The MacBook Air Doesn’t Get Enough Credit

[animatedude]

just read this article

http://theappleblog.com/2010/09/15/the-macbook-air-doesnt-get-enough-credit/

"It’s a machine for 75 percent of the portable Mac users out there, and too many people are buying more than they need when the MacBook Air fits in just nicely."

finally someone said it!

 

[ChemGolf]

I agree 100%

 

[ZGXtreme]

Good article/editorial and despite my lack owning one, I can see where it would be quite truthful. I look at my 13" MBP and love it. But how often do I fully utilize its capabilities? Not often sad to say. If they release an updated Air I could easily see getting one and relegating my MBP to "desktop" status with the 27" ACD coming out, in reserve when the need for a lil more power is needed when out and about. The Air though, could fulfill the rest of the time on the go or simply on the couch.

 

[gwsat]

Good article/editorial and despite my lack owning one, I can see where it would be quite truthful. I look at my 13" MBP and love it. But how often do I fully utilize its capabilities? Not often sad to say. If they release an updated Air I could easily see getting one and relegating my MBP to "desktop" status with the 27" ACD coming out, in reserve when the need for a lil more power is needed when out and about. The Air though, could fulfill the rest of the time on the go or simply on the couch.

Unfortunately, I am one of the 25% for whom the MBA wouldn't work. I learned the hard way, on my MBP, that 2Gb of RAM is simply not enough for my purposes. I agree, though, that 2Gb is still enough for most users and for them the MBA would be an ideal solution.

 

[OllyW]

I look at my 13" MBP and love it. But how often do I fully utilize its capabilities?

The big problem I see is that the Air is more expensive than the 13" MBP.

If you really need the lighter weight and thinness of the Air then you can justify choosing it instead of the MBP. Otherwise, the extra features and performance and lower price make the 13" MBP an obvious choice.

 

[archipellago]

agree..

The MBA is just more for less.

terrible product at the price.

 

[allmIne]

agree..

The MBA is just less for more.

terrible product at the price.

Fixed

 

[alphaod]

It's a great computer; it's just too expensive for most people when they can get the more computer for cheaper from the base MacBook.

 

[gwsat]

The big problem I see is that the Air is more expensive than the 13" MBP.

If you really need the lighter weight and thinness of the Air then you can justify choosing it instead of the MBP. Otherwise, the extra features and performance and lower price make the 13" MBP an obvious choice.

I agree. Although nobody should be convinced to buy an MBA simply because of its coolness factor, when it comes to ultra light weight and slender form factor, the MBA is in a class by itself. For those who really need that kind of portability and can live with the MBA's relative lack of resources, it is worth the premium. For everybody else, though, the 13 inch MBA makes far better sense.

 

[cleric]

The price is why no one buys them, most people don't value the portability and lower specs at a higher price.

 

[thinkdesign]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 8.12; MSIEMobile6.0) Sprint T7380)

SPeaking of the ever-popular \"Is CoreDuo enough?\" question... look at the MBP forum. An OP there is saying his old CoreDuo MB is faster than his new 15\" MBP.

And somehow the 13\" MBP is getting longer battery life than the 15\" & 17\" MBPs, too.

There is/was plenty of room for a mid-2010 Air spec bump, keeping the 2.13 chip but bumping a few other parts. Revive the Air brand, until 2013 or whenever the perfect chip is coming.

 

[animatedude]

hehe it's ironic how ppl compare the current Macbook Air which is very old to the new Macbook Pro,that's not fair.

wait for the new one then compare it to the current MBP.

 

[entatlrg]

I would of agreed with that article if the MBA's battery life wasn't so short, especially compared to the new ultra portables on the market.

Sitting at $2,000+ with 2gb ram ... that's too much 'Apple Tax' for anyone other people with lot's of extra money or tech minded like us ....

Looking around today's ultra portable world the MBA it's getting lost - fast.

 

[Zband]

I wonder if the people who responded to the article complaining about the heat in the rev B or C MBA, actually had updated to the most recent flash drivers.

I recently bought a rev. C from the refurb store and was expecting a jet like sound when watching anything flash. Reality was a warm area under the case and a soft fan noise. Thats it.

 

[Adidas Addict]

The main issue I have with the air, as others have mentioned is the way the macbook and 13" MBP blitz it in every area. Sure its a nice form factor and lovely and light but most Macbook Airs seem to be owned as supplement to a 'normal' notebook. If they had been updated and carried a similar spec to a 13" MBP for say £100-£150 more then they would be a viable proposition, as it stands they are woefully outdated, which IMHO is a real shame.

 

[Psychmike]

With the existing product line, I don't think the Air has much appeall.

1) It costs more than the 13" MacBook Pro. A $350 difference is quite significant.
2) It has the same foot print. While some might be willing to pay more for ultraportability, the Air doesn't seem THAT much more portable to me.
3) Older-generation trackpad. Apple seems to have neglected the Air. My guess is that a considerable revision is in the works. Either they'll shrink the screen size to make it smaller OR (in my wildest hopes) they'll come up with some sort of iPad Pro that replaces the Air.

 

[PacMookBro]

While iPad is no substitute for any laptop, let alone desktop, iPad is very light, compact and versatile enough to fit in non-laptop bag for everyday use. There is no reason to choose MBA over feature-rich MBP13, which comes with just a bit more weight. Since the launch of iPad, My MBP15 is becoming a desktop computer while more and more opportunities are given for the iPad to be taken outside.

 

[toddybody]

Its truly a beautiful notebook...but people's price criticisms are totally justified.

Make its base an i3, 4Gb RAM, standard SSD (64GB if price is a concern), make it a 16:9, 2nd USB, track pad identical to current gen MBP...and sell it for ~1100.00. The 16:9 screen will change the footprint and provide the needed Apple-"design revision". Let the ~1600 version come with a larger SSD and CPU clock bump.

 

[Scottsdale]

Unfortunately, I am one of the 25% for whom the MBA wouldn't work. I learned the hard way, on my MBP, that 2Gb of RAM is simply not enough for my purposes. I agree, though, that 2Gb is still enough for most users and for them the MBA would be an ideal solution.

You're not using anything demanding at all though. It's just two apps that you need to run on Windows. You could run them in Boot Camp, bur U understand wanting to run both OSes at the same time via a VM. The 2 GB cap has really cost Apple a lot of potential sales. We see it every day here with the MBA.

As far as every other component is concerned, I fully agree with the article. The vast majority of users are stuck with the "need more power" syndrome. In all reality, the MBA is an amazing computer which more than 75% of users would enjoy if they gave it a try and could get the damn "need more power" thoughts out of their heads.

I believe the MBA is the best computer ever. I love it! Nothing compares for me. Sure, it would be nice to have 8 GB RAM, but in all honesty the current MBA does everything I need without it. If only people would give it a chance.

 

[catchdry]

I'm a bit surprised that the difference in the keyboard feels so big. I feel that the buttons are a bit more rounded in the Air and that's better to write on IMHO. That's the main reason I'm waiting for an updated Air. And I'm getting sick of my 15" MBP. Never buying a laptop bigger than 13" again. Have regretted it since the day I purchased it (spring 2008).

 

[Spacekatgal]

Do people really not need so much power? Definitetly. But, they're not concluding the answer is to buy a $1500 laptop, they're going with the iPad. I bet it sells more in a month than the MBA sells in a year.

iPad cannibalizing 50 percent of Laptop Sales

 

[netdog]

It's about time we had a thread in which the MBA gets its due.

And to whomever said it isn't so much more portable than a MBP 13, put it in your backpack or briefcase. It's much lighter and to those of who need an ultraportable, yes, it's much more portable than any other Apple laptop.

I run Windows XP in VMWare Fusion most of the time, along with Mail, Safari, Pages, iTunes, Skype and MSN Messenger. The 2GB keeps all of those running together just fine.

 

[CaoCao]

When it gets updated with Sandy Bridge (just isn't happening on Nehalem/Westmere because of GPU) if it gets an ULV i5/i7 and 4/8GB RAM I'd totally buy it for the price it is at

 

[fyrefly]

Its truly a beautiful notebook...but people's price criticisms are totally justified.

Make its base an i3, 4Gb RAM, standard SSD (64GB if price is a concern), make it a 16:9, 2nd USB, track pad identical to current gen MBP...and sell it for ~1100.00. The 16:9 screen will change the footprint and provide the needed Apple-"design revision". Let the ~1600 version come with a larger SSD and CPU clock bump.

We've been over the i3/i5/i7 conundrum before - there's a reason the Core-i series processors aren't in the 13" Mac Portables. And the reason is there's no room for a discrete GPU, Apple doesn't consider the Intel Graphics to be good enough on their own, and because of the infamous NVidia lawsuit - they can't design chips for the Core-i series CPUs. So Apple's stuck with crap intel graphics and a processor bump, or decent NVidia graphics paired with a Core2Duo (and MBA already has the fastest C2D ULV processor there is).

Do people really not need so much power? Definitetly. But, they're not concluding the answer is to buy a $1500 laptop, they're going with the iPad. I bet it sells more in a month than the MBA sells in a year.

iPad cannibalizing 50 percent of Laptop Sales

The 50% quote has been widely reported as "misconstrued", but your point is still taken. The iPad most certainly sells more in a month than the MBA sells in a year... it's also a ~$500 device versus a ~$1500 device.

The iPad is reported at ~3 Million a month. The MBA is reported to be selling ~150,000 max a month.