Is the macbookair the ultiamte example of favoring form over function?

glocke12 said:

First, I admit it is a cool idea, a cool looking notebook, and I can kind of unterstand how it will appear to certain segments of society, but in the end is it really just a prime example of Apple favoring form over function?

There is no optical drive. Sure, you can get the external optical drive, but than that means one more device to carry around if you need one.

While thin, it really is not a compact notebook, it still has length and width.

Price, pretty expensive, especially considering that a MBP is only a couple of hundred dollars more.

I could go on, but I dont want to appear to be bashing the MBA. It just seems that Apple, in its quest for a thin and light notebook, sacrificed many things to bring this to market.

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I love and bought it soooooo NO!

Is the macbookair the ultiamte example of favoring form over function?

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i think you just explained every apple product to date....???

Although I tend to be critical towards Apple, I don't seem to understand why people dislike the air so much.

There is no optical drive. Sure, you can get the external optical drive, but than that means one more device to carry around if you need one.

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This is the case with many ultraportable models (ThinkPad X61s being one of the more famous ones). I own a MacBook and I honestly can't remember when was the last time I inserted a DVD in it. They let you use another computer's drive for installations and other similar unavoidable stuff, which seems pretty cool. For everything else, I have a dirt cheap 4 GB USB key which is superior or at least comparable in most ways. I store bigger chunks of data on an external 500 GB drive.

I realise other people may have different needs, but for me, optical units are becoming useless.

While thin, it really is not a compact notebook, it still has length and width.

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Perhaps true, but I feel Apple's claim they brought down the weight while keeping the keyboard and screen size untouched is not just marketing BS. This thing actually looks comfortable to work with while still being very light. I always thought weight was the main thing about ultraportable machines, you can stick this thing wherever you can stick a notepad or something similar.

Price, pretty expensive, especially considering that a MBP is only a couple of hundred dollars more.

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Funny, I thought the price was allright. It's not fair to compare it to the MBP, check out the prices of other ultraportable machines like Sony's Vaio TZ and the ThinkPad X series I mentioned earlier. It's actually cheaper.

If you ask me, there are other things that deserve more criticism. IMHO, it would be a much better machine if it was a mm or two thicker and had Ethernet and more USB ports.

Matek said:

Funny, I thought the price was allright. It's not fair to compare it to the MBP, check out the prices of other ultraportable machines like Sony's Vaio TZ and the ThinkPad X series I mentioned earlier. It's actually cheaper.

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Funny, I just checked out the pricing of the X61s that you mentioned earlier, and it seems to be both cheaper and better featured the MBA. Competitively configured, it came in at around $1400, with 3xUSB, 1xFW, 1xGb Ethernet, audio-in, big and fast 2.5" HD, user servicable Ram and HD, various battery options, same CPU and GPU, card reader, ExpressCard slot, optional fingerprint scanner and mobile broadband. It's a little thicker, but smaller in the other dimensions, and around the same weight. The display is weaker and it lacks a webcam, but it seems to require none of the other sacrifices the MBA is making (apart from the optical drive), and it's quite a bit cheaper to boot.