My
3+ year-old MacBook has finally been replaced.
It's
been my work machine for that time. Although I have a "works PC", it
is a PC, is slow, minimally specc'ed and pretty much unused and unloved. I must
be mad using my own kit but at least I do have stuff that does the required
business. Happy photographer = creative photographer, I've found...
The
old machine wasn't cutting edge when I bought it in April 2009. A 2Ghz
dual-core processor, 160gb hard drive and 2gb of RAM, in the then-new aluminium
unibody. I upgraded the RAM to the max 4gb via crucial.co.uk and it was used for editing,
captioning, transmitting and pretty much everything else after that. Using
Photo Mechanic and Lightroom 2, then latterly Aperture 3, it did everything I
needed as a press photographer. Reliably, too, day after day.
If
I shot JPEG.
As
I began to swap to raw shooting around 18 months ago, it became clear that it
was, if not struggling, then at least working very hard on these big files. I
evolved a way of working that eased the pressure a bit (import JPEGs, select
from these, use that selection to import just those raws) but knew that when
the AppleCare expired I'd have to think about a replacement.
I
had to wait a bit, as the rumour'ed new MacBook Pro and Air models took a while
longer to arrive than I'd hoped, but they turned up in mid-June. Decisions,
decisions...
It
took me several weeks of checking, thinking and visits to Apple Stores. I'd read other photographers' very positive reviews and opinions of older versions of the Air and the new versions were more powerful. Was the
screen big enough? Did I need to have a bigger hard drive? Apple had also
launched the first MacBook Pro
with Retina display, and that was tempting for a while. But I finally chose the smallest.
Here's my new 11.6" MacBook Air.
 |
| MacBook Air 11.6". Dwarfed by the 27" iMac sitting some way behind it. |
I'd read enough people praising the solid-state hard drive in older Air models to know this was probably the way to go. And with a bunch of heavy cameras and lenses to carry, thought that the much smaller, lighter profile of the Air had to be a bonus too. But could I deal with such a "small" screen? Was the small Air really the way to go?
 |
| The machine closed, with a Compactflash card sitting on top, just for some scale... It's tiny. |
I
can sum up my thoughts now - a simple, unqualified "YES!"
Now, I knew it would be another one to keep for 3+ years, so
this time I decided to future-proof it and not just get the most basic version that
would "do". The final specification sheet reads as 2Ghz Intel i7 processor (up from
1.7Ghz i5), 8gb RAM (the max and up from 4gb) and a 256gb solid state drive (up
from 128gb). Even with my Apple NPS* discount, this makes for a machine that's .. gulp... not cheap but, as I said, I pretty much expect over 3 years of daily use out of
it.
It's
fast! The i7 processor has Intel's turbo-boost technology, which means it can
run faster than "clock" speed under certain conditions. The maximum
RAM also helps keep things moving. The solid state drive is a revelation,
adding to the speed of the Air because of its phenomenal Read-and-Write speed.
Programmes open in a flash, Aperture adjustments apply in moments. The hard
drive really is worth having as an SSD! Best of all for the photographer in a
rush, it boots in under 15 seconds. Press the power button, turn to fumble for
the card reader and the Air is ready to rock when you look back.
It's photographed with my 2010 27" iMac behind it. To my pleasant surprise, it is actually faster at some tasks than the nominally more powerful desktop machine! I think that's the Read-Write speed again.
 |
| Very thin. |
And
the screen is, for the road warrior, very useable. It's a wider aspect screen (16:9) than the
13" Air and Pros, which means it's not as cramped as you might think. Colour rendition is pretty good (better than the MacBook!) and improves with calibration
by my ColorMunki. Using Aperture in full-screen mode, the image displayed is
very little smaller than the 13" Pro (non-Retina) and at a slightly higher
resolution.
Things
you do need to be aware of are a lack of FireWire port, Ethernet port, and DVD
drive.
I
don't use FireWire, and the two USB ports are USB3 anyway, if you have the most
up to date accessories. Usefully, the two USB ports are sited one on each side
of the machine. It also has the even faster Thunderbolt port, once these
devices become more widespread. The Air is the sort of machine to be constantly
portable, so it's logically connected via Airport WiFi anyway (though you can
obtain an Ethernet-Thunderbolt adaptor). Accessory DVD drives aren't too
expensive, but I have practical experience now of using the iMac DVD drive in a
Remote Disc mode, which also works nicely. With services such as YouSendit and
DropBox, the need to burn DVDs, even for clients, is much less too.
So,
if you have a desktop Mac, the Air makes a lot of sense as the machine to take
onto the road.
I've
been using it for nearly four months now and it still never fails to impress
with just how capable it is, without even needing the qualifier "for
something so small"!
 |
| Very thin indeed. Side-on, with that Compactflash card for scale comparison again... |
*Nikon Professional Services. There's a small but useful discount on various Apple products available to NPS members.
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