The MacBook Air storms the media -- with many news sites posting their opinions on Apple's latest laptop innovation. Thousands of consumers might still be waiting for Apple to start shipping the MacBook Air, but that hasn't stopped the MacBook Air from showing up in the news. In fact, the MacBook Air has risen to the top of NotebookReview.com's "Most Popular Laptops" list is record time. Love it or hate it, this ultra-thin laptop will likely continue to make headlines during 2008.

While we don't have the inside connections to get our hands on a pre-release MacBook Air (we can't all be John Mayer), we're glad to see the folks at the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsweek have managed to write summary reviews of the MacBook Air after only a few minutes of hands-on time. Here's a quick roundup of "reviews" from other sites ... just in case you need a MacBook Air fix until your's is delivered:

Wall Street Journal: "Apple's MacBook Air Is Beautiful and Thin, But Omits Features"

USA Today: "MacBook Air: The sexy kind of skinny but with some flaws"

Newsweek: "The Skinny on the MacBook Air: Size matters, but has Apple gone too far?"

Overall, the consensus is that the new MacBook Air is a marvel of cutting-edge design with a few too many sacrifices. Apple designed the MacBook Air with a built-in, non-removalble battery, and no access to the hard drive or RAM. If those limitations aren't enough to bother you then factor in that you only have one USB port, no optical drive, a slow hard drive in the base configuration, and a processor that's slower than the previous generation MacBooks.

Of course, the team here at NotebookReview.com will have our own in-depth review with hands-on video of the MacBook Air in the coming weeks. Stay tuned if you've been searching for a review with more substance and less hype.


This was first published in January 2008

Back to top