I retired from personal blogging in July 2008.
But you can find me over at http://blog.xero.com.
This morning I caved and brought a 80GB MacBook Air. I thought I did pretty well holding out as long as I did. It is too hard to get down to 64GB and for the money I thought the hard disk version one will be good for now. I’m sure there will be a better model in 6 months but I’m sure we’ll have new staff coming on board then who will be delighted in a slightly used Air.
I wish I could say it’s been a great experience so far. It hasn’t been.
The hardware is great but getting from my old MacBook to the Air is a pain. The Migration assistant failed after 2+ hours twice so I have to reinstall everything manually. At least it will be a clean machine and the I should have plenty of disk.
Not having FireWire is a drag. I had to get the USB Network adapter which speeds things up a lot.
I think it’s going to take a couple of days to move things over completely. If Migration Assistant had of worked it would have been a few hours.
It is cool having server side applications though. Entourage just works against our Exchange Store (but may take 8 hours to sync) and the Move to NetNewsWire for RSS reading has paid off as it maintains a server side list of feeds and status.
It means a new set of dongles and power leads. I have 3 for my MacBook and none of them work.
Backlit keyboard is my favorite feature so far.
Copying iTunes now … hope the authorization works.
blog
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/9aa8e49c5a65e293cde0137d9a8f2118.jpg
For those of us on WIntel: http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/ck-live/2008/02/lenovo_walks_on_air.html
I think you’re getting spammerised rod.
Ignore the spam - the Air matches the hype - you and I know how much time each week we save working without a PC. I’ve loved my Air so far…
Thanks Ben I let a few thru by accident. Fixed now.
The Air is certainly a good alternative to the MacBook Pro for those who travel regularly. The weight different between the Air and other laptops could mean the difference between checking baggage and just travelling with hand luggage for a multi-day trip.
Can anyone comment on any significant practical and performance differences between the MB Pro and MB Air?
And of course Consumer just panned the Air. To be expected. They’ve only recently got past the concept that all Macs are inherently flawed in that they don’t run whatever it is that Windows users run. The concept that choice is a good thing and people who don’t like the Air shouldn’t buy it but it might be perfect for others is a bit tricky for them.
Personally, I find a 17″ MBP just perfect. And I humped mine through Dulles not three hours ago. Lots of ports, huge screen real estate, and not actually all that heavy.
That Consumer article was blimmin annoying. They made a sweeping generalisation that most Mac users are mainly into heavy-duty video editing and then went on at length about how the Air isn’t good for that. Sigh.
I know loads of Mac users who’ve never edited a video in their lives, and for whom the Air might be a good choice.
I’d have liked it more if they’d identified where the Air does and does not have strengths and then suggested which target group of users might find it worth considering (and which would not).
I *had* thought Consumer were getting a bit more realistic about Macs, now I’m not so sure.
Yes, the MBP isn’t heavy compared with “indstrial desktop replacements” from IBM, Dell etc., but the weight different is: 2.45kg (15″ MBP) to 1.36kg (13″ MBA). You can fit a number of additional pieces of clothing/toiletries in your hand luggage for 1kg. However, I would say that the case design for the MBP gives slightly more confidence in longevity over the MBA if it’s in and out of luggage each week.
Backup the old machine via time machine. Restore the new machine from the disk. Yes, it’s a shame they didn’t include firewire.