Apple MacBook Air MC233LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

by Apple

Product Details

• Item Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B002C746FE
• Item model number: MC233LL/A
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,928 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 8, 2009

Product Description

MacBook Air continues to redefine what’s possible. Just 0.16 inch at its thinnest point, 0.76 inch at its thickest point, and a mere 3.0 pounds, it’s still ultrathin and ultraportable. And now, pushing the performance limits of ultraportable notebooks, it features a faster 1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 1066MHz frontside bus, 2GB of DDR3 memory, and 6MB of L2 cache, so you can be as productive on the road as in the office. Offering ample storage, MacBook Air comes with a 120GB hard drive that uses less power and provides enhanced durability. Its advanced NVIDIA processor brings you amazing, high-speed graphics, delivering a graphics performance boost up to 6x that of the original model. Unlike other ultraportables, MacBook Air doesn’t compromise on features users care most about: the display and the keyboard. It includes a bright, 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, a full-size backlit keyboard, a spacious Multi-Touch trackpad, and a built-in iSight camera. Engineered for the wireless world, MacBook Air also comes with 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, and Remote Disc to deliver unparalleled wireless versatility.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very nice, but not perfect, December 11, 2009

By 

Christopher Tran (LA,California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple MacBook Air MC233LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION) (Personal Computers)

I'm a PC, but I'm also a Mac. A Macbook Air (MBA) to be exact. I'm very much into design so it just made sense. I first considered something like the Dell Adamo, Latitude Z or the HP ENVY13, But the Dells were heavily under-powered processor-wise. The HP was crazy powerful, but heftier than I would have liked. The Latitude's Euro design gave the MBA's design a run for it money, but it starts at over two grand and you'll easily knock on $2500 with the bells and whistles, Yikes! The HP ENVY 13 is very powerful and the only ultra-portable with the i7 processor. But for what I'll be using this for, the mobility and price is more important to me. The Adamo seemed to match the price and features of the Macbook Air best, but finding that the design, feature and price pretty much a draw (I personally thought the MBA had a very small edge on Design), I settled on the MBA because of the fact that I can run Windows 7 as well as Mac OS X(which I also use for different purposes)and the better build quality. I have to say, the unibody design really makes the thing feel as if it was carved from one piece of aluminum. There's minimal flex to speak of. Closed, it just feels so nice in your hands.

The 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor is a lot better than the 1.2 and 1.4 that are available in the Dells; more than enough for my usage. This might have been a bit meek had I not already had an Intel Core 2 Quad Desktop computer at home. This also made HP ENVY pointless.

The screen is more than adequate and much better than a netbook. Since it's so light, it really can go anywhere a netbook can. The nice Keyboard and trackpad was also refreshing.

The Solid State Drive is also nice, but after some usage, I really don't find them all that different from a standard HD, perhaps a bit faster, but not that noticeable. It certainly is cooler and less noisy. Some users have complained about it getting a bit warm, but I'm thinking they've got an HD instead of an SSD.

And now for the few CONs:

No optical drive - since I won't be needing this too often it's not a big deal. I already have an external Blu-Ray Drive that I used to install everything. Once that was done, I can only image using it for an occasion Blu-Ray/DVD movie, but even this will be rare, unless I'm in a hotel room somewhere and bore out of my mind.

Connectivity:
No Ethernet, big deal! It's all about wireless!

Weird Mini Display port - also not a big deal since I don't imaging connecting an external monitor to this much.

Only one USB - This one, I admit, is pretty significant. It was a bit of hassle to swap USB devices a bit, but again, I only use multiple devices a handful of times (mainly a USB DJ Console Mixer and an external USB HD containing the music I want to mix). I got a little griffin USB "Splitter" which was nothing more than a very tiny USB Hub, but it did have some trouble getting enough power to the HD from this one USB port, so I did have to add a USB power cable to the mix (the audio was clipping heavily during mixing and transition). So keep that in mind if you're planning to daisy-chain three hard drives, a soda cooler and a reading light to the USB port- just don't. It works fine with the majority of other (low powered) USB devices.
RAM - Here's the other big CON! While 2GB of RAM will probably be ok for now, but I would have loved having the option of adding more. I have 8GB on my desktop and I actually use it (photo and video editing, media center functions, terminal services, etc.)! While I'm not doing much of that (maybe a little Photoshoping) on this thing, all it takes is that killer application that requires at least 4GB of RAM that I can't use that will drive me nuts!

I have a first generation Macbook Pro from work and I always loved the design of it. This takes things to the next level. I'm primarily a Windows user, and this seems to work a bit more seamlessly with Windows than the Macbook Pro(although with the latest drivers and software updates for bootcamp from apple, it got better). It's kinda odd that I went with an Mac to run Windows, but it was a calculated choice. Had I been looking for a full-function laptop, it would have likely been an HP or Dell.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dream machine, August 30, 2010

By 

george H miller (Clark, Wyoming, US) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Apple MacBook Air MC233LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION) (Personal Computers)

I love my MBA. I travel a lot and the weight was my primary concern. This machine is great it does everything I need it to do. Because the computing world is mostly in the cloud these days all you really need is a device to connect wireless or wire up with the included USB LAN adapter. I travel internationally so skype is my primary means of communication. The camera and microphone are great. The MBA is the Ipad with a camera. If you travel and don't want to lug a lot of weight get an MBA

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars MacAir - 13", July 28, 2010

By 

LeoShopper "shopper" (Venice, FL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Apple MacBook Air MC233LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION) (Personal Computers)

I absolutely love the MacAir - it's very light, has many more features than a PC, it's faster, everyday I find new things that I'm impressed with. My only complaint is the brief manual does not make going from a PC to a Mac very easy. I have used computers for many years but I am not a whiz with computers. I have not gone through the tutorials on line - which I may have to do. I purchased a book that claimed it explained everything you needed to know about converting from a PC to a Mac - very disappointed. I like to "read" from a manual/book how to do something specific. That's the only reason for a 4 Star.