We've begun taking a first look at the MacBook Air, Apple's super-slim laptop. (The Air starts at $1,799 for the hard-drive version. There's also a version with a solid-state drive that starts at $3,098.)

One thing we already know: The Air is as sleek in person as it looked coming out of that interoffice envelope in Apple's ads. You can watch our video on the MacBook Air for a closer look and to learn more about what our testers have discovered so far about Apple's hot new portable computer.

[Feb. 11, 2008 UPDATE: You can also watch the video using the player embedded within this post. —Ed.]

But what we don't entirely yet know, because we're still running tests on the hard-drive version, is how much you sacrifice for such a dramatic slim-down. Still, here are some preliminary thoughts based on what we've seen so far:

• The design is stylish, resulting in a very thin, light laptop. But some features are sacrificed, including an optical drive (although you can add an external one).


• The large touchpad features multi-touch capabilities like those found on the iPhone and iPod Touch.


• The display backlight is LED, making it brighter but less power-hungry than other MacBooks. It also has a wider viewing angle.


• The Air stays cooler than other Mac laptops we've tested.

For more information on the Air, look for our First Look on ConsumerReports.org next week, followed by more-detailed test results when we included Apple's new portable in our complete Ratings of laptop computers (available to subscribers).

[Feb. 26, 2008 UPDATE: We've completed our first round of tests. You'll find more details in our free report, "Apple MacBook Air: First Look" on ConsumerReports.org. —Ed.]

—Donna Tapellini