Top 5 MBA deal-breakers

solmaker · Jan 15, 2008

Deal-breaker #1 - Bezel to the max

MBA is even longer and wider than a MB - 15.613" diagonal with only a 13.3" screen. Its massive bezel around the screen was the first thing I noticed about it. That's okay (albeit annoying) in a low-end MB, but hard to justify in a high-end MBA whose only selling point is portability and cutting-edge design. The bezel should be 1" thinner (like the MBP), either by reducing the machine size or increasing the screen.

Deal-breaker #2 - No matte

I have both a matte PB and the latest glossy MB - and the glossy MB screen is really sub-par. I want a matte option in a $1.8-3.0K machine.

Deal-breaker #3 - No dock

I can see having no optical drive and other lost ports if there were a dock included to provide full functionality - but this baby's got nothing! No firewire, no ethernet, no audio in, no stereo speakers, no CD/DVD... everything hanging on a single USB2 port?!?

Deal-breaker #4 - Lousy hard drive

The MBA lives or dies by its hard drive, and its only option (under $3K) is a crummy 80GB 4200-rpm PATA drive?!? Even the $350 iPod holds 160GB! With great deals available like $200 for WD Scorpio 320GB SATA, why put this 80GB dog under the MBA hood?

Deal-breaker #5 - High bucks for the bang

With all these negatives, and only one positive (thinness), the $1800 price is way too much, especially considering that Apple further nickel-and-dimes accessories to bring the MBA anywhere near MB capabilities: $99 for superdrive, $29 for ethernet adapter, about $20 for USB2 micro hub, and $19 for Apple Remote (included free with all other MBs - talk about adding insult to injury).

BIK · Jan 15, 2008

you should write for Letterman, i know you got five more in you

McGiord · Jan 15, 2008

I think this is an experimental product for :apple:

, I'm just waiting to see the cool new features incorporated in the rest of the Mac products.
It's too expensive for the computer power we get, it's just a websurfer macbook, or to be used to play iTunes media.
________
sativa strains

chewietobbacca · Jan 15, 2008

McGiord said:
I think this is an experimental product for , I'm just waiting to see the cool new features incorporated in the rest of the Mac products.
It's too expensive for the computer power we get, it's just a websurfer macbook, or to be used to play iTunes media.

With no built in speaker's no less...

I doubt it's an experimental product though, they wouldn't have made it the keynote

solmaker · Jan 15, 2008

>you should write for Letterman, i know you got five more in you

No can do... Writer's (actually Producer's) Strike.

>With no built in speaker's no less...

It's got built-in mono (not stereo) speakers.

macRat17 · Jan 15, 2008

Pricey for a "secondary computer"
Battery not servicible
and YES the bezel is a little too wide

If i had the money i would still buy one though

alebar14 · Jan 15, 2008

If it's that darn expensive, I wonder how much Apple should charge the Macbook Air ? Would $1,299 for the base model and $1,499 for the "high end" model be the reasonable price ?

McGiord · Jan 15, 2008

chewietobbacca said:
With no built in speaker's no less...

I doubt it's an experimental product though, they wouldn't have made it the keynote

I mean that they will see how the market responds to it, and then decide what to do next with the technology.
Maybe it's targeted to Top Executives who don't care what to pay and just want a light computer to carry on during their business trips, just to check emails and websites.
________
weed

BIK · Jan 15, 2008

Yes

then at that price point i would feel a bit of buyers remorse for getting a blackbook on christmas

chewietobbacca · Jan 15, 2008

alebar14 said:
If it's that darn expensive, I wonder how much Apple should charge the Macbook Air ? Would $1,299 for the base model and $1,499 for the "high end" model be the reasonable price ?

I'd say so considering things like the Asus EEE can be had for $400.

That said, I don't know if Apple can lower the prices much. We already know that the CPU used was a SFF version of the Merom and was made just for this by Intel, and if the platform is not adopted by other clients to Intel, then Apple probably paid a hefty premium for what is essentially custom-ordered

byeehaaw · Jan 15, 2008

i bet the flipdown part for the headphone usb and mini dvi for the mba;s will break easily.

chewietobbacca · Jan 15, 2008

McGiord said:
I mean that they will see how the market responds to it, and then decide what to do next with the technology.
Maybe it's targeted to Top Executives who don't care what to pay and just want a light computer to carry on during their business trips, just to check emails and websites.

Well I hope that's not what they're solely banking on because not only do most executives carry smart phones for email, but things like exchange servers and security will limit this for corporate use. Personal use of course can be had. Time will tell though... sooner or later, time will tell.

iW00t · Jan 15, 2008

You forgot something else.

Something really really important.

No user replaceable battery

wentwj · Jan 15, 2008

I'm sure the bezel is that big because it needs to be. Apple doesn't employe wizards people. If they make a computer THAT thin, they need to put the components somewhere, so they clearly needed to expand horizontally that extra inch. they didn't just decide to make the bezel bigger just because.

I agree the machine is expensive, but I really don't get all the hate over it. It's a very neat little machine for what it does, and if I had a fully functional desktop (aka a Mac Pro) or some other dedicated machine to do real work on, I'd likely pick one up (probably will pick one up if newer models are available later this year or early next). It's clearly a secondary machine, or perhaps a primary machine for a college student who doesn't play games or do anything other than word process and web surfing.

As far as I can see it's primary fault is the price, everything else seems to be just a matter of people wanting it to be something it's not.

solmaker · Jan 15, 2008

>Battery not serviceable

Yup... deal-breaker #6! It's annoying that all the parts (especially battery and HD) are practically soldered in.

>If i had the money i would still buy one though

Yeah, with all my negative comments... I'm tempted myself!

I guess what I really want is a MacBook PRO Air, not a sub-MB at a MBP price.

Either that, or the current MBA with a 10" or 12" screen and a small bezel to make it really ultra-portable.

Seeing the reality of the MBA makes the low-end MBP look awfully good, especially when it's refreshed in a week or two.

island · Jan 15, 2008

Jan 2007: People complain no new MacBooks @ MacWorld.

Jan 2008: People complain about new MacBook @ MacWorld.

Jan 2009: People complain about....

solmaker · Jan 15, 2008

>I'm sure the bezel is that big because it needs to be. Apple doesn't employ wizards people.
>If they make a computer THAT thin, they need to put the components somewhere, so they clearly
>needed to expand horizontally that extra inch. they didn't just decide to make the bezel bigger just because.

Good point, but consider this: the MBA is only 0.16" thick around the edges... how much electronics fits in a sixth of an inch? I once had to take apart my dropped 1GHz TiBook, and there was a bunch of plastic webbing filling out the edges which I glued back together to make a solid repair. There may well be just filler around the MBA edges to give it a "cutting-edge" form factor. I'd prefer something blunter and an inch less wide!

Also, they could have fit a 14.4" screen in the same space and reduced the bezel (assuming such LCD sizes are available).

Justinerator · Jan 15, 2008

i honestly can't see why anyone would buy the mba unless they really, really needed portability. Even then, it's still quite large for an ultraportable

r-gordon-7 · Jan 15, 2008

solmaker said:
>I'm sure the bezel is that big because it needs to be. Apple doesn't employ wizards people.
>If they make a computer THAT thin, they need to put the components somewhere, so they clearly
>needed to expand horizontally that extra inch. they didn't just decide to make the bezel bigger just because.

Good point, but consider this: the MBA is only 0.16" thick around the edges... how much electronics fits in a sixth of an inch? I once had to take apart my dropped 1GHz TiBook, and there was a bunch of plastic webbing filling out the edges which I glued back together to make a solid repair. There may well be just filler around the MBA edges to give it a "cutting-edge" form factor. I'd prefer something blunter and an inch less wide!

Also, they could have fit a 14.4" screen in the same space and reduced the bezel (assuming such LCD sizes are available).

The bezel width was probably driven by the need to provide sufficient skeletal strength to the lid...

r-gordon-7

Spliff · Jan 15, 2008

I think not being able to add memory is a dealbreaker as well.

IDANNY · Jan 15, 2008

Spliff said:
I think not being able to add memory is a dealbreaker as well.

2 gigs for what you'll actually want to do on that computer is probably plenty. I wonder what it would look like next to my old 12 inch powerbook. That was a cool little comp. They need to come out with a new one of those.

meagain · Jan 15, 2008

Uh - solmaker - how are you figuring the Air has a bigger footprint than the MB? They have the same exact width & depth.

I for one was thrilled that it doesn't have an optical.

I think it's priced more than reasonably well, and IDK why people are upset when there are 5 other laptop options to choose from. You don't like it. So what? Why start a thread about something you don't like when you have choices?

BigJohno · Jan 15, 2008

solmaker said:
Deal-breaker #1 - Bezel to the max

MBA is even longer and wider than a MB - 15.613" diagonal with only a 13.3" screen. Its massive bezel around the screen was the first thing I noticed about it. That's okay (albeit annoying) in a low-end MB, but hard to justify in a high-end MBA whose only selling point is portability and cutting-edge design. The bezel should be 1" thinner (like the MBP), either by reducing the machine size or increasing the screen.

Deal-breaker #2 - No matte

I have both a matte PB and the latest glossy MB - and the glossy MB screen is really sub-par. I want a matte option in a $1.8-3.0K machine.

Deal-breaker #3 - No dock

I can see having no optical drive and other lost ports if there were a dock included to provide full functionality - but this baby's got nothing! No firewire, no ethernet, no audio in, no stereo speakers, no CD/DVD... everything hanging on a single USB2 port?!?

Deal-breaker #4 - Lousy hard drive

The MBA lives or dies by its hard drive, and its only option (under $3K) is a crummy 80GB 4200-rpm PATA drive?!? Even the $350 iPod holds 160GB! With great deals available like $200 for WD Scorpio 320GB SATA, why put this 80GB dog under the MBA hood?

Deal-breaker #5 - High bucks for the bang

With all these negatives, and only one positive (thinness), the $1800 price is way too much, especially considering that Apple further nickel-and-dimes accessories to bring the MBA anywhere near MB capabilities: $99 for superdrive, $29 for ethernet adapter, about $20 for USB2 micro hub, and $19 for Apple Remote (included free with all other MBs - talk about adding insult to injury).

Dude ur spot on!!!!

carsncars · Jan 15, 2008

accept the lack of an optical drive. In a portable, secondary
machine, I rarely use it -- I can't recall a single instance where
I've used it on the road.

I accept the built-in battery. It's a price to pay for the thinness
and weight, and the fact that Apple does the replacement free of
charge certainly makes the pill easier to swallow. Sure, I'll be
without my Macbook Air for a week, but it's my secondary machine -- I
can deal. That week without it, IMO, is worth 1.5-2 years of
portability.

I accept the single USB port. The only situation where I use more
than one USB device is downloading photos from my camera to a
portable HDD, and in that case I can just pack in a mini USB hub into
my camera bag. If I do end up requiring multiple USB devices, chances
are I'll be at home or at school and I can use a hub (I cannot see
juggling multiple USB devices while on-the-go).

I can accept the 1.8" hard drive, as well. I'm not going to be doing
any intensive work on here -- it'll last. And, come two years' time
and it fails, 1.8" 80Gb hard drives should be dirt cheap. Besides, it's
my secondary machine, so I'll be backing up regularly.

What I cannot accept, however, is the 13.3" footprint. Especially
with the grotesquely large size of the Macbook and Macbook Air's LCD
bezels, it just makes it an impossibility to use it on an airline
fold-out tray table. This absolutely kills the deal for me. The
thinness and light weight are all very well... but it's not an
ultraportable. That is my dealbreaker.

Too bad... I would've been sold with an 11.1" or 12.1". I'll stick to
my 2-year-old VAIO TX for now, then.

chewietobbacca · Jan 15, 2008

carsncars said:
What I cannot accept, however, is the 13.3" footprint. Especially
with the grotesquely large size of the Macbook and Macbook Air's LCD
bezels, it just makes it an impossibility to use it on an airline
fold-out tray table. This absolutely kills the deal for me. The
thinness and light weight are all very well... but it's not an
ultraportable. That is my dealbreaker.

Too bad... I would've been sold with an 11.1" or 12.1". I'll stick to
my 2-year-old VAIO TX for now, then.

That footprint definitely hurts calling it an ultra-portable. I wish it were an 11" that thin, that would've been nice!

Top 5 MBA deal-breakers

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