Payton H. Wilmott, Tech Writer

Apple's MacBook Air is being hailed as the world's thinnest laptop that money can buy.

The MacBook Air is less than an inch at its thickest point and offers a slimline design coupled with an extremely lightweight package for a notebook.

But is it worth forking out your hard-earned cash? Well, let's find out how great the Mac Book Air really is.

Pros

Works out of the box with Windows Vista (even if it does have a few hiccups).

Thin and lightweight design that manages to stay incredibly strong.

Amazing battery life.

Cons

Outputs enough heat to grill a burger.

No replaceable battery and few user-serviceable parts.

Slow charging speed.

Build and Design

The MacBook Air's design is nothing short of fantastic when you compare its basic shape and aesthetics to a standard notebook. It's unbelievably slimmer and trimmer than anything in its class on the market.

The real beauty of the notebook, though, is its clean design with only one visible port connection; the rest are hidden by a magnetic latch cover.

The body's sleek look is complete with rounded, polished surface - there's not even an end to catch when the notebook is being slid into a bag.

Vibrant colours and intense backlight finish off the screen credits.

Keyboard and touch pad

Spacing is somewhat off compared to a more standard keyboard, and it took a while to get used to the layout. Once you get past the transition, you notice the keyboard is very well built and easy to use. Individual keys require slight pressure to trigger.

The touch pad has a few unique features that are not seen in most notebooks. Windows users will notice right away that the touch pad is larger than anything they have seen before, while Mac users will feel right at home. One of its unique features is multi-touch capabilities, which give the user a chance to play around with objects as they would on an iPod Touch or iPhone. This means pinching or spreading apart your fingers to zoom in and out, circling your fingers around to rotate objects, and other advanced motions.

flaws plenty

On one hand, the MacBook Air offers a super-thin, lightweight design but, on the other, it has diminished port capability and leaves you stuck with a permanent battery.

The MacBook Air also suffers from some early-release driver faults, but those hopefully should be resolved in the near future.

For some, the futuristic notebook might be an all-frills, no-thrills wonder - arm candy for the prom. With plenty of parts built into the motherboard and lots of odds and ends missing from the package, some tech buffs may view the MacBook Air as a sexy-as-hell sports car built for the showroom, not for the road.

Overall, the MacBook Air shows potential and perhaps other manufacturers can use it as a blueprint for designing lighter, slimmer notebooks.

Product courtesy of Royale Computers and Accessories; telephone#: 906-1067, 906-1068,749-5579.