This MacBook Air is Apple's Future!

[bobjob186]

I'm a huge MacBook Air fan. I've owned every model except for this one and I went into the Apple Store in Fashion Island today to check them out. I walked in to see that the first 3 tables were filled with the new Airs. Literally these things had taken over the store. Where with the previous airs they had 1 SSD model and 1 HDD model on the wall tables in the corner. This time they had a full table of 11", 13" and a wall table of 11" models! When I worked at the Apple Store the sales people would literally convince people out of the air's and into 13" Pro's. Now, from the looks of it they want to sell you only airs.

I wasn't that blown away by the machines. The 11.6 inch was exciting to look at but not life changing like the first air. Everyone whose had an Air before though should be really happy with the new 13" fully spec'd. Ton of machine compared to what we were offered in the past. The 11.6 unfortunately felt netbooky. It doesn't matter that it's not spec'd like a netbook, it just feels very similar to one. No matter what Apple does, if they enter this size then they are coming into netbook territory and regardless of it's power plant users are going to make the connection between the two. It would be hard for me to throw down over $1k for the 11.6 because it just feels like it should be cheaper. Regardless of my opinion, for those wanting to know where the future of Apple notebooks are heading, the new Air is the window to the next 3 years of MacBooks.

I geekbenched the 13" 1.86 128 at 2705 and the 11.6 1.4 64 at 2075, very decent scores for what they are. To compare my 2.4 core i5 with 8gb of ram scored 4875.

Now I need to convince myself that having 2 laptops is a necessary thing in my life.

 

[tigres]

You will see the removal of cd drives in the future models, as well as ssd.

 

[falconeight]

I have had a few netbooks and the MBA 11.6 is no netbook. It is as good as a traditional laptop in a very portable package. This thing is fast smooth and has tech in it that most laptops only dream of having.

 

[bouncer1]

Plus, what I haven't heard anyone say (that's another way to say I am touting myself ) is that this is also the future of imacs. Imagine the onboard flash on an imac with an hd for extra storage. I am drooling just thinking about it. These machines are going to be insane.

You really have to hand it to apple for putting flash on the motherboard. It's these kinds of deceptively simple ideas that make all the difference and make apple as great at it is.

You have one side that whines and moans and bitches, oh I can't upgrade the ssd, who'd want a tablet, oh apple wants to tie you in, blah blah, all that rubbish, and another side, apple, that makes exceedingly great products (the air, the ipad, the app store, etc. etc.) by ignoring the typical moronic (mostly) pc side commentary.

 

[MickeyVee]

I geekbenched the 13" 1.86 128 at 2705 and the 11.6 1.4 64 at 2075, very decent scores for what they are. To compare my 2.4 core i5 with 8gb of ram scored 4875.

You got me interested in seeing if it's worth replacing my MBA Rev A (with Runcore 128GB SSD) so I ran GeekBench. Came up with 2202.. so I'll keep mine until it dies and then go for a loaded 11.6.
Definitely agree.. this is the future of notebooks but have we really advanced that far in the MBA line in the last three years?

 

[henry72]

Plus, what I haven't heard anyone say (that's another way to say I am touting myself ) is that this is also the future of imacs. Imagine the onboard flash on an imac with an hd for extra storage. I am drooling just thinking about it. These machines are going to be insane.

You really have to hand it to apple for putting flash on the motherboard. It's these kinds of deceptively simple ideas that make all the difference and make apple as great at it is.

You have one side that whines and moans and bitches, oh I can't upgrade the ssd, who'd want a tablet, oh apple wants to tie you in, blah blah, all that rubbish, and another side, apple, that makes exceedingly great products (the air, the ipad, the app store, etc. etc.) by ignoring the typical moronic (mostly) pc side commentary.

Totally agree.

Apple is very different to others. If you really know why they did that and that, you will laugh at the PC side, Tablet etc... Then, people will call you an Apple fans boy lol

Limitation is great when it helps the whole user experience. Like disable Flash on iOS, not pre-install Flash on Airs and Macs. Flash is other things that needs to be REMOVE on the Internet AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

 

[lilo777]

Plus, what I haven't heard anyone say (that's another way to say I am touting myself ) is that this is also the future of imacs. Imagine the onboard flash on an imac with an hd for extra storage. I am drooling just thinking about it. These machines are going to be insane.

You really have to hand it to apple for putting flash on the motherboard. It's these kinds of deceptively simple ideas that make all the difference and make apple as great at it is.

You have one side that whines and moans and bitches, oh I can't upgrade the ssd, who'd want a tablet, oh apple wants to tie you in, blah blah, all that rubbish, and another side, apple, that makes exceedingly great products (the air, the ipad, the app store, etc. etc.) by ignoring the typical moronic (mostly) pc side commentary.

Just wait a couple of years and the performance of you irreplaceable SSD in MBA will probably drop lower than what HDDs have (Anandtech's observation not mine). Do not forget that OSX does not have support for TRIM. As far as PCs are concerned, it was PC manufacturers that started using soldered flash chips first, not Apple. Sony has been selling VAIO X for about a year now not to mention various netbooks. While the argument for using this technology in ultra-portable devices might be valid (forget about TRIM support for a moment), desktops are a totally different matter. You gain nothing, you lose a lot. Have you seen a million threads filled with horrors on this forum about iMac owners trying to upgrade their RAM/SSD/HDD in iMacs? It might become a more viable solution if the speed of technology progress slows down and the price of flash memory drops significantly. For now, iMacs remain the classic examples of "form over function" design paradigm.

Totally agree.

Apple is very different to others. If you really know why they did that and that, you will laugh at the PC side, Tablet etc... Then, people will call you an Apple fans boy lol

Limitation is great when it helps the whole user experience. Like disable Flash on iOS, not pre-install Flash on Airs and Macs. Flash is other things that needs to be REMOVE on the Internet AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

Could you collaborate on which part of user experience is helped by iMac limitations?

 

[alexbates]

I completely agree that the Air is the future of Apple. Personally, I do not know a single person who uses a DVD drive on a daily basis. The DVD drive on my MBP 13 gets used only for rare software installations, and to burn a Ubuntu ISO to a DVD once every 6 months. That's it. If it wasn't under warranty, I would take the DVD drive out to make my MBP a pound lighter.

As TUAW editor Erica Sadun would agree, I believe that Apple's next big move for the Air is to ditch the Intel processor and nVIDIA graphics. It is time for Apple to make their own chipset based on ARM architecture. In just a little more than a year, 1.5GHz Dual-core ARM (Snapdragon, for example) processors will be available 20nm thinner than the processors found in the majority of HTC phones today. Being faster than the processor in the 11" Air, it would be a perfect fit. Could make the Air even thinner, require much less power, and easily double the battery life.

Check out the bottom of this chart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapdragon_(processor)

 

[lilo777]

I completely agree that the Air is the future of Apple. Personally, I do not know a single person who uses a DVD drive on a daily basis. The DVD drive on my MBP 13 gets used only for rare software installations, and to burn a Ubuntu ISO to a DVD once every 6 months. That's it. If it wasn't under warranty, I would take the DVD drive out to make my MBP a pound lighter.

As TUAW editor Erica Sadun would agree, I believe that Apple's next big move for the Air is to ditch the Intel processor and nVIDIA graphics. It is time for Apple to make their own chipset based on ARM architecture. In just a little more than a year, 1.5GHz Dual-core ARM (Snapdragon, for example) processors will be available 20nm thinner than the processors found in the majority of HTC phones today. Being faster than the processor in the 11" Air, it would be a perfect fit. Could make the Air even thinner, require much less power, and easily double the battery life.

Check out the bottom of this chart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapdragon_(processor)

This fantasy about Apple switching to its own processors becomes more and more popular. People forget that Apple already tried it before (with PPC). Remember how this worked out? Are you suggesting putting ARM into Mac Pro? Good luck with that.

 

[SamTheeGeek]

I Believe when steve job stated that the Macbook Air is the future of Macbooks, i can truly expect a change of design in future macbook's Pro.

Less Weight, Thinner than current Models & more battery time .


So yea its a great step for apple, what they did in the macbook air.

 

[animatedude]

I Believe when steve job stated that the Macbook Air is the future of Macbooks, i can truly expect a change of design in future macbook's Pro.

Less Weight, Thinner than current Models & more battery time .


So yea its a great step for apple, what they did in the macbook air.

imagine if the MBPs had the new crappy wedge design? that would suck.

 

[henry72]

I Believe when steve job stated that the Macbook Air is the future of Macbooks, i can truly expect a change of design in future macbook's Pro.

Less Weight, Thinner than current Models & more battery time .


So yea its a great step for apple, what they did in the macbook air.

I'm sure too but Air is enough for my use

 

[ntrigue]

Who cares to upgrade a laptop. Spec it to your needs and in two years when you see 'beachballs' just sell and buy the current model.

 

[koopa35]

Who cares to upgrade a laptop. Spec it to your needs and in two years when you see 'beachballs' just sell and buy the current model.

agreed

 

[ProstheticHead]

I'm currently debating replacing my 12" PBook G4 with the entry lvl MBA as my portable to complement my iMac.

The GB scores are pretty nice.

 

[sparkie7]

Regardless of my opinion, for those wanting to know where the future of Apple notebooks are heading, the new Air is the window to the next 3 years of MacBooks.

Yer, ok, tell us something we didn't all see coming

So what happens the day when say  releases an iPad with full OSX capability?

 

[tim100]

I Believe when steve job stated that the Macbook Air is the future of Macbooks, i can truly expect a change of design in future macbook's Pro.

Less Weight, Thinner than current Models & more battery time .


So yea its a great step for apple, what they did in the macbook air.

how about the glass screen on the mbp will it be eliminated?

 

[AppleGoddess]

I have had a few netbooks and the MBA 11.6 is no netbook. It is as good as a traditional laptop in a very portable package. This thing is fast smooth and has tech in it that most laptops only dream of having.

Agreed i said the same thing and the screen is beautiful.

 

[bouncer1]

So because somebody isn't a blind fanboy and asks a very legitimate question that you apparently can't answer, they go on your ignore list?

It's not a legitimate question to say macs are the epitome of form over function and to ask us in a mock ironic way to collaborate (sic) what we are saying. Go the sony forums and tell them your devices are (essentially) rubbish and then expect to get an answer. So, don't pretend you do not understand. This guy has been trolling the forums a long time here, and I just remembered his nick, and happily I won't have to be annoyed by his acting out anymore.

 

[puma1552]

It's not a legitimate question to say macs are the epitome of form over function and to ask us in a mock ironic way to collaborate (sic) what we are saying. Go the sony forums and tell them your devices are (essentially) rubbish and then expect to get an answer. So, don't pretend you do not understand. This guy has been trolling the forums a long time here, and I just remembered his nick, and happily I won't have to be annoyed by his acting out anymore.

You've been here since October 7th?

 

[UTclassof89]

It's not a legitimate question to say macs are the epitome of form over function and to ask us in a mock ironic way to collaborate (sic) what we are saying. ...

Well, he did qualify it by saying "iMacs" -- not "Macs"-- and "for now".

And he has valid points. And this being a discussion forum, what on earth is wrong with asking someone to elaborate on a comment?

Frankly I wish a lot more people would make thoughtful posts on MR, than banal Apple cheerleading, or childish attacks on anyone who challenges banal cheerleading!

Most of us here love Apple products, but recognize they could be better. And giving voice to that serves the Apple community better than pretending Apple is the most innovative, immune-to-error company ever.

 

[definitive]

i still don't get why people act as if the new macbook air is something new and exciting. it's basically the same old macbook air with a flash drive. it has become very annoying to see all the hipster fanboys tooting jobs' horn saying how he's bringing cutting edge technology to the market and how it will change things forever. guess what? when you're paying a high price for a product with hardware from two or more years ago, it's not cutting edge.

the fact is that there are much better products out there in the same price range. during the presentation i was dumbfounded when he brought on the whole "we don't like touch surface computers. what would happen if an ipad was to meet the air?" speech. guess what? it's still air. the battery life is still weak, and you're still using old and now overpriced core 2 duo processors when others are using the i platform with better battery life. just take a look at sony's z laptop. it puts even the macbook and macbook pro's to shame.

 

[gri]

OK, here are my thoughts. The current MBA is not the update we hoped for. Yes, it has larger RAM and a FLASH drive but the same outdated chip, bit better GPU. And it lost some nice features too, foremost the backlit keyboard. And this is for me the indication: this MBA is the new MB. The current MB will be phased out, the MBP get the same or similar form factor as the MBA and keep the BL keyboard to distinguish themselves from the MBA as "Pros", and they will loose the optical drive, get the same FLASH storage. Next year will be interesting and we may get the real new Air in form of a 13' MBP...

 

[tigres]

i still don't get why people act as if the new macbook air is something new and exciting. it's basically the same old macbook air with a flash drive. it has become very annoying to see all the hipster fanboys tooting jobs' horn saying how he's bringing cutting edge technology to the market and how it will change things forever. guess what? when you're paying a high price for a product with hardware from two or more years ago, it's not cutting edge.

the fact is that there are much better products out there in the same price range. during the presentation i was dumbfounded when he brought on the whole "we don't like touch surface computers. what would happen if an ipad was to meet the air?" speech. guess what? it's still air. the battery life is still weak, and you're still using old and now overpriced core 2 duo processors when others are using the i platform with better battery life. just take a look at sony's z laptop. it puts even the macbook and macbook pro's to shame.

Curious, do you own the Z line from Sony? How is the build quality compared to the air? Why do you dislike the Air so much (you are posting in the air forum), and why do you think that it along with the MBP is inferior to Sony?

Lastly, (for my own knowledge) what is with the way some type with no caps, is this is new faster way? I really am curious, I am asking as nice a possible.

 

[w00tini]

Sony Z's start at $1799... start at.

I believe Apple could have upped the ante on the Air if they chose to play in those pricepoints but the fact remains that they are looking for volume out of the Air, not the niche that it was back in 2008.

And the notion that just because something is running older hardware doesn't mean that it's poor hardware. The Air is loaded with exactly what Apple needed to get the experience (and price) they wanted out of the Air.

It's the PC mindset that makes someone instantly scan the bullet points on a product. Does it do this? Does it have that? When instead they should be asking, how do I use a computer and will this product fill that need?

Let's face it, the Air is the smallest and most affordable OS X capable laptop. And OS X is why people buy Mac product anyway, hence the Sony/Dell/Asus/Ect comparison is moot.