Delivered 11 days earlier than promised, the FedEx guy never saw a happier face greeting him at the door; 9:30am in the morning! The box was sooo light. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of a meeting so I didn't have a chance to open it right away. However, you can bet between meetings, I had that package open faster than a SSD drive could boot a MAC.
So enjoy some of the pictures I took after opening the box. Once again, Apple has delighted with the way they have packaged everything so efficiently, y
et with ambiance and elegance. The Air came in a bl
ack box with a picture of the Air on the front. The plastic wrap was so well done that it was ha
rd to find an end to start my cut marks.
I was afraid to scratch the box!
Once the box was open, the Air was seated
in a plastic tray and had a pull tab to gently remove it from the secured seating
. Belo
w the tray held the power adapter, the usb cable, and micro-usb ca
bles for monitor attachments. Disks were provided to allow DVD
& CD sharing from a non-MAC optical drive.
Start up was very easy. I didn't have to worry about migration from another MAC so I got to ignore
the first step around migration. Setting u
p wireless was a cinch. Once turned on, a list of networks was provided
and upon choosing a network, I only had to provide the WEP key.
Browsing was a cinch, although I have to get used to the keyboard and keypad. After all, I am a product of Microsoft usage.
Also, shared drives from a windows based laptop was a cinch...after I understood what I was looking at. In fact, when I thought I could not access a USB external drive through the windows based laptop, I plugged the Maxtor One-
Touch external HD into the USB port of the AIR and immediately it was recognized and I could access files. I was able to direct my iTunes library to the external drive. In fact, once I accessed the share through the w
indows based laptop, I plugged the Maxtor back in and was able to point my iTunes library through that connection. The wireless is fabulous and fast. Compared to my HP laptop, I have a great connection when using the AIR downstairs. Usually the HP laptop has some signal degradation. Typing is fairly easy with the full keyboard. I love the back lit keyboard. Not only is it nice is low light conditions, it's just
darn sexy.
The battery is supposed to last for 5 hours s
urfing, so we'll see what happens. However, another nice feature is the magnetic plug-in for the AC power. Equally nice is the drop-down bay that grants access to headphone, USB, and micro-USB ports. I still haven't figured out the power settings and how to make the screen saver work accordingl
y, but again, it's my first foray into the Mac world of laptops.
Standby mode is really easy...just close the top. Open it again and it comes out of sleep mode almost instantly. The touch pad incorporates pinching as well as two-finger twisting to rotate things like pictures. One thing I am trying to get use
d to is the two finger tap with the click-button. I have enabled one-finger tapping so that I can select with out clicking.
While creating this post, I just figured out how to make the lighting on the screen brighter! There is
definitely a lot I have to get used to. I also finished importing my bookmarks from Firefox this afternoon. I started up Garage Band in the early evening. I read on forum boards that you can just drag a file onto Garage Band to start using it. Unfortunately, you can use any of the copy protected stuff.
I think the biggest challenge will be how to utilize the space on the Air. At only 80Gb, space gets eaten up fast. In fact, after booting up, I only had approximately 56Gb left. Good thing for being able to connect to the networked drive. The other consideration will be the limitation of only 1 USB port. Plug your iPhone or iPod in and you are done. I am hoping there will be a way I can sync my iPhone with the bluetooth functionality.
I plan on getting Office '08, I just can't seem to get away from what I know well. However, I like the fact that I don't have to run dual OS even though it is capable of doing so.
As far as the sexy factor, this thing is one sexy laptop. The 13 in screen feels bigger than it is. The casing is made up of the same material that the back of the iPhone has. Everything is relatively simple to use. So far one of the biggest pluses is that Apple has thought of the experience. For example, when connecting to a network, the setup doesn't make you try and figure out the name you want. It doesn't make you refresh the list of seen networks. As far as size, as you can see by the pictures I have posted, it really does fit into a interoffice envelope.
Overall, I am really happy with the most spontaneous purchase I have made of this size. Apple has done a great job at convincing me that their products are worth moving away from tradition.
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