Smallest Mac with a big heart for Mobiltität and speed

The Macbook Air I bought for three reasons: mobility, full operating system for tasks that the iPad can not I do not turn on the computer stand and save as power (good for the environment and one's wallet).

For Macbook Air:
I have a Macbook not available in Amazon Air Orders 11.6 model with 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSD and upgrade to 1.8GHz i7 processor. Was installed in me a Samsung SSD and Samsung screen (panel).

After the order had arrived with me, it was time to unpack: in neutral carton was then the actual box of the Macbook Air, which was fixed with four cardboard shock absorbers in the large cardboard box.

Unlike the American version of the European Macbook Air has a longer board, because obviously the power plug can not be accommodated in a space-saving. I found has been that unlike the first 11.6 Macbook Air personally done something bad, I was looking something.

After removing the protective film comes when lifting the packaging upper part already the silver Macbook Air to light. Right from the Macbook Air was the power extension cable, as well as the regional power supply attachment. Under the Macbook Air was located the actual power supply with a protective cap on the MagSafe connector (MagSafe magnetic power connector ans = Macbook Air that triggers jerky pulling and so the Macbook Air protects against a fall).
In addition to the power supply is a small square CD cases big black box that contains the user manual, warranty information and two white Apple stickers.

No longer include the USB flash drive is a recovery medium for MacOS X Lion. This is - included on a separate partition of the internal SSD and can be at a restart with the key combination CMD + R while booting activate (thereby however not all data for reinstalling this hidden partition made, but for the most part from the - according to Apple Internet charged).
Therefore you have to be before Neuaufsetzen aware that you need a fast internet connection (I recommend at least constant 3 Mb / s download bandwidth), otherwise it will take way too long. Alternatively, Apple is still in the coming weeks, a USB flash drive with Lion offer (69 dollars, Euro price will probably be around the 59-69 Euro, depending on how Apple converts).

When you open MacBook Air stands out: between the keyboard and the screen is inserted as a thin layer of protective non-woven fabric (at least it feels like it). I do not use these non-woven fabric, because I want to work with the device.

In the folded state, the device is no different from the 11.6 in the previous generation with the exception of the two keys for the new Lion in "-launched" programs Launchpad and Mission Control. On the left side of the MacBook Air there is the MagSafe connector (power), USB 2.0 and a headphone port. In addition to the headphone jack is still the microphone housed (no connection). On the right side there is a USB 2.0 port and the new Thunderbolt interface.

Hardware defect I could (which, unlike the more powerful Macs through a better chip does not have the full power) do not test this new Thunderbolt interface. Connecting but can be for example, a screen or even the television. I expect for this interface in future various adapters (USB 3.0, eSATA, ...).

The design of the Macbook Air is as with the previous generation, wedge-shaped (runs forward toward the opening together). The MBA (= Macbook Air) is as deep as the iPad is wide and about 10 cm wider than the iPad is high approximately. The MBA is a weight of just over one kilogram. The device is not only slim and small, but also very easy. Since the 12-inch PowerBook Pro (which is quite a few years back) Apple has finally introduced the 11.6-inch MBA a small notebook that it can absorb in terms of size with each subnotebook (naturally also applies to the previous generation of 11.6 MBA).

After inspecting the case it comes to the OS part (operating system). Installed MacOS X Lion that the first time around, of course, not so quickly to boot, as in regular operation. When you first boot up would have several settings are made (username, password, Wi-Fi, Apple ID, etc.). Then you can log in. On the new features of Lion I'm not going into this review. Of course at first glance, the low vertical resolution of only 768 pixels is striking because the dock also requires space. Here I recommend the Dock automatically hide (or to move left or right). In addition, the option should be enabled in the dock settings so that the window can be behind the Dock (otherwise you again herschenkt place).

The second major theme is the inverted Touchpadscrollen that as one is accustomed to the iPhone and iPad to make the natural flow scroll the user tasty. What is extremely unusual at the Magic Mouse, the touchpad feels it MBA actually like iPhone / iPad. Since I am a creature of habit and work not only on Apple, I have the familiar scroll direction activated (is among the settings on the touch pad to find).

In general I find the touchpad of the MBA very pleasant. It is thanks to the buttonless design very large, you glide well and the pressure point of the touchpad (which is as a whole a key) is just right. The keyboard is very comfortable for typing, the keys are a good size. Since I have normal-sized hands, I can not speak for people with large hands, in this case, here you would have to try the device before.

A feature that I have concealed until now is the illumination of the keyboard. For me personally, this feature is not very important, because I do not see when you tap the keyboard, and thus actually only the F and J key need guidance with their ease of collection. The lighting also eats only electricity, so that it is turned off at me. For people who like to look at the keyboard when typing the lights in the dark, however, is a real help, because it is not half-hearted, but uncompromisingly solved. The keys are evenly lit and can also be adjusted very bright.

The screen is 11.6 inches with settled already near the netbook range. The horizontal resolution is 1366 pixels. In general I find the screen as a light strong enough (usually operate it on battery saving reasons, 50%). Whether it is however also readable in outdoor area I can not judge because I do not use the device outdoors. Compared to the MacBook Pro (without anti-glossy option) He has without doubt an advantage: it is by design of its already low before the actual panel no glass and therefore have the reflections.

At run strength: the unit is whisper quiet, the SSD can be heard not (because it contains no moving parts) and the fan is only audible when the unit has to perform tasks under high load. The temperature I feel under heavy load is not as extremely hot, which had in previous MacBook Pro (not the generation unibody) is a serious problem.

Performance / Speed: The SSD can be felt in every walk of life. Programs can be quickly installed (unless they are installed on a remote CD / DVD drive), programs (Photoshop CS4 and Dreamweaver CS4) open in a few moments each in about 3 seconds. Also booting from Lion goes quickly vonstatten.
Extremely surprised me the boot option with many large programs in autostart. So I let Lion with Chrome, Mail, iCal, Address Book, Word 2008, Excel 2008, PS CS 4, CS 4 DW, Lightroom 3 and Photo Mechanic start. The whole process takes from doing Einschaltknopfes (exclusive of the time that I need to type in the password and press Enter) for about 30 seconds. Extreme is especially the phase when the desktop is visible and all programs are loaded simultaneously. This takes a normal hard drive well and like to have a minute (just loading the programs). The SSD compensated in any case, the lower CPU performance. Generally, I think the 64 GB SSD to be too small, you should grab at least 128 GB. 256GB I find the price / performance ratio as being too expensive. Even the memory I was about to upgrade to 4GB. With me are the programs listed above 3/4 of the 4 GB RAM occupied.

Battery: here I can currently report anything tangible, since I currently struggle with the problem that the MacBook Air consumes about 14% of total capacity in the closed state per day. Extrapolated to get up 7 days by so far 30 days of Apple's marketing department. Although Apple writes that only two programs can be open and the device otherwise must be in the configuration freshly installed, but soft 3% (100% divided by 30 days) of my 14% but highly dependent. I'm not sure whether the MBA has a special mode (Apple called Deep Sleep), which is then activated when the unit is a certain amount of time in standby. Here I will definitely do another observation. Otherwise, the battery life in order. I have the equipment than I have placed new about for 3.5 hours had continuously in operation before the battery is empty. And I have a number of programs installed (in some cases via a remote CD / DVD drive), of course at the same time. During normal office use, this time will settle toward the advertised five hours. Distance I want to summarize take of the 30 days, which are of course a marketing statement, however, in practice, with the default configuration (I have not changed the Hibernate mode, but let him working condition 3) in my opinion are not achievable.

UPDATE: it is actually possible to achieve 30 days standby. This works but not with an MBA in delivery status. The reason is in Hibernate mode. By default, Hibernate mode is 3. One can easily find out where you enter the following in Terminal:

pmset -g grep hibernate

Here will be at 99% for each owner of a new Macbook Air 3. To achieve those now resting state, the 30 days are possible, the mode must be set to 1. In mode 1, the data in memory is written to the SSD and transferred again when you open the RAM when closing the MBA. Important: waking works then the Power key.

The Hibernate mode lets you use the following command to change:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 1

The first command (grep hibernate ...) you can then recheck whether the settings have been applied. But beware: the awakening now no longer takes 3 seconds but it must be transferred from the hard drive out the data. This is thanks to the fast SSD but much faster than a hard disk device.

Sound: one may expect from such a small device no miracles. The Mac-typical boot sound is very flat, otherwise the instrument is quite sounded happy enough and does not need to hide.

As useful accessories I have ordered my black Cool Bananas ShockProof Pouch Laptop Case for Apple MacBook Air 29.5 cm (11.6 inches). The MBA fits in well, the zippers are designed so that they do not scrape the housing.

Conclusion: Except for the issue with the stand-by can recommend the Macbook Air unconditionally. It is a faithful companion of mobile units that can be used for more demanding tasks. Because of the screen size you have to think twice before buying, of course, how to organize its workflow. The 13.3er MBA has a larger screen (1440 x 900 pixels) and may be better for one or the other.