MacBook Air.... MacBook Crap

[J Christopher]

I think the Air is a great move for Apple. It's not cannibalistic because it is not going to be a very good choice for a primary computer. It is intended to offer the essentials, wirelessly, and with little power usage or weight. I bet with the SSD installed the Air will be pretty fast, and will not be very hampered by only having 2 GiB of RAM, since the virtual memory will be so much faster than with a HDD.

It does appear that the battery is easily replaceable, even if it is not externally accessible.

I haven't heard anyone mention the improved Bluetooth functionality of 2.1. That should definitely help with peripheral use and only one USB port. The optical solution, in combination with faster Wi-Fi via 802.11n and faster optical drives for desktops (and externals) than notebooks, offers the possibility of increased data transfer between an optical drive and the MBA. I don't think it's a coincidence that Time Capsule was released with the MBA instead of with Leopard.

The future of personal computing is in networks. The Air is optimized for portability and wireless networking. I would not be at all surprised to see 10.6 or 10.7 offer a Time Machine-like interface for X-Grid or some other distributed computing solution that will work well on consumers' home networks, allowing users to utilize the CPU power of other machines remotely so that users are limited by the computing power on their network, and not the computing power of their local machine.

I don't expect the MacBook Air to sell like the iPhone, but I don't think it will be as poorly received as Apple TV has been, at least up until Take 2. The Air appeals to a market that Apple doesn't currently offer a product for, and could, paradoxically, help expand desktop sales for Apple when some Mac users upgrade the PBs, MBs and MBPs to a MBA and an iMac or mini.

Once upon a time, portable computers were equipped with just the bare essentials because that was all designers could cram into a case small enough to be called portable with a straight face. Now, Apple has come full circle, and is again offering only the essentials in a portable, his time to offer business users, and maybe a few students, the benefits of basic computing on the go without the need to lug around a 5+ pound machine. (As someone who carries his MacBook 2.5-5 miles a day by foot, the lighter form factor without giving up OS X is extremely appealing.)

[Mikey-San]

oh my god how did this thread reach 160 posts

[GavinBKK]

Because people like us keep posting in it...

[ArcticStones]

Quote: Originally Posted by J Christopher I think the Air is a great move for Apple... The future of personal computing is in networks. The Air is optimized for portability and wireless networking. I would not be at all surprised to see 10.6 or 10.7 offer a Time Machine-like interface for X-Grid or some other distributed computing solution that will ...allow users to utilize the CPU power of other machines remotely... The Air appeals to a market that Apple doesn't currently offer a product for...

Fascinating thoughts on accessing CPU as a shared resource!
And I think your other observations are spot on.

-- ArcticStones
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[styrafome]

Quote: Originally Posted by NovaScotian On a different front, the fact that the Air would fit in a recyclable office envelope was appealing to me. Leaving a laptop visible in a car is an invitation to a broken car window and lost laptop. Leaving a laptop in a well used envelope is not. Leaving the envelope in a pile of papers at a meeting and going to lunch is not too risky either. It looks like it would fit in the document section of a thin briefcase too. Easy to hide.

I would never, ever do this. If auto crime is a problem, I would follow the advice given in most auto-crime areas: "Leave nothing visible in the car." A manila envelope large enough to hold a MacBook Air could certainly look tempting. What's in that big bulging business envelope I see through the window? Could be nothing but papers...which could be personal identity data, hmmm, useful...or, could be checks for the bank...better yet, cash deposits...hmm, nobody around, let's hit the window and find out! (SMASH) (opens envelope) OMG...OMG...jackpot dude!!!!

I mean, it's a freaking MacBook Air. Think about it. If it was built to be thin and light, why not take it along, instead of leaving a $2000 prize in the back seat?

[NovaScotian]

Because I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where such things are rather rare.

[jkhills]

I think it is a big leap forward, but the system is not practical for what I do with my computer. Write Software, Edit large movies, mix recording studio tracks.

Essentially It's a Really big PDA with a decent operating system. It bodes well for the future though. I would expect that in the next year or two we will have updates to the MBP using SSD's (larger than 80gb) and have more space in our MPB's for other devices

I won't buy a MBA but it is a step forward.

JKHills

[DarkSaint]

If this has been posted already let me know so I'll edit it, but I found it funny:

[anthlover]

Were going off thread but that looks more like a Kaypro/Osborne

edit I stand corrected I did not remember that one.

http://oldcomputers.net/sx64.html

Here are the earlier contempories I was thinking off
http://oldcomputers.net/kayproii.html
http://oldcomputers.net/osborne.html

[ArcticStones]

.
From USA Today:

"Jobs told me last week that Apple considered [adding 3G mobile broadband] but that adding the capability would take up room and restrict consumers to a particular carrier."

That would have been nice for the European and Asian markets!

[iampete]

According to Wall Street Journal review:

Battery test: screen brightness at maximum, Wi-Fi on, playing endless loop of music: 3 hours, 24 minutes.

According to USA Today review:

Battery test: surfed web, used Remote Disk, wrote: 3 hours, 40 minutes.


Apparently these were with the mechanical drive and not with the SSD, but, to my mind, that's pretty limited capability given the battery's not user swappable. Note that these are brand new batteries. What kind of performance does that indicate for battery mid-life?

Was Job's 5 hr number based on the MBA sitting doing nothing, perhaps?

[ArcticStones]

Quote: Originally Posted by iampete Was Job's 5 hr number based on the MBA sitting doing nothing, perhaps?

I almost never run my laptop screen at full brightness. Not just because it saves battery, but because I don’t find it necessary. When I’m travelling, however, I even turn my screen off, writing articles and memos by touch-typing. Editing later.

I do notice that the tests were run at full screen brightness – and wonder how much this impacts.
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[iampete]

Quote: Originally Posted by ArcticStones . . . I do notice that the tests were run at full screen brightness – and wonder how much this impacts.

I have been told that the power consumption deltas due to screen brightness differences is extremely small for the LCD backlit screens. I can't vouch for the correctness of this info, though.

BTW, I don't know what the definition of "extremely small" is supposed to mean here, either.



DarkSaint: Absolutely wonderful pic! LMAO

[Jay Carr]

Didn't both those reviews say that the computers ran for about 4hr 30min under 'normal' running conditions?

[Anti]

Cut the wifi, and spend all your time in TextEdit, and you'll likely get something close to five hours. At least, that's what I got on my MBP.

[GavinBKK]

My new (November 07) MB gives me 4.5-5 hours. It was the first thing I noticed about it. Very pleased. This is using wifi all the time, surfing, Mail, Word, Adobe, iDisk autosyncing and downloading.

I would love an MBA but the hard disk capacity is the main dealbreaker after the price.

[ArcticStones]

Quote: Originally Posted by J Christopher It does appear that the battery is easily replaceable, even if it is not externally accessible.

There are indications this may be far easier than we thought.
Check this out:

"MacBook Air is suprisingly easy to take apart..."

That bodes well for perhaps not needing an expensive "tech-handled" battery replacement.

[GavinBKK]

As a point of interest, the Apple websites for Singapore, Uk and the US, all still state 2-3 weeks shipping on the Air. Do they never update their expected shipping times?

[solipsism]

Sure they do. It may indicate that there a lot of pre-order sales, but we don't know way of knowing how many they decided to produce.

[roncross@cox.net]

I watched the macworld video and I was surprised to see that Steve didn't even demonstrate the use of the new product as he normally does. It makes me think this is NOT a sturdy laptop.

My first impression was why is he selling us stuff that looks like it's still in the research and development phase??? It will be interesting to see how reliable this laptop is in the field. No, I will not buy one. I would get the macbook pro instead.