Expert Advice: 800-769-5668

13.3" screen 80GB hard drive aluminum MacBook Air laptop computer

The Macbook Air. "The world's thinnest notebook." But other than being thin, what's so special about it? Well, aside from being ultra-portable, it makes use of the best of Apple's famous ingenuity. Despite its small size, it certainly doesn't lack any features. With a 1.6GHz processor and 80GB of hard drive space, this 3-pound featherweight can contend with some of the most powerful computers around. It comes standard with Mac OS X Leopard and iLife '08 programming. And, it's more wireless than any other laptop on the market today. But that's just the beginning . . .

A full-sized notebook in a pint-sized package

The new MacBook Air is proudly proclaimed "The world's thinnest laptop," (0.16" at the thinnest point and 0.76" at the thickest), and at just three pounds, there's no doubt that it's as portable as any notebook on the market. But what did Mac give up for the sake of size? Not a lot, really. MacBook Air's size is the result of good old-fashioned innovation in design, not removing vital functions, nor any magic tricks, nor lessening the quality of the computer. On the inside of this pint-sized dynamo is a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, and an 80GB hard drive. It features Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, and comes with iLife '08. For the physical features, the MacBook Air still comes with a no-compromise, brilliant 13.3" (diagonal) display and a full-size, 78-key keyboard with an ambient light sensor controlling a keyboard backlight. The solid-state trackpad, instead of downsizing, expanded its features to include the revolutionary multi-touch gesture support that made the iPhone famous.

One thing the MacBook Air is missing, though, is an optical disc drive. But, with Apple's innovation, disc drives aren't necessary, since MacBook Air can piggyback another computer's disc drive, allowing you to access CDs, DVDs, and program discs from the optical drives of nearby Macs or PCs. Worried that won't work on the road? Have no fear. You can still store your CDs in iTunes and buy movies in iTunes. But with the new version of iTunes, you can rent movies to watch wirelessly, and now with the purchase of certain 20th-Century Fox titles, you will also receive a digital copy in iTunes to watch on your laptop, or even your iPod. This is great for those long trips. Or you could consider the MacBook Air SuperDrive. This optional multiformat, external disc drive for the MacBook Air is designed to fit on small spaces such as tray tables, with the full functionality of an internal optical drive for just a nominal fee. The length of these paragraphs alone should tell you that just because MacBook Air is one of the smallest laptops ever, it certainly isn't lacking on features. After all, dynamite comes in small packages.

Free Air

The MacBook Air wasn't designed to be tied down; it was born to be free. Can't you just picture it galloping wild and free across the great plains of yesteryear? OK, maybe not (especially since they have no legs); but MacBook Air is the most wireless computer available. It leaves the factory configured with the fastest next-generation Wi-Fi available (802.11n) and Bluetooth 2.1 + Enhanced Data Rate. But it gets even better. We've already talked about how it can read discs in another computer's disc drive (Mac or PC), no wires attached. It also removed the need for a Firewire cable to transfer all the files from your old Mac to the MacBook Air, so you can now wirelessly transfer all your old files. With the new iTunes, you can now rent movies wirelessly and start watching them instantly. And with the new Time Capsule (sold separately), all of your files can be automatically backed up wirelessly (the Time Capsule is available with either 500GB or 1TB memory, so you really can back up EVERYTHING). Of course, it comes with a built-in iSight camera, microphone, and internal speaker, so the need for additional external accessories is basically negated. But there's still one more cord that every computer needs: the power cord. MacBook Air all but removed its need, too. The MacBook Air is the most energy-efficient Mac ever, offering 5 full hours of cord-free productivity, even on the internet. It's safe to say you won't see this laptop in a zoo exhibit anytime soon. After all, the best things in life (like Air) are supposed to be free.

Leopard. Grrr.

MacBook Air comes stock with Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard. But what's the difference between Leopard and older operating systems? More than you might think. Despite being reputed as the most convenient user interface on the market, Apple continues to come up with innovations to make Mac easier to use than ever before. When Apple designs products, they look at the how the customer will use them, and because of this, the convenience of Apple products is unrivaled.

Some of the new changes in Leopard include the addition of Stacks, which frees up desktop space by letting you view all of your files in convenient stacks in the dock, which can be expanded or collapsed. Finder also became easier to use in Leopard, with a redesigned sidebar, and the Cover Flow option, which allows you to browse all your files (with working, expandable previews) the same way you can browse album covers in iTunes. With the advent of Time Machine, you can quickly back up your entire computer to an external drive, which is totally customizable, and automatically updates. Then, you can quickly and conveniently look back at what your computer looked like at any specific time, and restore any documents you may have lost, so unfortunately, you can never use the excuse "My computer deleted the file" again.

Mail is also smarter than ever, allowing you to add notes and to do lists directly in Mail, and giving you the opportunity to transfer events or contact information right into iCal and/or Address Book. And now, you can even use templates, with drag and drop convenience for pictures and other information. iChat was renovated under the spirit of "Sharing is Caring," to allow you to share files right over iChat and even view the other person's desktop to make changes to their documents (all with permission of course). Now you can even add fun effects and backgrounds like in Photobooth.

The new Spaces application removes the clutter of having multiple windows open by allowing you to create multiple screens, which you can quickly and easily customize and browse through. The fastest web browser available (Safari) got even better as well, giving you the options to quickly resize pages, download PDFs with a conveniently-placed button, adjust tabs and windows, even single out words or phrases to search for in a document (great for all those times you Google something and then spend half an hour searching a lengthy page because it looked like it had the information you needed). And it all comes with the legendary security Macs are known for. New parental controls make it easier to monitor your children's computer activity, even when you can't be there to watch them, and even set a bedtime for them in Leopard. Finally, Boot Camp allows you to run authentic Windows (because everyone needs to at some point) on your Mac at native speeds, but with all the convenience of Macs, such as iSight and Apple Remote. These are just a few of more than 300 new features of Leopard that make Mac the most user-oriented computer available. Kind of makes you want to purr.

Customer Service

Information

About Vann's