First Look at the MacBook Air

[macidiot]

That's what I already said above, but what you're missing is that the discs are so huge that few things will require that much space. For those applications, other media or 'net distribution will take over. I venture to state that few software packages will ever be distributed on BD.

It makes no sense to ship a physical disc capable of holding 30-50 GB of data for 500 MB of data, so the uses for the physical medium become fewer and fewer as the media size increases.

B

Funny, I've heard the same argument in the past.

"why would anyone ever need more than 512k of memory?"
"a CD with 650Mb of capacity is just HUGE"
"a 20Gb hard drive is just massive, no way I'll ever use that much space"

Want to know where all that space will go? Try a true HD movie with uncompressed audio, not the 720p that Apple is renting. Even so, 720p still takes up 4GB. Try source video at 4k resolution. Try photo realistic 3d modeling. Try an audio collection using lossless encoding, not FM radio compression. And those are just off the top of my head, for uses TODAY. Who knows what it will be like 3 years from now. Knowing Microsoft, 20GB install for MS Office can easily happen.

As for net distribution, yes it will become common. In 5-10 years. 40% of the US still uses dialup. And broadband is still ~2mb. Your going to need 10-20mb for true cloud computing. And a reliable network, not something that craps out 4 times a week. I'm looking at YOU Time Warner Cable.

 

[weg]

How are you supposed to recover data from it?

I mean what happens when the drive dies?
You lose your data or what?

Perhaps it finally makes sense to pay the premium for .Mac ;-)

 

[Padraig]

Should I purchase the MBA?

I am a senior in high school currently but am going to college next year and would love an ultra portable laptop. To give you background information, I have somehow crashed around two-three laptops including a $2500 one (lol,long stories). I plan on toting this from class to class next year. But at home, all I use my laptop for is browsing the internet, itunes, e-mail capablities, and designing graphics... and obviously just word documents. I only use the cd-drive to burn cds or install programs occasionally... is it worth it for me? I'm not sure if I am better off buying the black regular macbook... but weight is a significant factor.

No, get the Macbook. This is designed to supplement a more powerful 'base' machine. I never had any issues carrying around an iBook in college and can't see weight being a significant factor with the macbooks.

 

[chatin]

Just preodered with Feb 4th ship date!

February may be a thin month, but what better way to ring it in than with an 80GB MacBook Air!

 

[bc008]

wow, it really looks great

when i first saw the shots i wanted to sell my imac to get one.
now that i looked at what it can do im def. not getting it.

not that im dissing it, but it is simply to slow for me, and i already have 6 USB ports, 3 w/ 4 USB hub, (usb hub takes up one) and it isnt enough

 

[jokarak]

Yeah, put me in the column of people that will pass on the Air. I was so hoping for the rumored MBP update, but honestly, it was too recent since it had its specs bumped up for a major overhaul. Oh well...I guess I'll sit on the fence a bit more and keep on plugging away on my PBG4. Strangely enough, as of late I've been using desktops more and more, so I'm not pressed to get a new laptop.

 

[matthewHUB]

It is all simple economics. You think that in 20 years the Cd companies that produce Cd's will just stop. Ha are you kidding me, it is like oil industry, there are alternatives but it wont happen. See you have to know history to know what you are talking about, because histroy repeats its self in realtionships, markets, sucess, and just about everything!

I think the music market (especially the classical market) is very different, and labels will continue to produce CDs designed for HIFIs.

Only classical music lovers consistently buy proper cds because they prefer to have a booklet with all the accompanying info/program notes etc. not to mention the database online is rubbish.

As said, LPs stay here because of music geeks who want A* sound quality. Either way, they are niche markets, and will continue to produce CDs. The pop industry however is another matter.

 

[Digitaljim]

Then DON'T look at it. Nobody's forcing you to buy it, use it, or even LOOK at it. Apple made something which isn't for you - deal with it.

You come across as a rude, aggravated little bully when you talk to people like that.

The guy just said he didn't like it; he's entitled to air his opinion in a forum dedicated to peoples' impressions of a new product.

Guess what! I don't like it much either. I mean I'd certainly be impressed if I saw one in public, but given the choice i'd go for a standard MB.

 

[Digitaljim]

Good lord, you must be an expert at watching the spinning beach ball.

Just because you can do something on an old computer doesn't mean you should.

Like he said, most people don't want to spend $1500 every year to get the 'cutting edge' specs.

How much time do you really save when using garageband/photoshop on a G4 compared to a C2D? 10 seconds each time it's started up?

 

[balamw]

Funny, I've heard the same argument in the past.

That's NOT the argument I'm making.

Larger media = good. Fat bandwith pipes = good.

The argument is that for smaller chunks of data (a.k.a. most things besides a full HD movie) better alternatives will gradually replace physical optical media.

This is already happening for pop music. CD sales are shrinking and downloads are on the rise. Where previously it would have been unthinkable to download 50-100 MB for an album's worth of songs. Sure there will always be a niche market for CDs, just as LPs, cassettes, and even 8 tracks have not fully gone the way of the dodo.

This is already happening for software, much of which can already be had online without any physical media. You can even buy MS Vista online and install it without buying any physical media.

In much of the rest of the world, cellphones will be the main internet access points. Will they need to support optical media too?

Heck, you can cram multiple GB of data into a reusable microSD card no bigger than your fingernail, and in terms of cost/GB it's still pretty hard to beat a hard drive. (now at US$100/500GB=$1 per single layer 5GB DVD equivalent=$5 per 25GB BD equivalent).

So, even if you assume that the US will continue to have crappy broadband it becomes plausible to imagine an alternative where the same stores that now sell physical media will be able to deliver data to you in refillable containers (e.g. an HDD or flash drive) via their fat pipes. Apple's already taking baby steps in this direction with their Starbucks interactions.

Go to Starbucks, hear song, buy song over Starbucks' WiFi, download to your PC/Mac at home. Much larger selection at your fingertips than could ever be achievable with physical media. Starbucks has just become a significant music retailer without the investments in space or limited inventory those that deal with physical media have to put up with.

Now extend this concept to HD video. Go to Blockbuster, return with HDD full of 10 1080p movies. As flash cards increase in size, you could even imagine picking up a full HD movie on an SDHC card. Pay for what you watch when you watch it. Never run out of new releases. How is this really different than going to the store to buy or rent a movie on physical optical media like BD?

B

 

[SheriffParker]

Should I purchase the MBA?

I am a senior in high school currently but am going to college next year and would love an ultra portable laptop. To give you background information, I have somehow crashed around two-three laptops including a $2500 one (lol,long stories). I plan on toting this from class to class next year. But at home, all I use my laptop for is browsing the internet, itunes, e-mail capablities, and designing graphics... and obviously just word documents. I only use the cd-drive to burn cds or install programs occasionally... is it worth it for me? I'm not sure if I am better off buying the black regular macbook... but weight is a significant factor.

I'm sure the MBA will be fine, as would a MacBook. Just depends on how much you want to spend and how cool you want to look. Since your two options are both priced higher because of looks, I take it this is important to you. If you just need a functional laptop, get the white MacBook.

 

[Sound Evolution]

In absolute sense it is a neat and nice design. But somehow I expected more from Apple. Back in the old days Apple was really way ahead above the competition with new innovations. The MBA does remind me of a (good) sony design however. I like the more tight looks of the MBP.

What I really don't like in the MBA are:

-missing of a digital optical audio output
-missing of a removable battery
-footprint to big, just as the bezel around the screen

I know there is always something to complain, but I hoped Apple did the impossible.

I'm waiting for the new MBP and I hope that will meet our expectations. If they only can make it slightly thinner, slightly lighter and come with a blue ray optical drive.. I'm in heaven.

I hope the waiting will not be to long.....

With kind regards,
Bas

 

[matticus008]

If you put an Apple sticker on your laptop (like I did) its technically an "Apple branded machine" at that point so your technically inside the EULA

...is that a joke? Because it's certainly not true.

Why? Look at that bezel around the screen - they could lose an inch there easily.

No. The bezel is what provides the strength of the upper frame--torsion and rigidity would be completely blown out by cutting down the bezel to a few millimeters as you suggest.

Okay I am not going to even read your post after I read business center.

You didn't read any of it, but prattle on all the same. The first prices are the home store, the third the business store (where, oddly enough, most businesses and ultraportable users shop).

It is 1499. The dell is a better deal even if it was 2200.

It is 1499 without the LED screen, with Vista junior, and without the other options the other poster represented as being included. Whether the Dell is a better price per feature is beside the point. The issue was whether this product was priced within the range of other similarly configured ultraportables. It clearly is. The fact that it is priced within desktop replacements as well is no more significant than being priced with actual desktops. With the exception of the Dell, all the others suggested were priced above $2000. The market, even granting a $1500 floor, extends to nearly $3000 for machines thicker, heavier, and slower. No one said it was absolutely the best deal ever for an ultraportable, but simply that it is priced toward the bottom of its segment.

That is clearly the case.

Unless if you are a MAC FAN BOY!!!! OMG i must have this....grow up please what are you 14? anyway I have a life I have to go run with my "real" friends!

Look who's talking. Compare my posts to yours. QED.

Yes I have high expectations, that is why I am a lawyer

It is unlawful (and costly) in all fifty states to make that statement untruthfully. You clearly are not, or standards have woefully fallen in the past few years.

 

[Bababasjd]

No I don't expect them to go away completely, I expect the to fade slowly like all other technology. There are plenty of companies still making floppies, and plenty of music still available on LP or cassette, but that doesn't mean it's the main way things are distributed.

Simple economics will tell you that when it costs more to ship an install CD with your product than not you will stop. This is exactly what Apple has done with the new iPods. The box would have to be significantly larger and heavier if they continued to ship iPod nanos with an install CD, so they don't.

B

That is apple, not dell, hp, microsoft. It wont happen, not any time soon and not in at least 30 +years (minimum) Hey I want to back up my software cheaply; pay 10 dollars max, which I can do witha blu ray disk. You think the majority of the market, (Practical and Skeptics,) are going to invest on expensive harddrive back up system. Not unless if Hardrive prices take a steep fall and are in the price range of CD's. Forget about it, Like I said this notebook is ahead of its time

 

[Bababasjd]

I'm sure the MBA will be fine, as would a MacBook. Just depends on how much you want to spend and how cool you want to look. Since your two options are both priced higher because of looks, I take it this is important to you. If you just need a functional laptop, get the white MacBook.

No I would not get a macbook air. Too expensive, slow, no cd drive, please dont get me started. Okay you are a senior in high school, look at a mac book or a macbook pro. The Macbook air is going to be painfully slow to even consider to do anything but surf the web. I am dying to see the GPU!

 

[Bababasjd]

Since the CD has already been with us since 1981, it's only got 10-20 more years.

Microsoft is already distributing plenty of things online without optical media. You can buy download Vista for crying out loud.

Just as the floppy, zip drive, and CD-RW have all been permanently eclipsed by flash drives and online distribution, so too will DVDs. The only place for physical media will be for things too large to practically distribute online. Right now the barrier is in the 4-8 GB range, so the DVD remains a good medium, but even then you can already download plenty of DVD sized ISOs. (Yes, legally, no I'm not talking about torrents).

B

When I meant CD, I meant DVD and etc....

 

[iAmLegend]

No optical drive = the demise of the MBA.

Society just isn't ready to abandon CD's/DVD's...this product was released 10 years too soon.

 

[stanleyzhang]

Apple Insights-Apple Product line-Macbook Air,Apple TV,etc.

Think Macbook Air as a PDA with better capability but only bigger (but also thinner)

Remember the fixed Ram,fixed Battery.....

"target the new market segment between notebook and PDA"

Apple will not terminate Mac Mini,but trying to push Apple TV as living rooming wireless solution, and entry level Apple-style entertainment experience, to generate Halo effect..

Push Everything wireless as well......a wireless apple consumer/pro computing/entertainment solution

 

[AoWolf]

No optical drive = the demise of the MBA.

Society just isn't ready to abandon CD's/DVD's...this product was released 10 years too soon.

Society is still buying massive amounts of windows computers.. Don't write a product off just because it does not fit your needs.

 

[zdobson]

No optical drive = the demise of the MBA.

Society just isn't ready to abandon CD's/DVD's...this product was released 10 years too soon.

Oh, please. no optical drive = no problem. I'd gladly give up my optical drive to save space/weight. I'll just use the optical in my Mac Pro. I think this has been said before, but I'll say it again, "The MBA isn't intended to be one's only computer."

 

[chewietobbacca]

That's NOT the argument I'm making.

Larger media = good. Fat bandwith pipes = good.

The argument is that for smaller chunks of data (a.k.a. most things besides a full HD movie) better alternatives will gradually replace physical optical media.

This is already happening for pop music. CD sales are shrinking and downloads are on the rise. Where previously it would have been unthinkable to download 50-100 MB for an album's worth of songs. Sure there will always be a niche market for CDs, just as LPs, cassettes, and even 8 tracks have not fully gone the way of the dodo.

This is already happening for software, much of which can already be had online without any physical media. You can even buy MS Vista online and install it without buying any physical media.

In much of the rest of the world, cellphones will be the main internet access points. Will they need to support optical media too?

Heck, you can cram multiple GB of data into a reusable microSD card no bigger than your fingernail, and in terms of cost/GB it's still pretty hard to beat a hard drive. (now at US$100/500GB=$1 per single layer 5GB DVD equivalent=$5 per 25GB BD equivalent).

So, even if you assume that the US will continue to have crappy broadband it becomes plausible to imagine an alternative where the same stores that now sell physical media will be able to deliver data to you in refillable containers (e.g. an HDD or flash drive) via their fat pipes. Apple's already taking baby steps in this direction with their Starbucks interactions.

Go to Starbucks, hear song, buy song over Starbucks' WiFi, download to your PC/Mac at home. Much larger selection at your fingertips than could ever be achievable with physical media. Starbucks has just become a significant music retailer without the investments in space or limited inventory those that deal with physical media have to put up with.

Now extend this concept to HD video. Go to Blockbuster, return with HDD full of 10 1080p movies. As flash cards increase in size, you could even imagine picking up a full HD movie on an SDHC card. Pay for what you watch when you watch it. Never run out of new releases. How is this really different than going to the store to buy or rent a movie on physical optical media like BD?

B

Yes, data is being broken into chunks, but the fact is that as things get better looking and sounding, size does increase. 5 years ago, 500GB Hard Drives were a pipe dream. Today? 1TB is already heading to being the norm and 500GB is a typical recommendation for a newly built computer. And with that, software distribution will still requie discs.

Yes, SD cards and so on may one day be the norm, but again, there's still media to be moved and stored, and the MBA lacking a card reader isn't helping either.

Here's the thing with technology: We can say that we are minimizing things, and to an extent, yes, we are. But as long as people keep pushing the limits with that technology, the newest and best will also likely be the largest and most expensive. Think video cards: The 8800GTX is thousands of times faster than the original Riva TNT2 and yet despite being made on the 90nm process, it's die was the one of the largest ever for a GPU despite enormous progress having been made in minimizing technology.

Years ago we believed that games wouldn't require multiple-DVDs to play - now having a game all on one DVD is slowly being a thing of the past. In a few years, as things look better and more space is required (you can compress stuff only so far), we'll see a new platform be it BD or whatever replace DVD's.

Yes, lots of people access the internet w/ their phones, but be it a disc or a flash card or whatever, some form of removable media will exist. The idea that everything can be pulled from out of the "air" easily is fiction.

 

[balamw]

Yes, lots of people access the internet w/ their phones, but be it a disc or a flash card or whatever, some form of removable media will exist. The idea that everything can be pulled from out of the "air" easily is fiction.

It's not like the MBA has no USB 2.0 ports. You can hook up any flash card reader, thumbdrive or optical drive available today to it via that port. Plus, an Ethernet adapter is readily available.

The way I use my iBook, the MBA would be a decent alternative. I hardly use the optical drive, or Ethernet port, and would love to save the 2 lbs. when surfing from the couch or if I have to go on the road. Were I using it as a desktop replacement, it would not be a good choice. That's why the iBook is a Combo Drive model. I NEVER need to burn a DVD on it, that's what the iMac and PC are for.

I fully agree that it would have been preferable for Apple to include an SDHC slot, probably hidden in the same area as the DVI and USB ports. I would also have liked to see them keep FW in he design, as that's one of the distinguishing features of a Mac.

B

 

[BigPrince]

Forgive me, I am sure this has been answered in here somewhere.

Will this run bootcamp?

 

[balamw]

Forgive me, I am sure this has been answered in here somewhere.

Will this run bootcamp?

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/software.html would suggest that yes.

However features of prerelease products have been known to change.

B

 

[BigPrince]

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/software.html would suggest that yes.

However features of prerelease products have been known to change.

B

sweet, thanks.