Luke has joined the Apple Revolution- with a Macbook Air

Some will be high-fiving me for seeing the light. Others will protest that I have joined the dark side. Whichever it is, I have indeed caved in, and purchased a brand-spanking new Apple Macbook Air.

The particular Summer 2012, 13-inch model I have selected boasts an Intel i5 Dual Core 1.8Ghz processor, a 128GB solid state drive, a modified 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 2 USB 3.0 ports, a Thunderbolt port, SD card slot, a front-facing webcam and Mac OS X Lion- with the option to get an upgrade to the upcoming flavour Mountain Lion for free-99 when it lands later this month. It's sleek, stupidly thin and incredibly light. All techno-babble aside, it's a very nice laptop- and I don't think that even the biggest Mac critic can deny it.

I often said I would never get a Mac, because they're overpriced, under-specced and largely incompatible in a world dominated by Windows PCs. So, why the sudden change of heart?

Well, first of all, I work as an IT support technician on a service desk, and while uncommon, we do every now and then take calls from Mac users who need technical support- and I have to say, I usually don't have the slightest idea how to deal with them. So, I am soon to start training for an exam which, once passed, will qualify me as a certified Apple support technician. So, this Macbook Air will see some use at the office.

Secondly, I've been looking for a long time for a good, truly portable computer with solid performance. I've owned a Windows netbook for a couple of years which I have since come to realise is actually quite feeble and disappointing, and I hate laptops- they're often too big, too heavy, ugly or lacking in performance. The Macbook Air, however, is ultraportable and pretty darn quick- not to mention it's pretty for a computer. Yes, it's expensive, but I feel that all of it's combined qualities make it worth the money. This is also the first fully fledged computer I've ever purchased myself.

Lastly, while I've had the odd occasion to mess with it, I've never really had a good, prolonged opportunity to use Mac OS X, an operating system which seems to be well put together, and lacking in a lot of the bloat and junk that Windows is notorious for.

So, my first impressions? I've probably still got the rose-tinted glasses on, but I love it. It's light, super-fast, quiet and a pleasure to use. Money well spent if you ask me.