Since the Keynote on Tuesday, I’ve had some time to view the Ad, Guided Tour, and many blog and news articles about Apple’s new MacBook Air. To me, it could never be my main computer, but has the potential to find favor with those who long for an ultra-portable laptop–maybe to travel, browse the Internet on the couch, for school, or maybe just to impress some friends!

Design

Apple’s products look great, and the MacBook Air is no exception. It’s incredibly thin (0.16-0.76 inches) and weighs a mere 3 pounds.

The MacBook Air is made of anodized aluminum, like its big brother, the MacBook Pro. The keyboard is black, creating a color scheme very much like the new iMacs.

In my opinion, the design is going in the right direction. Everything looks masterfully planned, from the full-sized keyboard to the circular built-in iSight camera. It certainly screams “style.” Of course, I wouldn’t expect anything less from the design team at Apple.

Specs

The specifications, along with many other aspects of the MacBook Air, have fallen prey to a wide range of opinions. Here are a few things that could be (and have been) perceived to be bad.

  • No User-replaceable battery
  • 1.6 Ghz Standard Processor Speed
  • Small hard drive
  • Few ports, no optical drive, no Firewire, no Ethernet

I honestly don’t see any of these as a major downfall. The MacBook Air is an ultra-portable, which to me means it doesn’t need many ports or an optical drive. If you need to read a disc, plug in the external drive Apple is selling as an accessory, or use Remote Disc.

I think that for what many people will use an ultraportable for (probably not processor-intensive work,) 1.6 Ghz or the optional 2.0 Ghz processor speed is fine.

If the hard drive seems small, well, it’s an ultraportable laptop. I really don’t think it would be the best solo computer: I think it may be better paired with a desktop. That being said, I don’t think the hard drive is too small.

On the note of Ethernet, many places besides homes: airports, libraries, coffee shops, even concourses, have wireless access. And if access via Ethernet is key for you, there’s the USB-to-Ethernet adaptor, sold as an accessory from Apple.

Multi-Touch

The Multi-Touch features of the MacBook Air trackpad look cool, and I’m sure that people will come up with a host of creative ways to use gestures. The uses that Multi-Touch was demonstrated for, however, looked (for the most part) un-revolutionary. I hope that we can find better ways to make use of it than making Cover Flow bigger in the Finder.

The Bottom Line

The MacBook Air is sleek, stylish, and I believe it will change the growing world of ultraportables. I think that as the MacBook Air ‘matures,’ we’ll see even more amazing things. It’s like the original iMac in the way that it’s a truly revolutionary design.

I think the MacBook Air is a great addition to the Apple product line. I really like the way that the Apple hardware designs are going, and am excited to see how early MacBook Air adopters find the system as a personal machine. What do you think–is the MacBook Air a sink or a swim?