First Look at the MacBook Air

[matticus008]

Obviously it wasn't that clear - and if it were only between Sony and Alienware why bother posting the Air stats?

Well, maybe it was unnecessary and I could have simply stated that the MBA is more like the Sony. I do apologize if the added information threw you, but I thought it would be helpful to show that the Sony is half an inch thicker than the thickest part of the MBA, and more than twice as thick generally, so the Sony with specs of a $700 unit, but selling for $1750-2200, shows no reason why an MBA couldn't easily be more than 2x a plain MB.

It's an expensive machine, and it's probably not worth the extra $700-800 for most people over a MacBook. But that's because a MacBook is already among the world's thinnest notebooks, not because it was a trivial feat as simple as popping out an optical drive or because Apple is taking your wallet for a ride.

Ultraportables are pricy.

 

[MikeTheC]

So, let me see if I get this right.

1. No FireWire port (either 400 or 800).
2. No Ethernet port.
3. No internal optical drive.
4. Thin as hell, therefore reduced ability to dissipate heat.
5. Still one single physical "mouse button".
6. $1799 price tag.

Seems like 6 pretty good reasons not to buy one.

 

[balamw]

Thin as hell, therefore reduced ability to dissipate heat.

Heat dissipation generally goes with surface area, not anything to do with thickness to first order.

Think radiator fins.

Sure, you can't get a fan in there, but who wants a wind tunnel for a notebook.

B

 

[Virgil-TB2]

Just because someone is paranoid doesn't mean people aren't still out to get him. Whether or not the poster has "issues" with Steve Jobs really has no bearing on the FACT that with Mr. Jobs it's always been "Do it my way or hit the highway." His mercurialness is well known and has been reported on in a variety of biographies and exposes (The Pirates of Silicon Valley; Steve Jobs the iCon; various press interviews with Steve Wozniak, and various oldtime Apple employees). The question really boils down to whether his imperiousness produces good products. Sometimes it does, Sometimes it doesn't. Personally, I think Jobs is a closet anorexic, how else to explain his obsession with thin and light at the questionable expense of every other product feature?

While there is definitely some truth to what you are saying, the "****** Steve" stories mostly date from the pre-firing days when he was, let's face it ... a young man. It's no secret that young men are the source of most of the aggression in the world.

IMO people don't really change, but they do mellow out considerably. Today's Steve Jobs is no saint, but he isn't the arrogant jerk that many remember from the early days. He wouldn't be where he is if he was.

From what I heard he still has little tolerance for idiots and incompetents (and that's a good thing), and he still lacks a certain "warmth." He doesn't fly into rages or make stupid decisions based on his pride anymore though.

more importantly... this is my 500th post!
King me baby!

 

[Argon4k]

I like the MacBook Air from everything I've read and seen thus far. Before I purchase one I'm going to go into the Apple store and see it for myself and play around with it. For me it seems almost perfect. I don't do a whole lot that requires more than what it already offers. Mostly it's word processing, email and programming (PHP). I currently have a 15" PowerBook G4 1.5GHz IBM PPC with 512MB of RAM. It's about 2.5 years old and still runs great (though the battery doesn't hold as long of a charge as it used to when I first bought it, obviously).

When you compare what I currently have to the MacBook Air, it's easy to see that the MacBook Air is far superior. Of course that's comparing apples to oranges but for what I do, it's a valid comparison. It has 4 times the RAM, double the processing power and a much better screen with lighter weight and most likely longer lasting battery life.

Would I have liked to have seen better specs on this? Perhaps. But I have a 24" aluminum iMac that's my primary computer. Everything I do when I travel is eventually transferred onto the iMac. I've been looking to get a new laptop anyway so this sounds like it will be what I get.

As far as the other issues that seem to be concerning people, here are my thoughts on it.

Battery - Perhaps I'm just lucky but I've never had an issue with my battery and it's served me very well over the past 2.5 years or so. It's only just now starting to get to the point where I need to recharge it often so that I can get through the day and I do have to take the charger with me.

RAM - How often do people upgrade their RAM? I had originally wanted to upgrade my RAM to at least 1GB but I didn't. As time went on I found that I didn't really need to. My thinking on RAM is that if you think you may need more in the future, why not just put the added RAM in there from the start? 2GB is more than enough for my needs.

Lack of ports - This is somewhat disappointing. I would have liked to have seen more ports but I'm not worried about it that much. I rarely use my FireWire port on my iMac and I never use my ethernet port. Everywhere I go has wireless so that's fine.

No optical drive - At first I wasn't sure how to react to this but I realized that I don't use the optical drive on my PowerBook all that much as it is anyway, so this isn't that big of a deal.

These are just my thoughts on the MacBook Air and I'm not 100% certain that I am going to get it. I won't know for sure until I walk into the Apple store and check one out for myself.

Also, could someone explain to me a little bit about resolutions please? My PowerBook has 1280x854 and the MacBook Air only goes to 1280x800. I know that it uses LED technology and that's better but I'm still a bit confused on it. Thanks.

 

[MikeTheC]

Argon4k:

Actually, the MacBook Air basically uses the same LCD that the MacBook uses. What you find is that the dot pitch of that LCD is higher than the one you own, and this is a reasonable off-setting factor.

One good thing I can say about the MacBook Air (and it's darn near the only thing) is that it has a pretty high "alleged" battery life. Only time (and field use testing) will be able to validate what the nominal run-time is.

What I wonder is why not buy a MacBook? It'd be far less expensive, and it would give you the standard range of ports, etc.

 

[MikeTheC]

Heat dissipation generally goes with surface area, not anything to do with thickness to first order.

Think radiator fins.

Sure, you can't get a fan in there, but who wants a wind tunnel for a notebook.

B

Well, I'll answer that. I want a computer (desktop or notebook) which adequately cools itself, and a design which is not self-compromising in nature. I regard any computer which is fan-less (or at an absolute minimum isn't spacious enough for a goodly air flow rate) to be self-compromising. To be honest, I don't think even the PowerBook/MacBook Pro form factor is truly sufficient. However, at least it's bigger and has a couple squirrel-cage fans, etc.

 

[balamw]

I want a computer (desktop or notebook) which adequately cools itself, and a design which is not self-compromising in nature.

Everything in life is a compromise, it all depends on what is more important to you.

So you're not a good fit for the MBA, don't make the assumption that it isn't the right computer for someone else that has priorities other than yours. And don't mislead people with incorrect assumptions like thin = hot. We'll see if the MBA gets hot enough to fry an egg on when it gets into people's hands.

B

 

[matticus008]

Also, could someone explain to me a little bit about resolutions please? My PowerBook has 1280x854 and the MacBook Air only goes to 1280x800. I know that it uses LED technology and that's better but I'm still a bit confused on it. Thanks.

The PowerBook uses a 3:2 LCD (a short-lived widescreen format from a few years ago), rather than the 16:10 aspect ratio used on the new computers. The reason for this related to some technical considerations about manufacturing and controller addressing (similar to why some HDTVs have 768 pixel lines instead of 720) and isn't terribly important.

That is why the resolutions are not the same. The MacBook LCD is a smaller, higher density display, which will produce a sharper, smoother picture--but all things being equal, text and other screen elements will be slightly smaller compared to your PowerBook. If you have to squint to see your current display, you might find this one somewhat more uncomfortable. It's unlikely you'll have problems, though.

The LED involved is not the display itself, but rather the backlighting. Instead of a CCFL (basically a fluorescent light bulb), a set of LED lights provide the backlighting. These produce light that is generally more uniform in color and intensity (though some early units had problems) and use considerably less power. They are less fragile and longer-lasting as well.

Actually, the MacBook Air basically uses the same LCD that the MacBook uses. What you find is that the dot pitch of that LCD is higher than the one you own, and this is a reasonable off-setting factor.

Actually, it's a bit lower, but it's not so much dot pitch as pixel size that makes the MacBook display a higher density.

You might be thinking of DPI/PPI, which is indeed higher on the newer panels. Dot pitch is the distance between pixels. PPI is the density of the pixels.

 

[Argon4k]

The PowerBook uses a 16:10 LCD (a short-lived widescreen format from a few years ago), rather than the 16:9 aspect ratio used on the new computers. The reason for this related to some technical considerations about manufacturing and controller addressing (similar to why some HDTVs have 768 pixel lines instead of 720) and isn't terribly important.

That is why the resolutions are not the same. The MacBook LCD is a smaller, higher density display, which will produce a sharper, smoother picture--but all things being equal, text and other screen elements will be slightly smaller compared to your PowerBook. If you have to squint to see your current display, you might find this one somewhat more uncomfortable. It's unlikely you'll have problems, though.

Thanks! I actually prefer having icons and text be smaller so this will be better.

 

[Agathon]

I can't see why people are complaining. This is a computer designed for the immediate future. Wireless is becoming ubiquitous, so an ethernet port is a waste of space. Apple is just ahead of the curve here, the same way they were when they got rid of the floppy drive on the original iMacs.

The MBA is a compliment to a desktop machine, which will supply most of the missing functionality for the few occasions when it will be needed (like when you need an optical drive). It is not designed to be the only computer you own, but a portable extension of your other machines. Those who need a portable as a primary machine should look at a MacBook.

Most of the complaints on here seem to be that the MBA isn't a MacBook. Oh wow... I didn't realize that. If you want the functionality of a MacBook, then buy a MacBook.

How many times have you used the optical drive in your portable lately? I've used the one in my Powerbook three times this year: in every case to install software. It's ludicrous to carry around the extra weight of a drive which is hardly ever used. Only a fool would rip his CDs on both his desktop and laptop anyway. Any reasonable person would simply wirelessly backup his already ripped library from his desktop machine.

I'm waiting to see what early adopters say before I shell out for one of these to replace my aging Powerbook. Wireless is ubiquitous where I live, so I can't see the point in lugging around a full size notebook any more.

 

[Zadillo]

I can't see why people are complaining. This is a computer designed for the immediate future. Wireless is becoming ubiquitous, so an ethernet port is a waste of space. Apple is just ahead of the curve here, the same way they were when they got rid of the floppy drive on the original iMacs.

The MBA is a compliment to a desktop machine, which will supply most of the missing functionality for the few occasions when it will be needed (like when you need an optical drive). It is not designed to be the only computer you own, but a portable extension of your other machines. Those who need a portable as a primary machine should look at a MacBook.

Most of the complaints on here seem to be that the MBA isn't a MacBook. Oh wow... I didn't realize that. If you want the functionality of a MacBook, then buy a MacBook.

How many times have you used the optical drive in your portable lately? I've used the one in my Powerbook three times this year: in every case to install software. It's ludicrous to carry around the extra weight of a drive which is hardly ever used. Only a fool would rip his CDs on both his desktop and laptop anyway. Any reasonable person would simply wirelessly backup his already ripped library from his desktop machine.

I'm waiting to see what early adopters say before I shell out for one of these to replace my aging Powerbook. Wireless is ubiquitous where I live, so I can't see the point in lugging around a full size notebook any more.

Yeah, ultimately, I think the optical drive is really becoming less important. I think especially with laptops (and hell, with desktops as well), the noise they generate is one of the biggest annoyances.

One funny thing I noticed in a review of the XPSM1330; for some reason, every time you boot up or wake from sleep, the drive mechanism in its slot-loading drive makes an annoying sound as it tries to suck in a disk (I guess just assuming one might be there), and the reviewer recommended keeping a dummy disk in there to prevent it.

But yeah, in the end, the optical drive in terms of actual use often does become more of a headache; on laptops especially, they are notoriously noisy, and using them for things like watching a DVD adds quite a bit to the battery drain, to the point that you're much better off ripping the DVD to the hard drive and watching it as a digital file).

I can see benefits in having it always available (sometimes you never know when you are going to need to use an optical disk), but I think we'll be seeing more optical-drive-less machines like the MacBook Air, Asus Eee PC and ThinkPad X61 in the future.

 

[captain kaos]

Why could you not boot over wifi?
I thought this was a new tech innovation feature in the new Air.
I think this is the result of a tight relationship with intel that makes wifi on the motherboard, and i guess you could incorporate the wifi drivers in the board, letting you boot from the wifi.
Any takes on this?

I only mentioned a possible problem with reinstalling or booting over wi fi as normally these are bits of the OS that load up once the system has booted up fully, unless they have come up with a way for you to access these applications before boot up theres no way it can work!

 

[maestrokev]

My main concern is heat dissipation as well. My C2D Blackbook gets way too hot for my taste, not sure if the latest MB revision fixed that. My MBP gets warm but definitely fine to work on my lap.

As for missing FW port, shame, but like many I'm converting to HDV camcorders that use SD cards. More ports would have been nice but the kind of person who buys a MBA isn't going to be working with a bunch of things plugged in at once, and if they are then it's USB hub time.

 

[myjay610]

Actually I read somewhere that there's hardware in the Air that allows the USB Superdrive to be used/powered with the Air only, cant remember where i read this though.

Well engadget mentions the required specs: http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/15/the-macbook-air-superdrive/

It's also right on the apple home page when you look at the product. Then various forums mentioned it...I guess we'll find out in a couple weeks.

 

[myjay610]

Ah fair play. Being able to use it with other products would have been good if your machine only came with a Combo Drive

Like me and my 12" PB...I guess I'm lazy but she is still kickin.

 

[sanford]

"Expand or create a high-speed network for any home, office, or classroom."

http://www.apple.com/wifi

B

Yeah, I finally saw that. Saw $299 is roughly same price as a $180 Apple Airport Base Station and a third-party external 500MB HD connected to it, so problems with Time Capsule on price point withdrawn. Still lower than I'd like for big back-ups. But convenient.

Anyway, I've done a total about face on the MacBook Air. I think it was the $3,100 price tag for the flash-based model that made me spit out my coffee. The $1,800 model is a narrow use device. It's a lot like a very thin, very portable typewriter with the benefit of Web reference access, e-mail as needed, couple other things. But I'm a writer, so a very thin, very portable typewriter is about what I need. Only thing is, not enough storage for my music, movies, scads of family photos and movie clips, etc. So it's not a good sync choice for my iPhone, or stream source for our AppleTV, etc. I mean even those little things for which one USB port is plenty.

So it's kind of a coin toss for me. It means going back to using two Macs. Even Apple-zealot Pogue at the Times clearly stated it's a satellite device, not a main computer. Now .mac will sync some things, but honestly I just hate managing two Macs. If anyone can devise a really convenient, near-seamless procedure for syncing the MB Air with my quasi-desktop plain old MacBook, Apple should pay you a commission because I'll buy one of the $1,800 models in a heartbeat. Work*I can easily store on .mac. Whole books are ridiculously small files. I don't care about keeping my music and photo library on the MB Air; I can listen with my iPhone and even buy with it, then sync with the other MacBook. If I just wrote on the MB Air, fine. But $1,800 just seems like a killer premium when you factor in that personally all I'd use it for is writing, which is best accomplished with your butt parked at your desk. Very portable of course. But so is my MacBook, and it takes like two seconds to unplug it from the external monitor and Time Machine back-up hard drive and head out with it. At 1.6 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, it's no faster than my 2.0GHz Core Duo, 2GB RAM; indeed the hard drive is slower than my current one.

So I'm not knocking it anymore, but it has a pretty high toy factor going on there as I already have more than I need. So if I want to spend $1,800 on a toy, it's a matter of which toy. If could just make it my main Mac, I'd do it, but it's just a tiny bit too short of what I need for that. Even if it checked out in that department, $1,800 to shave off a couple pounds and a 1/3 inch or so height at it's thickest, that's a bit of a serious premium.

It's cool, though.

 

[headfuzz]

The PowerBook uses a 16:10 LCD (a short-lived widescreen format from a few years ago), rather than the 16:9 aspect ratio used on the new computers.

Short lived? I think you'll find the 1440 x 900 native resolution used on the current 15" Macbook Pro lines, as well countless 19" TFT monitors (including the one plugged into the Power Mac G5 this is being typed on), as well as the 1680 x 1050 resolution on the current 17" Macbook Pro and 20" iMacs, whilst not forgetting the current 1920 x 1200 17" Macbook Pros with HD option and 24" iMacs, are all 16:10 aspect ratio.

 

[diamond.g]

Short lived? I think you'll find the 1440 x 900 native resolution used on the current 15" Macbook Pro lines, as well countless 19" TFT monitors (including the one plugged into the Power Mac G5 this is being typed on), as well as the 1680 x 1050 resolution on the current 17" Macbook Pro and 20" iMacs, whilst not forgetting the current 1920 x 1200 17" Macbook Pros with HD option and 24" iMacs, are all 16:10 aspect ratio.

You bring up an interesting point. I thought all new computers use 16:10 resolutions. Are there any that actually use 16:9 rez?

 

[Slip]

Short lived? I think you'll find the 1440 x 900 native resolution used on the current 15" Macbook Pro lines, as well countless 19" TFT monitors (including the one plugged into the Power Mac G5 this is being typed on), as well as the 1680 x 1050 resolution on the current 17" Macbook Pro and 20" iMacs, whilst not forgetting the current 1920 x 1200 17" Macbook Pros with HD option and 24" iMacs, are all 16:10 aspect ratio.

Yep, nearly all LCD monitors are 16:10 as you can view two documents side by side. 16:9 is used in TV's

 

[Agathon]

Now .mac will sync some things, but honestly I just hate managing two Macs. If anyone can devise a really convenient, near-seamless procedure for syncing the MB Air with my quasi-desktop plain old MacBook, Apple should pay you a commission because I'll buy one of the $1,800 models in a heartbeat.

If you are using two macs, then .mac is indispensable. I keep my iMac and Powerbook synced, and it was a real pain to keep everything straight before I got .mac. For about $2 a week .mac is incredible value. It's also the area of Apple that is most ripe for innovative expansion.

You are absolutely correct that the MacBook Air is a secondary machine. But that doesn't mean what it used to. We are living in a "post back to my mac" age. If you buy a MacBook Air and have .mac, then every file on your home machine will be accessible no matter where you are. Say you forgot to transfer your favourite Jarre album (what do you mean, who's he!?!) to your MBA. Well, even if you are on the other side of the world, the album is only a click away. It's hard to appreciate how useful this feature is, if you don't have .mac.

What this means is that people need to stop thinking in terms of "my home computer" and "my work computer", since those labels are starting to lose their meaning. What we need to be thinking about is the distinction between "my data" and "my various appliances for accessing and manipulating it". The MBA is a harbinger of this new world order.

 

[whawhat]

the 2nd gen MBA will be really sweet......

 

[matticus008]

Short lived? I think you'll find the 1440 x 900 native resolution used on the current 15" Macbook Pro lines, as well countless 19" TFT monitors (including the one plugged into the Power Mac G5 this is being typed on), as well as the 1680 x 1050 resolution on the current 17" Macbook Pro and 20" iMacs, whilst not forgetting the current 1920 x 1200 17" Macbook Pros with HD option and 24" iMacs, are all 16:10 aspect ratio.

Oops, you're right. I used the wrong terms there--the old PowerBooks were 3:2 widescreens as opposed to newer 16:10 widescreens. True 16:9 monitors are fairly uncommon, not the other way around. This bears out in the rest of the explanation--just not the right two terms. I'll fix the original comment.

 

[Quillz]

the 2nd gen MBA will be really sweet......

If there is a second generation MacBook Air...

 

[sanford]

Say you forgot to transfer your favourite Jarre album (what do you mean, who's he!?!) to your MBA.

My favorite Jarre album is The Rendez-vous, presuming we are talking J.M., not Maurice, the album for which Ron McNair was supposed to record a saxophone part while in orbit on Challenger, but Challenger's main hydrogen tank exploded after launch, and the shuttle crashed killing all aboard -- so someone else played McNair's sax part.

What we need to be thinking about is the distinction between "my data" and "my various appliances for accessing and manipulating it". The MBA is a harbinger of this new world order.

Oh i get you. But my home computer and my work computer are the *same* -- as I work from home -- and is portable. So all my data is accessible all the time on the same device I can easily carry with me. The MBA would be perfect if it could *replace* my current MB, but it's presently too a touch too short in the storage department, and I need a FireWire port. For one thing, sometimes, but I need it when I need it. Then two USB ports and the built-in optical drive are just nice to have, if I have to have FireWire, anyway.

The MBA is a harbinger of this new world order.

Now that sounds like something Neil Peart would write (what do you mean, who's he!?!).