Note:

I mentioned about running Windows and how well the spec would handle it because it would be very useful for me to use XP if I can, but I will of course have it as a dual boot option and use the MAC OS just as much. I believe it ships with Leopard.

Cheers, Simon.

I don't want to bust your mac balloon but that thing has a 80GB harddrive. If you install Windows next to Leopard there won't be much space for other things.

If you still want it, I would get an NAS like Infrant that sits in your wireless network and offers you additional space.

Also, in my opinion Tiger and Leopard are OSes where you really want a big screen. i am typing this from my 12" Powerbook and be sure my next one will the the 15" with a 200GB harddrive. That comes right after I divested my BV8/BC2 combination that I bought this month. 

Cheers

JK

Put Windows on mine - works fine. If you have another Mac you don't normally need an optical drive as you can use the one on the other Mac by remote - not for copyright discs though.

Limited connections but fast and a lovely design. Very pleased with it. 

I've just bought a MacBook Air having not using Mac since it's early days.

The elegant design attracted me, but I have to say having used Windows XP and Vista for some years Leopard is a breath of fresh air - IT WORKS!

As a traveller it is an ideal machine. The lack of DVD/CD drive is no problem I simply network over the wifi to a shared one on the nearest PC or Mac (I carry the sharing software on a USB stick) and at home it connects to my server.

Battery life is good for a laptop 3-5 hours to date (depending on wifi, screen brightness settings), keyboard is excellent and the screen resolution better than most laptops and equal to my Sony Vaio.

Not a cheap machine but when did quality and superb design come cheap - given we all share a love of B&O?

If you get one you won't be dissapointed, just a little lighter in the wallet :-)

 Rob 

The MBA has the same screen space as the MacBook, which in my experience works fine for OS X.

The issue with running Windows on the MBA is it's relatively limited hard drive capacity (80 gb, or 64 gb if you opt for the solid state drive). OS X needs a good 15 gb or so free to run smoothly (as does Windows) and once you add the space needed by both up, you'll have practically no space left.

I am planning on using the Windows portion to run the Beo5 software - which it does perfectly! I have only given Windows XP Pro 5GB ! I use the MBA purely as a mobile computer and keep my large files on my PowerMac.

I am thinking of buying a MBA to use as my main computer in the house. I will give my exisitng Toshiba laptop to a family member probably. The 13" screen is probably quite small I suppose but then that's the whole point of it being a portable computer and lets face it this laptop is aimed at the business traveller community according to Apple's website, so not many people would be using it for the reasons I want to. However, my computing needs are not really that much. Word preocessing mainly, printing, moving/copying data and surfing the web. I don't need high performance graphics cards, not into games, don't require heavy multimedia processing, just Media Player or iTiunes to play my small collection of media files. My BS9000 will play my music and I will watch my films on my BV7-40. I am thinking that if I get the MBA then I can literally get rid of my office in the spare room, out with the big table, out with the chair, save space etc. There will probably be a way to use the printer (OKI Laser) wirelessly, perhaps Netgear offer such a print server, anyway I need to look into that aspect more. Just toying with the idea at the moment but I do really like the MBA its a lovely piece of kit and if it works well and proves to be reliable then I may well use it as my main machine. Any other thoughts from people?

Simon.

You can certainly do that, as the MBA is designed for wireless operation. Wireless printing is no problem - I do that anyway. If you have an Airport Extreme then you can have a network disc and printer. Or get Time Capsule.

I have to say that I would not use it as my main computer though.  

Thanks for your thoughts Peter. I suppose I could try an iMac 24 again but I rather like the design of the MBA. It would be perfect to use on my lap while sitting in the sofa in the lounge. The battery life is supposed to be quite good.

Simon.