selling mine regrettably
I have a MacBook Air 1.6/SSD for about a month.
The positives have been gone over many times and I really do like this machine - in particular the excellent screen, keyboard, quite respectable speed. The Trackpad is a pleasure to use and the machine in general is light and well built.
Given all this I will probably be getting rid of my machine due to the fan noise. I have read and reread many many posts about this and it most certainly IS an issue IF you are bothered by fan noise. All of the other minor issues I would gladly live with.
When the fan spins at the lowest speed (~2500 RPM) which is does a great deal of the time - the machine is practically silent and an absolute pleasure. If you are doing anything that exercises the CPU or blocking the fan outlet at all (ex/ using it in bed), the fan WILL spin up to 6200 RPM and at that speed it is (in my opinion) quite loud. Unfortunately this is not a rare occurrence, and for $2700 - not something I can rationalize when I know that these heat issues will most likely be addressed in a subsequent version (certainly with the 45nm upcoming parts).
Other small quibbles - the case is beautiful - but the sharp edge at the front is uncomfortable if you are using it propped against you. This machine is actually fast enough to do significant processing - it is a shame they didn't put a small FW connection. Battery life is quite reasonable but variable on usage. I respect the decision to make this a full size (footprint) machine - one should note that this is NOT ideal on an airplane in economy class - and I am sure having a seatback hit the polished aluminum surface of the back could cause a mid-flight blood pressure spike. It's nice that it's so thin - but to be honest I don't see the value in being the thinest especially if it has tradeoffs - to me weight is more important. Part of what makes this machine great is you can flip it open and (almost) instantly jump into being productive. Without 3G broadband built in - you have to flip down the cute USB door, plug in your dongle, and connect - the exact opposite of the desired experience.
Again, if not for the fan noise, I would be thrilled and would be keeping the machine. This is not to say that I agree with all the tradeoffs (no 3G, etc), but it would be more than acceptable in my view. Everyone has different values so if fan noise is not an issue for you - then this won't be a factor.
I own a Merom LED backlit MBP. I have had one previous version MBP and a MB and both of these machines had heating and fan issues especially in the early releases. The fans in my MBP sound like an aircraft when I am really exercising the CPU and the bottom could fry an egg - and this is far better than the previous MBP. I have also owned Thinkpad, Sony, Toshiba. Thinkpads generally run much cooler and quieter and my belief is that this is from better cooling design. Note - I am not saying they are better machines (the MBP is my favorite actually) - but some of them DO handle cooling more effectively. True the rear vents make the machine sexy - but one has to question if form over function is a reasonable tradeoff in all circumstances. The iPhone is a fabulous device that makes tradeoffs to form an <almost> perfect device for this point in time. The MacBook Air is very nice - but it is no iPhone of laptops. I think Apple can and will do better - maybe in 2nd or 3rd version (or silent revision). Personally my guess is that Apple really does not have the engineering experience with Intel laptops that the other manufacturers do and other manufactures don't have the product design magic that Apple does.
I hope this helps someone who is in a position to purchase or not in using the information to make his/her own decision. There are many posts that may say "my machine" doesn't do this or that - but the evidence here is that MANY machines DO exhibit some of these problems - and this is likely to be a real issue.
