Followers of my blog will know I’m too lazy to write full reviews, so rather I just spend 24 hours with something and write my first impressions. I like the spaghetti western approach to reviews because they are quick and easy to follow.

I got the Ultimate Air you can buy from Apple: 1.8Ghz i7, 4GB RAM, 256GB HD

The Good:

• The screen resolution is to die for. Finally
• Sturdy design, feels strong despite being so thin
• Let’s not lie, it doesn’t encode video as fast as my Quad-Core i5 iMac, but the i7 and SSD make this a really enjoyable machine. Haven’t had one speed problem yet, even building apps in Xcode. Really nice
• SD slot is good for me now this is my only machine
• Backlit keyboard. Definitely missed this on my old 11″
• Full size keyboard and trackpad. Really nice big Trackpad
• They enabled TRIM in Lion
• They got rid of the eject button

The Bad:

• It’s not as light as I thought. I just came from an 11″ MacBook I suppose, but still, not what I was expecting
• Speakers are quite tinny, don’t perform so well at full volume
• Fans. Normally “ugly” but I have opted for the i7 in such a small machine so partly my fault. Spotlight indexing, Skype chats and flash video are the culprits. Boo hoo
• I really wish Apple let you choose 8GB and a 320GB + HD. Then it would be perfect

The Ugly:

• I still don’t get why ports are on either side the machine. Ok, I understand about space, but they really should have put the Thunderbolt/Display port on the same side as the power port

Overall it’s a good sturdy computer that feels like a main work  machine, rather than the 11″ which felt a bit like a play machine. It’s not as “special” as the 11″ though and certainly not as light. As you know I’ve been a 11″ user for most of 2011 and have just upgraded to this 13″ model. I will post a comparison between the two in the near future!