MacBook Air 11″ hands on, first impressions

By on Oct 21, 2010 at 6:05 PM
Featured October 21, 2010

We just scored a brand new Apple MacBook Air 11″ laptop at the 5th Ave store, and well, how could we not report back what we think of it? For starters, and this has probably been said already, but you really need to see this in person to appreciate how absolutely slim and compact this thing is. Our major concern has to be the processor, as this wasn’t a built-to-order unit it’s only rockin’ a 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2GB of RAM — not the slowest thing out there, but obviously on the slower end of the spectrum. We’re happy to say in our very limited use of the computer so far, we haven’t been frustrated or annoyed by the speed. There will most likely be a different story to be told after we push it to the limits, but for a computer that’s not meant to be subjected to torture every second of the day, we could see ourselves carrying this and not our 15″ MacBook Pro. In terms of the 11.6″ display, we have to say that we’re loving it. So far. We have some great photos of the new MacBook Air in our gallery, and have some comparison photos to the 13″ previous generation Air as well as our 15″ MacBook Pro.

Click on over to our MacBook Air hands on gallery!

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  • Justin

    I have owned macs and do not like their operating systems at all. Their operating system sucks. Give ma a windows system, easier to navigate and they dont crash as much. Yes i had a mac i literally threw out the window because it crashed almost daily after being 9 months old. and yes I know how to run antivirus and spybot ware. It wasnt due to a virus it was due to the operating system sucking.

    • edward

      This is exactly the opposite reaction and experiences most people have on the mac. The OSX is known for being one of the most stable systems out there. Of course, there are the MS devotees and fanboys out there… As is to be expected, many people who are not used to the mac system DO experience problems when they first use it, but this usually does not last long.

      However, the real concerns about the macs is the price premium for non “state of the art” processors, etc. BUT they do work very well and ARE very stable!

    • So Blue

      Justin, you have an acute case of Pebcak, that’s all. It is easy to fix though ;-)

      [Pebcak = "Problem exist between chair and keyboard"]

  • http://www.tekunoloji.com Ballmer Schmidt Jobs

    1.4Ghz is too little. Seriously.

  • Butters

    Until ssd’s become more affordable the typical platter hard drives are still a bottle neck to most modern day computers. If the new MacBook air had a normal platter hard drive it would crawl with the low clocked core 2 duo.

  • Raul

    The Air doesn’t have an ambient light sensor or backlit keyboard. It will feel 14% more substancial next year when it does.

  • Raul

    P.S. leaving out the backlit keyboard and ambient light sensor was probably a cost move, battery saving decision and the for ability to add-on later to enhance future offerings. My suggestion is to make the keyboard only dimly light up (that’s way better than not-at-all). When coupled with an ambient sensor it probably mitigates battery loss.

    • Michael Hughes

      I was disappointed when my Macbook White arrived and didn’t have a backlit keyboard, but honestly, I haven’t missed it.

  • Motoyo V. Nacional

    First thing I do is add a little spice eh. Not the 2008 design cues eh? what I do is this — carbon fiber keys — racing stripe on bezel and down hood. We do it nice.

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