Article: The MacBook Air Misses the Mark [as 12" PB replacement]

[macjay]

Good article for those of us who were looking forward to a 12" PB replacement:

http://lowendmac.com/myturn/0801my/macbook-air-misses-mark.html

[meagain]

I see you don't get it either.

Oh and here's a fun pic with your great 12" PB next to an Air
http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=223531&s=1473&a=223534&po=2,00.asp

[macjay]

What's to get?

Are you saying that the MBA is a 12" PB replacement?

[diabolic]

I am quite sure the MBA was not intended to be a 12" PB replacement.

I think it's an entirely different product with a different target market.

[macjay]

I am quite sure the MBA was not intended to be a 12" PB replacement.

I think it's an entirely different product with a different target market.

Exactly. Which is why those of us who were looking forward to a small MBP are disappointed.

[jackc]

The good news is my 12" PB is worth a fortune on ebay!

OK maybe not a fortune, but not bad for a 4-year old computer

[CalMin]

Good article for those of us who were looking forward to a 12" PB replacement:

http://lowendmac.com/myturn/0801my/macbook-air-misses-mark.html

Thanks for the link. This is on point. I'm still thinking about a MacBook Air, but for that money it needs to be perfect and, well, there are compromises.

I remember thinking how perfect the G4 PowerBook was when it came out. I didn't buy the first one, but when when it go Mini-DVI instead of VGA, I was first in-line. There weren't ANY compromises - it was EXACTLY what I wanted in a laptop. I still use the same 1ghz machine daily, yet I've upgraded the iMac twice.

Come on Apple. I have the money (I've been spending it on your desktops) why not give us what we want?

[JayLenochiniMac]

Oh and here's a fun pic with your great 12" PB next to an Air
http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=223531&s=1473&a=223534&po=2,00.asp

Funny, hardly any difference in the footprint between the two, at least to me.

[CalMin]

One more thought on this - I suspect the issue is screen real estate. 1024 x 768 doesn't cut it and a higher resolution in a 12" form factor is hard to read for some folks. 13.3inch is where they're going to settle.

[diabolic]

I suspect the issue is screen real estate.

For me it's one of the main considerations. If the screen or keyboard were smaller, I wouldn't even consider buying the MBA. The footprint is a non-issue for me.

[TheStu]

Funny, hardly any difference in the footprint between the two, at least to me.

The MacBook Air is about 2" wider actually. I have both a 12" PowerBook and a 13.3" MacBook (and the Air is the same footprint as the MacBook), and the MacBook is noticeably wider.

[Matiek]

When did apple ever say that they were going to make a new 12" PB? They never did. I'm sorry that apple didn't make the exact product that you wanted but the good news is, if you're willing to be open minded, the MBA is only an inch wider, slimmer and lighter. I promise you'll get more complements on a MBA than you did with your 12" PB.

[macjay]

When did apple ever say that they were going to make a new 12" PB? They never did. I'm sorry that apple didn't make the exact product that you wanted but the good news is, if you're willing to be open minded, the MBA is only an inch wider, slimmer and lighter. I promise you'll get more complements on a MBA than you did with your 12" PB.

I'm not looking for compliments -- I'm looking for a premium, full-featured, compact laptop from Apple.

[JayLenochiniMac]

The MacBook Air is about 2" wider actually. I have both a 12" PowerBook and a 13.3" MacBook (and the Air is the same footprint as the MacBook), and the MacBook is noticeably wider.

Yes, and I'm aware it feels much smaller in person. My point is it doesn't "appear" that much bigger in the picture, just as the MBA doesn't look that much smaller when placed on top of the 15" MBP in the other pictures.

[heatmiser]

Definitely misses it. All Apple had to do was offer a machine matching the low-end MBP in a 13" form factor. Something like that would have sold like hotcakes when priced at the MBA's level. Instead, they tried to create another consumer-focused laptop by gutting a Macbook, coating it in aluminum, and calling it a revolution. Fail!

[landis]

are you ^^ smoking crack? the macbook air is way smaller than the the mbp in person and in pictures. i hate how everyone always assumes that apple should make the product exactly for them and not for the majority of buyers. if you want a 12" powerbook, buy one. has it ever occurred to you that apple doesnt spend millions of dollars on a product that has no intended market. they are probably trying to crack into a market that has yet to be tapped: women who take a computer with them, not just business men. this computer is very appealing to women because of its size and weight.

apple is not stupid, sure they could sell a hundred 12" mbp or they could actually make money!

[Quillz]

are you ^^ smoking crack? the macbook air is way smaller than the the mbp in person and in pictures. i hate how everyone always assumes that apple should make the product exactly for them and not for the majority of buyers. if you want a 12" powerbook, buy one. has it ever occurred to you that apple doesnt spend millions of dollars on a product that has no intended market. they are probably trying to crack into a market that has yet to be tapped: women who take a computer with them, not just business men. this computer is very appealing to women because of its size and weight.

apple is not stupid, sure they could sell a hundred 12" mbp or they could actually make money!
Apparently Apple isn't stupid, but the same can't be said for some posters.

[Zwhaler]

...I don't think the MBA was intended to be a 12" PB replacement, or else Apple would have made it more 12" PB-like. The MBA misses as a refrigerator too.

[Jiddick ExRex]

The MBA misses as a refrigerator too.

Yeah. It's annoying that I need to buy a refrigerator as well if I buy a MBA. :(

[JWest]

...I don't think the MBA was intended to be a 12" PB replacement, or else Apple would have made it more 12" PB-like. The MBA misses as a refrigerator too.

Yes, but a lot of people want a 12" MBP (including myself), and apple gave us this instead. I don't think anyone wants a fridge from apple...

[Catch]

Good article for those of us who were looking forward to a 12" PB replacement:

http://lowendmac.com/myturn/0801my/macbook-air-misses-mark.html

That article was nothing more than a summary of all the winging on this forum. Another guys personal opinion, whom was upset to not get a 12". This group of people remind me of the people that are trying to bring back the cube.

I lost all respect for the author and stopped reading when I got to this part: "If I want a really light, thin, stripped down Mac for traveling, I've already got one: my iPhone."

Having said that, I agree it was a shame that they stopped producing that 12" form factor machine. I am surprised that a small machine like that with an optical drive built in would sell so little that Apple decided it not worth producing it. Then again, I actually loved the Cube, so maybe I just like odd and apparently useless machines... especially since I have ordered the MBA. :rolleyes:

I think 'more' choice is better than 'less', but I guess Apple want a tidier product line...

Regards,

C

[trancepriest]

I promise you'll get more complements on a MBA than you did with your 12" PB.

Definitely not intended as a replacement for the 12" PB. The MBA is the first computer built for complements. You don't even need clothes while wearing this thing. It's a social computer... it's not intended for usage while nobody is around. As soon as you see someone.. male or female.. just pop it open and start doing a mating ritual. It is also intended to solve the obesity problem in America. It's like a deflection cloak for fat computer users.

[MacsAttack]

Ever notice how the MBA fits in an envelope?

The same form factor envelope that is used in offices?

The same for factor envelope that business people all over stash in their breif/notebook/case? Along with papers/binders/book that also are the same footprint?

Thickness and weight are the important things. Giving it a smaller screen and keyboard would have been a pointless exercise.

[Cybergypsy]

Love it! mine is prepared to ship :) everyone must whine about something!

[clayj]

Folks, unless the size of the average person's hands starts decreasing, the footprint of laptops has gotten just about as small as it's going to get. In order for an average person to be able to type effectively, the keyboard can't be any smaller than a certain size; and if the keyboard is that wide and deep, then the screen should also be roughly that wide and deep. Those two constraints inform the minimum footprint size, at least until someone designs a keyboard and screen that collapse when the machine is closed. (Perhaps flexible screens, currently in development, will help with this process.)

If you want a smaller footprint, there are machines out there that are even smaller than the MBA. But their keyboards are sized for small children, and their screens are smaller and harder to read.

I don't understand why some people have a hard time grasping that these machines are designed to be used by adult (or teenage, at the very least) human beings. That imposes certain limitations on how small things can be and remain effectively usable.

[Jiddick ExRex]

Folks, unless the size of the average person's hands starts decreasing, the footprint of laptops has gotten just about as small as it's going to get. In order for an average person to be able to type effectively, the keyboard can't be any smaller than a certain size; and if the keyboard is that wide and deep, then the screen should also be roughly that wide and deep. Those two constraints inform the minimum footprint size, at least until someone designs a keyboard and screen that collapse when the machine is closed. (Perhaps flexible screens, currently in development, will help with this process.)

If you want a smaller footprint, there are machines out there that are even smaller than the MBA. But their keyboards are sized for small children, and their screens are smaller and harder to read.

I don't understand why some people have a hard time grasping that these machines are designed to be used by adult (or teenage, at the very least) human beings. That imposes certain limitations on how small things can be and remain effectively usable.

There's a lot of wasted space from sides to the beginning of the keyboard as well as the giant bezel around the screen. They could easily have chipped off 0.75-1" off overall and made the Air more useable.

I am quite disappointed they didn't do this.

[clayj]

There's a lot of wasted space from sides to the beginning of the keyboard as well as the giant bezel around the screen. They could easily have chipped off 0.75-1" off overall and made the Air more useable.

I am quite disappointed they didn't do this.Unless you've seen detailed schematics/pictures of the entire inside of the machine, you don't know this for a fact. I *have* seen a picture of the insides of the lower half of the MBA, and it doesn't look like there's a lot of wasted space inside there.

[CalMin]

Unless you've seen detailed schematics/pictures of the entire inside of the machine, you don't know this for a fact. I *have* seen a picture of the insides of the lower half of the MBA, and it doesn't look like there's a lot of wasted space inside there.

+1

The thing is as small as they could have dang well made it. The bezel is ugly, but I doubt there's any space in there at all.

[macjay]

has it ever occurred to you that apple doesnt spend millions of dollars on a product that has no intended market...

apple is not stupid, sure they could sell a hundred 12" mbp or they could actually make money!

So Dell is only selling a few XPS M1330 and Sony is only selling a few SZ? Those are incredibly popular models in the premium 13" category, and they're full-featured.

A 13" MBP would likewise be very popular.

[RichL]

My girlfriend has a PB from several years ago. Her school (School of the Art Institute of Chicago - SAIC) was the first to ever have a school wide laptop plan which I think was featured in an apple article. Anyway, her laptop is getting old now, just as others in this article are feeling, and she wanted a replacement with some power like a MBP. Now, she doesn't follow technology but when I told her the new portable Apple made had no CD drive and a hard drive that was the standard size of about 4 years ago she was a little upset. That 12 incher she's got now is just what she likes for portability. Having a laptop that's a little bit thinner doesn't really justify all those key components being ransacked.

So, maybe apple isn't making a laptop for everyone but there is a consumer base that is presumably upset about the laptop or lack there of that the MBA has graced us with.

-Rich L

Edit: lol whats the sense of ultra portability if you need to carry around an external HD and DVD drive?

[clayj]

Edit: lol whats the sense of ultra portability if you need to carry around an external HD and DVD drive?Um... who says you need to carry around an external HD and an external DVD drive?

See, that's what a bunch of critics of the MBA don't seem to get: A lot of us don't need an incredibly huge hard drive in our notebooks. 80 GB, or 64 GB in my case, will be plenty big enough.

And a lot of us don't need an optical drive when we are out of the office. The only thing I've ever used my MBP's optical drive for is to install software; once I've done that, the optical drive is just extra weight and volume for me to carry around.

So I am happy that the MBA has no optical drive built-in, and I'm happy with the size of the available HD/SSD.

[TheStu]

My girlfriend has a PB from several years ago. Her school (School of the Art Institute of Chicago - SAIC) was the first to ever have a school wide laptop plan which I think was featured in an apple article. Anyway, her laptop is getting old now, just as others in this article are feeling, and she wanted a replacement with some power like a MBP. Now, she doesn't follow technology but when I told her the new portable Apple made had no CD drive and a hard drive that was the standard size of about 4 years ago she was a little upset. That 12 incher she's got now is just what she likes for portability. Having a laptop that's a little bit thinner doesn't really justify all those key components being ransacked.

So, maybe apple isn't making a laptop for everyone but there is a consumer base that is presumably upset about the laptop or lack there of that the MBA has graced us with.

-Rich L

Edit: lol whats the sense of ultra portability if you need to carry around an external HD and DVD drive?

80GB was standard 4 years ago... no it really wasn't. Not in laptops, and just barely in desktops, so stop lying to your girlfriend.

[eba]

Um... who says you need to carry around an external HD and an external DVD drive?

See, that's what a bunch of critics of the MBA don't seem to get: A lot of us don't need an incredibly huge hard drive in our notebooks. 80 GB, or 64 GB in my case, will be plenty big enough.

And a lot of us don't need an optical drive when we are out of the office. The only thing I've ever used my MBP's optical drive for is to install software; once I've done that, the optical drive is just extra weight and volume for me to carry around.

So I am happy that the MBA has no optical drive built-in, and I'm happy with the size of the available HD/SSD.

++++

The MBA also is a HUGE FAILURE as a replacement for the 17" MBP, the MacPro and the iMac. It's also a HUGE FAILURE as a replacement for a corn shucker, a drill press and a floor buffer. Apple REALLY SCREWED UP on this one.

[Catch]

80GB was standard 4 years ago... no it really wasn't. Not in laptops, and just barely in desktops, so stop lying to your girlfriend.

I love these comments going around lol. I just can't stop reading the MBA threads. I agree with the above completely. Was not much longer than 4 years ago people were cutting video with less powerful machines than the MBA. I think I just about traded in my G4 for one of the first G5s around that time...

Either people are very young on this forum or they have very bad memory...

http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=g5

Regards,

C

[Jiddick ExRex]

Unless you've seen detailed schematics/pictures of the entire inside of the machine, you don't know this for a fact. I *have* seen a picture of the insides of the lower half of the MBA, and it doesn't look like there's a lot of wasted space inside there.

I am curious. Do you have a link or anything to said picture? It would be nice seeing as we right now have a standoff in statements.

+1

The thing is as small as they could have dang well made it. The bezel is ugly, but I doubt there's any space in there at all.

Dear lord I hope this '+1' catch phrase is over soon. It's getting old and overly abused.

And I strongly recommend backing up your statement with some sort of documentation to justify what you just said. Please Carol, were you in fact one of the engineers that designed the innards??
Otherwise, you 'know' for a fact that the MBA is a small as they could have dang well made it as I 'know' that they could have cut off the bezel. ;)

Honestly guys, I have also seen older and ultraportable laptops with 11" screens. If Sony can pull this off, so can Apple. Show me the pictures or be silent. And none of this 'but Apple made it as thin as they could. No, the attempt was made before in 2003(?) and was actually thinner.

This leads once again to before mentioned pictures of the innards. I would really like to see them as that could be the end-all of our petty argument. :)

[eba]

Honestly guys, I have also seen older and ultraportable laptops with 11" screens. If Sony can pull this off, so can Apple. Show me the pictures or be silent. And none of this 'but Apple made it as thin as they could. No, the attempt was made before in 2003(?) and was actually thinner.



And I've seen machines with tiny screens. They're called iPods.

Apple wasn't trying the make the smallest machine possible. They were trying to make the smallest machine possible with a 13" screen.

Why do people have trouble grasping that?

[clayj]

I am curious. Do you have a link or anything to said picture? It would be nice seeing as we right now have a standoff in statements.The picture was here on MacRumors, in one of the threads about the MBA, but I can't find it easily.

[TheStu]

I love these comments going around lol. I just can't stop reading the MBA threads. I agree with the above completely. Was not much longer than 4 years ago people were cutting video with less powerful machines than the MBA. I think I just about traded in my G4 for one of the first G5s around that time...

Either people are very young on this forum or they have very bad memory...

http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=g5

Regards,

C

I can't tell if you are on my side or the other guys... I stand by my statement that 80GB was just barely becoming standard in desktops and was miles away from being standard in laptops. How can I know this? Well, when I bought my MacBook 1.5 years ago, it shipped with a 60GB drive as default, if 80GB was standard, basically everything would have them.

[eba]

I can't tell if you are on my side or the other guys... I stand by my statement that 80GB was just barely becoming standard in desktops and was miles away from being standard in laptops. How can I know this? Well, when I bought my MacBook 1.5 years ago, it shipped with a 60GB drive as default, if 80GB was standard, basically everything would have them.

You're right.

[diabolic]

They could easily have chipped off 0.75-1" off overall and made the Air more useable.

Not if you look at this (http://gizmodo.com/assets/images/gallery/4/2008/01/medium_2195749818_93f9efc92f_o.jpg) picture, and if they only took away the screen bezel, then it would be smaller than the keyboard section. That would look terrible.

I wouldn't be buying one if the screen or keyboard were any smaller.

[clayj]

Not if you look at this (http://gizmodo.com/assets/images/gallery/4/2008/01/medium_2195749818_93f9efc92f_o.jpg) picture, and if they only took away the screen bezel, then it would be smaller than the keyboard section. That would look terrible.

I wouldn't be buying one if the screen or keyboard were any smaller.Yep, that's the picture I was referring to. Thanks!

As I said, you can't reduce the size of the machine below a certain footprint if it's to have a normal-sized keyboard. That, it turn, informs the size of the screen, and the two need to match width and height or it'll look like crap. Also, don't forget that a lot of the components are bought "off the shelf" (the screen, mostly) and this has an effect on whether the screen width will match the keyboard width.