TheMacBook Airis an ultra-thin notebook computer from Apple. And when I say ultra-thin, I mean ridiculously thin. The MacBook Air is so thin, it fits inside a manila envelope.Frequent travelers may be interested in what the MacBook Air has to offer, but should first be aware of the sacrifices made in order to build such a small computer. The MacBook Air lacks an Ethernet port. The battery cannot be replaced by the user, nor can its memory. There is no optical drive for reading and writing CDs and DVDs have to share one in the network from any windows or mac computer or buy an external CD/DVD Drive from Apple. Obviously, performance needs to take a hit in order to produce such an amazingly portable machine. If you need help deciding whether or not the MacBook Air is right for you, the list of pros and cons underneath will help you take the decision to ride on the MacBook Air’s Bandwagon or not to ride on the bandwagon
Pros:Lightweight and extremely thin design 3 PoundsLarge 13.3 inch LCDFull size keyboard With illuminationcapabilitiesShips with a maximum of 2 gigabytes memoryLong battery life 4.5 to 5 hours under "normal" conditions(when fully charged)Innovative technology allows you to "share" DVD drive from networked computers (through WiFi of course) (Windows or Mac)available infrared for apple remoteAccelerometerthat detects falls and protects hard disk when falling resulting in the least possibledamage.multi touchpad gives you the option of zooming, flicking through, sliding, moving pages up or down, enlarging all with unique finger gestures.Comes with MagSafe adaptor which prevents the macbook air falling when someone trips over the wire which trust me comes in handy.Screenautomaticallyincre ases and decrease brightness to give you the best optimal view while using your MacBook air.
Possible Cons:There is no built-in Ethernet port WiFi only, no wired Ethernet for Facilities backups, No removable battery must be changed by Apple Certified Technician, No built-in DVD drive (have to buy an external one or share through a network from any Windows/Mac)Thin case does not allow for a larger internal hard drive then 80 gigabytes is the maximum which is very limited for users who plan to store a lot on the Laptop,Very limited in common ports and connectors, Only 3 connectors available1 USB port Headphone jackmini DVI port for connecting external display, Requires use of external devices for additional connections.
For more information about the MacBook Air visit the apple website at the following link:http://www.apple.com/
For pricing and configuration information refer to the CMU Computer Storehttp://www.cmu.edu/stores/com puter/apple.html