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First Look at the MacBook Air

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Does the part that drops down for Headphones, USB, and Micro DVI also "pop-out" somewhat? I'm a bit concerned that when I literally use this as a laptop, my leg will cause much strain on those ports and my cables alike.
 
moan moan moan......

I don't know why everyone is moaning???? Apple have released a sexy ultraportable.... it may not be as powerful as an MBP but that's not the point.... it's not targeted at being a video editing powerhouse.... it's a super portable mac with enough power and battery life to do everyday stuff with. Aside from the crazy UK price, I personally think it's a good effort from Apple.
 
Choppaface said:
maybe it's a big gamble? so let's say apple really is 1337 at marketing in light of the success of the iphone. and let's assume that apple marketing has perhaps found that the "thin-freak" sector of their laptop fanboys is full of mavens (e.g. mavens as in Gladwell's _The Tipping Point_). Could Apple be trying to seed something in order to build a market for a bigger product? like a tablet (a big yay in my book!) or some sort of super ipod--the future of the TV?
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...or the new MBP or even Macbook. I like your line of thought.
 
I like how thin it is. It looks really good but the deal killer was no optical drive. I use it a lot so I'll stick with my iBook a little bit longer.
 
slightly off topic, but it seems one of the biggest things anounced was this new mini-cpu intel have developed. presumably it won't be long until we have 1.8 Ghz C2C iPhones!

Back on topic, MBA looks great on paper, pricewise what you'd expect with all that miniturisation happening. Personally I need more power, but that's why I've got my MBP, 8-core MacPro,etc etc....
 
mhouse said:
What *exactly* were you some of you expecting?

It is the thinnest laptop on Earth, it has a faster processor than any comparable Vaio, and costs much *less* than any comparable Vaio.

The criticisms you guys are fielding sound as if you expected a MacBook Pro in a MacBook Air form factor at a MacBook price.

Apple is filled with great designers and engineers, not magicians. Sorry if you thought otherwise.
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smaller footprint, swappable/replaceable battery, stereo speakers, firewire, more drive options, upgradeable ram, included optical drive, front row remote - especially at $1,8000, gimme' a break

weight is good, thin is good, still too big for most commuter jet tray tables
 
Apple pushes the envelope again...

and fills it at the same time.

To me, a lot of the people who post here require more power than many users, needing a lot more than this laptop can provide. I can understand why some might be underwhelmed. That and the price, but that will surely come down, especially for the SSDs.

However, this will really appeal to those who make their living doing presentations on the road, or otherwise going to meetings to take notes. I can see writers wanting to carry this instead of an MB or MBP if all they want to do is write. The machine has enough power to play back presentations or videos. The point is is that it was not made for people who require serious horsepower.

I'd like to know battery life on the SSD version: longer, shorter, same?

Consider this, though:

Apple was able to get Intel to create a version of their processor that would fit in this enclosure. What does that say about Apple's clout? Performance can only get better from here on out, eventually benefitting other products which we may not have heard about yet.

The engineering alone should have people confident about Apple's continued ability to create amazing new products.

(On the non-replaceable battery. One of the most annoying things about my MBP is the battery. While secure, it is always loose. It needs better morals :p )
 
Unfortunately, two things (at least) don't cut it for me:

- Apple's site indicates that the RAM is soldered to the motherboard.
- Built-in battery is not user accessible

I guess you can't say "upgradeable" :(

Also:

- A USB Ethernet dongle is available for $29

They could (and probably should) include this one in the box... :confused:
I know, I know, Wi-Fi and such are the future but still...

Remember in the good ol' days, when you had a cable and a dock included with every (regular) iPod? :rolleyes: Those were good times :cool:
 
Price and feature set prohibitive

I love the look and the concept, but checking out the Australian MacStore, the 1.8ghz with the solid state drive clocks in at $4338!!! I'll probably wait a few more iterations before considering the macbook air.
 
I am buying

Waited since Se/30 for another MAC - trod thru much PC muck & mire including "ultra" portable Vaio, Sharp's, etc

First, iPhone brought me in - now this will get me home into OS/X - the dimensions of the AIR seem real nice, screen size, price is OK and if it really goes 5hrs with wi-fi I'll be quite happy!

will have to give my Gateway a proper burial
 
Well I like the new MBA for what it is and I can see it will have its uses. More and more I've found myself screen sharing my iMac via my wife's Macbook.

iMac upstairs doing the grunt work whilst I can be more sociable downstairs.

So a MBA would be great as a second lightweight/lightwork machine.

Think that mostly the MBA design is a step forward and my only real niggle is that black keyboard - just doen't work for me.

Perhaps it looks better in the flesh.
 
beast said:
I don't know why everyone is moaning???? Apple have released a sexy ultraportable.... it may not be as powerful as an MBP but that's not the point.... it's not targeted at being a video editing powerhouse.... it's a super portable mac with enough power and battery life to do everyday stuff with. Aside from the crazy UK price, I personally think it's a good effort from Apple.
Click to expand...

Well I wouldn't say I was being particularly moanie but it has to be said that it's hard to work out who the actual market is for this given the precariousness of peoples finances at this point in time (both in the US and Europe) and it's strange spec and niche appeal.

Maybe there's lots of people who want this kind of thing and I'm way off.

Also please consider how a machine that has the same size as the Macbook (in two of it's dimensions) is "ultraportable"....
 
what am I gonna do...

Not sure what I'm gonna do at this point. I'm back to choose either MB or MBP. At least I eliminated 'wait until MWSF' option. No user-replacable battery and on-board 2gb ram just kill the deal for me. Besides, why mono instead of stereo at least?
 
Hrmz... If you read how badly people reacted to the iPod, and then consider how big of a success it was, then this laptop (MBA?) is bound to be a huge succes.

I'd still buy an MBP though.
 
Ember Whimsy said:
This one is perfect for me. I've never wanted a laptop in my life because of the size, whenever I've had one I end up selling it because it's a pain to haul around with me - I'm constantly on the go and fast, I don't need a heavy weight with me.

However, someone told me that due to the size of it and how compact things are inside of it, it would have major heat issues that would cause it to crash, especially in the summer. How likely is this?
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This made me laugh out loud. You're friend is a maroon.

The thing has only *existed* for a month or so and it's still winter. :rolleyes:

How the heck do they know what will happen to it in the summer? We will find out when summer comes. Your friend must be psychic?

All one can say is that Apple has a very good track record for this sort of thing and hundreds of really smart designers and engineers, spent millions of dollars, and thousands of hours of time making the thing. I would trust them until there is a reason to think otherwise.

In other words, it's much more likely that there will be no heat problem at all than the reverse.
 
Steflinsky said:
Where is the apple on the Keyboard?
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It says "Command" instead of :apple:. Now we can't impress new Mac users with our wizard-like knowledge: the secret that the command key is the one with the Apple logo on it.

yg17 said:
So instead you have to lug around the dongle which takes up more space. Throw in the USB hub (and possibly it's power adapter if your devices are powered) and it's even more crap to carry with you.
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I think Apple's concept is that the MBA is for people who wouldn't carry those extras around because they wouldn't need them regularly. Then again, should we consider the MacBook Air to be lacking what its users need, or is it perfect for its intended audience?
 
Everytime apple introduces something important - every single time - there is a big fanboys backlash. iPod. iPod shuffle. iPhone (it is expensive! i cannot change carrier! i cannot install apps!). The whole intel transition (OMG, i used to hate x86, now i should love it?). MacBook Pro (strange name! it heats up too much! it is not G5!). And in the end, the products turned out to be great. OK, not in all cases - iPod Boombox was quite a flop and :apple: tv too. But in most cases, the products were good and both users and apple appreciated it....

well, in this case, i cannot see any positive in Air (i really dont see reason for anyone to buy it), but well, i was the same with iPhone .... so i think it will be very succesful, despite almost everything (price, lack of features, battery...)
 
I am not sure how to take this. I think it might have stepped a little TOO far ahead. A minimalist notebook is very cool, but optical drives are still so important in many places (this shared optical drive" thing is crap, and $99 for a drive is not acceptable. No Ethernet is ok (most wireless connections are faster than the broadband speed anyways)

This is basically a mix between a UMPC and a laptop, but more laptop than UMPC. It's only UMPC in the sense that it is light.

Thumbs up on the eco-friendly stuff and I look forward to them moving this into their other lines.
 
Wrong product at the wrong time. Apple poured their resources into developing this instead of upgrading the Macbook/Pro line. $700 extra for a less capable machine than the regular Macbook? I don't hear a lot of people complaining that their Macbook is "too damn big and heavy." The LED screen is probably a slight improvement in battery life, but people who actually use their computer for anything other than web surfing will be disappointed.

Now if they will just put the LED backlight and backlit keyboard into the Macbook, I might be ready for a new one.
 
NavyIntel007 said:
Don't be dense, Citigroup just announced almost $10 Billion loss (more than 99.9% of us will see in 10 lifetimes), a large dividend cut and layoffs abound. Retail sales unexpectedly dropped for the first time since 2002. Apple's stock is not trading in a bubble, it's falling because of this news and not the product announcement.

The Macbook air is trash... so let me get this straight, I pay an 80% premium for a 40% reduction in processor speed, 50% reduction in processor cache, 20% reduction in Hard drive speed, so I can add a gig of ram, shave a quarter of an inch in width and 2 lbs? Not to mention the fact that I need to pay extra for an ethernet jack. Still need a laptop case since it's still too wide.

1 USB jack. What if I need to use the wired ethernet, CD drive, USB key and sync my ipod at the same time? I can't? Kind of defeats the point of dual core, multiprocessing power doesn't it? An external USB hub dongle kind of defeats the point of the portability aspects especially since some devices will require a powered hub...

Wireless USB would be nice... oh wait, not there either.

Here's what they should have done... Take the Powerbook 12". Take the DVD drive out. Add 1.33 Ghz ULV core 2 duo, 2 GB ram, 80 gig HD w/ SSD option and an express card slot. Probably could shrink the case .1" or so. Still charge $1799.

The Airport Extreme refresh looks great, ipod touch enhancements are awsome, Apple TV w/ movie rentals should do well (may put blockbuster out of business in 5 years, not netflix).

Macbook Air freakin' blows.
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Well said. MBA blows. The styling cue resembles curvy futuristic Dell.
 
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