First Impressions: MacBook Air

This past weekend I finally got a chance to try out the MacBook Air at my not so local Apple Store. For the most part the Air feels like it should be more. I think my whole problem with the MacBook Air isn't the fact that it's a very expensive computer (this a reality that all Apple fans must deal with) its that it isn't really that innovative. Aside from the visual aesthetics the MacBook Air is really just an underpowered notebook that doesn't bring anything new to the table.

Now it's easy to say that the Air is a useless notebook but in reality it isn't. The problem is that its only innovation is its look and not its feature set. The additional gestures on the track pad don't count due to the fact that very little software really supports this new functionality and is currently a novelty rather than a full blown feature. The Air could have really taken off (I'm sorry for that puns are never the right answer) if it had an amazing battery life, power house processor, or be a truly wireless device.

Since its very likely that my last statement can be taken quite a few ways I'll try to elaborate on them more to make my point.

1. If the Air really did have a battery life of 5 hours with normal use (current average is about 2-2.5 hours) it would still only be a good ultra portable. However, the Air could have innovated more if it had a battery life of 7-10 hours. Think of it this way if the Air could retain its form factor, still run a pretty solid OS X experience and last a whole 7+ hours on a charge; this laptop would be on this wish lists of a lot more road warriors.

2. Currently ultra portables are some of the weakest machines available on the market (for good reason). However, the Air would have given Apple an opportunity to shift that perception by creating an ultra portable that could at least perform on or close to the level of its MacBook brother. A 1.8 GHz processor is not a great speed for a brand new notebook line that needs to build its own user base. The Air's battery performance isn't anything to brag about so why not at least go for a faster processor to give the new audience more of an incentive to buy. Many people by notebooks expecting them to last a few years and perform reasonably well. In its current form I don't believe the MacBook Air can meet this expectation.

3. The true wireless device, that doesn't mean it shouldn't have attachments for a power cable though wireless power charging would be pretty sweet. What I mean by a true wireless device is one that supports interfacing with other devices wirelessly i.e. wireless USB. I know it's not quite there an doesn't have much traction yet but this seems like a sure fire way to innovate where other competitors haven't and really start setting the standards. The idea of doing something like this wouldn't be totally outrageous for Apple and would allow them to start pushing for support for wireless enabled peripherals. They could release a wireless Super Drive that uses the wireless USB standard and go from there.

However, currently the MacBook Air is an elegantly designed notebook that has sub standard performance. Though its hard to say where Apple will go with this new family of notebooks, it is definitely not one computing device that I can recommend for most users (Even of the Apple kind).

I'd like to note that my experience with the Air wasn't bad it just wasn't the machine it should be for the price. Like most Apple fans I don't mind having to pay the Apple Tax as long as I'm getting a great product for it. Unfortunately the MacBook Air is only a decent product and I can't really justify the price tag. For the price range you'd at least expect the inclusion of the USB super drive or in the very least the USB Ethernet adapter, come on Steve enough with the Nickel and Diming.