My apologies, you are correct, the drawback to lithium ion batteries is that they lose life no matter what. They are pretty much losing life from the day they are manufactured even if they're not plugged in. Depending on conditions of the battery however they can lose from 20-60% of life per year. This still is a serious issue for a non user replaceable battery.
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First Look at the MacBook Air
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My apologies, you are correct, the drawback to lithium ion batteries is that they lose life no matter what. They are pretty much losing life from the day they are manufactured even if they're not plugged in. Depending on conditions of the battery however they can lose from 20-60% of life per year. This still is a serious issue for a non user replaceable battery.
I think they see the subportable market as bigger than the tablet, and more consonant with their established market.
And they obviously thought of defining sub-portable by weight, not dimension. (and they certainly weren't about to shrink the screen real estate itself; they're probably A) simplifying ordering by keeping the same screen and B) considering the probable age of their market--Jobs' age, where they appreciate the added screen for the eyes....)
It's precisely because I do travel with my laptop that I'm so underwhelmed by the Air. I agree, light is good. But thin <> small. A box of matches is small. A 4ft x 4ft piece of sheet steel is big.
I'm only 28 but I still find the 13.3" screens to be about the smallest I'm comfortable using. I like the form factor of the 11" Sony TZ, but find the keyboard to be too small to type on comfortably, and the screen to be just a bit too small to comfortable work on for extended periods of time. The footprint sacrifice isn't worth it to me. This is why I've always preferred machines like the Sony SZ or the more recent XPSM1330 to the TZ.
True, but the problem is the compromises made when you shrink the footprint to the point of something like the TZ. The TZ is fine for some things, and if you find the screen and keyboard of an 11" machine to be comfortable, more power to you. But for some people, it just isn't as practical.
I think you have nailed it here. This is not a laptop for people who don't have a mac and simply want a laptop as their primary mac. This is for those lucky folks that already have 1, 2, or 3 macs lying around and want a laptop to fill the gap.
To me the most interesting thing here is the multi-touch trackpad. I'm interested to see how well it works with various applications. My guess is that this is the closest we'll see to a tablet (which is a little disappointing in some ways), but I bet that the trackpad is the killer feature on this portable, afterall who needs all the smudging from a multi-touch screen. I bet this experience is pretty good and if we can 'flick' through things using this trackpad like we can on the iPhone I think that will really improve the user experience beyond scrolling with scroll bars, etc.
Preach it brother! I know your pain. The people who like this thing are going to love it.
12" Aluminum G4 transition to MBP - where art thou?
Even with the PCMCIA issue for mobile broadband (i.e. having to use a third party adapter [would rather have seen a sleek Apple add-on solution]) the Macbook Air seems to be an impressive ultraportable in that it is quite thin.
That said, I still see / feel the gap that has been open since the 12" Aluminum PowerBook went away. The MacBook Pros essentially just adopted the form of the 15 and 17 inch PBs, and it didn't seem a hurdle for the same to happen with the 12" - but alas. That gap is that there isn't a nice machine with the MacBook Pro-type specs in a smaller form-factor. I thought the 12" G4 was quite ultra-portable in its own right (comparing it to say an X60 ThinkPad). A 12" MBP with a FW 400 (at least) and a PCMCIA slot, a super drive, performance graphics, similar processor speeds to its bigger brothers - that would be (as we know from the G4 PB version, which is still well-loved and in service with many) quite a nice, portable, powerful package.
Even with the PCMCIA issue for mobile broadband (i.e. having to use a third party adapter [would rather have seen a sleek Apple add-on solution]) the Macbook Air seems to be an impressive ultraportable in that it is quite thin.
That said, I still see / feel the gap that has been open since the 12" Aluminum PowerBook went away. The MacBook Pros essentially just adopted the form of the 15 and 17 inch PBs, and it didn't seem a hurdle for the same to happen with the 12" - but alas. That gap is that there isn't a nice machine with the MacBook Pro-type specs in a smaller form-factor. I thought the 12" G4 was quite ultra-portable in its own right (comparing it to say an X60 ThinkPad). A 12" MBP with a FW 400 (at least) and a PCMCIA slot, a super drive, performance graphics, similar processor speeds to its bigger brothers - that would be (as we know from the G4 PB version, which is still well-loved and in service with many) quite a nice, portable, powerful package.
It seems like a safe bet that this trackpad will show up in MacBook and MBP revisions eventually.
thanks!
this also brought up some other points I had that I got lost on in my last rant.......
Are the people on this forum all, elves' dwarf's hobbits or other diminutive humanoids??
I'll admit I'm a big guy ( 6'3" 280lbs) but how can ANYONE other then an 8 year old type on some of these micro keyboards?? and these tiny screens??? GAH. I feel the 15 is as small as I wish to go . you get no screen real estate on a 12in ( of course spaces in leopard helps A LOT with this.. ) the very idea of trying to use final cut pro on a 13.3 makes me sick. iMovie? maybe.. still not much fun.
I can't even balance a 12" powerbook on my lap comfortably.
it's for kids at the age of 6 - 12. they should just change the price to $100. it's like Microsoft's $100 laptop. why not?
I have to say this, as a long time Mac users; (I have 10 Mac products at home/office). This is a really "lame" update.
Microsoft doesn't have a $100 laptop. I assume you're referring to the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative; Microsoft has been working on getting XP working on it, but that's it.
Anyway, sorry to hear you find it so lame. As I said, my point is just that this is an additional product option. I would hope that someone could see where it is still a decent product just because they themselves find it lame.
But if you think it is only suitable for 6-12 year-olds and can't distinguish between it and the OLPC, I don't know what else could be said to change your mind anyway.
-Zadillo
It all depends. I've found in the time I've spent with the 11" Vaio TZ that I can sort of get to some touch-typing capability with a few hours of practice, but it isn't really ideal. The larger the fingers, the more impractical it becomes. Of course, this can even become true for 13" notebooks like the MacBook, this new MBA, the Vaio SZ or the XPS M1330.
-Zadillo
ups and downs
From a completely unbiassed viewpoint, the technology they have managed to engineer into this machine is incredible. how do you fit a 13.3 inch widescreen display, full backlit keyboard, battery, and the necessary components of a working computer into .76 inches of space? apple has done an exceptional job creating a truly revolutionary piece of equipment... from a purely technological viewpoint. But stepping back and looking at this work of art from a practical viewpoint, one sees some flaws. Lack of an optical drive is most definitely the biggest mistake in this release. The reasons Jobs gives for leaving this key component out is simply insane. A wireless system to "borrow" a drive sacrifices speed, not to mention what if people dont have access to another computer. Not EVERYONE has an iPod, although many do, so burning music is still something I would not like to sacrifice. A wireless backup system is ingenious, yet with an 80 GB hard drive, I only need to buy a pack of DVD backup disks from FRY's for a fraction of the price. Don't get me wrong, I love apple's products, and spend most of my time denouncing PC's and their users, literally tearing their arguments to shreds with some of the most impressive tech specs apple has to offer. I dont see this gaining much ground in the future without an optical drive.
Also, does anyone know what kind of cooling system is used? Theres no space for a fan, and small spaces + aluminum casing + 1.8 GHz duo processer doesnt make for a efficiently cooled computer.
From a completely unbiassed viewpoint, the technology they have managed to engineer into this machine is incredible. how do you fit a 13.3 inch widescreen display, full backlit keyboard, battery, and the necessary components of a working computer into .76 inches of space? apple has done an exceptional job creating a truly revolutionary piece of equipment... from a purely technological viewpoint. But stepping back and looking at this work of art from a practical viewpoint, one sees some flaws. Lack of an optical drive is most definitely the biggest mistake in this release. The reasons Jobs gives for leaving this key component out is simply insane. A wireless system to "borrow" a drive sacrifices speed, not to mention what if people dont have access to another computer. Not EVERYONE has an iPod, although many do, so burning music is still something I would not like to sacrifice. A wireless backup system is ingenious, yet with an 80 GB hard drive, I only need to buy a pack of DVD backup disks from FRY's for a fraction of the price. Don't get me wrong, I love apple's products, and spend most of my time denouncing PC's and their users, literally tearing their arguments to shreds with some of the most impressive tech specs apple has to offer. I dont see this gaining much ground in the future without an optical drive.
Also, does anyone know what kind of cooling system is used? Theres no space for a fan, and small spaces + aluminum casing + 1.8 GHz duo processer doesnt make for a efficiently cooled computer.
Fan cooled heat pipe.
EDIT the TDP is only 17W for both the 1.6 and 1.8 GHZ model.
The lack of an optical drive isn't a mistake, I don't think. By that logic, the ThinkPad X61 (one of the most popular ultraportables as well as one of the most praised) is also a collossal mistake. But the lack of an internal optical drive hasn't hurt it either.
The wireless system to borrow a drive I think is actually a nice option for people who don't need to do much with optical disks regularly; those who do and still want an MBP would still be fairly well served with the external drive (which looks pretty portable frankly compared to some other external drives I've seen).
But yes, if you really needed regular access to an internal optical drive, clearly it would not be the right option. But i don't think it's a big mistake any more than the ThinkPad X61's lack of an internal drive is a big mistake.
-Zadillo
Wireless Is Slow!
When you take into account the price, the fact that networking is going to be slow and how do you emergency boot then I then think you have something that looks cool and that's all. The Macbook Air is no doubt a huge step forward in engineering but a giant step backward in functionality.
When you take into account the price, the fact that networking is going to be slow and how do you emergency boot then I then think you have something that looks cool and that's all. The Macbook Air is no doubt a huge step forward in engineering but a giant step backward in functionality.
I agree with you (and Steve) that something the size of the TZ isn't the answer. I have real work to do too.
But like many of us, I simply want a modern Intel Mac laptop with a comparable footprint to our old iBooks/PB12s. Make it only slightly bigger than a full-size keyboard, and minimize the width of the bezel around the display. Job done.
Make it light too and I'll take a dozen.
Yes. It's a lot cheaper, has a very similar footprint and basically the same specifications (with the addition of USB, ethernet, DVD-drive etc).
"how do you boot"?
And for people using wireless primarily anyway, 802.11g or 802.11n, wireless isn't going to be any better or worse. And again, there is still a USB to ethernet adapter.
I'm not sure how an emphasis on wireless though makes it a step backward in functionality.
Hi everyone
I really like it, this computer seems to be really portable. I actually expected to come with some kind of mobile data connection (EDGE or 3G) option to consider this product 100% mobile. But I really like it.
BTW, have you noticed that one of the pictures in the Store, where you select which MBA, the Command key has the apple logo, instead of the actual word? Funny.
I really like it, this computer seems to be really portable. I actually expected to come with some kind of mobile data connection (EDGE or 3G) option to consider this product 100% mobile. But I really like it.
BTW, have you noticed that one of the pictures in the Store, where you select which MBA, the Command key has the apple logo, instead of the actual word? Funny.
Anyone else think iPhone 2 might work as a modem for MacBook Air through Bluetooth?
Interesting, must be an older photo or something that they didn't update properly.
ships 2-3 weeks. headphones
edit: there is an audio out. you can use headphones or external speakers
Says ships in 2-3 weeks. And it has a mono speaker, but as with most laptops, even those with stereo speakers, sound is probably going to be better with headphones (would be interesting if stereo bluetooth headphones will work properly with it).
Late to the party...
I wanted to post my thoughts even though they will be drowned out in the thread.
The new MBA is an amazing feat of engineering. It does the portable thing very well with the exception of no user-servicable battery. I have been stuck at an airport for HOURS more than I thought with everybody already taking the available plugs in the area. I would be nice to pop in a second battery. Otherwise, its a perfect portable machine for most people.
My issue, and my biggest disappointment with Apple is that they discontinued the 12" PB and never replaced it. The MBA is not a suitable replacement for the 12" PB. I want a form factor almost exactly like the 12" except a bit thinner and a 13" wide screen. Please, Apple, keep the same number of ports, a dedicated graphics card, a user replaceable battery, and good cooling.
That is my only gripe.
I wanted to post my thoughts even though they will be drowned out in the thread.
The new MBA is an amazing feat of engineering. It does the portable thing very well with the exception of no user-servicable battery. I have been stuck at an airport for HOURS more than I thought with everybody already taking the available plugs in the area. I would be nice to pop in a second battery. Otherwise, its a perfect portable machine for most people.
My issue, and my biggest disappointment with Apple is that they discontinued the 12" PB and never replaced it. The MBA is not a suitable replacement for the 12" PB. I want a form factor almost exactly like the 12" except a bit thinner and a 13" wide screen. Please, Apple, keep the same number of ports, a dedicated graphics card, a user replaceable battery, and good cooling.
That is my only gripe.