Every product involves a series of engineering decisions. The Air trades off some high end features of the MacBook Pro to slim down in size and weight, and trades off the economy of the MacBook in order to deliver a desirable punch that matches its razor thin outline. In our review, we'll look at three major categories of Apple's engineering decisions that resulted in the Air: mobility, performance, and overall design. Prior to completing our look at the MacBook Air, we asked readers to contribute questions and concerns about the new model in "What's wrong with the MacBook Air?" The response was overwhelming, and helps underscore the fact that the Air has captured the attention of customers both with its new form factor and with its controversial design tradeoffs engineered to deliver its thin profile and light weight. Every product involves a series of engineering decisions. The Air trades off some high end features of the MacBook Pro to slim down in size and weight, and trades off the economy of the MacBook in order to deliver a desirable punch that matches its razor thin outline. In our review, we'll look at three major categories of Apple's engineering decisions that resulted in the Air: mobility, performance, and overall design. Mobility looks at how the Air competes in terms of small physical size versus practical usability. Performance examines its top speed capacity versus heat generation, fan noise, and battery life. Design compares its offerings in rich features versus a delivery of pared down, elegant simplicity. Each area considers a balance between two extremes in desirable aspects. Every competing ultra mobile laptop alternative to the MacBook Air makes different design decisions that renders it more or less suitable for specific types of tasks.

Air Mobility: the Physics
Apple's first foray into the modern market for ultra mobile laptops takes a unique turn compared to other models in its class, as detailed in How the MacBook Air stacks up against other ultra-light notebooks. Most existing ultra mobile units are built around smaller displays and reduced size keyboards. For example, the Asus EEE PC and the OQO e2 can fit in a large pocket, but have 7" and 5" screens respectively. More conventional light laptops such as the Sony TZ line achieve their mobility using an 11.1" screen. Smaller screen sizes allow a reduced overall footprint but also demand a smaller keyboard. Alternatively, mobile laptops that provide a standard sized keyboard and full sized display commonly come in a package similar to the existing MacBooks. The highly rated Lenovo ThinkPad X61 has a full sized keyboard, but makes room for it by omitting a trackpad. It's also well over an inch thick and 20% heavier. Other laptops that provide a full sized keyboard similarly do so using a full sized case. After all, why be light and thin without a small outline, and why be full featured in the keyboard and screen without being full sized? Apple provides a unique answer in the Air. more>>>