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No sudden motion sensor for macbook air 2010
- Thread starter nanotlj
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A CD drive is a cool feature for apps like Toast in some people's minds, but not mine. LOL. For those like me who don't need a hard drive inside the MBA, lack of SMS is inconsequential.
I understand what you are saying but from Apple's perspective the purpose of the motion sensor has gone away so they ditched it to lower cost.
I agree. Just like with most things, it's done with the 90 percent of buyers in mind.
In a solid state device like the new MBA's, why would you need a sudden motion sensor AT ALL?
Do you need your laptop to tell you that you just dropped it or what?
Do you need your laptop to tell you that you just dropped it or what?
In a solid state device like the new MBA's, why would you need a sudden motion sensor AT ALL?
Do you need your laptop to tell you that you just dropped it or what?
There should be a Computing 101 score with everyone's profile. A quick quiz of one's technical aptitude, so when people post we can just look at their skill score and ignore posts.. lol... People don't realize that the only reason a Sudden Motion Sensor is in a computer is to quickly disable the hard drive to stop head contact. That's all it does. It's CRITICAL when using a hard drive, but useless in a SSD product. It's no different than those who complain about the fact that the computer doesn't have a faster processor when they just surf the web. People who don't educate themselves as to how technology works have no right to complain about it.
cool, but i'll take the omission for the reduction in cost for a completely useless feature...
In a solid state device like the new MBA's, why would you need a sudden motion sensor AT ALL?
Do you need your laptop to tell you that you just dropped it or what?
last i looked the iphone doesent have a harddrive either....but it still has a sms sensor.
Apple used the motto, whatever it takes to make the MBA el cheapo, even though I am still craving for an 11" MBA, so I can really travel light.
I think you're confused. That's an accelerometer. It's an input feature of the phone. Macs don't exactly use the SMS for input, only to park the HDD's heads in case of a drop.
no, im not
SMS is an accelerometer,
sudden motion sensor is a lamens term for accerometer, when you drop the laptop it parks the heads (or sharp movements depending on sensitivity setting).
a motion sensor uses usually infrared to detect motion, more rarely they use lasers.
2 much different applications for them, as for input device, thats intentions such as what its programmed to do. Apple intended it in the laptop to be a protection for spinning disks, but others made applications that access it as a input device.
Again, you're confused. The accelerometer in an iPhone has a very specific function, it's an input device. In a Mac, it's not. Clearer now ?
Umm, no he’s right. SMS is a specific form of an accelerometer, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_Motion_Sensor
Just because the accelerometer is used as an input device in iPhone does not mean that the SMS isn’t an accelerometer.
In fact, a software company came up with a tool to use the SMS as a way to detect earthquakes: Source
Two different applications of the same tech.
On a different topic: Ambient light sensor; if they could fit one in the iPhone, they certainly could've fit one in the MBA. Just goes to show how far they were willing to go to take costs out of these machines in order to hit their price-points and maintain margins.
Back on topic: No need for SMS in MBA
On a different topic: Ambient light sensor; if they could fit one in the iPhone, they certainly could've fit one in the MBA. Just goes to show how far they were willing to go to take costs out of these machines in order to hit their price-points and maintain margins.
Back on topic: No need for SMS in MBA
Pretty much completely irrelevant. The SMS detects changes in acceleration for the purpose of parking hard drive heads to prevent damage. The iPhone's accelerometer detects orientation of the device for use as input.
The MBA is not designed to undergo the range of motion that the small, portable iPhone does, so it does not have an accelerometer. Since it also does not have a platter-based hard drive, the SMS is also unnecessary.
It's really not that hard to understand, no matter how much you want to argue semantics.
I never said it wasn't. I said he was confused.
I never said it wasn't. Now I'm saying you're confused.
That's nice, congrats to them. Now on to this topic. Macs use the SMS to park the heads of the HDD in case of a drop. iPhone uses its accelerometer as an input device.
I'll phrase this as a question as to maybe help alleviate the confusion here : What purpose between the Mac's HDD head parking or the iPhone's input device is used in a MacBook Air that would warrant inclusion of an accelerometer ?
Exactly. iPhone has an accelerometer for a useful function on a phone. They have since opened it up to the API and it serves a useful function for gaming. Hence, there's a good reason for including one. In other words, it has intended useful functions.
Mac notebooks, on the other hand, had accelerometers solely to protect the hard drive. That some programmers may have used it for other purposes doesn't change the fact that it wasn't intended for that purpose in OS X. It would be like someone programming something that takes advantage of the backlit keys or ambient light sensor. Yes, it's a clever use of technology, but don't be surprised if future products don't support it because that wasn't the intended use.