Today, as we move from an age of utility to portability, we find an increasing need to carry devices around with us that can do everything yet weigh no more than a pebble.

My powerhouse laptop is a great looking Lenovo Z500 customised with a 2TB hard disc, 6GB RAM, 2GB NVIDIA GT645 series graphics card, Dolby and the whole nine yards; it even runs Windows 8 64-bit smooth as silk. But it weighs close to 3kg. With it tossed into my dSLR bag, I end up carrying around 7kg on my back.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

From iPad to Mac

I originally thought of buying an iPad Air with a keyboard so I could travel light. But there is only so much a tablet can do. And that is when I thought of the MacBook Air: arguably the handsomest piece of equipment I have ever come across.

In fact, I am typing this on my new MacBook Air right this moment.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

I had problems with iOS — and I still do — because that is a pretty closed OS that makes me feel like I am inside a straightjacket. Apple’s tablet ecosystem is better than Android’s any day because Android tablets are just large phones. Besides, I own the GALAXY Note 3, which, realistically speaking, is the most powerful smartphone on the market right now.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

So a MacBook Air seemed like the right choice. Long story short, I walked into my local Apple Store looking to buy an iPad Air and walked out with a 13” MacBook Air. And I could not have felt better.

There was Apple’s student discount of 6%, and all of which I saved, I spent on a SuperDrive.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Retina MacBook Air?

There are rumours doing rounds about a MacBook Air with Retina screen. But that did not bother me because my own reasons for buying a MacBook Air (henceforth, MBA) were pretty clear.

Let us see what I wanted from my new ultraportable: power, speed, a good keyboard, a good OS and lots and lots of portability. The MBA ticks all the boxes and is to portable computers what my Note 3 is to smartphones.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

But there was something else I valued (which is one of two reasons why I chose the 13” MBA over the 11” version) — battery life. I have been using my MBA for a few days now and it routinely gives me nearly 14 hours on typing-heavy usage and 10-11 hours on media heavy usage. (In fact, further down the page is a quick video I made and that along with the photos and this write-up and a brief stop at a Starbucks all added up to close to 10 hours, which the MBA took on like a champ.)

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Now although a Retina MBA is a juicy proposition, all those extra pixels will suck my battery dry well within 7 to 10 hours — the battery life of the previous generation MBA, and one of the reasons why I never bought an MBA earlier. Who wants a poor battery life from a laptop that costs as much as three beginner dSLRs?

Passing thoughts from a Windows user

Although I have used Macs before for considerable lengths of time, or been around their envious designs (my uncle owns a MacBook Pro which none of my three laptops, except for my Z500, can stand up against) this would be my first personal Mac.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

The OS is not out of this world, but is a lot more fun to use than Windows. I may just be saying that after years and years with Windows (and the fact that Windows 8 is an utter horror to use). But OS X Maverics (10.9+) that I upgraded to is different in a refreshing way.

But it is more than the OS alone which takes the prize as far as I am concerned. Coming from Lenovo/IBM’s great, almost legendary, chiclet keyboards on my previous computers, I can say Apple’s stands up pretty well. It is beautifully backlit and carries an elegance like no other — even as it just sits on my desk, doing very little.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

The MBA is a lot more elegant than the Pros (which are extremely heavy — I could have got a new 13” Pro for the price of a high-end MBA, but I did not for this very reason). And, for all it sacrifices, I am surprised how well it performs.

My only complaints about OS X are the large downloads. iWork, for instance, is a whopping 4.5GB, if I am to believe what Launcher says.

Everyday working with the MacBook Air

I would be lying if I said one of my reasons to get a MacBook Air was not sheer impulse. Look around this site, as I often say, and you will know my tastes in design. The MBA reflects all of that. I love the way it looks as much as I do the way it acts. The grained, machined Aluminium unibody, the engraved port symbols, the bushes, the bold logo, the attention to detail and the sharp packaging all make the MacBook Air experience unique.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Yet, would the MBA be my go-to machine? Not quite: my Z500 is a lot more powerful and most of my system-taxing work will be done on that. I got my MBA for my blogging, photography while traveling, and that sort of stuff. Under these circumstances, I rarely do anything memory-intensive. I would rather enjoy my travel than play with a photo editor.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Once I got my MBA, I decided to go about my usual work. In brief, I checked my email on the go, uploaded a thing or two to Google+ and elsewhere, edited all the photographs you see here (except one) on the MBA using iPhoto and not my usual programme, Lightroom. They were all shot with my dSLR; one was shot with my phone — try to guess which one.

I even cut my quick video (again, see below) right here on my new computer on iMovie. My other reason to go for a 13” MBA rather than an 11” one is the SDXC card slot which helps me carry one cord less and yet be able to transfer photos from my dSLR to my laptop. I am typing this too using a minimal editor called FocusWriter on my Mac.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

How does it feel? Smooth as ever; it is fast, intuitive, and the computer, charged once in the evening or night, will last me all of the next day.

Moving around with a MacBook Air

Arguably the most addictive part of my new MBA (apart from it sitting on my desk, looking good) is how remarkably easy it is to carry around. It does not feel at all like a burden, so much so that I am actually afraid I will leave it out somewhere and not think of it again until I return home.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

But — and I started feeling this way just one day after unboxing my MacBook Air — carrying any of my three old laptops now not only seems like a burden but also is pretty much out of the question.

I worked on it in my car, at a cafe, a restaurant — you name it. In fact, I typed various bits of this article in all these places. I used Pages briefly and like it. It is, much like all of OS X, more friendly to Windows files than Windows is to Mac files.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Does that make the iPhone my next phone? Not for the world. iPhone may have been here early, but they have a lot of catching up to do with higher-end Android phones (I rarely buy the lower-end ones, but I am sure the iPhone is better than them all).

Concluding remarks

Did I miss out on something by not getting the iPad Air? Probably. But once I used the MBA and handled the iPad Air again, the tablet — believe it or not — felt thicker and heavier. Tablets may be great, but they are still not computers.

Between my so-called 5.7 inch “phablet” and 13” portable laptop, an actual tablet probably has very little justification, but the iPad is on my list, perhaps a generation or two down the line, when more things change than just bezels.

Do I like my new MBA? No doubts about it. Will you like it? Oh, yes. Should you buy it? Well, let me just say, once you buy it, you will find it hard to get yourself to use anything much heavier, especially to carry around.

Like I say for my dSLR and my phone, I say it too for my new MacBook Air: some things have to be experienced to be believed.

(P.S. There will be many instances when you will feel the temptation to toss your MacBook Air like a frisbee just to see how far you can throw it. Resist the urge.)

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

The post MacBook Air appeared first on VHBelvadi.com.