“The price – ranging from $1,000 for an 11-inch screen and 64 gigabytes of memory to $1,600 for a 13-inch screen and 256 gigabytes – is the MacBook Air’s defining characteristic, with the skinnyness a close second,” Lynch reports. “It’s an extremely fancy laptop. I reviewed a 13-inch model with 128 gigabytes of flash storage, which would set you back $1,300.”
“An Apple engineer I spoke to said the laptop borrows many of its ideas from the iPad,” Lynch reports. “Like the iPad, or a USB drive, the Air uses flash memory instead of a hard drive, and the laptop’s best features flow from that decision. The absence of a bulky hard drive allows for the slim shape, and keeps the machine cooler than most laptops I’ve used, and quieter. In fact, that’s my favorite feature – it never, ever makes noise.”
Full review here.
My woman is happy as she can be with her 11″ MacBook air. No more complaints about her f’ing Dell netbook.
The lack of a backlit keyboard is another shortcoming, but very excusable given it’s strengths.
I’ve never needed a backlit keyboard. Don’t you people know the keys by heart by now?
Isn’t the light off screen enough if you really need to look at keys?
jjjj vs. vv, nice. Look I’ll add my zzz two cents worth. Lack of a backlit keyboard is not a deal killer, unless you’re retarded enough not to know where to place your fingers on which key to type. Besides there’s ambient light & light from the glow of the screen which really ought to be enough. Unless like I said you happen to be a retarded Android user too.
No backlit keyboard, no problem. Mavis Beacon taught me touch typing years and years ago
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@lots of j’s: Yes, know where all the keys are, but it’s easy to make a mistake in the dark, especially if you are typing a password. And no, in many situations, the light off the screen is not bright enough to see the keys.
A backlit keyboard is a joy. One of those nice little things that make you appreciate being alive. Right up there with beautiful women.
It’s pretty obvious that this guy’s personal laptop is a big hurkin’ Dell or standard issue Lenovo, cause he has difficulty opening it without release latches. He is squirming over a $1K price tag. (he only paid $559 for his Dell cement block). He was actually surprised that a laptops fan should not have to go on except in heavy use. (some dells have like 5 internal fans running 24/7). LoL
The lack of backlit keys is not a dealbreaker, but it makes typing in a dim room exceptionally comfortable. Don’t sell this feature short.
You’d have to be super-retarded or a really whiney n00b not to be able to type without a backlight.
The backlight comes in handy for using the command keys (f row) that I don’t know from practice but I don’t know whether I’m super-retarded or a really whiney n00b.
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Then damn thing doesn’t have a friggin’ floppy drive! WTF?!
“A backlit keyboard is a joy. One of those nice little things that make you appreciate being alive. Right up there with beautiful women.”
Comment of the year …
>A backlit keyboard is a joy. One of those nice little things that make you appreciate being alive. Right up there with beautiful women.
Nothing like a backlit, beautiful women.
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It’s shocking to see how bulky and ugly looking most PC laptops are compared to my MacBook Pro. I can’t imagine what they would look like next to a MacBook Air.
I plan on getting a 13″ MacBook Air early next year to complement my first Mac, a 2010 Mini. After seeing and holding the Air I can’t imagine using a different laptop, they all look too big and bulky now. Where I live and what I do that portability is extremely important, the Air looked so nice it may even replace my iPad as my heavy user.
The backlit keys are a big deal. It’s not such a big deal when you’re at a desk and typing away, but when you’re watching a movie in bed or on the go or whatever, being able to see the keys makes a difference.
The most amazing thing about the new MacBook Air is the “half” with screen. It is so amazingly thin. You don’t appreciate it when looking from the front, but viewed from the side, I couldn’t believe an LCD panel actually fits in there. How does the backlighting work on this thing, when there is no room for the “back”…?
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Backlit keyboard + magnetic power cord = two features I just luuurve on my MBP.
I don’t have a problem locating most keys by touch, but I use a variety of different computers and keyboards on any given day and the keyboard layouts differ a bit between machines, so it is not completely straightforward to learn exact placement for function keys and the like. This is not a problem during the day, but the backlit keyboard is one of the many things that makes my wife’s MBP much more enjoyable to use than the Dell Latitude that my work provides me.
No backlit kb is a minor quibble. It’s very fast, stays relatively cool, great battery life. One of the best machine I have seen come from Apple.
Peter
<a href = “http://mackeeper.zeobit.com”>mac cleanup</a>