Review: 11" MacBook Air

I wrote the below post for TechDork, but figured what the hell. May as well post here too, for those of you who travel and might be interested.
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I have to say that of the literally dozens of computers I have owned throughout the years, by far, the MacBook Air 11" is the best. I know I am a bit of a fanboy, but my proclivity towards Mac products aside, I just love this thing.


Why? Four simple reasons:

1. It is beyond light. I travel a ton and can't articulate how easy it is to carry. It's so light, I often times take it with me on weekends to places I wouldn't ordinarily carry a laptop.
2. I love how it doesn't require boot time. This is huge. You open it and it starts, in the spirit of an iPad. And even when in hibernation mode, it has a long lasting battery life. This is really critical for me when I'm stuck in places like airports. I turn it on and can get immediately to work.
3. Few compromises. It's light, and the SSD is a bit on the small size, but beyond that it's more than fast enough for me to do everything I require on a day-to-day basis. It is NOT a netbook. Not even close. I also notice no lag whatsoever in terms of processing speed (which was a big issue for me with the original Air). Another critical enhancement was the addition of a second USB hub.
4. I guess this point is a corollary to the one above, but despite its small size, it has a full fledged keyboard. Again, though it is small, it doesn't feel that way, except for the screen.

Dislikes?

Really, only one that I have been able to thus far discover. As noted above, the screen is a bit small. After a full day's use, I definitely feel some eye fatigue. But this is somewhat manageable by increasing the font size.

Caveats

One important caveat: I don't think the 11" would at all serve as a primary computer. It doesn't have the heft for most iTunes library (I keep zero music on it), to do video editing, etc. I wouldn't even consider it for a primary - I have a 13" MacBook Pro at home that serves this purpose. It's really constructed to be an agile, easy to carry, absolutely killer secondary travel computer, and it serves this purpose very, very well at a relatively reasonable price point.

If you are a serious business traveller, it gets an unequivocal two thumbs up.

Some New Music

For all of you music lovers out there, I've been listening to some good stuff lately that I recommend, including: the new Destroyers (excellent and getting better with each successive listen), Cloud Nothings (particularly if you like a lo-fi sound), the new Cut Copy (80's dance beat - excellent)and the new Decemberists (typical Decemberists; a bit pretentious, but very listenable. There are also a few excellent new mixtapes; the new jj (which is free - and just fantastic), Rick Ross and Das Racist, which is highly entertaining.

Anyway, that's what is in my iPod. Now that I've started to ramp up my running again, I'm open to any and all recommendations.

More Beer

On the heels of yesterday's post, I got another shipment today from my beer club. This months California is represented via Mendocino Brewing Company, featuring their Red Tail Ale and Blue Heron Pale Ale. The other brewery is Stegmaier Brewing Company from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which included their signature IPA and Winter Warmer.

Full reviews in a few days. Short of a hot Summer day or special occasion, as a rule of thumb I usually don't drink at all until Thursday night.

Posted via email from Howard Solomon

Another Fine Beer

Flashback India-style brown ale from Boulder Beer Company. An excellent beer if you can find it - found it through my beer of the month club.

Posted via email from Howard Solomon

J.E.T.S, JETS, JETS, JETS

Sorry for going dark all week; this just might have been the craziest work week I've had in years. Literally back to back to back 15 hour days. But - it's all good.

Anyway, moving on to football, I'm pretty darn stoked that my Jets beat the Patriots last week. Nothing better than a team from New York beating one from Boston. Except Michigan defeating Ohio State, but that's a story for another day.

Anyway, if the Jets can get by Pittsburgh on Sunday - a big "if" - I am giving very serious consideration to going to the Super Bowl. Think that would be a once in a lifetime type of experience.

So, let's hear predictions from the peanut galley; who's going to win this weekend's games and by what score? I will mail a special prize to the winner.......

First Race of the Year

So I did my first race of 2011 today here in LA - the LA half marathon. Generally speaking I was happy with my ti e - 1:38 - on this flat and fast course, especially as I trained through it hard this week and had virtually no taper. I was running fairly steady 7:20-7:25 pace until around mile 8, when the sun came out and the wheels came off a bit. But that was to be expected. I was mostly able to keep it together and all things considered I was pretty happy. With all my ultra running I forgot how much a half can hurt.

After the race I met up with my good friend Amy (who sometimes frequents these pages) and her fantastic family. Our kids became fast friends and it was an excellent afternoon that only got better when the Jets beat the Patriots.

At least one of my teams knows how to win.

Go Jets.

Greetings From LA

See and download the full gallery on posterous

We are in LA for the long weekend where the weather is - 77 degrees. Man I love this town. We ate at Nate and Al's this morning which is a superb Jewish deli. It's also my wife's favorite restaurant in the world. On the way out we saw this car - a Bughatti Veyron. There's only a handful in the country and it costs nearly two million dollars. It's the fastest street legal car in the world and gorgeous beyond description. Not sure who it belongs to but rumor has it Simon Cowell owns one. Anyway. Tomorrow am I'm doing my first race of the year, the LA Half marathon. I'll write a report post race.

Posted via email from Howard Solomon