Traveling With a MacBook Air, Part 1

What's it like to take Apple's sexy new ultraportable on a cross-country business trip?

If you're single and looking for love, here's a tip: Buy an Apple MacBook Air and start hanging out at Internet caf é s.

Apple's 3-pound, ultra-thin portable is bound to draw people to your table. Even in some San Francisco Internet caf é s I've visited, where Mac laptop devotees outnumber Windows users, the Air I was testing rarely failed to attract longing glances, followed by questions from other caf é denizens.

"How big is the hard drive?"

"How long does the battery last?"

And the most frequent question: "Do you love it?"

But I'm not here to provide dating tips, of course. I'm here to tell you what it's like to use and travel with an Air.

Recently, I used the Air in San Francisco, where I live, and took the laptop on a cross-country trip to Atlanta and back. I used it in-flight, in airport departure lounges and business centers, and in Internet caf é s. My goal: to determine if this much-hyped laptop is a worthy computer for business travelers. The answer? I love the Air and I think many other mobile professionals will too, though it's not for everyone.

This week: Some background on the Air, plus my take on the computer's screen and what it's like to use in flight. Next week: a look at its connectivity options, battery, security features, and more.

In January 2008, Steve Jobs famouslyintroduced the Airat the Macworld Expo in San Francisco by slipping the "world's thinnest laptop" out of an interoffice envelope.

Despite all the attention, the Mac OS ultraportable has received mixed reviews. PC World gave it a score of 71 out of 100. Our reviewerDarren Gladstone wrote: "Ultimately … the Air is a victory of industrial design and single-minded purpose. It has decent performance for an ultraportable, but few standout features to speak of beyond the superficial. And yet, I still can't help wanting to stop and touch it." Another must-read is Harry McCracken's "MacBook Air: How Incomplete Is It?"

I tested the 80GB hard-drive version, which starts atabout $1600. You can also buy an Air with a 64GB solid-state drive, but it'll cost youat least $2700.

One of the first things I noticed about the Air is its bright, glossy, gorgeous, widescreen, backlit-LED display. The 13.3-inch screen is on par with the backlit-LED display in Sony'sVaio VGN-TXN15P/B, which I used to own. (I've since replaced that ultraportable with Sony'sVaio VGN-TZ295N.)