MacBook Air Portable Genius [Paperback]

Paul McFedries (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470381086 | ISBN-13: 978-0470381083 | Publication Date: November 17, 2008 | Edition: 1

You don't have to be a genius to use a MacBook Air. But if you want to get the very most out of yours, put this savvy Portable Genius guide to work and start ramping up the pace. Want to connect your MacBook Air to a television or network printer? Remotely view your Webcam via the Internet? Improve your e-mail life with a smart mailbox? Synch with MobileMe or your cell? You'll find cool and useful Genius tips, full-color screenshots, and pages of easy-to-access shortcuts and tools that will save you loads of time.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Genius is in.

You don't have to be a genius to use a MacBook Air. But if you want to get the very most out of yours, put this savvy Portable Genius guide to work and start ramping up the pace. Want to connect your MacBook Air to a television or network printer? Remotely view your Webcam via the Internet? Improve your e-mail life with a smart mailbox? Synch with MobileMe or your cell? You'll find cool and useful Genius tips, full-color screenshots, and pages of easy-to-access shortcuts and tools that will save you loads of time and let you enjoy your MacBook Air to the max.

Portable GENIUS

Fun, hip, and straightforward, the new Portable Genius series gives forward-thinking Apple users useful information in handy, compact books that are easy to navigate and don't skimp on the essentials. Collect the whole series and make the most of your Apple digital lifestyle.

About the Author

Paul McFedries is a Mac expert and full-time technical writer. He has written more than 60 books that have sold more than three million copies worldwide. These books include iPhone 3G Portable Genius and Macs Portable Genius. Paul encourages all readers to drop by his Web site, www.mcfedries.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (November 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470381086
• ISBN-13: 978-0470381083
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,480,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Generation gaps, August 11, 2011

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MacBook Air Portable Genius (Paperback)

If you've used any kind of MacBook, you probably won't learn anything from this book that previous experience, the Help menu, and intuition already know. But if you'd like the security of a book devoted to the MacBook Air (my personal favorite of all Apple's products, with the possible exception of the iPod Touch 4th generation), it's important not to error in matching your Air with the appropriate book.

Any book published before August 2011 is NOT going to address any of the changes (admittedly minor) that have been made to the hardware as well as the OS (now Lion) of both Airs (11" and 13") that were released for the first time in late July of 2011.

Any book published before November of 2010 will NOT address the specific changes Apple made to the machine released during October 2010 (when the company first supplemented the 13" with an 11" model).

Books published before November 2010 will deal only with the 1st generation 13" Air (we're now at Generation 3), and they also should explain some subtle but crucial differences between the conventional hard drive model and the solid state model (in October 2010 Apple went exclusively to solid state machines in their Air line). Some experts and even certified technicians will tell you that a first generation Air with a broken hinge (caused by a defective design) cannot be repaired. Untrue. (But you may need to consult a number of repair services and be prepared to pay a price approaching the original cost of a new machine.)

The pictured book, incidentally, deals with the 2nd generation 13" model and the 1st generation 11" model, but it was published before the current versions of either Macbook Air. Its audience is necessarily directed at those consumers who acted within the 9-month time window when the previous generation of Airs (without Lion) were being sold.