The real point of MacBook Air - and why everyone is missing it.

[DeanNYC]

the mba should remind us of the bigger farther picture

details of your current tech needs are important, but take a breath. you're all mired in todays (old) ideas of different products and sizes with moving parts, buttons, disks, wires, thickness, and even fixes display size and flatness.

think ten or twenty years ahead when confligration happens with the directions "forward" and "between". "forward" in speed and size. "between" in size of format and choice of functions. mp3, phone, blackberry, notebook, laptop, desktop, hdtv will merge, touch boundaries, blurr boundaries, overlap, redefine, enhance formats, choices of features, and location of use.

and that's just what we consider computers at this point. and we all know how computers meld with peripherals and other common products.

 

[SteveCH8xxx]

MabBook Air Pro

I know now

The MacBook and the MacBook Pro
Then the MacBook Air ... and the MacBook Air Pro

With 15.4" there is a bit more space for a bigger
battery or a somehow better graphiccard or even
for the Wimx chipset ?

Hm .. well ...

 

[toke lahti]

But thats not possible for 2 reasons:
1) you'd be carrying around a huge brick instead of a nice/slim 45W Magsafe adapter.
2) Once your battery goes weak, you'd be living connected to a cable for external battery life.. How is that "Air" or "wireless" in any ways?..

1) It doesn't have to be huge. 45W's size would be enough?

2) If you charge MBA 10 times a week, you can choose
a) leave your laptop for battery replacement twice a year,
b) use MBA most of it's life with less than 3 hrs battery life
c) live with external battery

 

[geese]

Nice post OP!

If some nice man bought me an MBA for my birthday (March 2nd btw) I would be very happy.

Any takers?

I'll promise to buy you one if Colchester United finish in the top half of the league!

 

[ntrigue]

It's satisfying to hear reason amongst all the naysayers! What a beautiful product. Furthermore, I've used CS2 for website design on a 1.6 C2D and it works. I think this would be an ideal computer for a college student.

 

[deputy_doofy]

I've said it numerous times. Even if this version doesn't sell well, expect all the things learned from the engineering and the multi-touch track pad to find their way into future laptops as other components shrink.

The Cube paved the way for the Mac Mini. The Mackbook Air, assuming it does not sell well, will pave the way for still slimmer laptops without the sacrifices it made.

This is all good stuff!

 

[Gelfin]

Maybe this is the problem with treating MWSF like Christmas. Farm workers don't get upset when Ford announces a new Focus instead of a pickup truck, but people here assume the presents are going to be for them personally.

The MBA isn't for me, but there's a market for it. Hint: I think they came up with the name "MacBook Air" not because it was the best possible name for this product, but check out that acronym. There's your target market right there. This is the executive toy for 2008. The manilla envelope is a bit of clever marketing diversion that avoids being too on-the-nose. Something that fits easily into a manilla envelope will be immediately recognized as something that fits easily into a leather portfolio. This is Apple's inroad into business, and it may prove to be an excellent backdoor strategy.

All the executives where I work, the ones who used to sort of poke fun at me for choosing to buy my own MBP instead of having work issue me a Dell, are now walking around with iPhones. That's the hook. The MBA will just reel them in.

The problem with marketing products to people who do actual work is that organizational IT standards apply to those people. IT workers can rightly tell people like me to get bent if they don't feel like accommodating any special requirements to integrate my Mac into the network. You can't tell the CEO to bugger off and come back when he's got a proper Dell. You find a way to make his toy work.

And there's your corporate IT strategy. It's sneaky, but possibly brilliant. Getting the CEO's MBA working on the network will open the door for all of us who would prefer to use Macs given the choice.

 

[CalfCanuck]

Something that fits easily into a manilla envelope will be immediately recognized as something that fits easily into a leather portfolio. This is Apple's inroad into business, and it may prove to be an excellent backdoor strategy.

Great post - too many "starving students" on this forum who think that everything must be targeted for them, and if they don't get a 13" LCD with a optical drive in a pocket sized, 1 pound computer for $999 then Apple is crap...

Whenever I fly transatlantic , the plane has an entire group of people up front who's companies are paying $5000 for a ticket (my business trips are on MY company's expense account, so I'm sitting in back).

That means everyday there are thousands of people flying across the oceans on $10,000 business trips, most without checked luggage. The idea that weight doesn't matter is nonsense, as is the concept that the MBA is overpriced.

 

[SteveCH8xxx]

(...)
expect all the things learned from the engineering and the multi-touch
track pad to find their way into future laptops as other components shrink.
(...)
The Mackbook Air, assuming it does not sell well, will pave the way for
still slimmer laptops without the sacrifices it made.

I would expect a MacBook Air PRO

What Apple did now is to take the MacBook and simply shrink one of
the 3 dimensions ... by shrinking the shrinkable:
shrinked HardDisk or SolidStateDisks, solded RAMs, batteries, less inputs/outputs, a processor with new diffusion tecnology.

Now, lets' take the MacBook PRO (15.4", for instance) and again let's
shrink one of the 3 dimensions ... by shrinking the shrinkable:
shrinked HardDisk or SolidStateDisks, solded RAMs, batteries, less inputs/outputs, a processor with new diffusion tecnology.

We can simply leave on the market the existing MacBook/MacBookPro
line with more power/performance (but also bigger and powerconsuming)
and create aside the new MacBookAir/MacBookAirPro line with less power/performance (and of course slimmer, with less unused extension,
which are not used by the majority of the users)

 

[SteveCH8xxx]

(...)
is refering to the "footprint" of the MBA and how there's not that much difference between the MacBook and this.
(...)
this is plus, not a drawback. Full-size keyboard, reasonable screen size, it feels like a real laptop when open, but when you close it, it's thin.

Just my 2 cents to say that I'm a PowerBook12 owner and I know
what was great in the PB12 which is not (unfortunately) in this MBA:
the PB12 had a huge screen and a thinner margin around it.
The PowerBook12 was smaller than the iBook12, in every dimension !!!

I appreciate a big screen, I appreciate 1280x800 instead of 1024x768,
but the MacBookAir DOES NOT have a thinner margin around the screen

And by the way ...
everybody was talking about "ultraportable"
everybody, excepted Steve Jobs

 

[SteveCH8xxx]

I can't believe how much whining everyone did about the lack of a portable macbook pro.

So, steve read, and he's got right on it and brought out a machine that business users are going to be able to take with them to get their work done - and a fast one.

And now everyone is whining.

Go figure.

Well ...
to be honest all these people "whining about the lack of a portable
macbook pro" simply wanted again a 12" with thin screen margins.
With this MBA Steve demonstrated that what we asked is tecnically
possible and .. honestly not a big deal anymore

It can be that I will go for this long awaited MacBookAir
BUT STILL I AM waiting for the 12" with thin screen margins
because I did not ask this kind of shrink :-(

 

[ntrigue]

There's potential for a MBP in a similar form factor. No optical - same keyboard - Same screen - A dedicated GFx card will not allow the back to get much thinner though - and I won't buy one without at least a 8600GT

 

[benfilan]

Nice post OP.

This product does also remind me of the Cube. Breakthrough design aimed at a niche market at a pricier-level. A product ahead of the curve, showcasing Apple's innovation.

I LOVED the cube!

 

[LizKat]

Grief. What would you be satisfied with?

LOL, brain to brain wireless, the max in minimalist design.

Meanwhile I scarfed one of these things up, I can hardly wait for Feb 11.

 

[CommodityFetish]

The most positive thing I can say about the MBA release is that it's evidence that apple is open to diversifying its product lines. When Jobs came they had to streamline and pull the company out of the ditch. Now they're raking it in, so why not offer more options to customers? One size does not fit all. There's no reason they shouldn't offer a midrange tower. And I'll put in my vote for an affordable (Macbook) laptop without the added weight and bulk of an optical drive.

 

[OttomanUmpire]

Macintosh Portable wasn't so hot

In 1989 they broke new ground with the Macintosh Portable, setting the basic design for modern laptops.

I agree with the OP, except for the above point. In 1989, I was lugging an SE/30, with full keyboard, onto planes, on hilly walks home for work, etc. With peripherals and bag, the whole thing weighed about 30 lbs. It was a lot like how computing might have looked on "The Flintstones."

Anyway, I desperately wanted a Macintosh Portable when it came out. I went to my boss, who found my slavish devotion to Apple utterly incomprehensible, and begged him for the funds to buy it. He declined my request.

The reason I take you on this walk down memory lane is to give credence to my recollection that, in truth, the Portable was a sucky computer. It was an awkward and underpowered device that compared poorly to the Toshiba laptops my colleagues carried around.

Apple didn't get it right until 1991 when they introduced the PowerBooks. My PB 170 was a $4800, 40 MB, 25 MHz, battleship gray thing of sheer beauty. The Titanium line was a similar leap.

There was nothing ambiguous about the superiority of either the PB 170 or Titanium, compared to its forebears and non-Apple competitors. It was obvious from the start.

In the MBA, Apple made, in my opinion, too many compromises for it to meet the standard of a next gen product. But to the OP's point, the technologies it incorporates will almost certainly play a big role in whatever that next gen product turns out to be.

 

[zoetmb]

The Air will do fine

Personally, I wouldn't buy this machine because I want my laptop to be the equivalent of my desktop and have "everything".

But most business users need nothing more than being able to access webmail and have some basic Office apps or equivalent. And carrying heavy, bulky machines around can really get tiring.

For them, this machine is perfect. (OK..not perfect, but perfectly applicable.)

The machine looks really, really cool and it's really, really light. It won't be Apple's best selling machine of all time, but I think it will do quite fine once people get a look at it.

Those who posted that everyone complained in the past when Apple dropped "obsolete functionality" are absolutely correct. I remember the screams when floppy drives, parallel ports, serial ports, old-style VGA connectors, etc. all got dropped from the Mac.

Apple provides different solutions for different uses. For someone who travels all the time, they don't need an optical drive in the machine. If they do, Apple has plenty of other laptops to choose from. I was a little surprised by the lack of Ethernet, but WiFi is pretty available these days.

If I wasn't so anal about having everything in one place, I might buy the latest tower instead of the next MacBookPro and get this laptop instead.

 

[Spritey]

It seems to me that...

If you read the supporting replies in MR you will notice that a lot of them go like '...when I go back to school ...'. I perfectly agree that a MBA is a great machine to show the fellows at school you're rich, beautiful etc.

If I were to get a MBA, it wouldn't be because I'm rich (or beautiful for that matter). It would be because of its size, and the fact that I'm willing to fork out an additional couple of hundred dollars to get a more portable laptop to carry around versus a MB. Not because I'm rich, but if you're buying something 1200+ anyway, a few hundred bucks more or less is doable even without being rich.

If I wanted a pretty computer, I'd get a MBP, but most college students don't need a MBP, as they tend to use their computer for e/mail, IM, Office and Safari/Firefox. Also, if you live in a university city/town, usually there's wireless everywhere you go. I don't even recall the last time I was plugged in with an ethernet cable.

Either way, like I' and other people have said before. This computer is targeted at business people, and not college students or pro-users. If they targeted pro-users, they would be cannibalizing, and that's not something you want to do.

 

[Yukon Bear]

It seems to me that everyone is missing the real point of the MacBook Air.

I totally agree!

 

[bguillemette6]

I can give you folks my perspective. I'm 39 and enjoy an average salary and live and work in technolgy. I'm a technical recruiter and enjoy working with some of the brightest people in the world here in Cambridge, MA. (work in town...live outside)

I recently made the switch from a Thinkpad "T" Series and decided heck, why not....let's give one of these Mac's a try.

Well, I went out and bought a MacBook (Black) on December 23rd. I went into the Apple Retail store and they (Apple sales folks) were really pushing the value of the white basic notebook for my needs. I have and will always have a laptop from work and unfortunately or fortunately 75% are PC's.

Most folks that "switch" from PC's to Mac's will also have a work computer either a PC or a Mac. I don't know one person whom I work with or have worked with that does not have a laptop or desktop and they use it everyday because most of them get them from work and are not "designers, or photo people etc" like many of you. (We don't own them, but we can use them as long as we are employed)

The typically Mac user for the past 10 years as well as college students and gamers. (I wish I was back in school) so this machine I think was released for me...and many other like me. (A huge market...HUGE)



The MBAir was not released for:

Gamers
Graphics Folks (above)
Editors (above)
and maybe not even the "base" Apple & Mac users.

I was sitting around for 2 weeks just loving the Macbook I bought (yes OSX is really nice)....and while visiting this site and others for tips and getting into the whole "Apple" community thang...and well, I loved everything about it.

Then...I stumbled across a bunch of posts that said "why would you buy a Macbook w/ just 14 days before Macworld"..." why couldn't you wait?...are you stupid???"

Well...I brought it back...open boxed and all and got all my $$ back...(-$160.00) restocking.......then I waited....yesterday they announced the Macbook Air. I was impressed and thought wow, it's a real nice machine. I was happy I returned the MacBook.

I logged in here to see the reaction. I figuired you folks knows Mac's better than the rest of us "switchers". I read the threads and I'd say 65% where very negative. I've read maybe 10 posts where people have said "I Like it, It's exactly what I need." And I kept thinking....is it a good machine for me?

I had the Macbook and never used the drive....hmmm well it was only 2 weeks. I never had a "DVD Burner" before in my home machine and never really needed one but hmmmmm....I never used that either.

Then I started thinking about the HD...I downloaded music but stored in on iTunes. I watch a movie but don't watch more than 3-4 a month and the iTunes thing...well...let's say I watch maybe 5 movies a year on my laptop and only really watched one to see if there was really any difference than a PC. (no)

Then I was thinking about the ports.
Ethernet:
Hmmm, I stay at Marriotts and Hiltons and they always have wireless...I go to Starbucks and Borders....hmmm wireless. I go to visit my sister and brother and family....all pc users and they have wireless. When would I ever need that?....NEVER....well I would need it at work. Oh, no...we have wirless "guest" network in the building....no need for an ethernet port here.

USB and the other ports,,
...just one on the MBA hmmmm, ...well I like a mouse but don't travel with one now and I never really do. If I am at a library its just the laptop no mouse or hard drives or external drives or movies or anything...so, I guess I would be the "norm" for me mouse-less. I also never look around and see 30 people using mice either. ...so one's ok I guess...maybe I'd get stuck but I just think that if I'm stuck...oh well. (It could happen and piss me off...I've never had it happen so it's tough to tell)

I thought about the hard drive....ok, I have an external and am not a collector of movies but I have a big Itunes library so I am ok there, and photos I have a bunch but store them on the web too....hey, I started thinking....80 gigs is ok...my ThinkPad was fine..I never had one issue with it being to small (Remember, this was not my work machine...90% of the business world provide there employees with computers)

Ok...keyboard is not small...MINT!
backlit keyboard..MINT! (My only complaint with the Macbook)

so....I don't think I need to go over every peice of equipemnt on it. You all are experts and I'm just a "switcher....a person or consumer that I THINK STEVE JOBS IS INTERSTED IN....and yes...a noobie Mac person.

The only reason why I will not buy this is price. It has nothing to do with ports, HD, Track Packs (although I think cool) or Batteries.

I will buy another Black Macbook

The MBA will come down in price...then when millions of potential "Switchers" and business folks or working foklks like me are in the market....that's when these bad boys will sell like Hot Cakes!! (iPhone as good example....non Apple hard core folks wanted value with features...(I saw a ton of college folks sleeping outside to get them early on)......a price drop and now look...folks like me started buying and..now 20% of the market? ...pretty good)

My only question is...how slow is 1.6 Ghz.....is it ok or should that be faster...other than that...it's a nice machine for me...if they only priced it at $1399.00 I would have bought one....and never looked back! Maybe someone can tell me how slow that really is and if it will really be a **** machine in 3 years...that's the value I was talking about above.


BG

 

[UCLA Bruin]

garethlewis2,

you must be joking when you said:

"I'm missing the point because Apple want to show the world what a great laptop they can build? Don't be naive. Apple don't build this, ASUS or Acer are building this.

Is it a good design? Yes. Does it make it worth buying? No.

Is the Ferrari Enzo a good design? Yes. Could you drive this monster car to work and back and also do the shopping in it? No.

If they wanted to show the world how good they are at pushing the envelope, they could start by fixing their god-awful build quality, then putting proper 24-bit displays in their laptops instead of some tired old 18-bit displays. If they did that I would buy a new laptop, actually I need one as some bastard stole my laptop on Friday in Brussels. I want from Apple, a no compromise 17" 1080p 4gig, 320gb monster that can do anything a desktop machine can do, not a piece of cack that looks good on a coffee table in StarBucks."

First off a Ferrari Enzo is NOT SUPPOSED to be built for driving to work and going shopping. It is an exotic car not a daily driver. This is not relevant to Macs but you made such a poor argument I had to correct you.
Second off, Apple is not going to build the computer you described because it does not tailor to their average consumer. Do you think the average person needs 1080P, 4 gig, and 320 RAM? NO. No one cares what you want. You are supposedly a MacRumors Regular so start talking with some intelligence. The OP is 100% right. Apple is the leader in innovation and while this laptop may not push the technological limits, it is not intended to.

 

[averyash]

I can give you folks my perspective. I'm 39 and enjoy an average salary and live and work in technolgy. I'm a technical recruiter and enjoy working with some of the brightest people in the world here in Cambridge, MA. (work in town...live outside)

I recently made the switch from a Thinkpad "T" Series and decided heck, why not....let's give one of these Mac's a try.

Well, I went out and bought a MacBook (Black) on December 23rd. I went into the Apple Retail store and they (Apple sales folks) were really pushing the value of the white basic notebook for my needs. I have and will always have a laptop from work and unfortunately or fortunately 75% are PC's.

Most folks that "switch" from PC's to Mac's will also have a work computer either a PC or a Mac. I don't know one person whom I work with or have worked with that does not have a laptop or desktop and they use it everyday because most of them get them from work and are not "designers, or photo people etc" like many of you. (We don't own them, but we can use them as long as we are employed)

The typically Mac user for the past 10 years as well as college students and gamers. (I wish I was back in school) so this machine I think was released for me...and many other like me. (A huge market...HUGE)



The MBAir was not released for:

Gamers
Graphics Folks (above)
Editors (above)
and maybe not even the "base" Apple & Mac users.

I was sitting around for 2 weeks just loving the Macbook I bought (yes OSX is really nice)....and while visiting this site and others for tips and getting into the whole "Apple" community thang...and well, I loved everything about it.

Then...I stumbled across a bunch of posts that said "why would you buy a Macbook w/ just 14 days before Macworld"..." why couldn't you wait?...are you stupid???"

Well...I brought it back...open boxed and all and got all my $$ back...(-$160.00) restocking.......then I waited....yesterday they announced the Macbook Air. I was impressed and thought wow, it's a real nice machine. I was happy I returned the MacBook.

I logged in here to see the reaction. I figuired you folks knows Mac's better than the rest of us "switchers". I read the threads and I'd say 65% where very negative. I've read maybe 10 posts where people have said "I Like it, It's exactly what I need." And I kept thinking....is it a good machine for me?

I had the Macbook and never used the drive....hmmm well it was only 2 weeks. I never had a "DVD Burner" before in my home machine and never really needed one but hmmmmm....I never used that either.

Then I started thinking about the HD...I downloaded music but stored in on iTunes. I watch a movie but don't watch more than 3-4 a month and the iTunes thing...well...let's say I watch maybe 5 movies a year on my laptop and only really watched one to see if there was really any difference than a PC. (no)

Then I was thinking about the ports.
Ethernet:
Hmmm, I stay at Marriotts and Hiltons and they always have wireless...I go to Starbucks and Borders....hmmm wireless. I go to visit my sister and brother and family....all pc users and they have wireless. When would I ever need that?....NEVER....well I would need it at work. Oh, no...we have wirless "guest" network in the building....no need for an ethernet port here.

USB and the other ports,,
...just one on the MBA hmmmm, ...well I like a mouse but don't travel with one now and I never really do. If I am at a library its just the laptop no mouse or hard drives or external drives or movies or anything...so, I guess I would be the "norm" for me mouse-less. I also never look around and see 30 people using mice either. ...so one's ok I guess...maybe I'd get stuck but I just think that if I'm stuck...oh well. (It could happen and piss me off...I've never had it happen so it's tough to tell)

I thought about the hard drive....ok, I have an external and am not a collector of movies but I have a big Itunes library so I am ok there, and photos I have a bunch but store them on the web too....hey, I started thinking....80 gigs is ok...my ThinkPad was fine..I never had one issue with it being to small (Remember, this was not my work machine...90% of the business world provide there employees with computers)

Ok...keyboard is not small...MINT!
backlit keyboard..MINT! (My only complaint with the Macbook)

so....I don't think I need to go over every peice of equipemnt on it. You all are experts and I'm just a "switcher....a person or consumer that I THINK STEVE JOBS IS INTERSTED IN....and yes...a noobie Mac person.

The only reason why I will not buy this is price. It has nothing to do with ports, HD, Track Packs (although I think cool) or Batteries.

I will buy another Black Macbook

The MBA will come down in price...then when millions of potential "Switchers" and business folks or working foklks like me are in the market....that's when these bad boys will sell like Hot Cakes!! (iPhone as good example....non Apple hard core folks wanted value with features...(I saw a ton of college folks sleeping outside to get them early on)......a price drop and now look...folks like me started buying and..now 20% of the market? ...pretty good)

My only question is...how slow is 1.6 Ghz.....is it ok or should that be faster...other than that...it's a nice machine for me...if they only priced it at $1399.00 I would have bought one....and never looked back! Maybe someone can tell me how slow that really is and if it will really be a **** machine in 3 years...that's the value I was talking about above.


BG

That's a very nice, thoughtful first post, BG.

Welcome to the MacRumors community.

 

[Toppa G's]

I'm using a 12" PB 1.33 GHz G4 with a whopping 512 MB of RAM. I have CS2 installed, and work within Illustrator and InDesign often without hiccup. I'm also using Office 2004 and iPhoto on this machine, and I'm not experiencing any slowness that I would call agonizing. Sure, I see a spinning beach ball every once in a while, but that's to be expected when working with multi-MB files.

I see no problem in using a MacBook Air daily for light graphics work, Office, and Internet/email. That's what I use my PB for, and it works just fine. Obviously, if you're working with multi-page books or enormous Photoshop files, it's going to be a little slow, but why would you want to work on those types of files on a laptop?

The truth is, you don't need a supercomputer to run Adobe or other productivity apps reasonably. The MacBook Air is plenty of computer for a great majority of people.

 

[NAG]

I'm using a 12" PB 1.33 GHz G4 with a whopping 512 MB of RAM. I have CS2 installed, and work within Illustrator and InDesign often without hiccup. I'm also using Office 2004 and iPhoto on this machine, and I'm not experiencing any slowness that I would call agonizing. Sure, I see a spinning beach ball every once in a while, but that's to be expected when working with multi-MB files.

I see no problem in using a MacBook Air daily for light graphics work, Office, and Internet/email. That's what I use my PB for, and it works just fine. Obviously, if you're working with multi-page books or enormous Photoshop files, it's going to be a little slow, but why would you want to work on those types of files on a laptop?

The truth is, you don't need a supercomputer to run Adobe or other productivity apps reasonably. The MacBook Air is plenty of computer for a great majority of people.

Eh, it would have to be pretty light graphics work and you'd definitely need an external if you're going to store any amount of photos or music/video. The MBA would only make a good stand alone computer for someone with extremely basic computer needs.

 

[moreAAPLplz]

The MacBook Air warms my heart

I'm in need of a new laptop because I sold my Sharp Actius mm-10. Google that little machine. It's basically a slower version of the MBAir and it was great for my online poker playing and day trading needs. You can't fully appreciate one of these until you've toted it around for several months.

My good friend and I have battled over this. He wanted a new MBP with a blu-ray drive. The direction the MBAir is pushing people towards is itunes movie rentals which makes a lot of sense to me. I'd much rather pay $4.99 to watch a HD movie rather than $35 to buy it and have to carry it around. If I have some downloaded, I have a USB pen drive in my pocket for that.

Some wanted an upgraded MBP. Why should Apple be concerned about that right now? They have the laptop that's been tested by a third-party and found to run Vista faster than the rest. (Ahem, not their focus operating system) I believe Apple has some time to sit on the MBP and concentrate more on innovative new products.