Well, I have had the MacBook Air now for 1 day. (well, almost 1 day) I like the form factor and the weight of it. It surprisingly fast for what it is. However, for what I do, here are some issues I have found. Read on…

First off, let me start by saying that I do not believe in dual booting. With all the various virtualization technologies out there, I believe one can achieve almost anything they want to do with a computer with one key OS. This is one of the reasons I went with the Mac platform. OS X, to me, is an extremely stable platform and from my point of view, I should be able to run my windows and linux apps all on one machine.

With that said, I don’t think the MacBook Air has enough juice/hard drive space to drive the applications that I want to run. With just a base install of VMWare Fusion and Vista Business 32-Bit and nothing else running. I am using 2o27 MB of ram with 21 MB free. With my base applications installed and the above Virtual machine, I am using almost half the hard drive space already.

For me and for my needs, I don’t think the MacBook Air will cut it. I kinda knew this going in. I was just hoping that I could make it work.

So, it’s back to the Apple Store later today and I am going to look at the 15″ MacBook Pro. From comparing the specifications, I think that’s the one I will be most happy with. (Damn, I was hoping for a good 13 inch Mac)

I don’t want to leave you with a bad impression of the Air. So, I will say the following about it: It’s a great laptop. I would say, for most users out there that want a good very portable laptop the MacBook Air is not a bad machine. As many others have pointed out, it’s a great supplementary laptop. (Which originally was what I was looking for) Supplementary meaning that you do not use the Air to replace your main computer, but use it for quick trips, traveling where you need quick portable access etc.

So, I leave you guys with a couple screenshots of my “MacVista Air”’s Desktop. I have GeekTools running with my console and top on my desktop. The second picture was to show Safari running side by side with Internet Explorer from the Vista virtual Machine in Unity mode.

My “MacVista Air” My “MacVista Air” w/ Safari and Internet Explorer

Yes, I am a big fan of IronMan. Good Stuff!

PS We shot video of the unboxing of the MacBook Air and will upload it to www.youtube.com/technochubby when I get all this crap organized :D

Quick Edit: Right after I wrote this entry, I found the following article by Eric Benderoff: Apple’s MacBook Air Love Affair in which he sums it all up with “I don’t think I’m ready for the commitment the Air wants.” That there says it all :)

RSS Trackback URL TheJoe | April 13, 2008 (6:08 am)

Mac, MacBook Air, OSX, VMWare, Vista

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