You’ve probably seen or heard of it it at some point somewhere, the MacBook Air. It’s the ultra-portable, ultra-slim 13″ laptop from Apple. Weighing in at just under 3 lbs and 0.76″ at it’s thickest point, it makes a high school book report look bulky.

Packing - Apple maintains their “Green” movement by fitting the computer, and all its accessories into a box no larger then some modern day laptops. As usual, everything is neatly packed away in an appropriately sized compartment in such a way that once you take everything out, you’ll never get them back in again. Included with the second generation models is the 45W power adapter, extension power cord, small cleaning cloth, information pamphlets, and restore CD’s (despite its lack of optical drive). Owners of the previous generation will notice the lack of a display adapter – Apple wants another $30 out of you.

Features - As with just about all Apple products, you get a little of what you don’t need and sometimes miss a little of what you needed. This particular laptop is the grandaddy of them all – the 128GB SSD, 1.86Ghz, fully loaded model. Price at time of ordering beginning of January 2009 is $2500.

Solid State Drive (SSD) - SSD or Solid State Drive is an alternative to a conventional HDD or Hard Drive Disk is that it does not feature any moving parts. A standard HDD largely resembles a phonograph; a needle moving about on usually one or two disks called “platters.” A SSD, as those familiar with memory cards will know, is just an array of computer chips soldered on to a board.

There are several advantages and disadvantages to each. A SSD, due to its lack of moving parts, is able to instantly access data from one region of the storage to another without delay. This kind of reading is known as Random Read / Write. For this, a SSD has increased performance over a HDD. In contrast to random, there is also a Sustained Read Write. As the name implies, this is a consistent access to data over a sequential area. Because it takes more effect to change a flux in a particle of silicone then it does the charge on a platter, a HDD has the advantage of speed here.

Power consumption is another factor. HDD usually have multiple levels of power, from a full spin to idle spin. These variations in speed allow for the drive to consume power in proportion to the requirements put upon it – that is, the faster you need data, the faster the drive moves to get it. SSD’s in contrast to HDD’s, only have two options, on or off. Because of this, SSD’s are not able to throttle a response, and are all or nothing. What this is effect means is that for on and off use, a HDD will have a slightly upper hand in battery life, while for a sustained and prolonged use, a SSD will be easier on the battery.

Multimedia Devices - Built into just about every Apple today (with the exception of the Mac Pro and Mac Mini) is a webcam, microphone, and speaker set. Due to the limited amount of space and power on the MacBook Air, you get more of a mono setup then a stereo. Microphone and webcam are featured at the top of the screen (microphone to the right, webcam middle, light sensor left). Color accuracy and overall quality of camera is approximately on par with that of a high end cell phone – acceptable but not there yet.

Battery / Power - The quoted battery life for a second generation MacBook Air is approximately 4.5 hours. The batter, as can be seen from the underside of the computer, is not removable or user serviceable – meaning any problems with it takes a trip to the Apple Store. That said, I have consistently been able to pull at least 5 hours from the battery under wireless on but not in use and consistent word processing. I expect another half hour to be possible with the wireless shut off. Power adapter is the 45W brick. Although any higher adapter will physically plug into, power, and charge the MacBook Air, due to its slim profile, a specifically shaped adapter is necessary for the side. Unlike most laptops, all Apple portable computers now feature the MagSafe adapter, preventing any possible nasty spills due to trips.

Inputs / Outputs - One of the biggest criticisms about this computer is its lack of input and output options. Aside from the keyboard and trackpad, you have only one physical way of getting anything into this computer – one USB 2.0 port. As far as getting stuff out, there is one MiniDisplay Port as well as one headphone jack. Other connectivity also includes a speedy 802.11G protocol wireless and Bluetooth. An optional SuperDrive (DVD R/RW + DL) for $100. Ports are cleverly hidden away on a flip down tray on the right side of the computer. The keyboard is backlit, coming on automatically as the light dims, adjustable by use of the F5 and F6 keys. Trackpad does punch some rather nifty features. It allows for one, two, three, and four finger gestures. Tapping with two fingers gives a right click, moving two fingers around allows for scrolling in any direction, moving three fingers right and left goes forward and back a page, four fingers up shows the desktop, four fingers down shows all open windows, our fingers right or left produces the quick select menu. Caps lock key has even been improved to prevent accidentally selection. Another problem that many people have with this computer is the glossy screen. Glossy screens are notorious for over saturating colors. Although I have found the colors to be a little heavy, a quick calibration solves the problem. Glare isn’t too big of an issue either, unless you’re working in direct sunlight or in view of a harsh light source.

Performance – I can say that without a doubt, this is one of the fastest laptops I have ever used, as well as one of the slowest. Compared with the mammoth 3.2GHz Quad Core processors of today, this little 1.8Ghz 2 core processor really isn’t much. This is strikingly evident when doing anything that requires CPU power – be it watching a HD video, compiling code, etc. It isn’t a hard processor to max out.

Where this computer really shines tho, is in everything that isn’t a resource hog. Due to the SSD, this computer can open up Microsoft Word in a fraction of a time of even the largest PC’s. Things like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and even MatLab, open it in lightning speeds. Because opening a program just requires taking it out of storage and into RAM, no computations are necessary, and the bottle neck is not the CPU, but instead the drive. Data for results obtained with Xbench v1.3.

Overall Impressions - So how does it fair for photography use? The bottom line is, it gets the job done. I would never recommend someone use this as their main photography computer, but for something to throw in your bag and take along with you on a job to view and make some minor edits to pictures, it certainly works. My advice would be, unless you really do value the extra few pounds you’d be saving (which trust me – makes a huge difference) go for the newly released MacBook or even MacBook pro – both of which can be had for less then the price of this model.