About a month ago, I bought my first Mac – a Macbook Air 11. Here are my impressions:

Hardware

The hardware of the Mac is top-notch and cannot be beat. Like for phones, I choose my laptops based on portability and form-factor first and being thin and light is one of the biggest features I look for. My previous laptop, a Dell e4200 was thicker, however was lighter than the MacBook Air, despite being larger (12″ screen).

The build of the Mac is solid. Even being so thin, it does not feel creaky or wobbly. My original e4200 was replaced by a new one because of the creaky body – it squeaked when you typed. This Mac had no such issues at all and the build quality definitely makes it stand apart.

One of the features that exceed my expectations was the speakers. Given it’s small size and the lack of any speaker ports, I was expecting pretty sad sound. Turns out the speakers on the Air are not just good, they’re the best laptop speakers I’ve ever had. I can only imagine that the regular Macbook speakers are even better. Clear stereo definition of sound is available – the sound seems to emanate from underneath the keyboard with a clarity unmatched by any Dell/HP/Toshiba laptop I’ve used in the past.

I do miss the SD slot that the 13″ Air’s have, that is definitely one feature I wish the 11″ version had – and the lighted keyboard that was on the previous generation of Macbook Air.

Software

Mac OS was definitely harder to get used to than I anticipated. This can be mainly attributed to being a Windows power user for many years. I got used to using a lot of keyboard shortcuts – shortcuts where are different on Mac OS.

One of the best features of Mac OS is the ability of it to repsond to “gestures” – or more specifically, using multiple finger inputs on the trackpad for different functions. One finger to move the cursor, two for scrolling, three for moving back and forward on browsers – this is a feature I’m surprised has not been built into more Windows machines.

I’m disappointed at the lack of 64-bit software for Mac’s (Photoshop is 64-bit for Windows but not Mac), and the lack of TRIM support for SSD’s, which are standard of Macbook Airs, is troublesome. The drive performance will eventually deteriorate to the point of requiring a format/reinstall in order to get peak performance again.

Overall I’m happy with my Macbook Air but I’m not married to it. If a Windows machine came along with the same hardware build quality and form-factor, I would switch back. The recently announced Adamo 13 comes pretty close.

With the Canadian dollar back within a  hair of par, it’s time to look at what companies are doing a good job at letting Canadians buy with their newfound purchasing power.

One of the best companies in terms of pricing parity is Apple. Their laptops are within a hair of the USA price. Cheaper items like iPads have a 10% premium but still within a reasonable amount. The Apple TV pushes the limit at 20% premium – almost a “bad exchange”.

MacBook Pro 15

• USA: $1799
• Canada: $1849 (3% premium)

iPad

• USA: $499
• Canada: $549 (10% premium)

Apple TV

USA: $99

Canada: $119 (20% premium)

Well, the hits against the iPad keep coming. If you thought the device would tether with the iPhone, you were wrong. Engadget confirmed it yesterday.

Do these laptops look familar? They should, the design is almost entirely stolen from Apple’s Macbook and Macbook pro line. HP has leveraged the “Envy” brand from in-house gaming laptop maker Voodoo to market it’s new, sleek, aluminum/magnesium chassis laptops. Available in both 13″ and 15″ versions, these will probably be very hot sellers. With the slim (just 0.88″) 13″ for the portable market, and a Quad-core Core i7 processor in the 15″ for computing power, these two models will be on the top of everyone’s wishlist this Christmas.

They are not due to be available until October. Priced at $1699 USD for the Envy 13 and $1799 USD for the Envy 15. Canadian pricing is not available.

Dell is going to launch a new laptop to compete with the Macbook Air. This sleek and slim laptop is called the Adamo and they just put out this new teaser video: