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Thin is in: Ars Technica reviews the MacBook Air

arstechnica.com — The MacBook Air has finally made its way into the hands of the earliest adopters. Ars Technica likes the sexy, but digs into the nitty gritty to see whether being so thin is worth it.

Who dugg this? Made popular Feb 4, 2008

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  • rebotfc, on 02/04/2008, -2/+152Dugg for "Imaginary battery life 5 hours "
  • clintology, on 02/04/2008, -4/+106Two and a half hours battery life really ticks me off. I can't believe no one else has said anything about this in all the other reviews.
  • burstaneurysm, on 02/04/2008, -7/+723 ports, 1 cup
  • davidsa, on 02/04/2008, -9/+66Thanks Ars for the good review, as always.
  • coolgus, on 02/04/2008, -21/+78they say the things as they are. too much hype for this product. One USB ?!!!! Give me a break
  • starkruzr, on 02/04/2008, -13/+56"but digs into the nitty gritty to see whether being so thin is worth it."

    SPOILER ALERT: It isn't.
    Small footprint has value. Light weight has value. Thinness, beyond a certain point, has no value.
  • pintomp3, on 02/04/2008, -3/+38two and a half hours of battery life isn't so bad, just pop in your spare... oh wait.
  • inactive, on 02/04/2008, -21/+56Sorry, I'd rather have a ***** laptop thats 1-2cm larger with actual PORTS on the thing
    Thin is useless and stupid
    Functionality > Cosmetics
  • MutatedNantuko, on 02/04/2008, -6/+35"...but it did the worst during a WebKit build that took over 45 minutes. That was pretty harsh. "

    Harsh? How about "Holy ***** that's slow."
  • FredFredrickson, on 02/04/2008, -14/+37$1800 for a gimpy laptop is too 90's for me.
  • AntBing, on 02/04/2008, -2/+23Small footprint, light weight and thinness all have value, just not at the cost of battery life and performance.
  • inactive, on 02/04/2008, -4/+24Someone give the MacBook Air a sandwich!
  • Urkel, on 02/04/2008, -1/+20One thing wrong with reviews today is that there is such a rush to be first out the door that the product isn't really judged properly. And that is why Ars Technica reviews are so important. Not only do they tell it like it is, they take the time to use the product and not make guesses.

    Mossberg, Macworld, Pogue etc have all given their opinion yet none of them actually used the product in it's intended environment or really pushed the system. They just gave it less than 72hrs and proceeded to write out a list of excuses for why the USER should change rather than the product. Mossberg got 3.5hrs battery and proceeded to say "The Air should come close to their promised 5hrs under optimal conditions" without even testing it.

    Thank god for Ars and anyone who actually values being accurate rather than being first when it comes to reviews.
  • helloyamadotcom, on 02/04/2008, -6/+24obligatory "IT CAN FIT IN AN ENVELOPE!"
  • inactive, on 02/04/2008, -0/+18I use a Mac and am very happy with MacOS, but sadly apple has since about forever stated that their laptops did 5 hours, while they actually does closer to 3.5 hours. (have owned 3 Apple laptops)
  • phibit, on 02/04/2008, -3/+19Duh! Doesn't everyone carry around a wired mouse, a printer, an mp3 player, a USB headset, and of course a little USB dacing hula girl?
  • robbh66, on 02/04/2008, -2/+18While it will help both the speed and battery life, as disappointingly low as it is now it's not going to get that much better with an SSD.
  • inactive, on 02/04/2008, -6/+22Apples problem is cost, most people buy a sub $800.00 notebook, apple won't touch this market, and instead, chooses to ignore it.
  • turbopro, on 02/04/2008, -2/+18Sarcasm much? at least I hope so.
  • techresearcher, on 02/04/2008, -2/+16The only reason someone would want to buy an Air is for its lightweightedness (is that a word?) and portability. Now the sucky battery life kills the very purpose of its existence.
  • MutatedNantuko, on 02/04/2008, -12/+25Hey, you can plug in a mouse when you realize the touchpad sucks, then.....*****.
  • mycatsboots, on 02/04/2008, -1/+14I was impressed by the article, it was very objective and strayed away from any fanboy-isms.

    I was thinking about hopping into the 'small notebook' wonderland, and after reading this I can make the informed decision to stay away from the first generation, and hope that the inevitable newer line will include an easily accessible battery (unlikely, but maybe) and perhaps a faster hard drive. I know I can't have my cake and eat it too, but I can certainly hope.

    Otherwise, it looks like a great product, I'll have to make the trek to the Apple store in Freehold to give it my own test.
  • wageslaven, on 02/04/2008, -4/+16Well, you've just paid too much for a laptop that has better alternatives. Congradulations. You can buy a laptop with MORE features, for less money, that weighs less but is only slightly thicker.

    Are you intending on putting this in an envelope? Because the alternatives are only 2-4mm thicker...
  • wyrdness, on 02/04/2008, -4/+16I use a bluetooth mouse with my old powerbook. Printing is done wirelessly. I never need the usb ports for anything. If you really need more than one, you can always plug in a usb hub.
    The AIr is aimed at rich executives who probably won't need usb ports either.
  • infobhan, on 02/04/2008, -0/+12Everyone seems to love to hate the MBA, but the actual conclusion of the article was:

    "Despite all of the Air's (sometimes glaring) flaws, I plan to keep it and use it as my notebook from here on out (maybe with a hard drive upgrade in the near future, and definitely with a battery upgrade when they become available)."

    Though I have a full-fledged notebook, I rarely actually use the features that the MBA lacks. The performance seems reasonable for what I do on the road, as does the disk space. I think the key audience here is people who need a notebook for traveling, but have desktop for storage and archiving or for any processor intensive tasks (e.g. video editing).
  • Tippis, on 02/04/2008, -1/+13So, we put our hopes to being lucky in ye olde Apple version-1.0-hardware raffle?
  • TBoneFever, on 02/04/2008, -8/+19USB hub? Also, isn't the main purpose of this machine portability? Why would you even by this laptop if you wanted to use mutiple USB devices?
  • ibeetle, on 02/04/2008, -3/+14My brother has had a Air for 3 days. I questioned him about this 2 hour battery life that some have mentioned. He has no idea where this is coming from. He told me he is getting 3 1/2 - 4 1/4 hours.
  • corkdorkdan, on 02/04/2008, -0/+11I still think they should have gone all the way with that, and actually sold it with a manila interoffice envelope as the packaging.
  • drgmdp, on 02/04/2008, -2/+13i don't think so, he's just waiting for a laptop that is actually worth the insane $1800 this one costs
  • daborg, on 02/04/2008, -2/+12Are you serious? Maybe you need to think about that for two seconds and then rephrase the question.
  • Jeez, on 02/04/2008, -5/+15Saying anything bad about apple is blasphemy? seriously most reviewers these days do not actually review rather just type some nice statements from the brochure to appease their advertisers.
  • Adgeman, on 02/04/2008, -0/+10I agree completely with this. I've never got within 20% of the official battery life on any mac laptop. I simply ignore this bit of any presentation as I know it's utterly unrealistic.
  • Gryffydd, on 02/04/2008, -2/+11Not really...this thing doesn't have any input ports, remember?
  • bowe, on 02/04/2008, -1/+10The Air doesn't have a wired connection.
  • mrsteve007, on 02/04/2008, -5/+14Like when you use the single USB port to plug in your slow 10/100 network dongle. Don't expect to get any major work done on this expensive machine, even as an executive.
  • idesign562, on 02/04/2008, -2/+10That was pretty much my favorite part too.
  • timusca, on 02/04/2008, -1/+9douché
  • rudy23, on 02/04/2008, -3/+11yup. My IBM X series does pretty much the same stuff while costing around $700.
  • Balanced, on 02/04/2008, -1/+9Bigger screen, faster processor, preferred OS?
  • FredFredrickson, on 02/04/2008, -8/+16There is no CD / DVD player. You should read a little more before you post.
  • CraigJ, on 02/04/2008, -4/+11dugg for: "3 ports, 1 cup door"
  • trakais, on 02/04/2008, -4/+11network dongle? i have yet to see an airport or hotel without wireless. where do you americans live, in caves?
  • AronT, on 02/04/2008, -0/+7Very funny
  • wageslaven, on 02/04/2008, -3/+10Paging that mac whore mossberg... mr. mossberg, you have some apple apologies to write.
  • jkirk7msa, on 02/04/2008, -0/+7Great review, kept me interested throughout the whole thing. Good job, ArsTech.
  • Tippis, on 02/04/2008, -0/+7It has an ethernet dongle... if you're willing to pay for it.
  • techresearcher, on 02/04/2008, -1/+8Copying comments is not cool, dude. Especially if the original is only 3 up.
  • inactive, on 02/04/2008, -1/+7You can use any burner. Its just the Apple one that only works on the air, because of the high power USB port.
  • phibit, on 02/04/2008, -0/+6But... But he tested battery life. He TESTED IT!! I believe him.
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