Apple MacBook Air MC234LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop

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5 Reviews

1. As a kid, the only desktops we ever had were Apples. I learned how to use a computer with an Apple. Eventually, sometime the switch to a PC happened and I never really looked back. I purchased other Apple products, like an iPod, iPhone, etc, but I never intended to purchase an Apple laptop.

   After selling my pink Croc Sony VAIO, I was looking for something lighter, smaller, and a little more “grown up”, since I’m now out of college and in the work force. No one takes you seriously when you have a pink crock laptop. I was contemplating a Vivienne Tam HP mini, but I saw a pop up add for the Macbook Air and googled it….and decided this was it.

   I bought my first one on eBay, which was one of the earlier models. I LOVED it, absolutely adored it. It was perfect. However, it had problems and the eBay seller took it back and refunded me. I then went ahead and bought the current model MC234LL/A, with warranty and AppleCare and I couldn’t be happier. I LOVE it!

   For my purposes, it can be used a sole machine, especially this upgraded version. It’s light, fast, and the screen quality is excellent. I will never use another PC, or a different laptop. I just can’t!

   I did use the Vivienne Tam by the way, for a few days…and I couldn’t stand it. Maybe I’m spoiled by my MBA, but the HP Mini was SLOOOOOOOWWWER than molasses. And the keyboard didn’t feel solid under my fingers; it felt cheap and it was noisy. The screen is super small and the proportions make pages look odd. I’m glad I made the right choice!

2. We purchased a Macbook Air two years ago and unfortunately it was a lemon right out of the box. Almost immediately there were problems with pixels on the screen going out in large vertical bands, over-heating, sluggish performance. We purchased it for our son to use during extended travel in China, reasoning that the light weight would be a plus in these circumstances. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t have any service in China so he was unable to get the problems fixed.

   When he returned from China we took the Air into Apple for repairs. That was the beginning of a long cycle of multiple repairs and the nightmare of dealing with Apple service. I’ve never encountered so many frustrations with a computer company. Perhaps if you’ve ever had any serious problems with an Apple product you might know what I’m talking about.

   It seems that other reviewers have been pleased with their Air, so it is entirely possible that our experience was the exception rather than the rule. However, a lemon should be caught by Apple’s quality control process BEFORE it goes out the door, before it gets into an unfortunate customer’s hands — and that didn’t happen in this case.

   Some things a potential buyer should be aware of… The Air is basically a stripped down computer, with things such as a CD/DVD drive not included, in order to reduce the weight. But you still need these components. By the time I had purchased the additional items, including the expensive CD/DVD drive, the total package not only came close to $3000, but weighed significantly more than my small, light weight Sony which is a fully loaded computer, including DVD drive and extended life battery.

   Finally, from our experiences with trying to get the Air repaired, we learned that many of the internal components, including the hard drive, are non-standard and not easily replaced when they go bad. When my Sony died after 5 years, I was able to remove the hard drive, a miniaturized Toshiba, and transfer it to an external case, enabling me to continue using my data with another computer. Not so with the Air. When the Air died recently, although still under the extended warranty, Apple was unable to offer any assistance in removing the hard drive. Their service dept. said that the Air hard drive is non-standard and that Apple doesn’t service it at all and that it can’t be removed. We gave up on Apple and took the Air to a local PC lab that was able to remove the hard drive and transfer the data to a new device which can be used externally.

   To be fair, we’ve had other Apple products that have performed well and that we’ve been mostly happy with. Now, however, the frustration level, not to mention time and expense, in dealing with the Macbook Air and Apple service has turned us off to Apple forever. We’ll be sticking to PCs from now on. Our Air, which still has more than a year of warranty on it, has totally died and we’ve dumped it for an Asus. Check them out, they get excellent reviews (rated highest for reliability), have incredible battery life (10-14 hours), have an amazing warranty, and they make some very lightweight models (the UL series).

3. May not be the fastest Macbook out there, but it’s fast enough for normal use. I have no problem running VirtualBox with several different OS’s, including Windows and Linux.

   It’s light and beautiful, I love this laptop and fully recommend it.

4. If you are familiar with Isaiah Berlin’s essay, “The hedgehog and the fax,” my review is self explanatory. No longer state of the art, the Macbook Air is still superb at doing what it does. Compared with the new MacBook Pro 13 you give up battery life, speed, and storage. What do you gain? A computer you can, and will, take with you everywhere. (I am writing this review as I watch the BBC news.) A computer that is so so thin and so light that you will be delighted each time you pick it up. As another reviewer noted, if you are a writer, this is your machine. It is a writer’s notebook you will take everywhere with an illuminated keyboard and a superior screen. Does it make sense to buy a Macook Air? It has not been substantially updated for two years– lifetimes in the tech world. It is expensive and it is Apple’s slowest computer. If you can be happy with another Macbook, by all means buy one. If you suspect you will not be happy with anything but the lightest, most portable MacBook, well, you won’t be disappointed. In fact, if you’re anything like me, you’ll be delighted.

5. I’ve had a macbook for years. This macbook air, is the best purchase yet. I’ve got the high end unit with the SSD hard drive. This electronic hard drive makes the unit extremely fast. Startups/Shutdowns, application opening/closing is just amazingly fast.
   If you travel, and want a quick boot up at the airport to check something. This is the machine. Very fast.

   The size, screen, lighting is all just excellent. The keyboard lights up in the dark, and is smart enough to save energy and not light up in bright light.

   The screen brightness is so bright in the dark I turned it all the way down to get it right.

   Just a dream machine that will be a workhorse for years.