboard memory of 2GB. Apple MacBook Air supports Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory. It has a built-in iSight webcam with an adjacent microphone. This webcam is a round hole instead of a square. The laptop lid has a convex design.
Rating: 5/5
The Looks on the Exterior
Apple MacBook has set new standards of mobile computing through its exemplary and breakthrough design and features. Apple MacBook Air sports a silvery finish on the exterior. This laptop has a sturdy and anodized aluminum case. It has a little wedge-shaped profile. The overall design of Apple MacBook Air is curved in its corners with a thickness of only 0.4 centimeters in most parts.
Rating: 5/5
Ports
Apple MacBook Air has a MagSafe connector for power with a 45 watt power adapter. It has a flip-down door on one side that accommodates USB 2.0, Micro-DVI to connect to an external display and a headphone jack. Apple’s design of hiding ports within a foldable enclosure is innovative and appreciable. However, placement of this trapdoor is little awkward. It would require use of long and thin fingers. Otherwise, you would have to lift the laptop little to open the trapdoor.
Apple MacBook Air does not offer any internal optical drive. However, it offers an additional USB 2.0-based add-on SuperDrive at an additional cost of $99.
Rating: 4/5
Battery Life
The LED technology helps saves on battery life of Apple MacBook Air. Backlighting offers instant switch on response and thereby saves on power. Apple estimates that MacBook Air can deliver around five hours of battery life with wireless networking turned on.
Apple MacBook Air has a small 37-Wh battery. However, the battery is a nonuser upgradable battery. Rather, it is not a user-removable battery. Apple claims that if the battery fails, you can purchase a replacement for $129 with installation charges.
Rating: 4/5
Screen
Apple MacBook Air has a 13.3-inch glossy wide-screen LED backlit display. It offers a resolution of 1280-by-800. Images are clear and vibrant in rich colors. You get a full-screen performance with all benefits of a slim design.
Rating: 5/5
Processor and Performance
Apple MacBook Air offers optional 64 gig solid state drive. Steve Jobs specifically noted that Intel has engineered a new version of Core 2 Duo specifically to meet requirements of Apple MacBook Air. This processor’s size is equivalent to just sixty percent of the size of other processors. The chip operates with 4MB of on-chip shared L2 cache running at full processor speed. It has an 800MHz front side bus.
Apple MacBook Air also has 2GB of 667MH DDR2 SDRAM. An Intel Core 2 Duo chip running at 1.6GHz with an optional 1.8GHz powers Apple MacBook Air. The processor uses a new miniaturized packaging technology, operating at 20W TDP or Thermal Design Power.
Rating: 5/5
Keyboard and Track pad
 The keyboard of Apple MacBook Air is full-size and can remain functional at any place, even aboard a flight. Keyboard sports a MacBook-style and is black in color. The backlit keyboard offers necessary illumination to work in lowlight settings as in conference halls. It has an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts light according to available brightness. Keys are crisp and similar to those in other MacBook.
Apple MacBook Air has a larger track pad than MacBook or MacBook Pro. This is because this track pad can recognize multi-touch gestures like that of an iPhone or iPod touch. Track pad offers all innovative multi-touch functions from Apple iPhone. It is possible to rotate, swipe, or work with just your fingers. Track pad allows the normal two-finger scrolling. You can use your fingers to rotate for photos, play with font sizes, pinch, and enlarge Cover Flow images, and many other similar functions. These gestures do not work with videos.
Rating: 5/5
Wireless
Apple MacBook Air offers fast and super-speed wireless of 802.11n2 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR built in wireless technologies. You are able to function anywhere without any wires.
Rating: 5/5
Software
Apple MacBook Air offers preinstalled software. It includes Mac OS Xv10.5 Leopard operating system, Address Book, Quick Look, Safari, Photo Booth, Time Machine, Spotlight, Spaces, Dashboard, iTunes, iDVD, iPhoto, iLife'08, Xcode Developer Tools, Front Row, iMovie, and iWeb.
Rating: 5/5
Remote Disc
This is a special and new feature of Apple MacBook Air. It allows you to access DVD or CD drive of any Mac or Windows PC within the same network. You can use this feature to retrieve files or install any software. This feature can be best attributed as an alternative for the missing optical drive in Apple MacBook Air.
Rating: 5/5
Environmental Concerns
Apple has always been an active participant in environmental group Greenpeace in recent years. Apple has enclosed its MacBook Air to suit all environmental concerns. This laptop sports a completely recyclable aluminum case. All circuit boards are BFR and PVC free. Apple has been the first to have a mercury-free display with arsenic-free glass. The retail packaging uses fifty-six percent less packaging material than MacBook packaging. Apple MacBook Air is Energy Star 4.0–certified and EPEAT silver–compliant.
Rating: 5/5
Overall Conclusions
Apple MacBook Air in short is super small, super fragile, and super light. Just a slight tap on the screen closes down the system completely.
Apple MacBook Air has been able to surpass other MacBook in their categories, arguably since it is the lightest. The slim factor makes this MacBook the center of attraction and it is rightly so. The total depth of 0.76 inches at the back tapers down to 0.16 inches towards the front bezel.
The design of this laptop makes it stand out in a crowd. The curved design makes Apple MacBook Air have a thickness of only 0.4 centimeters at most parts of the laptop. Other laptops have a flat level of thickness all over and this could be the reason for these laptops looking thicker.
This laptop does have few limitations like absence of connectivity ports and optical drive. Yet, numerous innovative features like standard-voltage processing parts and full-size keyboard within the diminutive size makes up for all limitations. Having an Internet connection reduces the utility of an optical drive greatly.
Apple’s iTunes Store fulfills all requirements of looking up a DVD film. Hence, there is no necessity of storing backups of DVD film on the hard disk. Apple offers a wireless backup device, Apple Time Capsule, at an additional cost of $299 for 500 GB and $499 for 1 TB. This proves easier than storing all data back up on the hard disk.
Apple MacBook Air would have been still more impressive if it had included an optical drive within the thin laptop. Its 13-inch LED screen is among the largest on any three-pound laptop and offers equal brightness and clarity. The black keyboard does look sleek and beautiful. Yet, a white-colored keyboard would integrate better with the aluminum chassis.
Pros:
• Environmentally safe
• Extensive wireless communication
• Introduction of Remote Disc
• Sleek design and appearance
• Comparatively less weighty
Cons:
• No built-in Ethernet ports or Firewire
• No optical drive
• Graphics power low
• Remote and front row sensor is absent
Features: 5/5
Performance: 4/5
Price: 3/5
Usability: 4/5
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