As someone who has owned many computers, I love the macbook air 13"

[GKDAIR]

So I have never owned a mac before, this is my first time. I'm 2 days into owning it and I love it. It is simply the best computer I have ever used, simply enough things cannot be said about how good it is.

I guess the rumors are true, once you go mac you never go back, because I can promise you personally I will never return to Windows (unless I have to use it at work or something)

I use to be a gamer too, i'm not anymore. I know gamers and stuff hate macs, I never have.

So, how is everyone liking their macbook airs? I'd like to hear from some noobs as well as veterans of mac computers.

 

[martinm0]

I very much love my new 13" MBA. I picked up a base 15" MPB when they released earlier this year, and while I do love that machine, I have an iMac to do all the heavy lifting, and the only heavy lifting being done with the MBP was me carrying it around. I really wanted the MBA for the weight difference, but being incredibly fast is a very nice bonus. So, I sold the MBP and bought the base 13" and pocketed the $$.

All in all, its not an MBP, but it is a very capable machine (and blazingly fast). The only area of disappointment for me has been the screen quality (just doesn't compare to the MBP or iMac screens for angles and color saturation).

Congrats on moving to the Aluminum side of the Force...

 

[Funkymonk]

I love the crap out of my new mba 13 as well.

 

[Zeov]

Love my 13" too.. use it all the time, wether im on the bus or at home.

 

[Astrofox]

Big call, but 2011 Macbook Air is the best laptop ever made. The performance gap between desktops and laptops has closed to a point where you can get real work done on a truly portable machine.

Apple have designed a laptop with their eye on what people really want out of such a computer type: Speed, long battery life, and above all- as light a machine as possible. I would say for the most part, they have succeeded.

Other manufacturers are applying the desktop market strategy with their laptops. That is, more and more power at the expense of weight, battery life and form factor. This is misguided, and is where PCs get their "clunky but powerful" reputation.

Some are catching on, but right now the MBA is the closest we have come to a real computer that is built for your lap.

/opinion

 

[Confuzzzed]

Big call, but 2011 Macbook Air is the best laptop ever made. /opinion

hear hear (For the avoidance of doubt as ours is a common language divided by the Atlantic, what I mean is "hear, all ye good people, hear what this brilliant and eloquent speaker has to say")

 

[BadaBing!!]

I work it IT for over 10 years and I bought my first mac (MBA 13in) last week. I've been using other Apple product for about 2 years now and wasn't able to resist the MBA.
It's wonderfull. Small, powerfull, etc. I think I'll sell my iPad 2 since I'm not using it that much.
The size vs performance ratio is AWESOME.

 

[WillMak]

I don't know how I will ever go back to a non air (form and weight) laptop again.

 

[robots3humans0]

I love this thing. I had an 13" i5 pro with an SSD from this year and sold it on a whim to buy an MBA. Best choice I've made computer wise. This machine is way faster than I expected and the form factor is second to none.

 

[Chipg]

Same here, PC guy for 30+ years, my 13" i7 AIR is the best all around laptop computer I have ever owned.

I looked at iStat pro yesterday and it said something like 28 days up time (means I have not rebooted it in 28 days), I run both lion and windows 7 on it in parallels.

I'm really glad I bought it, it was expensive but I can see keeping it for 4 years, I buy a new PC every year and they are worthless when I try to sell them on eBay so this should be cheaper, I also bought an iMac and a bunch of Apple stuff right after I bought the AIR.

 

[Coarseman]

The only area of disappointment for me has been the screen quality (just doesn't compare to the MBP or iMac screens for angles and color saturation)..

True that.

The display of my MBA 13" is no match for that of my MBP and by far no match for the one on my Win laptop-Dell Latitude.

But thinking about the hours I have been spending per day with each one of them in the last...say 2 months, the recap would look like:

Dell: 30 mins
MBP: 2
MBA: 6 (perhaps even more because some of the things I used to do on my iPad,I am doing now on the MBA-the fully blown Mac OS X is HUGE advantage over the iPad, although I love the latter just as well).

Yes, MBA is not perfect,yes the graphics sucks compared to MBP, yes the screen quality could be better.....BUT......all things considered-speed,performance,build quality,lightness,battery life...the MBA is simply THE BEST laptop I have ever owned and there is absolutely nothing out there that can match it overall..

Love it!

 

[57004]

True that.
The display of my MBA 13" is no match for that of my MBP and by far no match for the one on my Win laptop-Dell Latitude.

Seriously? I've had both a Latitude D830 and now a D630 from work, and the screens are horrible. They're not RGB but GGB (Grey Grey Blue). Reds are a pale orange and greens a weird cardboardy colour. Blues stand out nice (It's clear this screen was designed with Windows XP in mind).

Maybe the viewing angles are better than the Air (and I prefer the matte finish) but the colours are so much worse on the Dells, or even a desktop 20" monitor.

But maybe the new range is better. I know mine is 2 years old.

 

[amoda]

The only thing that would make me switch is a 15" MBA form factor with a default "hi-res" screen (from a perspective of an owner of 7MBPS/6 years).

 

[Coarseman]

Seriously?

Yep.

It is E6510 or something (cannot check now as I am in the office on my MBP ) hi res matte 1920 x 1080 (i think) and the screen is really really good-much brighter than on the MBP and MUCH better than that on the MBA.

The computer itself however is ugly as f..k-heavy,clumsy and can be very well used as a BBQ grill.On top of everything they delivered it with one of these "long-life" batteries which protrude from the back of the laptop-it doesn't get much uglier than that..

Thank God (and Apple) I do not have to spend much time with it anymore...

 

[DieterRams]

Lik everyone else, I could never go back to any other machine after this MBA. Although the only thing that would sway me is an upgraded design MBP... possibly following in the thinness footsteps of the MBA.

 

[sarends]

I had an IBM PC in 1982 and have had maybe 30 or 35 computers over the years. I moved from PCs to Macs in 2009. My 2011 MBA 13 is easily my all time favorite computer. In our family run business we have:

(1) MBP 13
(2) MBP 15
(1) MBP 17
(1) IPAD 2
(1) iMac 27
(1) MBA 13

They are all great machines, but I use the MBA 13 by far the most.

I can't imagine why I would ever use a PC again. But then again, maybe there is another Steve Jobs right around the corner who will reinvent things all over again!

 

[dubAdub]

I got the MBA 13" i7 256GB & Thunderbolt display as my main computer instead of upgrading from my 2007 24" iMac to a 2011 27" iMac.

The only major gripe I have with it is that the internal fan makes quite a lot of noise when it spins up, which happens whenever the CPU is doing anything beyond basic web browsing.