I got my iPad not too long ago and I have fallen in love with it. I also have a Unibody MacBook. While this is a thin and lightweight laptop, it feels like a bunch of bricks compared to my iPad. I have begun wanting a MacBook Air really bad because of how lightweight and portable it is. What do you guys think about this? Do you find yourself feeling the same way when you pick up your MacBooks or MacBook Pros? (Also, I have an iMac so the MacBook Air would in no way be my primary machine.)
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
My iPad has made me want a MacBook Air
- Thread starter Caleb B
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Oh yeah, most definitely. I'm hoping for 4GB RAM standard and an SSD across all models.
Boy I should have started this thread yesterday. I have found the same thing is true. Slinging my BMB to the table next to me, with my Arithritis, frankly hurts. no such issues with my iPad.
My Daughter and I were at the Apple store in the International Mall in Tampa, yesterday. she wanted to look at the new iMac. We went up to the gorgeous 27" screen, and She touched the screen to do something, "no touch screen Dad?". There in lies a problem. we both have fallen in love with the iPad, she walked up to the register, and bought the very last iPad3G. we are BOTH, hung up on touch screen.
That said, my NEXT Apple lappie WILL HAVE a touchscreen, so let me put that on the TOP of my list for the next MBA, and yeah, it's a must have!
Boy I should have started this thread yesterday. I have found the same thing is true. Slinging my BMB to the table next to me, with my Arithritis, frankly hurts. no such issues with my iPad.
My Daughter and I were at the Apple store in the International Mall in Tampa, yesterday. she wanted to look at the new iMac. We went up to the gorgeous 27" screen, and She touched the screen to do something, "no touch screen Dad?". There in lies a problem. we both have fallen in love with the iPad, she walked up to the register, and bought the very last iPad3G. we are BOTH, hung up on touch screen.
That said, my NEXT Apple lappie WILL HAVE a touchscreen, so let me put that on the TOP of my list for the next MBA, and yeah, it's a must have!
A touchscreen on the next MacBook Air would be incredible!
I agree that the iPad makes the desire for a MBA greater for me. It intensifies the value of being thin and light from a usage perspective.
I have:
27" i7 iMac (shared with my wife)
15" MBP for just work (provided my employer)
13" MBA rev C w/SSD
64GB iPad 3G
32GB 3Gs iPhone
Of those, the 15" is my least favorite machine (by far). Since I got the iPad, the 15" MBP seems unbearable to use. I feel like I have been thrown back into the 90s.
For me, the iPad has not replaced the need for a good laptop at all. I use the iPad primarily for media consumption. It is a spectacular machine to use during my frequent flights (I have made 8 already using my wife's WiFi iPad until mine arrived). It also found it to be a satisfactory machine to use for note-taking during a technical conference that I attended recently. It was not as easy to use as my MBA for taking notes, but it was superb for portability between sessions and walking through the exhibit hall.
I am really looking forward to the next release of the MBA. My wife really wants to take possession of my current MBA, and I am not willing to buy a new one until it is available with 4GB of memory... even if that is the only upgrade. At this point, as a current owner of a MBA, and an iPad... I am simply not willing to buy any laptop larger than an MBA going forward. My use of the iPad sealed any doubt in my mind that I value thin and light over any other attribute of a laptop.
P.S. Having the 27" iMac really helps with this decision. I use that almost exclusively for any "big" projects that I have including video transcoding, Aperture, etc. I think owning the iMac enables me to focus on the value of thin and light portable machines.
/Jim
You hot the nail on the head with that last point. I have the upper model 21.5" iMac and that allows me to do all my heavy work there while allowing me to do lighter work on the go. And like you said, the weight and portability of a laptop is the singlemost important factor when you have a powerful desktop.
I have the iMac, the Unibody MacBook, an iPad, and an iPhone. A MBA would beautifully replace the MacBook.
Strongly agree with Caleb B and flynz4 (though for me, it is a high end 1st gen 17" MBP with apple HD 23" rather than an iMac is my main heavy work station).
No it wouldn't! It'd just tip up whenever you tried using it.
I couldn't go backwards from a MBP though. I need a lot of the features it has that the MBA or iPad don't.
I agree.
ARM based iPad absolutely blows any other mobile devices in Speed ( with just 256 MB ram, 1ghz(?) processor) , battery life, cool to touch even after watching several hours of video and ease of use. If A4 goes dual core with 1 ghz memory, it will blow away anything else out there..
What is MBA is the first hybrid laptop with hybrid Mac OS X on ARM processor, where users can install their own apps (of course, it has to be re-compiled for ARM process). Just a wishful thinking, I know.
Apple has done, time and again, switching processors- so Mac OS X (with iPhone OS X) on ARM is not out of question, i guess.
I agree with a couple of competing ideas that have been expressed in this thread. First, as the OP said, my own iPad has made me yearn even more for an updated MBA. But I also agree with the competing proposition that I wouldn't go backward from my MBP. That may put me between a rock and a hard place because my MBP has 6Gb of RAM and needs every byte of it to run Fusion and Windows 7 in Unity mode. I keep hoping that the next MBA will have more than 4Gb of RAM but I'm not holding my breath. Oh, well, I still have an iPad and it really is pretty sweet.
I'm kinda liking this whole hybrid MBA idea. Standard Mac OSX, but with the iPhone/iPad OS running atop it as a skin used mainly for entertainment (touch-based of course). Although I couldn't really see Apple making this move, it's interesting to think of all the possibilities.
Okay anyone with a laptop claiming that touchscreen is a good idea;
Go to your laptop.
(if you don't like fingerprints use a glove)
Touch the display.
See how under iPod/iPad style usage it is susceptible to tipping? The lighter the base is the more tipping it would do.
Given there is a keyboard and whole computer lying below the display, where would that go if you wanted to use it as an iPad style device?
Has anyone tried using a desktop or laptop computer with a touchscreen? I have. You need to constantly keep your arm raised to operate it, it's not even a fun novelty... just a pain (unlike the iPod)!
This thread reminds me of;
![homer-car.gif]()
Go to your laptop.
(if you don't like fingerprints use a glove)
Touch the display.
See how under iPod/iPad style usage it is susceptible to tipping? The lighter the base is the more tipping it would do.
Given there is a keyboard and whole computer lying below the display, where would that go if you wanted to use it as an iPad style device?
Has anyone tried using a desktop or laptop computer with a touchscreen? I have. You need to constantly keep your arm raised to operate it, it's not even a fun novelty... just a pain (unlike the iPod)!
This thread reminds me of;
Some limited thinking here. In its current form factor, yes an MBA with a touchscreen wouldn't work.
Personally though I have a vision of an MBA type unit with a foldover display (hinge goes 360 degrees instead of the current 120) enabling dual use as traditional laptop and touchscreen tablet (think larger iPad but running OS X). Best of both worlds.
Would need another fantastic collaboration between the design and engineering, but it is feasible.
They've been done before. One of the admins of a game dev I used to visit in 2005 had one, I'm sure they've come a long way though. They weren't that great.
I used to work for a company that manufactured and modified computers to support touchscreens. For computer use they're not as good as what we already have with high DPI mice and almost zero latency keyboards. For iPods/iPads it does work.
Great for EPOS and installation systems though, just don't try doing work on them!
+1 Touchscreen laptops with foldover screens always failed because it was a desktop OS modified to work with a touch interface. (Use windows with a wacom, its not fun...)
There is also the touchscreen desktops you see in stores that noone buys. Nobody wants to sit there and finger up their monitor for some crappy gimmick, which right now thats all it is unless its a touch OS like iPhone OS.
I really think touch interfaces and regular computers should be seperate items.
I'm actually running a little experiment here. I will be using the iPad heavily trying to replace the majority of MBAs duties.....so far the only thing I'm surprised about the the typing accuracy and speed in landscape mode
The experience I have had with an iPad over the past few weeks has taught me that the number one Dirty Little Secret of touch screens is that they become filthy with smudges almost immediately. It is such a problem that I keep a spray bottle of LCD screen cleaning solution and a microfiber cloth near at hand. That said, the touch screen makes good sense in a device as small and light weight as the iPad, although I agree that a touch screen is probably a bad idea for a more conventional computer.
Ah I think the Air with a flip over screen is a great idea. I use a ASUS tablet and windows 7 and I will say it works awesome (thanks to 7). I can write (ink or type), type, and draw...anywhere. The iPad is just not business enough for me, but I'm waiting on the Air as a still have a G4 Powerbook (so everyone with first gen Intel stop whining), and the wait is killing me.
Thinking of the 1 million iPads I though take one iPad screen slap it on the
utside: of the Air screen, and you've got best or both worlds....just thinking outside the box please nooo, I would hate a touchscreen laptop... or desktop.Boy I should have started this thread yesterday. I have found the same thing is true. Slinging my BMB to the table next to me, with my Arithritis, frankly hurts. no such issues with my iPad.
My Daughter and I were at the Apple store in the International Mall in Tampa, yesterday. she wanted to look at the new iMac. We went up to the gorgeous 27" screen, and She touched the screen to do something, "no touch screen Dad?". There in lies a problem. we both have fallen in love with the iPad, she walked up to the register, and bought the very last iPad3G. we are BOTH, hung up on touch screen.
That said, my NEXT Apple lappie WILL HAVE a touchscreen, so let me put that on the TOP of my list for the next MBA, and yeah, it's a must have!
The idea works perfectly with the ipad an iphone, and ipod touch, but not desktops, and notebooks.
What if the MBA had a touchscreen but also gave you the option to use the trackpad and tactile keyboard? That way, people who like the idea of a touchscreen MBA would be happy, but those who dislike the idea would still be able to use the conventional controls (trackpad/keyboard).
I think we will get an MBA with a touch LCD trackpad. I believe the functionality will be similar to the iPhone OS products. Imagine a trackpad that shows the whole screen on it and allows instant touch which would be better than a mouse. Once inside of an app, one would use multitouch just as on an iPhone OS product. I really believe this is where Apple is headed with the Macs. Maybe it would try it on the MBA first?
It is good news that iPads are driving demand for an MBA. I believe Apple will drive further demand for Macs by allowing iPad/iPhone OS product users the ease of migration by somehow integrating iPhone OS to run in a shell or some variation thereof. I see Apple as benefiting by having an iPhone OS emulator within OS X for people to buy apps for it also. The Mac could drive more demand for iPhone OS products and the iPhone OS products would drive more demand and migration from Windows to Macs.
It is good news that iPads are driving demand for an MBA. I believe Apple will drive further demand for Macs by allowing iPad/iPhone OS product users the ease of migration by somehow integrating iPhone OS to run in a shell or some variation thereof. I see Apple as benefiting by having an iPhone OS emulator within OS X for people to buy apps for it also. The Mac could drive more demand for iPhone OS products and the iPhone OS products would drive more demand and migration from Windows to Macs.