I do not write reviews for products I’ve owned for an hour or so. I like to give it some time. Sort of wring it out in my own way and see if I like it at the end of the month. Such is the case here.
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REASONS FOR PURCHASE: I’ve used Windows desktops/laptops for 20 years (at least since Windows 3.1), various makes and models. When I went shopping for a new computer, I was looking for a few specific things.:
Reliability
Portability
Lightweight
and it had to be an Apple.
Why Apple? I like it when all my devices are using the same “eco-system”. I have my 2nd iPhone (just converted to smart phones a few years ago), AppleTV and an iPad. I wanted something that was more seamless in sharing data and documents between the devices. There are various Windows apps that help with this, but they just didn’t seem to be all that smooth. I knew from experience with the iPad and the iPhone that I could enter a contact, note or reminder on one and near instantaneously have it available on the other. That’s what I’m looking for.
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CONFIGURATION CHOICE: I went with the 128 GB drive instead of a larger 256 GB drive, 4 GB of RAM instead of 8. I felt that if the OS was as great as Apple enthusiast claimed, this would be sufficient for my needs. I’m not a gamer. I create fairly simple documents, stream audio and video, watch movies, and the usual social interactions of e-mail, Facebook and the like. No need for me to go power mad.
I do not feel these decisions were a mistake, per se, BUT I would suggest that if you plan on having some good amounts of music and video on board with your Macbook Air, that you supplement your order with a 128 or 256 GB SDXC card. This amount of extra storage order with the computer will cost you $200; the 128 SDXC card can be had for under $100.
OPENING THE BOX: Unboxing the Macbook Air was easy. Most everything Apple makes these days comes in a well packaged box and this was no exception.
First thing I noticed when setting everything up hardware wise was the charging cord. It is different than any other computer charging cord I’ve had. Usually the transformer (that brick in the power line that changes your household current into something the computer battery can handle) is in the line somewhere between1/3rd to 1/2 the way to the computer. Apple does it differently. The transformer is at the plug which keeps the cord short. Great for charging from a desktop/counter top outlet. There is an extension cord that can be attached to the transformer which makes it more like what I’ve been accustomed to, but I like the shorter version. And, as with all Apple chargers I’ve seen in my life, it is white instead of black (if that makes any difference to anyone).
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The power cord does not “plug into” the Macbook in any traditional sense. It connects to and is held in place in the Macbook charging port by magnetism. The idea is that if you start to walk away with your Macbook forgetting it is charging, the cord will disconnect before pulling the Macbook out of your hand and onto the floor. It is probably impossible to damage the computer’s charging port by any sort of accidental, violent removal of the charger at an awkward angle. To paraphrase my hero, Sterling Archer, “Way to think it through, Apple”.
The shell is metal, not plastic. There are pros and cons to this. Pro is that aluminum is generally sturdier than plastic; con in that plastic doesn’t normally dent.
SET-UP: Apple walks you through the set-up process on the screen. Set up is simple, but it will take some time if you use the Windows Migration Utility, as I did with the initial setup. Like several hours. The Utility allows your Macbook to use files migrated over your wifi network from your Windows computer to assist with the setup. Music, movies, documents and the rest. Mine took about 9 hours. There has to be a better way.
And, in fact there is. My remedy was to wipe the Macbook drive and do a clean install of the OS X OS. Then I chose what apps I wanted to add, which documents to bring over from the old machine, etc. I cleared up more than 50 GBs of space from one installation to the other and cut my time by about 6 hours. 50 GBs of space on a 128 GB drive is significant.
The lesson is to buy or borrow an external drive to copy all those files you want to move over to the new computer prior to picking up your Macbook. If possible (meaning if your Windows machine can handle it) get your 128 or 256 GB SDXC card for this purpose. Use that 2 day shipping period provided by Amazon Prime to copy the files you want on the Macbook to the external media. Setup the OS without using Windows Migration. Once you have the initial installation of the OS, add the apps you’ll use (Garage Band? Not for me). Then copy over the data from the external drive to the Macbook. It will save you disk space and time if you do it this way.
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PORTABILITY: The Macbook Air is the lightweight Apple product for laptop users. It is nice and lightweight and very portable. It comes in two sizes and a few different configurations. The 11 inch most likely would have been too small for me when it came to using the keyboard, so I went with the 13 inch. I’m happy I did. I get the feeling that I would have to squeeze my shoulders together to type on the 11 inch. As it is, the 13 inch fits my 5-10 wide shouldered 220 lb frame very nicely. Going smaller would likely have been a mistake for me.
OS X VS. WINDOWS 7: Using the Macbook Air is significantly different from using a Windows 7 machine. Do not be afraid, though. The Trackpad and OS X are easy to operate; they just take some time to adjust to after using Windows machines for a couple decades. Give yourself a few hours of use to adjust to the way OS X operates and to learn the gestures that are used for Trackpad actions. Once you begin to get the hang of these, you’ll start to really love the machine.
KEYBOARD: Aside from the Trackpad, the other thing I had to adjust to is the lack of a backspace key. There is a Delete key and it works just fine. When you get down to it, do you really need two separate keys to remove one character at a time in opposite directions? Efficiency is good.
The keyboard is nice and I can type on it better than any I’ve ever tried. I’m a self taught, hunt-and-peck style typist; home keys mean nothing to me. I do need to learn the functions of the Command, Control and Option keys. There is no numeric keypad to the side of the keyboard, which for me is a big bonus. My last laptop had this feature and it threw my use of the trackpad and keyboard off as it shifted these to the left. The QWERTY keyboard and Trackpad are straight ahead, centered in front of me and this works much better.
Function keys have dedicated functions that come in very handy. You can control volume, screen brightness and keyboard backlighting (another big plus), along with a couple others.
DISPLAY: The display is sharp. It may not be 4K hi-def, but I can watch a full length action movie with no problem or eye strain.
SOUND: Sound is very good coming through my earbuds/headphones. I do not feel that you need extravagant frequency ranges to enjoy sound. The human ear is capable of only so much range. I don’t need my bass thumpin’. I just like a clean, balanced sound.
PERFORMANCE: Performance wise is where this machine outshines any other I’ve owned. It is the fastest computer I’ve owned when it comes to start-up and app loading. The flash storage allows for much faster access to data than the typical spinning hard disc drive.
I also suspect the OS has a lot to do with the performance of the machine being noticeably improved over my last Windows machine. I’m fairly computer literate, but I do no programming at any OS level. That being said, it just feels as if this OS does things much more quickly and efficiently. Apps load up more quickly. I updated my last Windows machine (which had a faster i5 processor than the Macbook Air and matched in RAM) with a 256 GB flash drive a year ago. While that improved the performance of the Windows machine, it does not come close to matching the speed of the Macbook Air. Macbook Air blows it off the road when it comes to booting up and loading apps. Responsiveness is greatly improved. So, since both of my latest computers had flash storage for hard drives, and the Macbook Air is noticeably faster with a slower processor, I have to credit the OS.
OS X AND iOS INTEGRATION: The integration between the Macbook and my other Apple devices is everything I had hoped for! I use iCloud to sync documents, contacts, notes and reminders across all the devices. I can pick up a Safari session on my iPad that I started on the Mac. I really like the ability to send text messages using the Macbook. The iOS devices are a bit of a challenge for me to text on most of the time. Makes me look like an idiot with misspelled words. I tend to use Siri there, but even she has her moments when she is either not hearing me right or doesn’t have that word in her vocabulary.
DICTATION: Speaking of Siri, the Macbook has a Dictation function that absolutely rocks. I’ve used it for some documents and it really seems intuitive. You can actually see it correct mistakes it made once it figures out the context of the spoken sentence.
I’ve tried using this feature as a control mechanism for the computer, but I don’t think it is set up for that as yet. Here’s a suggestion, Apple. Program some simple commands into the Dictation function that will allow opening and closing apps and a few other controls through spoken work. That would every useful.
BATTERY LIFE: Last, but not least, is the battery life. 12 hours is not an exaggeration! It last me all day and then some.
Overall, this is a fine computer and suitable for users who aren’t using games or apps which might require some heavy duty RAM and graphics. I would recommend this to anyone I know as their primary computer.