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First Look at the MacBook Air
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Completely agree. I expect to see a dozen in our library by the end of the semester.
The air looks decent, not for everyone. I dont think apple cared about specs for this one. Not really surprised, because recent events show they are not into specs but rather milking the iphone mania and making more flashy products. The last macbook update wasn't even advertised or made any kind of news. The spec updates the the mac pro werent even saved for macworld. Further, no other product really got any kind of spec update.
I completely agree! The optical drive is essential, either as an internal unit, or at the very least, as an external widget. As I argue more fully above, people don't realize the importance of the DVD. Sure they may not use it much but when they need it (to troubleshoot an internal hard drive that won't boot or to install or reinstall the operating system to that internal hard disk) they really need it, and doesn't even touch upon troubleshooting, defragmenting, clean virus and malware scanning. Apple is simply being greedy for not including the external DVD drive which can be purchased retail for as little as $30 and probably manufactured for a lot less. It's the same mentality that leads Apple to charge 2-3 times above market for RAM. Shame on you Apple!
I think flash USB software and online downloads will pave the way. CD media will be available to download as it is only between 200-700MB in size anyway and DVD media will be made available with a slight premium on USB flash for ultraportable users. I really do think the ultraportable market is one with no drives and wireless communication, but not with the MacBook Air. It is too big in footprint for me to see it as an U/P. It needed a 12.1" Widescreen display or at least a greatly slimmed 13". Hopefully Apple will release another MacBook Air this year that addresses this issue. Technology advances folks. Remember the move from the original iBook to the iBook Snow? The clamshell was huge but it delivered something of an iMac to go. This will hopefully work the same way and we will get a better designed and smaller machine that is just as thin but more portable and practical. By then, the progress in Wireless should catch on..
I have heard that now Microsoft is creating a team to Copy MacBook Air like Zune. Best of luck MS.
Sachin
Before we know it MS will be releasing it's own desktop computers.
Where I work, the cube was actually done in by QC errors. I can't speak definitively for the market overall, but my impression was this was the case elsewhere as well.
While revisionists tend to point to the cube as an excellent bleeding edge computer that simply failed to catch on, 8 of the 9 cubes I had the pleasure to experience in the flesh or troubleshoot had hardware failures due to heat, poor drives and so on.
I think the MacBook Air has a chance, but if there is even one significant quality problem with it, that this might tip it over into "cubeland."
Whichever way that story ends up though, the concepts behind it are definitely here to stay. It just seems so obviously (to me), a sort of technological test-bed for the latest ideas in laptops. The thin-ness, the lack of an ethernet jack, the lack of an optical drive, and *especially* the multi-touch pad are all features that will migrate into the main line of MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Why wouldn't they?
Even if the MacBook Air fails horribly and they go back to having ethernet, optical drives etc. on all laptops, ... eventually they have to take them out anyway. I don't see any logical argument for keeping them. The best you could really say if you want to dismiss this effort, is that it is perhaps too soon, and too expensive for the technology. The technology itself though is solid and innovative.
If I understand you correctly... you're saying use network storage when he's at home for all iPhoto and iTunes content. When out of the house - his laptop will have no iTunes or iPhoto content on it, but he can use an iPod/iPhone to view photos or listen to music.
That may actually work for him (he's planning on buying an iPhone when they get released here one day). When we're chatting I'll bring that up as an option, thanks.
My "wish" above was slightly different - that he could use a $300 network storage at home for all his photos and tunes, but then set some of those photos/music to sync to his (potential) MacBook Air hard disk. On the road he'd still have a small subset of music and photos (which he could even edit if he felt like it, and sync back up to the network when home).
I love the look of the laptop, and I will most likely buy one for around the house usage. However, when it comes to leaving the house, I have one very heavy qualm about it:
Where is the ability to secure the laptop down? It is very light, very easy to slip into just about any semi-large bag, purse, or as steve said - envelope. I would believe that this would constitute a major security flaw, as we all know... shiny things catch the eye of sticky fingers.
I'm not carrying my laptop with me every time I go to the bathroom, get up from my chair/desk, etc. Even with portability, its just far more inconvenient than carrying around a heavier laptop that I can latch to a table/desk and, even if for a short moment (much like a panic button on a car), I can prevent losing my hefty investment.
Biggest negative to me really, however it is not a deal breaker. Definitely still looking at it for the other moments that it is useful for. Otherwise, the concept is incredible.
Where is the ability to secure the laptop down? It is very light, very easy to slip into just about any semi-large bag, purse, or as steve said - envelope. I would believe that this would constitute a major security flaw, as we all know... shiny things catch the eye of sticky fingers.
I'm not carrying my laptop with me every time I go to the bathroom, get up from my chair/desk, etc. Even with portability, its just far more inconvenient than carrying around a heavier laptop that I can latch to a table/desk and, even if for a short moment (much like a panic button on a car), I can prevent losing my hefty investment.
Biggest negative to me really, however it is not a deal breaker. Definitely still looking at it for the other moments that it is useful for. Otherwise, the concept is incredible.
I would wager they didn't make a big deal out of it because there probably isn't very much of a difference vis-a-vis weight or battery life. Certainly not $1000 worth of difference. (Start up time and responsiveness are another matter. Any SSD will keep up quite well with a 10,000 RPM 3.5 inch SCSI or SATA drive. It will blow a 4500 RPM 1 inch drive out of the water!)
This picture for me, demonstrates the MBA's less than stellar footprint.
my sweet jesus. i think the biggest problem with carrying around a laptop is not that its too thick but that its footprint is too large. Apple did make the laptop thinner but its just as portable/unportable as the other macbooks.
Bingo, by 2010 WiFi will really start to takeoff, it has in Europe already! Even in poorer countries broadband is provided by WiFi subscription nowerdays!
I don't know. I am an engineering student. In my design seminar, every single person almost has a laptop and quite a few have MacBook Pro, Alienware, and other expensive rigs. I see kids in the library and Starbucks (the line is always around the block to get a coffee there) on campus talking on their iPhones and on Macbook Pros all the time. Almost every male I know between 18 and 30 has a game console anyway or an expensive gaming PC. I pay my own tuition (my parents do make a good living but they had to pay their own ways through college so me and my sister are in the same boat). I work alot of 15 hour days (the only reason I am posting on these forums is because it is the beginning of the semester and I am ahead on my work) so no I'm not sheltered. When one of my professor's asked the class who was working more than 20 hours a week, 80%+ of the class raised their hand. This is in engineering which isn't a pushover major mind you. This coupled with students who's parents are upper middle class (I would define this as making between $75k and $200k per year) and give them money for school means that there are plenty of people at school with money. Sure there are plenty of people of limited means out there but there are people spending tons of money on all kinds of things in college. I know several people into building off road trucks. Their recreational costs are insane for even one semester but they started an online business to make more money since they can't make enough with a normal job and loans etc.
I don't mean to offend but maybe your experiences in grad school and your PhD program have sheltered you as I know most grad students are really poor since they can't really do any extra work besides their ridiculously low paying assistantships.
Wouldnt you wish they just chopped either side off and slimmed it from the top and bottom slightly? Maybe its a heat issue
Right now we have an iBook 14"er type machine. I'm waiting for the 12"er. By those sizes I don't mean the screen but the space around the screen and keyboard.
I think this is the source of the "sour grapes" type comments on the forum.
People have been talking about and expecting a sub-notebook, and it isn't.
Of course Apple never actually *said* it was making a sub-notebook.
Thats the idea. Since these products just came out I'm not for sure if you could do that but I would assume so. To be honest though, this is a really expensive solution for someone like your Dad who doesn't travel with their computer. A Macbook or even moving to an iMac is probably just fine unless the portability is really needed which is the case with students and traveling business people...
I agree that a single SIGNIFICANT quality assurance problem will most likely doom the MBA, even as a niche product. I wonder whether the software hijacking of optical drives in existing computers might not be one such area, particularly if the internal hard drive is unbootable. USB does not employ peer-to-peer networking protocols as Firewire and Ethernet do. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I also wonder somewhat about durability. If the product is more fragile in any way as compared to existing Apple laptops, the extra baggage required to protect it may cancel out the weight and manoeuvrability of its form factor.
There will always be a place for ethernet or some sort of hard wired connectivity if only for the sake of security. Anytime data flies through the air, at least with current encryption protocols, it is liable to illicit retrieval.
I didn't say anything about prices. Margins are irrelevant if the product doesn't move. The ultraportable market is too small to be worth pursuing unless it is bolstered in number by the trendy. The product as a venture will not be profitable unless purchases extend beyond the customary ultraportable market, irrespective of per-unit gross profit. You didn't read carefully enough.
Suppliers don't forgo profitability to be included in an Apple product. I'd like to see some source that Asus doesn't profit handsomely from the deal.
No such suggestions were made. I don't know where you pulled the margin discussion from, but it certainly wasn't from this thread.
Profit per dollar is not what keeps a company afloat. If it did as you suggested, the company would be operating in the red at the end of the day based on their financial filings. Apple operates at a sensible margin structure that facilitates continues and sustainable growth while retaining profitability. It is the most successful computer manufacturer from a business standpoint, and it makes absolutely no sense to hypothesize shooting themselves in the foot and eradicating net profit entirely for the sake of offering cheaper products. They don't have any problems selling what they've got--if anything, the prudent thing to do would be to raise prices to curb growth bordering on excessive. They are walking an ambitious but reasonable path, and that's exactly how it should be.
I haven't read all 751 comments , but I needed to chime in. I have a macbook pro and the battery sucks big time. I have been through three batteries in a year - under warranty - and this thing doesn't have a user accessible battery? I like it a lot, but if I can't touch the battery - count me out. RAM I could understand.
, but I needed to chime in. I have a macbook pro and the battery sucks big time. I have been through three batteries in a year - under warranty - and this thing doesn't have a user accessible battery? I like it a lot, but if I can't touch the battery - count me out. RAM I could understand.
Seems to me you are letting your (imagined) personal issues with Steve Jobs interfere with your reason here.
This reads like Eyore making another self-fulfilling prophecy to me, and buys into a lot of false Jobsian mythology to justify it.
When is the last time you defragmented or scanned for viruses and malware on a Mac? I know there may be a time when it is needed but right now it really isn't. The only time I have used a DVD to troubleshoot one of my Macs is when my hard drive died and I had to boot Disk Utility off of the install DVD to scan it. At this point, you could spend $80 on Alsoft's Disk Warrior or you could just take it into the Apple Store and let them deal with it.
I'd like to see a breakdown of other effects of SSD - battery life, speed etc
So... the solid-state-disk option should be
1) much faster.
2) similar weight
3) little change to battery life.
I agree with #1 & #2... I'm not so sure about #3. If it doesn't have to spin a disk etc, it should save alot of power. Certainly the iPods with SSD benefit from it. Perhaps the power usage from the screen and CPU are the main drains however.... thus no real effect as you say.
So... the solid-state-disk option should be
1) much faster.
2) similar weight
3) little change to battery life.
I agree with #1 & #2... I'm not so sure about #3. If it doesn't have to spin a disk etc, it should save alot of power. Certainly the iPods with SSD benefit from it. Perhaps the power usage from the screen and CPU are the main drains however.... thus no real effect as you say.
You make some good points! Perhaps I'm a bit of an old fogey when it comes to money. I know that my daughter is in college now working on a degree in computational biology and forensics (also not a push over major). I told her I'd foot the bill for x dollars which she could spend as she saw fit, she chose a macbook, iphone and an ipod nano over a macbook pro. Personally, I think it was a wise choice, but I certainly don't mean to dis yours.
Some other respondents have questioned whether I'm the target audience. I think I probably am. I own my own business, make a good living, and have a one year old mac pro, and 24 inch iMac in addition to a i year old Macbook and an aging 1 GHZ G4 Powerbook. I was hoping to replace the Powerbook with the MBA, but aside from the cost, it seems to me there are still too many unanswered questions. I have a feeling that once the bling factor wears off, a lot of people will be left asking hard questions.
Dunno. A few ounces and a little extra battery life to me would be nice. Work is paying not me. Speed is less relevant to me. With Toshiba's R500, the weight savings were significant.