Before the the Macbook Air, I was always looking for a small portable PC or UMPC during the past 2 years. I have tried the Samsung Q1 and the HP 2131 Mini-note PC. Both of the Samsung and HP are Vista system based machine and I bought them just because of its size. However, the design of the PC itself is way too slow for running the latest Vista, which gave me lots of pain during usage. And the battery life is very short, I can only use these machines for 1 to 2 hours without power adaptor. Even though the size is small and the price is cheap, I got turned off by the bulky power adaptor and I can hardly use them, so what is the point?

Not until I go back to the good old home of Macintosh Computer ( AAPL). With Macbook Air, I can finally enjoy the light weight beauty and the convenient of an ultra portable computer. Running OS X has already give me a home feeling, what’s more important is, I am now running my PC software on my Macbook Air using VMware Fusion. This magical software act as a bridge between Mac and PC platform and it can even allows me running both system at the same time. In the unity mode, I can bring my PC application window on the desktop of my Mac, cool Ah?

Gradually, my life style has been changed by the slimness and the powerful cpu of Macbook Air. I started to bring my computer out almost everyday. Whenever I know I have to go outside for a few hours, I will grab my Air without any hesitation. One of the reasons I have decided to start this blog is also because of the Air. Since Air is everywhere …..

I am not intending to write a review for the Macbook Air, however I would like to mention a few secret methods that I have discovered myself while using the notebook. During outdoor usage, the time span of the computer battery is a crucial issue to deal with. Since I mainly use my Macbook Air for reading E-book, typing, or brainstorming with application like Novamind Mind Map, ( I seldom do music outside my studio ). In order to give the computer a longer battery life, I usually dim the brightness of the monitor to just level 3 or 4 ( using the brightness button on the Air and set it to 3 “tick” only ). Then I invert the color of the whole screen by pressing “control + option + command + 8″ keys. This will change the background of the screen in black and the text in white color, which gives me a better view of the text during the daylight outdoor.

Also make sure you have turn off the Airport and keyboard lights when you don’t need it, and running less applications will also help reducing the power consumtion.

By applying these techniques, the computer use less power and I can easily squeeze the battery life form 4 to 6 hours.

Without using the power adaptor, six hours of computer work outdoor totally gives me an alternative working environment and lifestyle. If you want to write your new book, blog, essay in the park, on the beach or at the top of the mountain where no power supply can be found,  these methods can be a life saver.