Getting Fingers on the MacBook Air

Medyo pasmado nga ang mga kamay ko noon (My palms were a bit sweaty), but I dared touch that surprisingly durable feel of aluminum on that ultra-thin new ultraportable that, though it didn't make as much waves as the iPhone, cooked up quite a storm. Yes, the iPhone part was a give-away because the thing that I tried was none other than Apple's new MacBook Air.

CAPTION: It even comes in a cost-saving, smaller eco-friendly box!

Greenbelt

We went in the Power Mac Center in Greenbelt because my mother was having a one-hour facial (Murad coupon.) and the first thing I would see is not the laptop, but Apple's upgraded

 Apple TV. We tinkered with the usual iMacs, MacBooks and MacBook Pros in display but later, my brother would find the Air in a sort of not so obvious location. Funny that they should do

 that, because when we started using the thing, people were crowding up behind this, because this was the most stylish piece of Apple tech inside.

Hardware

I inspected the sides of the machine, and yes, I missed the ports that could be found on the left side, but when I checked the right side, the pull-down door was instantly discernible and it would reveal the 3 magic wishes, err... ports namely, the USB port, VGA and mini-DVI ports (one each). I kinda miss the DVD drive (What's the use of iDVD then, right?) but still, at least they covered that itch with Remote Disc which I unfortunately did not have a chance to try.

Amazingly, Apple did not compromise the user by placing smaller keyboards and trackpads,

 but normal-sized ones, hell, the trackpad's larger than the MacBook I'm typing on, and it's quite fun to use. And when I say fun to use, I point to the "multi-touch gestures" that the

 mousepad supports. You can use three fingers to switch to another photo or whatever, you can pinch it to zoom in or out, and move your fingers in a specific way so that you can rotate something. These moves are surprisingly intuitive. And opening this MacBook, and organizing

 the photos for the II-1 DVD, makes me miss them. Hell, I wondered how I could've lived without them!

CAPTION: I adore the intuitive, innovative mouse gestures! How did I ever live 

without them?!

Features

Plus, the screen looks brighter than ever, especially with its power-saving LED backlight, plus it makes the screen super thin as well!

Other features that come standard include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and not to mention the very

stylish and functional Mac OS X Leopard (which is still in my list of "Pirated software to buy when we go to Greenhills"). It's pretty speedy too for a stripped down dual core processor powered machine and it's even got 1GB more (of RAM) than the MacBook I'm using!

CAPTION: LEDs allow the screen to be ultra thin.

Predictions

It won't really sell as much here. It's not yet as practical, nor future-proof, as it should be. But if Apple released the product, or at least another iteration of it... maybe after 2 to 5 years, it (the next iteration) will sell A LOT. Because by that time, most of our streets will probably have Wi-Fi access pang-masa (public), and software will rarely be distributed by CDs and be set up for download in the Internet instead. It wouldn't be really the best time to buy a MacBook with features like these, but it's quite the pioneer, and a daring one if I might add. Because it will lead the way towards the promotion of the death of CDs (which, on the bright side, is VERY

 eco-friendly) and the Internet will be where we go for music, and pretty much many things else. This is the future, people. But it's still too early to be used frequently, lest your house is a Wi-Fi hotspot, that is.

CAPTION: Great in the long term, not so much in the short term. (ON SCREEN: Me and my little brother.)

(I didn't see the price tag......... but I bet it's more expensive than this MacBook.)

Hands-On Affair: the new iPods

Straight from Trinoma's Power Mac Center, I had a little hands-on time with the new iPods. They generally work great and look gorgeous but they have their shortcomings as well...

iPod Nano

The little wonder was the one I wanted to test most since I didn't actually see the iPod Touch which is the first Apple touch product in the Philippines and Asia. Anyway, it's wide but literally almost paper-thin. It has what the iPod Classic has: new interface features like Cover Flow. But more importantly, a feature that is a selling point for this device is its unsurpassed video quality. They literally jammed pixels in that small 2 inch screen for the best video quality of its class! I'm not sensationalizing, people! It's TRUE!

A con is present here, and it's the size of the Click Wheel. It's hard to get used to it, especially with big fingers like mine. But once you do, it's a great experience nonetheless.

This is the iPod you'll most likely be buying. The price is competitive (10,000 for 4GB and 11,000, a bargain, for 8GB) and features signature iTunes synchronization and wide third-party accessory support. Plus, it's the most portable, too!

iPod Classic

I actually didn't bother testing it since it's almost the same with the new Nano. Only bigger...

iPod Touch

I didn't expect it to be there but it was! I waited in line to try it out and it was actually a bit hard to learn especially since it's a glass screen with multi-touch features (because touch screens are normally unresponsive with multiple fingers). I never got to try out the web features, though (YouTube, iTunes Store and Safari browser) but videos are excellent and photo handling is intuitive. But I won't say that it's the best deal you can find in an Apple music product. You can't use it in public (because it's sexy and expensive-looking), you can't use the iTunes Store (you need a .Mac account which is expensive) and Wi-fi isn't actually that common nor free as the hotspots in America (so you can browse the web)! Plus, the storage is relatively meager for a device that is most suitable for video (it's excellent, btw) and costs 16-20 thousand pesos for 8 and 16 GB models respectively. If you want to experience it yourself, it's exclusive only in Power Mac Centers. It's so cool!