James Cridland's blog

A radio futurologist writing about what happens when radio and new platforms collide

« | Blog index | »

A month with a MacBook Air 11" – review

Posted on Saturday, December 4th, 2010 at 12:11 am. #

MacBook Air 11"

A month ago, I blogged on my first day with the new MacBook Air 11″ – the smallest Apple Mac laptop you can buy. I then followed it up with my setup routine.

One month on, here’s the useful review. The niggles and the irritations have come out to play; and now’s where you discover whether the laptop is any good as a day-to-day machine.

From my initial review, there were just two things I didn’t like: the absence of an SD card reader (boo) and the absence of the keyboard lights, which glow under the keyboard of the MacBook Pro, enabling you to type in low-light conditions. But now I’ve used it a little more, I’ve discovered lots more things I don’t like about it.

You’d think.

But I haven’t.

Having got used to the keyboard, it is probably the best I’ve ever used. The height of the keyboard off the table makes it very comfortable, as the slight rake of the keyboard caused by the angled base. It is quiet, not slippy, and – unlike the unpleasant Sony Vaio that one client has got me using – it’s very responsive.

The MacBook Pro’s power cable works perfectly with the Air; and, unlike what I said in my initial review, the other way round: the Air’s power adaptor is smaller, and takes longer to charge the Pro, but it does work quite happily.

Particularly splendidly, my mobile phone headphones (with an inbuilt microphone) work on the MacBook Air – so Skyping in a noisy place works perfectly.

And the battery has surpassed my expectations: lasting easily five hours. This, coupled with the MacBook Air’s tiny weight, makes it the perfect laptop for use on the move.

Perplexingly, the MacBook Air 11″ is subjectively faster than my MacBook Pro, in spite of having a punier graphics card, a slower processor, and only half the memory. I don’t run games or do much that’s particularly processor intensive, so I suspect the faster access times for the flash disk might be the reason, as well as the 15-month cruft that’s on the Pro.

Would I use the MacBook Air 11″ as my only laptop? Yes. And, this weekend, I’m seriously considering listing the Pro on eBay… since I’m not sure I need it any more.

| Permalink | Comments RSS

7 comments

joanek
commenting at December 4th, 2010 at 2:11 am

I’ve only had mine a week, but love it! I’m taking it on the road for the first time tomorrow and am looking forward to the (much)lighter load!

Liam Whiteside
commenting at December 4th, 2010 at 12:52 pm

From your various blog posts, you sound familiar with both OS X on laptops and Ubuntu on netbooks.

So why one rather than the other?

Is it just that no one is marketing hardware running Ubuntu, so you’re choosing the hardware and just accepting the OS that comes with it? Or do you find one is better for certain jobs than the other.

Could you not just find some appropriate high end netbook hardware to rival the Air?

I did also notice a comment or two about Windows 7. The problems did sound like you were running it on faulty hardware or with faulty drivers. As for the cost… you seem happy to pay over the ods (in my opinion) for a Mac Book Air (of which a chunk of the cost could be attributed to the OS) but then seemed supprised at the cost of Windows 7.

Londonstuff
commenting at December 5th, 2010 at 1:47 am

Cheers for this. I’ve been soooo tempted by the 11″ for the last month, seeing it in various Apple Stores has made me want to buy it even more. I think this review might well tip the scales :)

James Hamilton
commenting at December 16th, 2010 at 5:56 pm

I’ve had my MacBook Air 11.6″ for around the same time as James… and I can second everything that’s been said. The keyboard makes every other keyboard look poor in comparison.

I bought it for the hardware (very thin, very light, very portable – and somewhere between netbook and notebook in size), but I’m happy with it running OS X (with XP in Coherence through Parallels).

It’s a brilliantly simple to use, well designed UI. And it just works – always.

What are the differences and limitations between mac book and mac book air? - Quora
commenting at January 6th, 2011 at 3:26 pm

[...] MacBook Air 11" owner In my experience – and I've blogged about the MacBook Air here: http://james.cridland.net/blog/a… – they are fairly similar; the Air certainly appearing just as fast as the better-specced MacBook [...]

flashboy dot org » Three weeks with a MacBook Air
commenting at February 27th, 2011 at 5:42 am

[...] really connect; they were those people, after all. Instead, I think it might have been James Cridland’s post on one month with his new Air – notably the suggestion that it was good enough as a primary computer that he was pondering [...]

Sal Conigliaro
commenting at March 20th, 2011 at 8:43 pm

I too am considering selling my 15″ MBP and keeping only the 11″ Air.

At the end of the first day using the Air, I said “no way, this won’t replace the 15″.

At the end of the first week, I said the exact opposite.

Did you wind up ebaying your 15″

Leave a comment

Here's my commenting policy

These are my personal views and not those of any employer - Full disclosure - Privacy - FAQ - Contact meMade in the UK