Ultra Light Laptops
Ultra light laptops have become quite the status symbol with jet setting business types. All are lightweight, but too many are light in features too.
The latest ultra lights do away with large capacity hard drives, DVD drives, multipul USB ports, and screen size trying to shave ounces and save users shoulders and backs.
Let’s have a look at one of the most technologically advanced Apple’s new MacBook Air to see what the future holds for ultra portables.
The Macbook Air weighs only 3 pounds as compared with the 5.4 pounds of the MacBook Pro. It sports a 13.3 inch screen the same as a MacBook but is only .76 of an inch thick at its thickest and an amazing .16 at its thinnest point.
Many ultra lights use much smaller keyboards with tiny keys. This can be a problem for many users who are conditioned to typing on a full-sized keyboard. The MacBook Air comes with a full-sized keyboard that illuminates in darkened airplanes or study halls.
Multi-touch track pads are soon coming to a laptop near you and the Macbook Air leads the way. You can use a pinching, swiping or rotating motion to zoom in or out, rotate photos, or thumb through pages.
As many of us use our laptops out of the office or install wireless systems in our workplaces or at home. Wi-fi and Bluetooth capabilities are built into most portables allowing us to access our email and the Internet wirelessly. Mac has taken this a step further and forced users to use these wireless networks to gain access of another computers DVD drive rather than build one into the MacBook Air. So to load software onto the MacBook Air you need to put the software DVD into a computer with a DVD drive then have the MacBook Air wirelessly take command of it and send the software to the computer over the wi-fi system. Ingenious, but the jury is still out on whether consumers will buy in.
Solid-state hard drives to are gaining popularity. You probably own one already in the form of a Jump Drive or Flash drive. These have no moving parts and so are perfect for the bumps and bangs so a part of the laptops life. Full-sized hard drives are just coming onto the market and if you want one the MacBook Air can be purchased with a 64 GB solid-state drive. Nowhere near as big as conventional hard drives but amazing none the less.
You will pay a premium for an ultra light laptop and the MacBook Air is no exception ranging from $1899 for the standard drive configuration to a staggering $3248 for the solid-state version.
Would I purchase one? I did a small test this week. I took my Macbook Pro in a Mountian Equipment Coop laptop shoulder bag to the mall and went for a walk. Within ten minutes I was switching the padded strap to the other shoulder and within an hour that 5.4 pounds was feeling like 50. I then borrowed a friend’s new MacBook Air and started walking again and the difference was remarkable. After an hour is was as fresh as when I began.
So, if you are a road warrior who schleps their laptop through airports and around this huge country or if you just want to give your neck and shoulders a break during a week of sales calls, try out an ultra light you might be surprised what shedding a few pounds might feel like.
The latest ultra lights do away with large capacity hard drives, DVD drives, multipul USB ports, and screen size trying to shave ounces and save users shoulders and backs.
Let’s have a look at one of the most technologically advanced Apple’s new MacBook Air to see what the future holds for ultra portables.
The Macbook Air weighs only 3 pounds as compared with the 5.4 pounds of the MacBook Pro. It sports a 13.3 inch screen the same as a MacBook but is only .76 of an inch thick at its thickest and an amazing .16 at its thinnest point.
Many ultra lights use much smaller keyboards with tiny keys. This can be a problem for many users who are conditioned to typing on a full-sized keyboard. The MacBook Air comes with a full-sized keyboard that illuminates in darkened airplanes or study halls.
Multi-touch track pads are soon coming to a laptop near you and the Macbook Air leads the way. You can use a pinching, swiping or rotating motion to zoom in or out, rotate photos, or thumb through pages.
As many of us use our laptops out of the office or install wireless systems in our workplaces or at home. Wi-fi and Bluetooth capabilities are built into most portables allowing us to access our email and the Internet wirelessly. Mac has taken this a step further and forced users to use these wireless networks to gain access of another computers DVD drive rather than build one into the MacBook Air. So to load software onto the MacBook Air you need to put the software DVD into a computer with a DVD drive then have the MacBook Air wirelessly take command of it and send the software to the computer over the wi-fi system. Ingenious, but the jury is still out on whether consumers will buy in.
Solid-state hard drives to are gaining popularity. You probably own one already in the form of a Jump Drive or Flash drive. These have no moving parts and so are perfect for the bumps and bangs so a part of the laptops life. Full-sized hard drives are just coming onto the market and if you want one the MacBook Air can be purchased with a 64 GB solid-state drive. Nowhere near as big as conventional hard drives but amazing none the less.
You will pay a premium for an ultra light laptop and the MacBook Air is no exception ranging from $1899 for the standard drive configuration to a staggering $3248 for the solid-state version.
Would I purchase one? I did a small test this week. I took my Macbook Pro in a Mountian Equipment Coop laptop shoulder bag to the mall and went for a walk. Within ten minutes I was switching the padded strap to the other shoulder and within an hour that 5.4 pounds was feeling like 50. I then borrowed a friend’s new MacBook Air and started walking again and the difference was remarkable. After an hour is was as fresh as when I began.
So, if you are a road warrior who schleps their laptop through airports and around this huge country or if you just want to give your neck and shoulders a break during a week of sales calls, try out an ultra light you might be surprised what shedding a few pounds might feel like.
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