Macbook Air « theBartels.de

After some hassle, I finally got a Macbook Air. At first I had ordered it online at the Apple Store. After some days, I got an email from Apple, that the authorization for my credit card did not succeed. A quick phone call with my credit card company revealed, that they have a security feature, which blocks all transactions over a certain amount of money. So, you have to call them first and ask for a deactivation of that limit for 24 hours and then place your order.

Again some days later, I again got the same email from Apple. This time I called the Apple Store hotline and I was told, that they do not accept international (meaning non-US) credit cards. Good job, Apple! Why don’t you tell me that directly after entering the credit card data!?!

Well, as the only solution would be a money transfer, which is annoying, costs fees and a lot of time, I decided to buy the smaller standard model in the Apple Store in Palo Alto. Yesterday, they finally got some Macbook Airs in stock, so that I rushed out in my lunch break to get one. After having again trouble with this damn transaction limit, I am now a proud(?) owner of a Macbook Air 1,6 Ghz with HDD, Superdrive, USB-to-LAN and Apple Remote.

Results of the first tests in the evening:

looks great

feels good and not breakable

it’s really thin

speed is good so far (just a feeling; only installed applications, surfed the web, chatting via Skype and Adium, Mail, …)

the glossy display is good, but I have to get used the reflections which happen sometimes

you can hear the HDD running (why is the SSD so expansive??

)