Review: Part III: A second look at Apple's MacBook Air
Apple offers a variety of dongles to supplement the Air if necessary, with USB-to-Ethernet and -Modem connectors available, as well as micro-DVI-to-DVI, -VGA, and –S-video connectors. Only the DVI and VGA adapters come included with the Air, the other adapters cost between $20 and $50 apiece. As someone who rarely uses the multitude of ports found on the back of most laptops, I found the Air’s few ports entirely adequate for my typical usage.
The strategy that Apple is pursuing is to define what it considers the ‘minimal’ laptop in order to achieve ultimate portability, and then provide small, supplemental add-ons to restore missing functionality on an “as-needed” basis. In considering purchasing the Air, one should carefully weigh their typical usage of ports and potential hassle of keeping track of, carrying around and storing a variety of adapters.
It should also be noted that the ports that the Air does have are housed in a drop down slot that provides little access room for bulky accessories, so an additional low-profile USB extender cord may be necessary depending on the accessory being plugged in.
Despite some of these limitations, the Air does manage to pack a few ‘luxury’ accessories into its design. Ambient light sensors can adjust the backlight behind the keyboard similar to the MacBook Pro. The Air comes with an integrated iSight camera located above the screen, a feature that is standard across Apple’s line of laptops but not on most PC laptops. Coupled with the included iChat software, the Air is ready out-of-the-box for video conferencing with other video-enabled computers.
The trackpad also incorporates some of the multi-touch gesturing controls found in Apple’s iPhone. For example, the “pinch and pull” gesture can be used to zoom in or out of photos in iPhoto or change the font size of Web pages. A pivoting gesture with the thumb and forefinger can be used to rotate pictures in iPhoto, a feature that I found to be especially quick and useful. Two finger scrolling, found in Apple’s other laptops, is also supported, as well an additional three finger swipe to navigate forward or backward in a web browser’s history.
The Air comes with a built-in lithium-polymer battery which Apple rates at five hours of life. During our testing the Air’s battery life came in noticeably shorter than five hours, although lifetime will depend on usage. While watching a downloaded iTunes movie with WiFi enabled, battery life was as short as two and half hours. Less strenuous usage, consisting mostly of word processing and web browsing, resulted in lifetimes of three to four hours. Screen brightness was always set to maximum or near-maximum, since it seemed a shame to willingly turn down the brightness of such a gorgeous screen.
Better use of energy-saving features would likely extend the life a bit further. The battery life indicator in the menu bar appeared fluctuate and behave erratically at times, sometimes jumping by up to an hour in estimated lifetime. Battery charging appeared to take on the order of five to six hours and uses a relatively small, 45W power adapter with Apple’s MagSafe connector technology.
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