Going thin on Road Trip 2008 with the MacBook Air

Posted by Daniel Terdiman

SAN FRANCISCO--After working on an Apple MacBook Air for the last month while on Road Trip 2008, it was a real shock when I returned home and picked up my regular work MacBook Pro for the first time.

Compared to the Air, which I'd really gotten used to as I drove around the South, the Pro was really heavy. Shockingly so. And thinking back over the countless hours I spent with the Air in my backpack on my back as I visited endless places, I'm eternally grateful for all that weight I didn't have to carry.

And there can be no doubt that the thinness and the very light weight of the MacBook Air are its major selling points. That and its very bright, very clear LED screen. Several times during my trip, people came up to me to say how amazed they were by how bright the screen on the Air was, even in direct sunlight.

I also heard plenty of people saying to each other as they walked by me in one place or another things like, "Wow, look how thin that is," or "Hey, look, it's that new super thin Mac."

So having spent a great deal of time over the last month using this loaner machine--I'm writing this on the Air--I can say that, on the whole, I really enjoyed it.

As I mentioned, the weight--or lack of it, really--was a seriously wonderful thing, especially since I was always carrying the computer in a backpack full of camera gear, notebooks, magazines, and other things. In that regard, this is definitely the most impressive computer I've seen in a very long time.

Of course, it's a fully functional Mac, so that means it's a much better computer than just about any PC I can imagine. Sorry, folks, but that's just the truth.

I found it to be fast, for the most part, easy to use, great to look at, and generally a touch simpler to use on a day-by-day basis than my MacBook Pro.

It seemed to recognize Wi-Fi networks more quickly than other computers, and to shut down faster, as well. As I said above, its LED screen was consistently brilliant, no matter how much light was shining on it. This is a big improvement over what I've used before.

I did have a few issues with the Air, some which will surprise no one, and another which I think caught even Apple off guard.


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