MacBook Air Evolving Into Mainstream Product?

[Gemütlichkeit]

My next upgrade (from my 2008 mbp) will be a Sandy Bridge MBA (if they ever come out!)

 

[Cheffy Dave]

i used to own a white macbook 13" and 3g iPad for on the road. Sold the two and bought the MBA - best thing i ever did. The screen on this thing is amazing and its far more functional than an iPad. I have a full mac with me all the time now

I too , am smitten with the 11"MBA,I am going to go refurb, and pop in an OWC 360gb HDD, and enjoy the ride, that is after I submit it to my friend Scottsdale for approval,LOL

 

[Cheffy Dave]

The MacBook Air and the iPad are the future of portable computing. Thin, light, fast (SSD). Enough power to get the job done, not so much power you need 3 cooling fans and 3 lbs. of battery to do it.

It's not that the MacBook Air is evolving into a mainstream product. It's the mainstream that's evolving into MacBook Air-like products.

I heartily concur

 

[RKpro]

I bet sales of the whitebook have tanked since October. Only reason to buy a whitebook was because you could not afford a macbook pro. The air is even better than 13" MBP in everything but raw cpu power, and lack of some ports.

 

[Full of Win]

Really?
Why, what can you use the TB port with today?

Ask me that question when they add it the MacBook Air.

 

[Stridder44]

I think once an internal SSD drive of 500GB capacity can be had for $150, the air will be the top mac laptop.

One day. sigh

 

[IlluminatedSage]

i personally believe the MB Air isn't a mainstream laptop, it is a laptop light. I need a CD/DVD and BD optical drive.

apple wont sell it to me, wants to shift people to its ecosystem. ie. get rid of optical drives, to force more people to buy content and software from apple owned stores. ie itunes and app store. So the Air is proof of Apple's future vision possibly. not really mine. yes its light, easy to carry. great! but for those of us who dont mind 5-6 pounds, give us optical drives and Blu-Ray!

sorry... i like a NON-CLOSED ecosystem. I am not a mindless drone. i like options.

i am starting to like the idea of windows more.

 

[Westside guy]

I will buy the MBA when it gets a backlit keyboard.

That's odd - they removed that? My previous gen MBA has a backlit keyboard.

BTW as far as the product's "evolution" goes - I think it's more likely that, as processor speed and power continue to increase far faster than peoples' needs do, buyers are beginning to realize that - practically speaking - a Core 2 Duo is more than enough computing power for what they do. Heck, we used to run Photoshop on G3 and G4 processors...

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Paging Captain Obvious!

Laptops will soon go the way of desktops for most people unless they depend on a computer directly for their living such as serious editors or designers.
I would lay money the current 13" MBP will be the last 13" MBP manufactured. The 13" MBA fills that need for 99% of anyone needing a 13" machine.

I disagree, Laptops are here to stay,Desktops are the dinosaurs, had you said 17" MBP, I would have agreed, with the 15"MBP the biggest

 

[tigres]

Ask me that question when they add it the MacBook Air.

Well that maybe quite some time. Wait on...

 

[JGowan]

I wants!

 

[108]

hey, a macbook air with integrated 3G / 4G would be pretty neat.

 

[Rot'nApple]

Duh Charlie Sheen says WINNER!

I thought Charlie Sheen said, 'Go ahead and "boo"... I already got your money!'
Duh, Loser!

Regarding MBA... Got mine Black Thursday last year! First ever laptop for me!
/
/
/

 

[LondonCentral]

Sounds like a lot of us are waiting for a serious MBA update in terms of Sandy bridge etc.

Hope it comes before the end of the year. Summer would be nice, I'll get it with my iPhone 5.

 

[Ubik1981]

I remember that one or two years ago some ppl in this forum predicted the death of the MBA ... ironic

 

[bmat]

As an 11.6 user it is easy to see why. I have had so many other laptops, including MacBooks and MacBook pros, and the air is my favorite due to build, portability, and performance with the ssd.

 

[Red Defiant]

I am shocked to see how popular these are becoming. Personally if I got one it would only be an addition to my computers not a replacement for my MBP. Like having the optical drive at my leisure and the better computing power. But then again I do working the IT field. I could easily see how they meet the average consumers needs. None the less I want one.

 

[jclardy]

Just wait until they add Thunderbolt to the design. I know more than one person who never even looked at the MBA for its lack of a high speed port.

For me it is this. After using FW800 external HDD's I won't be able to go back to a slow USB 2.0 connection when moving a lot of data.

 

[Apple Expert]

They make the ssd to be 512 and keep the price about 1700-1800 with at least 4th of ram and we got a deal.

 

[andrew1986]

Just ordered a refurbished 11 inch MBA (1.6 C2D/4gb) and a portable 1TB external hdd for my upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. I'll be lugging around enough gear as it is, so my 2.5 year old heavy MBP is going on Ebay!

 

[genosseinski]

Hope Apple brings out next generation Air this year, with Lion, Thunderbolt, SandyBridge. This is the computer I'm looking for; light, easy, functional and a stable OS. Guess I'd choose a 256GB SSD to not worry about space (at least for some years ahead). Hook it up at home with a decent monitor and you're good to go.

But I wouldn't be surprised if Apple waits again quite a long time and updates the Air in 2012 Their notebook-refresh-cycles have slowed down recently.

Did anyone hear about new TB-products since MBP refresh? I'm afraid the industry won't pick up this standard...

 

[Frisco]

Let me know when the G5 Air is for sale and I am getting one.

 

[tim916]

Not surprising. The MBA makes more sense for most users rather than a 13" MBP.

 

[jouster]

I do not disagree with you. I should have said for "my real work". Obviously there are activities that require mobile computing and can be handled by a phone, tablet, netbook etc. just fine.

Sorry - it wasn't aimed at you in particular. Rather, at the hordes of people who seem to think small notebooks and tablets - Apple ones in particular - are only for consumption. A later poster put it perfectly: the market has evolved, not the computers. In practical terms, as a business traveller, this suggests to me that I'll see fewer and fewer guys in suits schlepping gigantic Dell laptops with power bricks the size of small houses, and using them solely for Word and Outlook.

 

[buckers]

I bet sales of the whitebook have tanked since October. Only reason to buy a whitebook was because you could not afford a macbook pro. The air is even better than 13" MBP in everything but raw cpu power, and lack of some ports.

This.

I'd like to hope they'd rethink it's pricing and specs (and bring it out in colours?) than discontinuing it.

I've just upgraded from a late 2007 white MacBook. Really liked that machine.