OPINION
0
MacBook Air: Beautiful, Compromised
It's sexy, it's skinny, but first reviewers say it's not for everyone
By Jim O'Neill
|
Posted Jan 24, 08 4:28 PM CST
|
Share
(Newser)
–
If thin is in, Apple’s new Air should be the hottest fashion this season. The new subnotebook weighs under 3 pounds and is three-quarters of an inch thick—at its deepest. Like all things Apple, Air’s beautiful, simple, and evokes technolust among geeks and non-geeks alike. But, say reviewers who have had their hands on the machines, it’s not for everyone, especially at its base price of $1,799.
With only 80GBs of storage, no optical drive, and one USB port, Air can seem a lightweight. The omissions, says Newsweek's Steven Levy, "are troubling—especially to someone in a down-turning economy deciding whether to spend a premium sum for a computer with subpremium storage." Despite its drawbacks, though, with the Leopard OS, full keyboard, and a beautiful LCD screen, the Air was "a pleasure to use," says the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg.