MacBook Air: Just a Pretty Face

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Author: Tyler Kearn

When I got my iPhone back in July, I was one of those people who went around showing it to everyone, proudly declaring it to be the “sexiest thing I’ve ever owned.” Now that I’ve laid my eyes on the MacBook Air, and gotten to play around with it inside the confines of the Apple store, I think that I can, without hesitation, declare it to be the sexiest thing I don’t own.

However, in the case of the MacBook Air, sexy is all that it is. The iPhone was a revolutionary product, the MacBook Air is just a more expensive MacBook with greater limitations. With the MacBook Air, the question is, how much are you willing to give up for the sake of sexiness?

The MacBook Air’s claims to fame are its thinness (.76 inch at its thickest point) and its weight (around three pounds). Everyone has seen the commercials with the MacBook Air being taken out of a manila office envelope-well, everyone who watches TV, that is-but when I actually saw the MacBook Air in person, I was still startled by how thin it was. All the MacBook Airs in the store were unfolded, so the very first thing I did was close the computer and peer at it from the side. It becomes practically invisible. When it’s open, the Air just looks like another MacBook decked out in aluminum. When it’s closed, it’s hard to discern the computer from the silver tabletop.

However, Apple made a mistake by focusing solely on thinness. The MacBook Air is supposed to be more portable, but because it is no smaller than a MacBook in height or width (it was actually fractionally larger in those dimensions when I laid them on top of one another), it is not going to fit into any smaller of a bag. Its full-sized “footprint” means that as far as actually schlepping the Air from one place to another, there will not be a significant difference, except in weight. Nor will the Air will be easier to open in a cramped place, such as an airplane tray-table.

Additionally, in order to make the Air as thin as it is, Apple had to make compromises that hinder its utility. Most notable among these are the lack of a CD/DVD drive. While it is true that I don’t use my disc drive every day, it is still the primary way I install major programs onto my computer, import music from CDs or watch DVD movies.

Apple says you can just get music and movies from iTunes, but that would mean that you would need to either re-buy your music from Apple or transfer it all from another computer. As far as watching movies, you are out of luck unless you pay to rent them from iTunes each time you want to watch them.

For software, Apple provides a program called remote disk, which lets you share the drive of another computer on your network. However, I can’t comment on how useful/useless it is. You can buy an external CD/DVD “Superdrive” for $99, which is expensive for what it is-and another thing to carry around.

The MacBook Air’s lack of ports is another major sticking point. One USB port is simply too few. There is not even an Ethernet port for plugging in to the internet, which I have to do in my room where the WiFi is weak, and which is often the easiest way to connect to the internet in many places. There is no FireWire. The mini-DVI port provided needs an adaptor to do anything useful. These problems can be partially overcome by a slew of accessories-a USB hub to increase the ports, a USB to Ethernet adaptor, a mini-DVI to DVI or VGA adaptor-but, once again, that means you need to spend more money and carry around more stuff. What is the point in having a more portable laptop if I have to carry around a bag full of accessories to make it useful?

The easiest way to judge the MacBook Air is simply to compare it to the regular MacBook. Both computers are made by Apple and both run the same software. Here’s a breakdown of what you gain, and what you lose, by going from a standard MacBook to the MacBook Air:

What you gain: thinness (.76″ thin), two pounds lighter, LED backlit screen (brighter, longer battery life than regular screen, instantly on when opened), and sexiness.What you lose: CD/DVD drive, USB port, FireWire port, DVI/VGA port (external monitor), Ethernet port (plug-in for internet), up to 170GB of hard drive, .2-.4GHz processor speed (the basic Macbook has a faster processor than the most expensive Macbook Air), around one hour battery life, and most importantly $700.

When you compare the two, it seems pretty obvious that with the regular MacBook, you are getting more computer for less money. It does not make sense to spend hundreds of dollars on top of the MacBook price for a machine that hinders the user in so many ways. The sexiness isn’t worth it.

Tyler Kearn is a sophomore Economics major. He can be reached at tkearn@oxy.edu.

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