So the first batch of the new Macbook Air 11.6″ arrived early this week in all Apple Reseller Stores and we spared no time to get our hands into one of these babies. See un-boxing photos and first impressions after the jump.
I originally wanted to get it in SG since I was supposed to go there for a media coverage yesterday but due to visa issues with my Japan trip in two weeks, I wasn’t able to go (sent Calvin there instead to do the coverage). Dale, our special assignments contributor, also went to HK for some shopping and tells me the entry-level Mac Air sells for around Php46,000 there.
Fortunately, we found a local source that was able to give us a really nice deal at Php45k for straight cash purchase. Pretty good deal considering the SRP is Php52k.
So, on to the unboxing of the new Macbook Air 11.6″.
I’ve been a fan of the 11.6″ and 12.1″ ultraportables since last year with the MSI Wind U2xx series, the Acer Timeline and the Asus UL series. The Sony Vaio X was drool-worthy but being Atom-powered, and a Z-series at that, I felt they were a bit under-powered.
I’ve recently purchased a Core i3 ultraportable, the Asus UL20FT (review coming up this week-end), as an upgrade to the Core 2 Duo SU7300 1.3GHz of the Acer Timeline but the 3 to 4 hours battery life left me wanting. The Timeline really spoiled me with a 5 to 6 hours battery life.
So when the 11.6″ Macbook Air was announced, I thought this could be the closest fit to what I am looking for in an ultraportable. It’s super thin and super light, has pretty decent processing power and a 5-hour battery life I’m satisfied with. From my usage since yesterday, the claimed 5 hours of battery life is true and maybe I can even stretch it by lowering the screen brightness.
The new Air is pretty impressive at first glance — the thin and light form-factor gets very high scores and to think that it has an aluminum unibody adds to that great engineering feat.
The base configuration of a Core 2 Duo SU9400 running at 1.4GHz and a 2GB RAM is pretty decent and, based from experience, is already a good combination of a performance yet power-saving system. Add the embedded SSD into the mix and you get a very snappy system that boots very fast, launches applications in a jiffy and goes from sleep to wake in under a second.
The full keyboard comes with chiclet-style keys, standard for all Macbook, and the large trackpad are all comfy and easy to use. The entire trackpad is also the button so that need some time to get used to. The power button is also at the top right corner so I get confused it with the Delete button oftentimes.
The one big concern with the unit is the limited amount of storage space. Using SSD is great but that also limits capacity due to the expensive parts. The base config only has 64GB in it so if you’re carrying a lot of photos, music and videos, that will eat it up in no time. The 2nd variant comes with 128GB but at Php10k more.
Most logical and affordable solution is to bring an external storage for the large files (fortunately, I still have that 750GB My Passport that WD gave to me lying around).
My only other personal concern is the OS actually. It will take some time to get used to OS X and learn the ropes, find and use alternative softwares (anybody knows of a good SSH client for Mac similar to putty?). I would not really be a full-time switcher since I’ll still be using my old and trusty Window machines.
Over-all, the new Macbook Air is very promising. The combination of a smaller form-factor and above-average battery life makes it a good option for a walk-around laptop. The price-point has also gone down considerably since the first time the Air was introduced. You will no longer be burning holes in your pocket. Just one.
YugaTech.com is the largest and longest-running technology site in the Philippines. Originally established in October 2002, the site was transformed into a full-fledged technology platform in 2005.
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joseph says:
Nice One…
jcruze057 says:
pwede kaya ako mag-panggap na Atenean para maka-avail ako ng huge discounts? mga magkano kaya? aabuting ng 7K ang discount?
luckystrike says:
tried calling digital hub robinsons, and iStudio Shang, taguig,vmall, but they dont have stocks of 505 nor 506 and nobody seems to have heard of a price of 46T for spot cash. they all say price is 51,999. did you guys talk to a certain person? can i have the name? maraming salamat po.
ProfKathyP says:
sir abe have you seen this?
http://www.tipidpc.com/viewitem.php?iid=7802013
http://micgadget.com/1649/macbook-air-knockoff-full-review-unboxing-and-hands-on/
can you run your own review of this for us?
jokho says:
5 hrs web browsing
3.5 hrs or less watching flash videos on youtube.
tested it on a unit at simlim.
I would buy straight away on 5 hrs battery life or more on flash. My first gen unobody macbook pro does the same thing just thicker.
Jheanne says:
Can i invite you in my segment What’s New? We feature the what is the latest Gadgets, places, trends, restaurant… etc…
luckystrike says:
hi mr. yuga, you have my email add, please refer me to the retailer or send me the name, branch and phone contact. P46T is a damn good price. thanks a lot.
joeyoliver says:
Ateneo! Super big discounts for students!
Fernand says:
Update: i called up iStudio shang, 64gb is reserved to me. Thank you for the info Abe. :)
Fernand says:
You got your macbook from iStudio Shang? I was in iStudio Vmall, their price is 51,990 for the 64gb. Will go to iStudio Shang tomorrow and try if they’ll give me a discount for cash purchase, Digital Hub takes a while to update their stocks.
rommelsuganob says:
anybody knows of a good SSH client for Mac similar to putty? – terminal app is the application that you are looking for, it is native in macs
Joseph says:
Very nice design by apple..but still i want zacate platform on that thing because the c2d architecture are almost at the end of the line.
Jojo Esposa Jr. says:
If bootcamp is not your thing, I believe Parallels Desktop for Mac can work here. You can switch from Windows to mac with great ease. You can select whether window, crystal, coherence, full screen or modality. I currently use Parallels 5 on top of Mac OS Snow Leopard. It works perfectly. They have already updated it to version 6 but I haven’t tried it. :-)
RJCA says:
In Ateneo they discount the Apple computers and iPods.
agvu says:
nice one sir yuga! transition to mac osx from windows will be a breeze.
Nemo Trinidad says:
try Cyberduck for your SSH needs in Mac OS X
Spidey says:
Apple sells to Ateneo students at discounted prices.
Available in Ateneo campus only. :)
ade says:
Hey it’s the Coconuter!
chris says:
wow … droll !!!
Manuel says:
@joeyoliver What’s your school? D:
lawreas says:
sir yuga, pati iba pang apple products like ipods, etc???
Abe Olandres says:
You guys can call iStudio at the Shangri-la Mall EDSA. They give good cash discounts there.
cellito says:
Pashare naman ng reseller information and if magkano yung 13 nila
techmaso says:
Awesome! I want that too ^_^
Nice review again Sir Abe. Looking forward for future post ^_^
Coconuter says:
Mr. Olandres,
No need to acclimatize to Mac OS X. You can install Windows 7 OS using Boot Camp. Drivers for the Mac hardware can also be installed via Boot Camp.
The only problem is the keyboard. Some Windows shortcuts are made a little longer due to the keyboard discrepancy. But, this is arguably a minor issue.
The advantage is being able to utilize the Air’s hardware using a familiar OS (Windows). And, based on my experiences with replacing Mac operating systems, the machine will probably run even faster using Windows 7 than it did using Mac OS X.
Regards,
David Poarch
aka ‘the Coconuter’
Coconuter says:
Mr. Olandres,
No need to acclimatize to Mac OS X. You can install Windows 7 OS using Boot Camp. Drivers for the Mac hardware can also be installed via Boot Camp.
The only problem is the keyboard. Some Windows shortcuts are made a little longer due to the keyboard discrepancy. But, this is arguably a minor issue.
The advantage is being able to utilize the Air’s hardware using a familiar OS (Windows). And, based on my experiences with replacing Mac operating systems, the machine will probably run even faster using Windows 7 than it did using Mac OS X.
David Poarch
http://coconuter.blogspot.com
Teknisyan says:
Nice one and the price is down from the first gen of MBA!!!
http://www.teknisyan.net
Jedd says:
45k is a great price! Please share reseller info as I’m about to get a MacBook Pro next month.
gwhiz says:
lol @LULZ
LagaoLugaw says:
hmmm… the Air is nice.. but i’d still go with a Macbook pro given a choice.
LULZ says:
@arnold
fanboi spotted.
Fleeb says:
@Arnold: for the desktop machines, he already posted more than once why he still uses IBM clones over Macs.
ocommon says:
45k for cash purchase? Magkano ang Apple logo doon? 10k? :)
TheSaintX says:
Nice review, made me want it more. Reminds me to do the laundry this weekend make the wife smile and get the 11.6″ early next week.
Vaporware says:
let’s see if the saying “Once you go Mac, you can’t go back” holds true and applicable to Yuga :D hehe
Scott says:
SSH is native in the terminal application.
If you need SFTP then Cyberduck for mac is recommended and opensource
Vaporware says:
wow..this is nice! what i like about OSX is that you can preview any files be it video or pdf or photo with just a tap of the spacebar, and the multi touch and inertial scrolling is a nice touch
Manny says:
And i thought you wouldnt be liking a mac, remembering your blog about mac vs pc
arnold says:
“I would not really be a full-time switcher since I’ll still be using my old and trusty Window machines.”
– Try to get the high-end Macs or iMacs and you’ll surely forget about your Windows machines. :-)
Meg says:
I think Digital Hub offers the cheapest for the 11″ entry level for php44000 cash purchase.
joeyoliver says:
They sell it here on campus at a discount for students. P46k for the 64GB version and P55k for the 128gb version.
Even the Ipods and Itouches are really cheap here. They’re cheaper than online resellers by a few hundreds selling at the cheapest prices i know of so far. 10.6k for 8gb. 13.6k for 32gb. and 18.7k for 64gb. Pretty cheap, huh?
ithons26 says:
me too…can you share to me your local source sir yuga? sure buyer here…thanx! :)
Garri says:
Sir Yuga can you refer me to this reseller? They might be selling cheaper brand-new macbooks too. Thank you so much. :)
boo says:
you don’t need to download a 3rd party ssh client for os x. Just use the Terminal app. Since OS X is Unix based OS
Lance says:
Cool price! Sir Yuga, can you refer me to this reseller? I would appreciate it. Thanks! (You have my email here)