MacBook Air Portable Genius, 4th Edition
by Paul McFedries
MacBook Air Portable Genius, 4th Edition
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Copyright 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-1-118-37020-9
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Credits
Senior Acquisitions Editor
Stephanie McComb
Project Editor
Kristin Vorce
Technical Editor
Paul Sihvonen-Binder
Senior Copy Editor
Kim Heusel
Editorial Director
Robyn Siesky
Business Manager
Amy Knies
Senior Marketing Manager
Sandy Smith
Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Richard Swadley
Vice President and Executive Publisher
Barry Pruett
Project Coordinator
Sheree Montgomery
Graphics and Production Specialists
Andrea Hornberger Christin Swinford
Quality Control Technician
Lauren Mandelbaum
Proofreading and Indexing
Laura Bowman Potomac Indexing, LLC
About the Author
Paul McFedries is a technical writer who has been authoring computer books since 1991 and has more than 70 books to his credit. Pauls books have sold more than four million copies worldwide. These books include the Wiley titles Teach Yourself VISUALLY Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Switching to a Mac Second Edition, The new iPad Portable Genius, iPhone 4S Portable Genius, and The Facebook Guide for People Over 50. Paul is also the proprietor of Word Spy (www.wordspy.com), a website that tracks new words and phrases as they enter the language. You can visit Paul on the web at www.mcfedries.com or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/paulmcf and www.twitter.com/wordspy.
For Karen.
Acknowledgments
One of the consistent pleasures of being a technical writer is that my job requires me to buy the latest gadgets. No, really, I need that new [insert name of shiny new device here] because I have to write about it! Its a great excuse, and it must be why Ive particularly enjoyed writing every new edition of MacBook Air Portable Genius, because each time it means I get to buy the latest generation of the MacBook Air, which is certainly the finest portable computer on the planet today.
That has been just one of the perks of writing this book over the years. Another has been working with the amazing folks at Wiley, all of whom are preternaturally nice and spellbindingly talented. They include Executive Editor Jody Lefevere, who asked me to write the original version of this book the same day that MacBook Air was announced, and of course I accepted about 5 seconds later; Acquisitions Editor Stephanie McComb, who handled the paperwork for this edition with her usual competence and good humor; Project Editor Kristin Vorce who is a true pleasure to work with and who made this a better book with many thoughtful and intelligent edits and suggestions; Copy Editor Kim Heusel, whose keen eye and sharp pencil were put to good use in the near-Herculean task of making me look good in print; and Technical Editor Paul Sihvonen-Binder, a deep source of knowledge regarding all things Mac, who made generous use of that knowledge and his valuable time to supply this book with a layer of wisdom beyond what its author possesses. Finally, many thanks to the wonderful Karen Hammond, who took the marvelous photographs that are sprinkled throughout this book. My heartfelt and deep thanks to all of you for your tremendous work on this project.
Back in 2008, I bought one of the original MacBook Airs, and it quickly became my go-to Mac notebook. It was light as a feather and impossibly thin. The screen was gorgeous, the Multi-Touch trackpad was a lot of fun, and even the keyboard wasnt bad at all. No wonder my trusty MacBook Pro started gathering dust!
So, in mid-2012 when Apple came out with its latest version of the MacBook Air that had a faster processor, zippier graphics, 4GB of memory, a 720p FaceTime HD camera, and USB 3 support, well, can you say no-brainer?
Fortunately, I havent been disappointed: The new MacBook Air is a fantastic machine. However, its not (yet) a perfect machine. Yes, the two USB ports are a huge help, but its still a challenge to connect FireWire devices given the lack of a FireWire port. You need MacBook Air on your super-fast gigabit network to transfer some stuff, but theres no network port in sight. The Thunderbolt port is great if you have a Thunderbolt monitor, but its a head-scratcher if youre trying to connect to a DVI or VGA monitor, or to a TV. And Apple hasnt made it any easier to get inside this thing!