Macbook Air 11 - perfect for the frequent flyer

[gumpy]

I have been with my Macbook Air 11 for about 30 hours now... and I just wanted to share with everyone that it's basically the perfect laptop for the modern frequent flyer. It's tough, very thin and very light. It's smaller than most books and rivals magazine sizes.

I'm not sure what others out there use. Those who travel for work I presume use their dell's or lenovo's but this laptop by apple is fantastic and highly recommend it for anyone looking for a nice portable computer.

The battery life is about 3.5 hrs if you're playing movies. Just browsing it can go a tad over 5 hrs when just browsing the net. The start up time is about 8 seconds, it takes about 2 seconds to shut down thanks to the Mac OS and SSD HD. Furthermore, even though it only has a 1.4ghz processor it's powerful enough to process raw to jpeg, only a person that likes to play heavy games while they travel will find the system performance inadequate. It's got a frosted aluminum body, so you don't even need a case for it. Just throw it in your bag.

Hope to see me more Macbook Air users in the lounges.

Cheers

 

[Oneworldplus2]

I have been with my Macbook Air 11 for about 30 hours now... and I just wanted to share with everyone that it's basically the perfect laptop for the modern frequent flyer. It's tough, very thin and very light. It's smaller than most books and rivals magazine sizes.

Yeah, l've been eye-balling one of these bad boys for a while now. I went into the Apple Store in Sydney the other day and had a hands on. WOW!!! I'm tossing up between a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro. However, l am happy with Windows 7 operating system. Stable and loads pretty fast (I went from XP to Windows 7 on my old HP laptop, and it's running pretty fast. So, l can only imagine how todays laptops are handling windows 7...a lot better)

Macbook Air; light, enough grunt for Word/Excel/E-mail/Browsing 'net and enough battery time for the work l do without a power source. Only downfall for me, only 1 usb port. Apart from that, it's spot on. Hard drive space isn't an issue, as l use a portable HDD.

There is also a rumor circulating on the net that there will be a new version of the MacBook Pro coming out soon. So, l'm just sitting on my hands and waiting. I'm not in a rush to upgrade either.

 

[serfty]

Nice looking unit. The only thing I have an issue with is what do you Get for the cost?

I use a netbook for travel - purchased a year ago and it cost me $330 all up.

Oh, and to set the cat amongst the pigeons .... MacBook Air: top 10 things wrong with it (I don't necessarily agree with any one or all of the issues raised.)

 

[samh004]

Nice looking unit. The only thing I have an issue with is what do you Get for the cost?

I use a netbook for travel - purchased a year ago and it cost me $330 all up.

Oh, and to set the cat amongst the pigeons .... MacBook Air: top 10 things wrong with it (I don't necessarily agree with any one or all of the issues raised.)

The first 4 points don’t relate to the most recent model, that article is from 2008

Personally, not for me. While it would probably suit me just fine for what I do with my current MacBook, the amount of memory you can fit in it isn’t there yet for me, as my music library alone is over 100GB and the most storage you can get from Apple is 128GB… though these chips offer some hope.

I have a 500GB drive now, of which I use ~220GB, but could use more in the future, so would expect more than 360GB in a laptop for me to want to buy these days.

 

[gumpy]

About 1350 aud with 4 GB of RAM and 128 gb HD. JB were doing a 10% sale and then I got the GST back on my way out of AUS.

I just can't get over how fast the little bugger is... it's only a 1.4ghz but it does most things well.

Here's a counter post =)

MacBook Air: top 10 things to love about it

I'm ok with 128gb of memory. Yes I'd prefer to have 1 TB but as I'm not gone for longer than 1 month at a time 128GB is fine. You can easily put a weeks worth of music on.

What you need to experience is SSD HD's... Before I concluded that they aren't worth it by my goodness they're quick... watch below:

YouTube - MacBook Air 11.6 Full Review & Speed Test in FULL HD

 

[gumpy]

Yeah, l've been eye-balling one of these bad boys for a while now. I went into the Apple Store in Sydney the other day and had a hands on. WOW!!! I'm tossing up between a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro. However, l am happy with Windows 7 operating system. Stable and loads pretty fast (I went from XP to Windows 7 on my old HP laptop, and it's running pretty fast. So, l can only imagine how todays laptops are handling windows 7...a lot better)

Macbook Air; light, enough grunt for Word/Excel/E-mail/Browsing 'net and enough battery time for the work l do without a power source. Only downfall for me, only 1 usb port. Apart from that, it's spot on. Hard drive space isn't an issue, as l use a portable HDD.

There is also a rumor circulating on the net that there will be a new version of the MacBook Pro coming out soon. So, l'm just sitting on my hands and waiting. I'm not in a rush to upgrade either.

Just to let you know it's got 2 USB ports. If you get a bluetooth mouse you keep all of them free. To be honest I only use one most of the time for a SD card reader or flash drive to transfer stuff...

 

[samh004]

Just to let you know it's got 2 USB ports. If you get a bluetooth mouse you keep all of them free. To be honest I only use one most of the time for a SD card reader or flash drive to transfer stuff...

If you’d got the 13" model you’d have an SD-card slot too

 

[markis10]

What you need to experience is SSD HD's... Before I concluded that they aren't worth it by my goodness they're quick... watch below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHhOJ--GD3g&playnext=1&list=PL45E3A06FDB38608F&index=22

I have been using a SSD notebook for three years and love them, although there is massive difference between brands and even within the same brand when it comes to performance, in particular the Intel units are close to the best (although I may be biased there having worked for them a while ago).

As for the pricing, there was quite a bit of excitement on Friday when Myer announced 10% off Apple, for those that purchased gift cards with the 10% bonus in December it was an effective 20% discount not including the extra discount through the Myer One credits.

 

[anat0l]

I have to admit I was eye-balling one of these, especially since there was a sale and/or education discounts are available!

The size is so small and so thin. It's the latter descriptor which has me a little apprehensive (i.e. just how much weight can that screen handle? I know most laptop screens shouldn't have stuff on top of it, but I'm thinking when you put all your belongings in a tight bag etc.)

I swear you could toss that device like a frisbee No, don't do that....

Personally for me I'm holding out for some time for a good 11-13" model laptop. This size range, I feel, has the best compromise for space. That is, it is big enough so that you don't have to view web pages or documents in only 10% of the screen real-estate, yet the physical size is small enough so that it doesn't feel imposingly big and slips into most bags. Since work uses Windows and MS Office, I need to be able to run MS Office on my machine, albeit it may run slowly (as long as it's not a snail on molasses on a cold winter day) - now whether that is Office for Mac or MS Office through VM/Bootcamp or bona fide on Windows 7 - doesn't matter.

I have a 15" widescreen laptop which is my main system and a 10" MSI netbook. The former is my current powerhouse, but at 15" widescreen it is of course heavy and it needs a bag of minimum 16" to accommodate it, let alone with accessories. Needless to say, such bags are not cheap. The netbook has the advantage of physical size (it is a thick-ish little thing) but viewing webpages but especially documents on it can be a challenge.

 

[gumpy]

If you’d got the 13" model you’d have an SD-card slot too

this is very true... however i saved 500 bucks, 300 grams and a fair bit of space by going for the 11" =) But yeah abit annoying they didn't just put a sd slot in the 11"

 

[anat0l]

this is very true... however i saved 500 bucks, 300 grams and a fair bit of space by going for the 11" =) But yeah abit annoying they didn't just put a sd slot in the 11"

An SD card reader would probably price in less than $500, although that's extra hardware to carry (i.e. might evaporate some of the weight advantage), plus you might run out of USB ports (you could then get a USB hub with two cables to supply power, but again more hardware!). You could also just use the cable from your camera and connect direct rather than both with a reader.

 

[munitalP]

Ive got a VIAO (Sony VAIO VPCX125LG 11.1-Inch Netbook with Intel Atom Processor Z540, 64GB SDD | Laptop and Netbook Specifications) and with the wireless off, push the battery out to 6+ hours, and weighs 740 grams. Wireless on using for email etc, 5+ hours, heavy duty graphics on facebook games etc, 3+ hours.

Saw the latest model in Vegas with onboard mobile wireless - previous Lenovo X301 had that, great.

I wont buy a mac as I have invested too much in microsoft office, project, visio etc to have to do it again...

 

[gumpy]

An SD card reader would probably price in less than $500, although that's extra hardware to carry (i.e. might evaporate some of the weight advantage), plus you might run out of USB ports (you could then get a USB hub with two cables to supply power, but again more hardware!). You could also just use the cable from your camera and connect direct rather than both with a reader.

Yep true, just that I need the SD card reader when I travel with the DSLR (maybe twice a year) so the SD card reader is in the camera bag. Else the normal Point and Shoot camera struggles to fill the 2 GB card. As I don't need it all the time it's ok... though I'd prefer it to be built in never-the-less...

 

[yeldarb8]

Re: Macbook Air 11 - perfect for the frequent flyer...

Love Apple, I have MacBooks, iPhone, iPod, and iPad... but for ultra lightweight and on-road performance I grab my 10.1 inch Asus Netbook. All-up it was $400 including external DVD drive. Battery life is routinely a stunning 8+ hours. I have got 10 hours out of it no WiFi on or DVD running. I self-upgraded the RAM from 1GB to 2GB for about $35.

 

[simongr]

I wont buy a mac as I have invested too much in microsoft office, project, visio etc to have to do it again...

You can run office for for the basics:

Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Student 2011 Family Pack - Apple Store (U.S.)

For Project/Visio you could run parallels and run Win7 at the same time as OSX. Given you wont be playing games or running major processes the MBA could cope easily running parallels.

 

[Limewood]

I had a late model 15" MacbookPro sold it to a friend after last year and bought the iPad 64gb, it weighs in at a mere 709gms, battery life is a whopping 11 hours!, great on trips to watch movies with, have loaded so many Travel Apps on it, its not funny, take it with us everywhere, even use it around the apartment. Have wireless set up at home can print from it, also have 2 x 27" iMacs and 2 iPhones, like Apple we think so!.

Apple - iPad - Apps for iPad

 

[drewbles]

I used to be a huge proponent of ultra-portable laptops (having originally owned a Sony Vaio Z505, one of the original ultra-portables). I then moved to a 12" Powerbook when they came out (my first ever Mac).

Unfortunately my 12" Powerbook had some major failures and my insurance company replaced it. As it was a 'Pro' product (when it was iBook and Powerbook) they replaced it with a 15" MacBook Pro.

Ever since that, I refuse to go back to a smaller screen. I'll happily trade off a light weight portable for a machine that has 6+ hour battery life (even watching movies I'll easily get 4-5 if on a plane), built in ethernet (essential for me, the air has a USB ethernet adaptor) and a decent sized screen (11" is just too small for spreadsheets and the stuff I do in my line of work).

I find my iPad does all the things I need for non-laptop stuff (movies on planes etc). My MacBook Pro lives in a bag when on flights (if i'm not catching up on work) and the iPad gets the majority of use, with ample battery life.

Not the most cost effective, but that's what works for me. Although the Air's are damn sexy machines

 

[gumpy]

Actually yes spreadsheeting is one of the major failings of the 11" MBA...

13" may be passable.

I do agree a MBP and a IPAD is a fantastic combo, it's just that I prefer to carry one device.

 

[markis10]

Depending on what i am doing I either roadtrip with my Lenovo X200 Tablet or my X300, both have pros, the tablet being the 8 hour battery life (12" screen ) while the X300 is only 6 hours but the 13.3 screen is great, both have SSDs with the X201 being retrofitted very easily for $200. Having added the iPAD to the inventory I am finding that my laptop often only needs charging every second day, and I am looking forward to the new rev if the iPAD OS that will allow it to be a WIFI AP, so I can ditch another device.

Neither the X200 or the X300 come close to the Protege R200 or previously the R100 that I owned in terms of weight, however small and light has one issue I have posted about previously, it makes them easy to steal from QPs :evil:. Maybe one day I will go a Mac, when its supported by our tech section, they are still having issues with me using an iPAD LOL.

 

[TonyHancock]

One week with my shiny new MacBook Air 11.6. Worth every cent. I am using it solely for travel, it replaces my 13" 1st Generation MacBook Air which has now become my lounging about machine at home.

Work is all Windoze so I run Parallels 6 with Windows 7 Professional. I upgraded the ram to 4GB and went for the 1.6 gig processor.

It is a stunning piece of kit. Beautifully designed.

....and yes I also have an IPad!!!