Perspective: On the ground with Apple's MacBook Air

PERSPECTIVE -- Love him or hate him, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has the keen ability to get people excited about anything and everything, regardless if you even care what he's talking about.

SAN FRANCISCO (BetaNews) - I've attended a lot of press conferences and keynotes over the years, and none of them compare to a Macworld keynote when it comes to fervent enthusiasm and an almost cult-like atmosphere. During the keynote, it was amusing to even hear fellow members of the press have to pick their tongues off the ground when the MacBook Air was first introduced.

After playing with the MacBook Air for around 25 minutes at the Macworld booth, we've learned that it really is as small and mobile as Jobs gleefully described. But does the notebook seemingly a cross between the MacBook and MacBook Pro truly deserve all of the attention?

The first thing most attendees here noticed, including myself, is the obvious thinness of the form factor, both opened and closed. Most thin notebooks have to eliminate either a full-size keyboard or the display, though the Air surprisingly sacrifices neither. It truly is mind-boggling to learn that Apple's newest notebook is a high-performance product, though it lacks some basic features that many will probably want.

Although the notebook has 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1/EDR, I still find the lack of Ethernet curious, even when trying to slim down the size. It's always nice to be able to plug a CAT5 cable into a notebook when using a home Internet network.

Another added concern is the lack of a user-replaceable battery, which is a situation with which iPhone users will no doubt be familiar. The task of packaging and shipping the notebook to Apple for a battery replacement is a headache I imagine most users hope they will not have to go through.

My final initial concern is the lack of an optical drive. Why should users have to pay an extra $99 for a SuperDrive? Is the average consumer willing to sacrifice weight in one notebook while having to carry the SuperDrive around? Either way, I am glad to hear Apple is kind enough to have the SuperDrive as a "convenient" add-on for consumers.

Finally, is a built-in SD reader or something similar to it that difficult to have added? I guess it is one of the features Apple decided it could sacrifice to make sure the Air is even smaller and more portable than other notebooks on the market.

But since the Air does not have a built-in optical drive, it does have the Remote Disc software program that allows users to use an optical drive on a PC or Mac. Unfortunately, with all of the chaos on the show floor, I could not find an Apple employee who could make the software work the way it was designed.

Durability seemed to be an obvious concern when I first touched the notebook, even though an Apple employee quickly tried to reassure me that the MacBook Air will be able to take a fair level of "typical" punishment. The Apple employee standing beside me showed sudden panic when she thought I was going to test her "typical punishment" theory.

I'm not an iPhone user, so I don't know the basics of Apple's "gestures." So an Apple rep showed me a 30-second crash course using the feature in Preview, and it worked without a hitch. I was able to view images and other content in a method I never could have used before, and I think this will be one of the biggest selling points for Air.

"It should be 'uber' easy for just about anyone to use," said one Apple employee with a rather curious facial piercing. "We want everyone to be able to sit down and use this laptop without getting frustrated."

The lighting on the show floor is ideal for product demos, but the optimal visibility technology using a built-in ambient light sensor seems like a rather interesting feature for different lighting scenarios. Simply, the brightness of the screen and keys will adjust depending on the amount of light the sensors are picking up.

Assuming you are flipping around pictures, sending e-mails, or browsing the Internet, expect somewhere in the neighborhood of five hours of battery life when not plugged into a power source. With around five hours of total battery life, having to replace the battery probably won't be on the minds of users, so Apple should dodge a bullet after making it such a hassle to change batteries.

If you're on the market for an Apple product and want to keep it simple, it would probably be a wise choice to stick with a regular MacBook product. I am not sure if non-Apple users are going to be willing to spend almost $1800 on a notebook that lacks several features that tend to be necessary while completing basic everyday tasks.