MacBook Air Late 2010 — the Good, the Bad and Why It Will Sell

So yesterday Apple had their event at the town hall on their campus, and among other things that they announced, the world seems to be focused on the new MacBook Air. Of course, in another few months that focus will change to the OS X App Store, and then a little further down the line it’ll change to OS X 10.7 Lion, and somewhere in between all of this will be Facetime for OS X. Whew, there were a lot of announcements! Oh, and let’s not forget iLife ’11, but then, I don’t really care about that one right now, so we’ll ignore it for the time being. What I really want to do is talk about the MacBook Air and why it’s the perfect computer for most, and that even though I love small form-factor systems, why it’s not right for me (and probably a few of you, too).

The first thing you notice about the new MacBook Air, aside from its even more slimmed down design (it’s like a wedge now instead of a semi-flattened bubble), is that Apple has really pushed the envelope on making sure there’s no moving parts (fans aside) in the system. That’s a fairly major shift, because until now, getting a system with an SSD standard has been a rarity. Yes, they exist, and yes, I’ve had one for years (my Acer Aspire One that I, for some unfathomable reason still have, has an 8 GB SSD), but a key point is that there is no option to get a hard drive. SSD is your only choice, and because of that, you’re looking at faster machine at the expense of storage. For many people, this will be a fair trade because pictures, mp3s, movies, and other big files will be stored either in the cloud or on external drives. But the key to this is that you’re looking at a major mainstream system that has eschewed traditional storage in favor of the not-so-newly-fangled solid state storage.

MG Siegler touched upon this already with a thoughtful post at TechCrunch, and I won’t rehash his post, but suffice it to say he’s arguing that we’re seeing the beginning of the end for CDs and DVDs where computing is concerned, and I agree. One of his arguments is that with his MacBook Pro, he rarely found himself using his optical drive, and after a day (granted, yes, it’s only a day) with the new MacBook Air, he hasn’t missed the optical drive at all.

This might be something that some folks are concerned about, but I’m willing to guess there’s a large percentage of users who may not have considered that they really don’t use their optical drive but rarely as well. Perhaps I’m not the best example to use, but in my daily work, I don’t use my DVD drive much, if at all, but I do have occasions where I use it, but they’re rare. I know that if it came to it I could get by without a DVD drive if for no other reason than because I have in the past. Netbooks typically don’t have optical drives, and when I had a first generation MacBook Air, that didn’t have one either, and you know what? I was just fine without one (but I do have a trusty Lite-On USB drive that has been of immeasurable value through the years).

However, as I sit here and type this post on my 13″ MacBook Pro, I find I’m hesitant to get rid of this for a MacBook Air, and I’m ready to buy a new laptop. If it’s not the lack of an optical drive, then why not? Part of it is disappointment with the battery life of the MacBook Air, and I realize that could sound somewhat insane, but I’m spoiled by my iPad.

5 hours for the 11.6″ MacBook Air just isn’t enough, and 7 for the 13.3″ is still a good couple hours short of what I was hoping for. Yes, considering the form factor 10 hours isn’t reasonable, but I like to aim for the stars where battery life is concerned. How many of us expected 10 hours for the iPad, and furthermore, how many expected it would actually get the claimed battery life? I didn’t, and boy how I was wrong. The iPad gets 10 hours, if not 11, so why not aim for 10 in the MacBook Air? Okay, so it’s running a Core 2 Duo and we’re talking about a completely different set of hardware (including a pretty damn good integrated video system), but still, it’s a gripe.

Another small gripe has to do with something that, for most, is completely useless and something they likely don’t care about: no backlighted keyboard. Yeah, roll your eyes, but I’ve been spoiled by the backlight on my 13″ and 15″ MacBook Pros and it’s just something that I get use out of. Yes, the display provides enough light to type by, but backlighting on the keyboard reduces eye strain in those lighting situations and, let’s face it, looks cool.

In reality, I could get by without the backlighting, but considering that I do things other than type on this laptop, I’m not sure I could get by with the MacBook Air’s comparatively anemic hardware. Yes, it’s a Core 2 Duo, but it’s an ULV chip, and only 2 GB of RAM? My Mac Pro 2010 with 3 GB feels slow, so I can’t imagine what 2 would be like (oh wait, yes I can, because I remember how much I disliked the original MacBook Air). The nVidia GeForce 320m is a definite step up from previous graphics solutions, but I don’t see myself doing much light gaming on a new MacBook Air, unless it’s restricted to Plants vs. Zombies (which is infinitely superior on a touch device anyway).

However, having said all of that, there’s a temptation there to get one, just to see if the super thin and super light machine can’t replace my current daily workhorse. I’m sure with a slight change in how I do things it could easily do so, but in a way I’m loathe to do so because this 13″ MacBook Pro has been the machine I’ve wanted from Apple for the last 6 years.

And that, most likely, is where I diverge with most people. I want the robust CPU, I want all of the bells and whistles like backlit keyboards, and I want impossible (at present time) battery life, but I don’t think most people care about this. If you’re at all like me, then there’s a good chance you’ll agree that that MacBook Air isn’t for you, but for everyone else? For that remaining 99.9% of the population? This machine is perfect.

It’s small, it’s light, it has excellent battery life. It has a processor that’s fast enough to compose emails, create spreadsheets, create presentations, do light photo editing, and play those dreaded Flash videos (that’ll be better once Flash is out of beta for OS X and takes full advantage of the video subsystem). Most people don’t edit audio on their laptops, and if they edit video, it’s little bits here and there. Most people also want a compact system that doesn’t weigh seven pounds (or even five).

Even comparing the 11.6″ MacBook Air to the 13.3″ MacBook Air leaves a potential buyer with a very complete system  (albeit with a small standard SSD) that still boasts a full-sized notebook keyboard (and frankly, one of the best in the business). The only compromise, screen size aside, seems to be that the trackpad isn’t full size (and if you’re used to the full-sized trackpad of recent Macs, they’re big and glorious). And for those for whom portability is a necessity, at just a bit over 2 pounds, the 11″ is enticing (but do note that it comes with a much slower CPU than the 13″ version).

For most people, the MacBook Air is the perfect computer. It’s reasonably priced, it’s fashionable as all hell, and frankly, it looks to be one hell of a machine. The original MacBook Air was a flop, and I don’t think you’ll find many people outside of Apple (and probably a lot within Apple) who would argue with that. The original MacBook Air was anemic, bug-ridden, and vastly overpriced. But the new MacBook Air? I think Apple is going to sell these by the boatload. Get ready to see them everywhere in airports, coffee shops, and in classrooms.

The MacBook Air is the new MacBook.