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Wendland reviews Apple MacBook Air: ‘stunning, elegant and convenient’

Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 04:51 PM EDT

"When Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the new ultra-slim MacBook Air notebook computer at last month's big MacWorld expo in San Francisco, I was impressed but skeptical of what lay under the lid," Mike Wendland reports for The Detroit Free Press.

"I thought the 3-pound MBA, as it's known, was, excuse the pun, just too lightweight. I questioned whether the tradeoffs necessary to pack so much in such a tiny package justified its steep $1,795 starting price," Wendland reports. "Now that I've had one for a week or so, I can tell you that while the MacBook Air may not be for everyone, it is very much for me."

"In fact, as soon as I return the evaluation unit sent me by Apple, I'm hitting eBay and craigslist to sell my 5-month-old, 15-inch MacBook Pro and buy an MBA of my very own.
I can sum up the MBA with three words: stunning, elegant and convenient," Wendland reports.

"It is the convenience of the MacBook Air that I think has been most underreported," Wendland reports. "For the corporate worker who runs from meeting to meeting, this is the gadget you want. It's not much bigger than a legal pad in a binder. And, with Wi-Fi now being standard in most of the corporate world, you have full access to your calendar, your address book, e-mail and the Internet, so you're never out of touch."

"The MBA is probably not the right choice if it is the only computer you will have. And if you insist on loading a hard drive with every one of your 3,876 digital photos and your entire 10,000-song MP3 library, this is also not the machine for you," Wendland reports. "But for most of us, the MacBook Air is a perfect second machine, a satellite to our desktop or larger laptop, the perfect carry-on or bring-along for our everyday lives."

Full review from someone who gets it here.