Everyone knows it’s small and light. But the two features that have surprised me the most about the MacBook Air are:

1. Best – The SSD drive makes certain things ridiculously fast. Launching applications, rebooting, waking from sleep – all of these take a fraction of the time they take on my MacBook Pro or PowerMac G5 Quad.
2. Worst – The length of time that the battery takes to charge is absurd. This is particularly painful for me since I’m treating it as my travel/portable machine. When I have a layover, I like to find an outlet and recharge. With the MacBook Air, the benefits of this seem to be slight.

I also miss the little battery indicator on the outside of the case – probably because I’m constantly wondering how close the thing is to being charged up. 🙂

I’ve also been checking out possible “everyday” bags for the Air – no need to carry my big ol’ 17″ sized Timbuk2. I ordered a small Coder which fits it nicely, but doesn’t leave much room for anything else and doesn’t have the extra cargo room I’d hoped for¹. I’m likely to return it.

I think a vertical configuration might work well for the Air. The Waterfield SleeveCase (vertical) is an interesting option, as is the Booq Boa slimcase M. Brian is checking out this one, which looks very nice but isn’t vertical.

Any other Air users out there have bag suggestions?

UPDATE: this Tom Bihn bag looks like a possibility as well.

1. The photos were not very clear on the interior of the bag. [back]