Apple finally has entered the subnotebook market, introducing a lightweight laptop meant to please road warriors. But, typical of Apple, the company took a different approach from its competitors. The result is a beautiful, amazingly thin computer, but one whose unusual trade-offs may turn off some frequent travelers.....

Apple refused to make the most common compromise computer makers employ to create their littlest laptops. Other subnotebooks -- a category generally defined as weighing three pounds or less -- have screens of just 10 to 12 inches and compressed keyboards. The three-pound MacBook Air, by contrast, features a 13.3-inch display and a full-size keyboard.

It's impossible to convey in words just how pleasing and surprising this computer feels in the hand. It's so svelte when closed that it's a real shock to discover the big screen and keyboard inside.

But there's a price for this laptop's daring design......

The first thing I did upon realizing that I'd be reviewing the MacBook Air for Macworld was sigh heavily and curse my luck. Not that I'm not lucky to get to play with the MacBook Air - I'm excited about that. No, my sigh was one of realization. Realization that my current MacBook was stocked with a 160GB hard drive, a drive that was nearly full.

In order to fit my life into the MacBook Air, I was going to have to remove half the data from my hard drive in less than a week.

This is the story of my crash MacBook diet.....

It didn't take long for Apple's new laptop, the MacBook Air, to set off an intense struggle between my heart and my head. Without doubt, the Air is the best looking and the sexiest computer ever designed. But a computer is a tool, not an objet d'art, and there are a lot of practical shortcomings forced by Air's minimalist design.

....You may have wondered how it is possible that the MacBook Air is getting a new Intel microprocessor - a processor that is so new that it has not been available for any other product. We actually have seen other examples of Apple being treated as a very special customer by Intel, such as the exclusive availability of the 3.0 GHz quad-core Xeon last year. A little investigation reveals that Intel actually did develop a processor for Apple and its MacBook Air. And, if you are aware of the background story, this special Apple chip makes a whole lot of sense for both Apple and Intel....

When Steve Jobs asked his new best friend Paul Otellini if Intel could produce a super small yet powerful CPU for this notebook, Otellini apparently did not hesitate. If you look into the development Intel went through in the past two years, it becomes somewhat clear that Otellini has changed Intel into a much more customer-centric company again. Although he isn't part of Intel's founding team, he knew listening to customers and telling them a simple "we can do it" was what had made the company great in the first place....

What Apple ended up receiving for the MacBook Air is a custom-built Core 2 Duo 9000 series, multi-core, multi-gigahertz, sub-25 watt chip in very compact package. And Apple got it exclusively until this fall....

Some lucky stiffs have already received the MacBook Air and details are starting to emerge.Take for example Walt Mossberg's revelation that "it's beautiful and thin, but omits features." Mossberg also reveals that the MBA gets 3 hours and 24 minutes of battery life running full kilter.....

Ouch, we just tested and confirmed that one of the smallest (and thus likeliest to fit) USB EV-DO modems around, the Sprint / Novatel U727, won't even come close to fitting in the cramped, foldaway USB port on the MacBook Air....

Since the day of unveiling the Apple MacBook Air we have heard more about problems than really how cool this new Mac Air is, although we do have to report news of anything that may cause users problems to help prevent them.

In this case we are hearing that the MacBook Air cannot fit one of the smallest USB EV-DO modems around (Sprint / Novatel U727)....

One of the first questions that popped into my head was whether there would be limitations on what Remote Disc could do when acting as a drive for the MacBook Air. Booting isn't an issue (a feat which I wouldn't have imagined back when Airport debuted). However, it's compatibility isn't perfect.

We know it won't write discs already (hardly surprising considering the lack of data reliability over a network link). Did you know though that you won't be able to watch DVDs either?....

So, reviews are pouring in on the device, and it's enough to make you pull your hair out.

Why can't anybody review this machine for the purpose it was intended? If I see one more tech pundit explain to me that this really needs to be a second Mac, not a primary machine, I'm gonna puke.

I wasn't so much angry as a little insulted by Apple's new creation....I had the sinking feeling that the MacBook Air was - and I don't say this lightly - Apple's first misstep since the Cube....

Reading the specs, I couldn't see why Apple would charge so much for so little.....

So I watched the Macworld keynote video that Apple posted to its site. It was only then that the impact of the MacBook Air struck me, especially when Apple CEO Steve Jobs pulled it from an interoffice envelope. The difference between reading specs in a transcript and actually seeing the product -- even if only by video -- made me rethink my initial assumptions....

Macbook Air: the thinnest notebook ever, based on Flash-memory (still there's a HDD-version), featuring a 13,3" screen and a 1.6 GHz Intel Core-Duo inside.

It's undeniably beautiful. It's unbelievably thin. But....

Although the MacBook Air has yet to ship to the public, the excitement is already palpable as the ship date approaches. People have had a lot of questions about the notebook that require a bit more hands-on time than the Apple reps were allowing, meaning that we've had to wait for the reviews to get answers. Early reviews of the MacBook Air are now appearing to satiate that need. Ars Technica will of course be doing its own thorough review of Apple's shiny new offering, but in the meantime, here are a few other takes on the Air...

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