First Look at the MacBook Air

[digitalbiker]

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

I don't think it was a mistake to not include a built-in optical drive but I do think it was a mistake not to include the external drive.

What does someone do if their 1.8" disk crashes and they need to install a new system? How does one recover using a time machine backup file without some sort of optical drive?

Sure you can update OS X by connecting to another machine's optical but if you have a blank system disk you can't even connect to another machine without an OS. You will eventually need an external drive, so why not include it?

Also 5 hr battery life is horrible for a system with no optical drive. This thing should get 10 hrs to be competitive.

 

[C-Dubs]

A bit disappointed...Not quite enough for me and then, no MBP update, meaning I waited to buy until MWSF for nothing. Maybe I'll hold out in the hope of a minor update on the MBP soon.

If I were you I'd wait a little longer if you can. The MBP is due for an update, and it might happen this summer. That being said, you are dealing with Apple, a company who's main appeal seems to be it releases things suddenly. I too am waiting for a MBP update, and also the money to buy a new MBP


After reading just the first two pages of these post I can't really agree with the negatives- seems more people are judging the MBA compared to a MB or MBP... it's a whole new product line (just like comparing a iPod touch and a iPhone isnt really fair).

I think for what it is, a super svelte super portable laptop with some power and brains under the hood for a decent price (several hundred under the sony's TZ series)... it's a pretty good deal and I think road warriors or those who desire portability/lightness over power and versatility will love the MBA. Those people on a budget or who need more connectors (or who simply need to have a user-changeable battery) can still opt for the sleek-ish MacBook, and those power-users will still look to the MacBook Pro for their fix.

 

[Zadillo]

I don't think it was a mistake to not include a built-in optical drive but I do think it was a mistake not to include the external drive.

What does someone do if their 1.8" disk crashes and they need to install a new system? How does one recover using a time machine backup file without some sort of optical drive?

Sure you can update OS X by connecting to another machine's optical but if you have a blank system disk you can't even connect to another machine without an OS. You will eventually need an external drive, so why not include it?

Also 5 hr battery life is horrible for a system with no optical drive. This thing should get 10 hrs to be competitive.

If your point is that the external drive should have been bundled, I can't completely disagree, although I don't have a problem with them making it a choice rather than including it in the price.

5 hour battery life for a non-ULV machine with this thinness and 3lb weight really isn't so bad at all though.

What sort of machine with this similar combination of specs and weight gets 10 hour battery life exactly? With the standard battery, the Lenovo X61 with its extended 8 cell battery (which adds to the weight and thickness) gets 4-5 hours of battery life real-world, for example.

Saying it isn't competitive without 10 hour battery life implies that there are competing machines on the market that achieve this kind of battery life. The machines I'm aware of at least don't get that kind of life (the ThinkPad X61 still strikes me as the most directly comparable system).

EDIT: Looking through some reviews of the X61s (which uses a ULV CPU), the real-world tests I found don't even show that. With screen set to half-brightness (which would be pretty dark frankly considering how dull the X series screens are even at full brightness), they got around 6 and a half hours of battery life..... not bad by any means, but still not too far off from the life Apple is quoting.

Of course, we'll have to see what the real-world battery life of the MBA is, but Apple normally seems to be pretty reasonable about their battery life numbers compared to real-life use.

 

[thinkband]

Personally, I guess I am not the right person for this laptop.

Me-College student who wants to do some photo work along with web browsing, emails, aim , etc.

Really now, $1799? MBP please. I do not want to sound blah about such a revolutionary new Apple Item, but that price hurts. Macbooks are pretty portable as it is and they are likely to become more portable at next revision. For me, I respect the step Apple engineers are taking, and I believe when the price goes down this will be great, but for me, I will go with the Macbook Pro.

 

[macit]

Where is the apple on the Keyboard?

None of the new keyboards (e.g., my apple aluminum keyboard) doesn't have an apple anymore. A little sad, I guess

As many of you have said, I am as well "underwhelmed"

I expected something a little more radical than that (e.g., 3G support built in, more [collapsable?] ports... or something mind-blowing!)

OR... I would have been impressed if, oh, say it was$400 - $500s cheaper.

1,799... not worth it at this point. Waiting until the summer / next revision to look at it seriously.

 

[zedsdead]

Have there been any complaints from the people attending Macworld about the read speed of the iPod Size Hard Drive that is in the Macbook Air?

 

[dyerucf]

Games, CD Required

What about games that require the cd? Guess we will have to use a crack??

 

[Viv]

When you go this thin there are always compromises:

RAM expansion slots take up space
Battery housing and latching mechanism take up space
Optical drives aren't thin enough
Big ports like FireWire and Ethernet take up space

Apple decided to go for broke and make the thinnest, sexiest machine on the planet right now so some things had to go.

So, it's a toss up: you want thin you need to live with the engineering compromises, you want power and flexibility then you need a bigger housing.

The price is seems is pretty good considering what they've been able to achieve in terms of features. I never expected a backlit keyboard in something so thin! Apple's been able to reduce the size of the iSight to make things fit in such a slim display (I'm sure the move to LED backlighting helps here as well).

Three pages in to the thread and this is the most sensible thing I have read so far.

 

[Zadillo]

What about games that require the cd? Guess we will have to use a crack??

Or get a MacBook, MacBookPro, carry an optical drive, or get any variety of Windows-based PC's.

Most games that have CD copy protection are usually fairly intensive anyway; probably not going to be ideal on a machine like this.

On the PC side, you don't necessarily need to use cracks anyway; there are some legitimate apps that let you create disk images of your games and mount them in a virtual drive to get the same effect.

 

[C-Dubs]

Personally, I guess I am not the right person for this laptop.

Me-College student who wants to do some photo work along with web browsing, emails, aim , etc.

Really now, $1799? MBP please. I do not want to sound blah about such a revolutionary new Apple Item, but that price hurts. Macbooks are pretty portable as it is and they are likely to become more portable at next revision. For me, I respect the step Apple engineers are taking, and I believe when the price goes down this will be great, but for me, I will go with the Macbook Pro.

You're missing the point. MacBook AIR. AIR. Its as lights as a feather (not really). Portability and lightness are it's strengths- and it can do everything a MB can. It's not meant for the average college student. It's meant for the Harvard University Legal Grad Student who has to haul his laptop everywhere he goes... or something like that. It's aimed at those people to whom portability of their mac takes presedence over functionality- a MBA is just a fairly beautiful balance of both, considering it's a brand-new device.

Your dissappointment is that what was announced wasn't what you expected. You expected a revised MBP. Instead Steve announced a whole new MBA.

 

[digitalbiker]

5 hour battery life for a non-ULV machine with this thinness and 3lb weight really isn't so bad at all though.

I guess I have had the opposite experience from you. All of my Apple laptops have under performed the stated battery life. I interpret 5 hrs as a real world of 3.5 to 4 hrs.

I thought most of the sony tz were getting close to the 8.5 hr mark or about 6.5 -7.0 real world. At least sony advertises 8.5 hours for the tz.

 

[toxthexnines]

A few questions:

Wheres the speakers?

And why is the keyboard black?
Nothing else is black on the laptop

I wonder if they will release a black metallic version?

 

[winterspan]

Overall, I love it!

Starting with the negatives, I really wanted this laptop to have a next-generation 45nm Penryn with SSE4. It would have shrunken the actual processor die not just the casing, saved alot of power, increased battery life, increased motherboard speed, increased cache size, allowed faster chip, etc.
I knew they probably wouldn't be ready for another quarter, but I bet these chips find their way into this model in the future:

check out the specs for the future 'Penryn' Core 2 Duo "SP9400" line:
- 45 nm, small die size
- "small form factor" package size: 22mm ^2
- 17W TDP "medium-voltage"
- 1.60ghz and 1.86 ghz
- 6MB L2 cache
- 1066mhz FSB
- SSE4.1

Despite the 65nm "merom" core 2 duo, This machine is still amazing!.
I LOVE the beautiful thin design, full backlit keyboard, LED backlighting
and the fact that they used a "standard" 1.6-1.8 core2 duo chip versus using a core2 Duo 1.06 ultra low voltage. This makes the laptop alot faster.

Pricing isn't too bad either, especially for Apple.
The closest comparison model I could find on the market is :

Panasonic Y7
Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 1.60GHz - L7700 1.80GHz (low voltage)
14.1" screen 1400x1050 pixels
HDD 160GB, DVD-RAM
14.1" (W) x 9.6" (L) x 1.3 - 1.8"
Weight: 3.3 lbs / 1.5 kg
http://www.dynamism.com/Y7/main.shtml
starts at $2300+

-----------------------------


------ other somewhat similar models -------
Sony Vaio TZ90
2.26lbs / 10.9 x 7.8 x 0.89"
11.1" 1366x768 *LED backlighting*
Intel Core 2 Duo ULV U7600 1.2 GHz/1GB RAM/100GB hdd/945GMS Express/Wifi/Blue2/Lan
8-9hrs battery
notes: carbon fiber case/DVD-R super-multi/express card/Gigabit-LAN/firewire/8-in-1/webcam/ optional 32GB SSD
http://www.dynamism.com/tz90/main.shtml
$2400+

Panasonic T5 subnotebook
2.26-2.77 lbs / 10.55 x 8.27 x 1.25"
12.1" 1024x768
Intel Core 2 Duo ULV U7500 1.06ghz /1GB RAM/80GB+/945GMS Express/Wifi/Lan
7-10 hrs battery
http://www.dynamism.com/t5/main.shtml
$2200+

 

[C-Dubs]

I don't understand the negativity of MacRumors. This things is going to sell big. The lack of an optical drive is genius - Apple setting the trend one again. Lack of ethernet, not altogether worrying; the speeds of 'n' are satisfactory for the vast majority of owners. Must admit that the 'non-replaceable' battery is a concern.

The point is not that everyone wants/desires this computer. It fills a niche. And I think the MBP/MB/MBA line-up is looking pretty sweet at the moment.

Yes. You hit it right on the nail. But I think a lot of Mac people are frustrated (like I am) that the MBP line hasnt seen much revisions lately, and we're expecting more from Apple to revise its current lineup and didnt really expect to see a MBA. Seems like a lot of people were waiting to purchase a MBP hoping that a new design would come from Ive. Maybe in the summer???...

 

[Zadillo]

I guess I have had the opposite experience from you. All of my Apple laptops have under performed the stated battery life. I interpret 5 hrs as a real world of 3.5 to 4 hrs.

I thought most of the sony tz were getting close to the 8.5 hr mark or about 6.5 -7.0 real world. At least sony advertises 8.5 hours for the tz.

Around 6.5 hours of battery life real-world is about right for the TZ; although again, that's with a ULV CPU (that does have real-world impact; if you read through any typical Sony Vaio forum, you'll find that many people are often disappointed by the sluggishness of the TZ in general) and only an 11" screen.

Battery-life wise, the MBA would be more comparable to something like the Vaio SZ, which does get around 3.5 hours real-world battery life with its standard battery.

In the case of the MBA, we will of course have to see how close to that 5 hour figure it can get.

Yes. You hit it right on the nail. But I think a lot of Mac people are frustrated (like I am) that the MBP line hasnt seen much revisions lately, and we're expecting more from Apple to revise its current lineup and didnt really expect to see a MBA. Seems like a lot of people were waiting to purchase a MBP hoping that a new design would come from Ive. Maybe in the summer???...

I think the thing with the MBP is that the only thing to update presently would be the Penryn CPU, which some other laptop makers are starting to plug into their existing Santa Rosa laptops. But in and of itself, Penryn isn't that notable (offering 5-10% increases in performance and battery life).

I would not be surprised to see Apple update the MBP after Macworld with the new CPU's, but it won't be anything exciting. The next major update would probably come with the Intel Montevina platform in Spring/Summer, which would make more sense for a potential MBP re-design.

I would not be surprised at a bare minimum to see the Montevina MBP get this new larger mulit-touch trackpad and the magnetic latch.

 

[digitalbiker]

Personally, I guess I am not the right person for this laptop.

Me-College student who wants to do some photo work along with web browsing, emails, aim , etc.

Really now, $1799? MBP please. I do not want to sound blah about such a revolutionary new Apple Item, but that price hurts. Macbooks are pretty portable as it is and they are likely to become more portable at next revision. For me, I respect the step Apple engineers are taking, and I believe when the price goes down this will be great, but for me, I will go with the Macbook Pro.

Apple rarely lowers prices on macs! Most of the time they add more tech and maintain the same price point.

 

[Roller]

I appreciate your thoughts but the incentive to buy this over a M1330 or Dell is obvious: OS X and thinness. As I stated in my previous post, the footprint is fine with me. The thinness of a laptop is important for those who want to carry it around in a backpack/briefcase/messenger bag. Having an optical drive is important - when I'm at home. I don't need to carry it around with me all the time though. To me an optical drive is analogous to a toothbrush - you must have one if you will be gone for more than about 10 hours, but you don't need it if you return home at the end of the day.

And just to reiterate my previous concerns: the inability to upgrade the RAM and battery is concerning. The speaker may be an issue if it's much quieter than the MB speakers. The price is also a concern compared to the MB, but less so when compared to similar products from other manufacturers.

If you can't tell, I'm not completely sold myself. I want to play around with one in a retail store. But my first impressions are positive. Honestly, I think my decision to buy will depend on my experience in the retail store.

I'm with you on this. The lack of upgradeable RAM and hard drive are concerns, but the MBA may be just what I need for traveling and working around the house. I really want to see one in person, though.

 

[C-Dubs]

None of the new keyboards (e.g., my apple aluminum keyboard) doesn't have an apple anymore. A little sad, I guess

As many of you have said, I am as well "underwhelmed"

I expected something a little more radical than that (e.g., 3G support built in, more [collapsable?] ports... or something mind-blowing!)

OR... I would have been impressed if, oh, say it was$400 - $500s cheaper.

1,799... not worth it at this point. Waiting until the summer / next revision to look at it seriously.

pick up one of those envelopes that the MBA was shown in. look at it. then imagine pulling a fully functioning laptop out of it.

THAT's pretty darn radical to me. And that all the system boards fit on something the size of 8 pencils or so? ENTIRE board? Why do you need more ports? What good is 3G built-in if 3G isnt everywhere (and computer data plans are still way too expensive)?

btw doubt there will be a revision of it in the summer- you'll have to wait till Christmas. Dont expect a price drop. It's already slimmer, more powerful, and several hundred dollars cheaper then it's competitors. Check out just the Sony TZ series like Steve showed. The MBA is pretty amazing (in its own way)

 

[128k]

Macbook "Air" where's the Nike Logo? where's the trademark attribution? I could easily confuse this with an over-hyped pair of their $200 running shoes... Oh I get it, the air is the void in buyers wallets after they buy a portable that doesn't even have an optical drive included - great for the "executive" that likes aluminum and mashup chicklets keyboards market; that never ever watches a movie on a flight or receives corporate data on dvd... but who'd want to watch it on a 13" crappy screen anyway? Does the "share drive" work for PC's so I can bogart a movie or some home porn from a fellow traveller? Apple gets lamer with every release first the aluminum iJunk now this. Design and marketing rule, not a bad thing but function has gone the way of the Amelio 8500... Steve, where for are though function?

 

[willdenow]

Sheesh!

No DVD burner +
No replaceable battery+
No Ethernet+
No Firewire+
No Discrete Graphics+
No installable RAM+
No Remote

= D.O.A., no brainer!

Perhaps there are folks with money to burn on fashion statements, but there are simply too many compromises at too high a price for this to be anything more than some corporate executive seeking geegaw bragging rights.

I'll be surprised if it outsells the 1.0 version of AppleTV, which was similarly technologically hobbled and priced way to high for its feature set. Then again, there are a lot of cool-aid drinking, Jobs-ass-licking, Grand Poobahs from Upper Butt-crack out there in the Apple Reality Distortion Field. Who knows, their sheep-like devotion to all things Apple may make this a win.

 

[chewietobbacca]

I have my doubts that this will sell well.

As others have stated, what possible niche market does this fill?

Gamers? Forget it. It's specs are not only not up to par for gaming, but you lack optical drives + HD space.

Power-users? Not likely, again specs and limitations in hardware.

Business people on the move? Sure, it sounds good, until you realize that people in business often need MS Exchange and good battery life / replaceable batteries, which hurts this big.

Students? That price hurts big. One USB port and no ethernet cable is a big no for dorms as well.

BTW for people who say ethernet cables are going to be replaced by wireless - sorry but if you understand wireless communications theory, wireless technology may never be perfect compared to a wired connection. Too many variables can influence a *stable* connection compared to a wired connection. Not to mention bandwidth limitations and so on...

The biggest winners are Intel in this one. They get a special-order (and hence the higher premium price) platform to make which Apple probably had to pay a lot for.

If Apple wanted to make a mini-portable, the first thing they should have done was reduce the size of the screen, not keep it at 13" which still doesn't help people who can't fit it in a bag because it's area is still too large! Also, the Asus EEE got it correct - a small computer, a small price.

 

[Zadillo]

No DVD burner +
No replaceable battery+
No Ethernet+
No Firewire+
No Discrete Graphics+
No installable RAM+
No Remote

= D.O.A., no brainer!

Perhaps there are folks with money to burn on fashion statements, but there are simply too many compromises at too high a price for this to be anything more than some corporate executive seeking geegaw bragging rights.

I'll be surprised if it outsells the 1.0 version of AppleTV, which was similarly technologically hobbled and priced way to high for its feature set. Then again, there are a lot of cool-aid drinking, Jobs-ass-licking, Grand Poobahs from Upper Butt-crack out there in the Apple Reality Distortion Field. Who knows, their sheep-like devotion to all things Apple may make this a win.

Or maybe just maybe there are people who don't specifically need many of the things you described and like the specific things the MBA does bring to the table? Or does it make you feel better to broadly label every single person who might be interested in this as a.... well, you know how you put it?

No discreet graphics? You won't find those on ANY 3 pound under 1" thick laptop. The X61 has GMAX3100 graphics; hell, the Sony TZ still is stuck with Intel GMA950 graphics.

No DVD burner? Won't find that on the Lenovo X61, one of the most popular ultraportables on the market.

No installable RAM? The Sony TZ maxes out at 2GB of RAM anyway (and a TZ with 2GB RAM is extraordinarily expensive).

-Zadillo

 

[C-Dubs]

I'm with you on this. The lack of upgradeable RAM and hard drive are concerns, but the MBA may be just what I need for traveling and working around the house. I really want to see one in person, though.

While those concerns are valid I dont see how those specs wouldn't be a problem for the forseeable future, it's current specs should serve the MBA in its role as a ultra-portable day machine very well for several years. Deffinetly get a AppleCare warranty- then it's at least useable for three years. I look forward to seeing one in person soon

I am starting to think people may think I am a MBA marketer. Sorry I'm not. But I think the forum is being uneccesarily harsh on a pretty neat new product that serves up a pretty unique solution at a decent price, in a nice package (the Sony TZ looks pretty ugly in comparison)

 

[plasmid]

So... BETTER than the MacBook Air, cheaper than the MacBook Air, slightly heavier than the MacBook Air.. oh and I get over 3.5+ hours of battery life with the backlight on the monitor turned down.

The MBA is almost 100% lighter than the MB.

 

[badNameErr]

there are a lot of cool-aid drinking, Jobs-ass-licking, Grand Poobahs from Upper Butt-crack out there in the Apple Reality Distortion Field. Who knows, their sheep-like devotion to all things Apple may make this a win.

Hey man, I feel like your holding back. Don't be afraid. Please, tell us what you really think!