It's been a gloriously hot sunny day here in Guernsey. The kind of day where you don't want to be stuck indoors as its a waste of a good day. Of course the last two sunny days have come along just as I received GTA IV and a fair few hours have been sunk into that this weekend. But right now I'm taking a little time out to enjoy the rest of the sun and give a few thoughts on the Macbook Air as I've now had it for a couple of months. Right now I'm lying on the grass in the park. My Macbook Air is on top of my laptop bag in front of me, and I've just done a little browsing on the net. It is just the latest example of the biggest difference the MBA has made - portability. I've found that since I got the MBA, I've began to take it places that I've never taken a laptop before. Previously I owned a 12" iBook. Hardly the largest laptop in the world, yet throw it in a bag and you know that you're carrying a laptop with you. With the MBA, its just another item in a bag, like carrying a book, or a couple of magazines. A lot has been written about the Air, but I have found that the biggest truism is that once you have one, you take it everywhere. Power. Compared to my home iMac, (and especially compared to the latest Apple offerings) the Air looks completely underpowered. To an extent it is. That is the price you pay for that increased portability. However, in day to day usage, what has this really meant? Well to me, not a great deal. I've surfed the net, I've made spreadsheets and databases. I've even made a few videos in iMovie during my lunch and the Air has not even blinked. The real noticeable difference has come when encoding either video or audio. That is when you do see the limitations of the processor compared the other Mac siblings. Battery life has proved to be adequate. I see around 3 and a half hours generally. That will increase to four or more with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned off. I've just bought a HSDPA modem, and it will be interesting to see what effect this has on battery life. Either way, it should not interrupt a lunchtimes worth of browsing at work. One thing I will give special mention to is the screen. A few years ago I bought the G5 iMac, when it was first released. Next to it my iBooks screen looked awful. The same happened with that iMac when I replaced it with my current 24" iMac. I could not believe how bright and clear the screen was. As had as it was for me to believe, placed side by side with the iMac, the Airs screen is noticeably brighter. As I sit now in the park, I have the screen on half brightness. I can see when enough to type without difficulty and if I turn the brightness up completly, then it is no different from working indoors. The glossy finish has still not won me over. It's fine indoors, but I can see my reflection clearly whilst I'm outdoors. Of course, the Air is not going to be for everyone. It is rather expensive when compared to a Macbook, and other PC's such as the Asus Eee PC are even more portable. However I'm delighted with it, and hope to keep it for a good long time. I mentioned that I've just got a HSDPA modem. It's the Vodafone USB model on Airtel-Vodafone here in Guernsey. I've had mixed first impressions. First being good - it's small, Mac compatible, and simple to use. However, the connection so far has been, interesting. It seems to alternate between 56K modem speeds and around 70kps. I'd hate to play an FPS, as I bet the latency is terrible. But it is a new service, and I expect it will improve. Like with the Air, I'll give a fuller report once I've really had a chance to test it.