It appears you think you're King Kong!
I spent several years in the networking industry myself , CCNA, MCSE certed, a few others, so relax network admin, there are plenty of folks on this board with extensive knowledge of the subject matter
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Accessory Manufacturer Claims 15-Inch MacBook Air Coming in April
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It appears you think you're King Kong!
Why does Apple hate ethernet but doesn't support 40mhz channels for 2.4Ghz WiFi?
The MBA really needs a Gigabit port.
Apple doesn't sell a Gigabit adapter now do they? You have to purchase a 3rd party one and they're far and few in between.... and it's yet another dongle/adapter hanging off the side of the machine.
The MBA really needs a Gigabit port.
Apple doesn't sell a Gigabit adapter now do they? You have to purchase a 3rd party one and they're far and few in between.... and it's yet another dongle/adapter hanging off the side of the machine.
Yebubbleman, my point was that the ODD and cd/dvd's are going away. Yes, there is still a price difference between blank cd/dvd's and yes there are still a lot of people using ODD's, but at some point you have to start moving forward (in tech) in order to keep moving forward.
Apple takes the chance at pissing off customers by dropping certain technologies. I remember getting one of the first Apple desktops that did not come with a floppy drive. They were lambasted for doing this and I had countless conversations with colleagues that laughed at me for getting a machine with no floppy drive - how could I load any software on it, they said. Within months, the shift had started with titles going to cd.
The same is going to be true for legacy connections/ports. Apple is betting, as is Intel, that TB is going to be the solution for several legacy connections/ports and if they can fully support it through marketing, they're likely going to be right. It can do, with a single port, what it takes several ports to do now. Yes, there aren't the cords/connectors available to make this a reality today, cheaply and accessibly, but it will happen. Again, you have to start making the change or it will never happen.
Apple takes the chance at pissing off customers by dropping certain technologies. I remember getting one of the first Apple desktops that did not come with a floppy drive. They were lambasted for doing this and I had countless conversations with colleagues that laughed at me for getting a machine with no floppy drive - how could I load any software on it, they said. Within months, the shift had started with titles going to cd.
The same is going to be true for legacy connections/ports. Apple is betting, as is Intel, that TB is going to be the solution for several legacy connections/ports and if they can fully support it through marketing, they're likely going to be right. It can do, with a single port, what it takes several ports to do now. Yes, there aren't the cords/connectors available to make this a reality today, cheaply and accessibly, but it will happen. Again, you have to start making the change or it will never happen.
Erm, the point of Ethernet is to be stationary. So, you wouldn't be carrying around a cable, but you would have to carry the adapter every time you go to work or other places.
Also, bigger companies have intranets which can't be accessed outside of the building. Therefore, they don't allow you to access it through Wi-Fi. The only way to get to internal servers would be to plug into the wall.
13" MBA retails for $1600 with 4GB RAM and 256GB SSD.
For about $50, you can get 8GB RAM (4GB x 2) from most online retailers.
Apple charges $600 more for 512GB SSD (from 256GB).
So theoretically, Apple can charge $2250 for 13" MBA with 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD without significantly affecting margin.
So the real question is, can Apple build 15" MBA for $250 without significantly affecting margin? Similarly configured 11" MBA costs about $50 less than 13" MBA. While quad-core CPU and other components will certainly add to cost, $2500 is not exactly impossible.
The MBA already has no ODD.
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They could easily maintain user replaceable ram and the high-end CPUs and dedicated GPUs. Now, if in the end they must maintain a certain minimal size that allows for ethernet ports, sure throw one in. But if they can get it to the size of the MBAs while keeping the dGPUs and quad core CPUs, I say chuck out the bulky ports.[/QUOTE]
Ivy Bridge is a jump, but it's also got a much more powerful GPU (not saying much), which takes up a lot of real-estate. Don't count on quad core at 17W... or even 25.
Your experience with Hackintoshing must be out of date; it's pretty easy and seamless to set up and maintain a Hackintosh. And by "maintain" I also mean "keep up to date with the latest point releases of the OS". These days you don't need special hacks or anything beyond drivers and a custom bootloader; most Hackintoshes these days are able to run the stock Apple kernel too. Frankly, if ever I was to own a Mac OS X Server machine, it'd be a Hackintosh as only the Mac Pro offers the same kinds of storage flexibility that a Hackintosh handily provides and no way do I need to pay that much money for what little I'd actually be doing with it.
Hackintoshes only cause problems for people who don't read, do their research, or follow directions right the first time. Would I have it as my only Macintosh? No, but you definitely could and it wouldn't cause you much inconvenience. Yes, it's more maintenance than an Apple Mac, but you save a crap-ton of money for the power you get.
How many times do I need to spell this out? YOU CANNOT GET A USB 2.0 TO GIGABIT ETHERNET ADAPTER!!! USB 2.0 maxes out at 480 megabits per second, one gigabit is 520 megabits per second more than that, ergo, YOU CANNOT REPLICATE THAT FUNCTIONALITY WITH AN ADAPTER! And before you try to sell me on the idea of spending $100 or so on a would-be Thunderbolt adapter, remind me why it's a good idea to spend $100 on functionality that I didn't have to spend anything on previously? So you guys didn't have to lug around a couple extra pounds? Get real!
As for the ODD, those who don't care about losing the ODD seem to assume that those of us that do would be fine carrying around an additional accessory as that is just as convenient, when in actuality, it isn't. Losing it only gains thinness, which any practical computer user shouldn't care all that much about anyway.
Your point was that they were already cheap enough to be considered as viable of a replacement. I feel like I successfully disproved that.
For all intensive purposes, by the time the floppy drive had disappeared, so had installation media that came on it. As things stand now, software for the Mac still comes predominately on disk. I will pay heed to the "this is just like 1998 when Apple killed off the floppy drive" arguments when all Apple software (as well as other playable media like movies) disappears from store shelves. In the meantime, YOU'RE TOO EARLY!
That's not how the technology industry works. Things have to catch on before it is mass-adopted. Thunderbolt isn't going anywhere until it is in the hands of everyone, and much like your optical media assertions, we're not there yet. Unlike your optical media assertions, there's no guarantee that we'll even get there, given how costly Thunderbolt is of a proposition. It's a nice idea in theory, though.
Apple won't ever charge $50 for RAM. Also, your original post spoke of a quad-core CPU, which you won't see in the ULV form factor required by the MacBook Air anytime soon. Sorry to burst your bubble, but neither Apple nor the laws of physics work that way...yet.
The MBA became irrelevant when the iPad came out.
It's nothing more than a slightly more powerful iPad, in a clamshell design, with filemangement capabilities - without the true spectrum of ability to actually do real file management.
To me it always was, and always will be a niche market.
There's no purpose that a MBA serves that I would not rather use an iPad for; whereas everything that I need my file-management device to do - the MBA is crippled in some way surrounding those needs.
The iPad will gradually become more and more powerful. As its power increases, so will the software's capabilities. The MBP will eventually lose an optical drive - but not in any upcoming redesign. As SSD become cheaper, HDD will disappear.
This will lead to the iPad cannibalizing the current main "selling points" of the MBA; while, coincidentally, through the sheer march forward of technology - the MBP will grow to more closely resemble what was once the MBA. Except that it won't be the MBA, it'll be the MBP.
The difference?
Power, peripherals, and data management always placed above "thinness" and "lightness."
[Two qualities that, coincidentally, the air around you has; thankfully I do not pay a grand to two grand for the wonderfully light air I breathe. I do, however, pay that money to have my main device capable of doing anything I need it to do; so that I can delegate certain functions to my mobile devices. AKA - Where lightness and thinness really matter AKA - the iPad.]
Conclusion:
-iPad becomes the only portable device needed.
-Computers (MBPs) are used for their data management and higher-level power capabilities, and soley by coincidence they slowly begin to resemble a MBA; without the self-defeating design philosophy.
-MBP name sticks - eventually (a decade from now maybe?) only having only SSDs, no optical drives. Peripherals are valued over thinness, as is power.
-The only thing left that could be barely misunderstood to be a MBA is the lowest-tier MBP.
It's nothing more than a slightly more powerful iPad, in a clamshell design, with filemangement capabilities - without the true spectrum of ability to actually do real file management.
To me it always was, and always will be a niche market.
There's no purpose that a MBA serves that I would not rather use an iPad for; whereas everything that I need my file-management device to do - the MBA is crippled in some way surrounding those needs.
The iPad will gradually become more and more powerful. As its power increases, so will the software's capabilities. The MBP will eventually lose an optical drive - but not in any upcoming redesign. As SSD become cheaper, HDD will disappear.
This will lead to the iPad cannibalizing the current main "selling points" of the MBA; while, coincidentally, through the sheer march forward of technology - the MBP will grow to more closely resemble what was once the MBA. Except that it won't be the MBA, it'll be the MBP.
The difference?
Power, peripherals, and data management always placed above "thinness" and "lightness."
[Two qualities that, coincidentally, the air around you has; thankfully I do not pay a grand to two grand for the wonderfully light air I breathe. I do, however, pay that money to have my main device capable of doing anything I need it to do; so that I can delegate certain functions to my mobile devices. AKA - Where lightness and thinness really matter AKA - the iPad.]
Conclusion:
-iPad becomes the only portable device needed.
-Computers (MBPs) are used for their data management and higher-level power capabilities, and soley by coincidence they slowly begin to resemble a MBA; without the self-defeating design philosophy.
-MBP name sticks - eventually (a decade from now maybe?) only having only SSDs, no optical drives. Peripherals are valued over thinness, as is power.
-The only thing left that could be barely misunderstood to be a MBA is the lowest-tier MBP.
I love this malapropism. My housemate is a comedian and one of her routines deals with a bunch of such phrases which are often used incorrectly, like "begs belief".
Off topic. Sorry.
Heh...you could make an argument that I meant it correctly. Still an amusing read though. (Is any of your housemate's stuff online? I could always use more good comedy.)
Apple charges $200 more to upgrade 11" MBA from 2GB RAM to 4GB RAM and 64GB flash to 128GB. So if 15" MBA with 4GB RAM and 256GB flash costs $2000 (hypothetical guess based on current high-end 13" MBA pricing), it isn't totally outrageous to expect $500 premium to upgrade to 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD. I am not saying it will happen, but I am just saying it is possible.
As for the CPU, I don't expect Apple to offer only ULV flavors for 15" MBA. Perhaps you are right, but I would think larger real estate would allow Apple to improve heat dissipation and larger battery to compensate for higher TDP of quad-core? Especially if it means using Intel HD 4000 graphics instead of dedicated GPU?
I'm not the one making an assumption. It does exist, your resistance to pay money for it is irrelevant. I don't ever use my ethernet port, a lot of people apparently don't. The fact that you do isn't really all that important. Wi-fi is a suitable alternative for most people, and the introduction of 802.11ac is making it even more suitable. As with the optical drive, most people simply don't use it. Power users, and casual users alike ignore that drive. So in summary, while I'm sorry that you're sad about it, I wouldn't be surprised if they removed both. I wouldn't miss them either. Obviously you would, but that's not really the issue here.
Bolded your contradiction.
So if you're a pro and your revenu stream depends on your computer, you'd still go with a hacked together solution that is not quite 100% legitimate, probably in breach of the licensing agreement with your OS vendor, on hardware that is "supported" by multiple different vendors ?
Yeah... no. Hackintoshes are not replacements for Mac Pros. Or Xserves. Or any other "pro" computer from Apple used by true professionals in the exercise of their profession.
Are they "viable" solutions for cheapskates who really don't need the power of a Mac Pro because they're just hobbyists with a spec fetish ? Sure, why not.
Uh ? The MBA runs OS X. What more do you want out of it ? It certainly is much more capable for my needs than an iPad.
Some people sure like to hear themselves type around here.
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Legal how ? Do you have a copy of their agreement with Apple ? Because I don't see anything about PearC in Apple's licensing agreement for OS X.
I do not know. We dont care about Apples restrictions here in EU. So here, it is legal.
For my own Hackintosh boxes I bought my Snoleo from Apple Store and even told the bloke that I will install it on my PC's
He didn't like the idea but he had to sell me the DVD anyway...
Citation needed.
Good for you. Hint : Apple doesn't care about ye olde individual doing whatever they want. Small fries.
Other hint : Don't expect to get support when you run into an issue though. You know, what the pros need to not lose time debugging OSes but rather spend time working on paying contracts.
Youre right on there buddy...No support from Apple thats for sure. But if they wont release MacPro soon I'll bet that PearC will sell more machines..
The Hackintosh scene is quite strong and support quite good these days.. But of course it can be quite a hassle.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162958/is_mac_cloner_pearc_flouting_apples_eula_in_eu.html
There is some interview with PearC company but didn't google any more.. But the firm has been up an running for years now so I suppose that EU laws accept the fact that people can install OSX on what ever they like/can.
"Low end" they may be, but RAM is so cheap now it doesn't make a big difference. The difference in cost between 4GB of RAM and 8GB is peanuts.
RRP (i.e., way above what apple would pay) of 8GB DIMMs is as low as 50 bucks. Apple would pay far less than that for the raw un-packaged memory chips, in bulk.
4GB may be enough today, but its going to be very restricting in the next couple of years, and the MBA has no upgrade path (unlike the previous low end macbook).
A max of 4gb is a MASSIVE deal breaker for many people, myself included.
If apple want to sell the MBA as the way of the future (as they have been) they need to future proof it better.
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What kind of work do you do to need this level of procesing power?
Personally: virtualization, video processing. IMHO apple shouldn't bother with such small amounts of memory. Don't care if other manufacturers do because its cheap. Adding more RAM is cheap, and apple is a premium product. I'm sure nearly every potential 15" buyer would be more than willing to pay another 50-100 dollars or more, for 16gb RAM standard - and it won't cost any heat or space within the enclosure.
CPU benchmarks mean nothing when you need IO and memory capacity.
Throw a decent workload (geekbench... lol) at both machines that is both large and IO intensive, and the MBP will get blown into the weeds.
Its an impressive portable, no doubt about it - and if your workloads are small and mostly CPU bound it is quite fast.
Many big workloads however will not fit into 16GB ram, and the MBP has no option for say, 64+gb of RAM, PCIe SSD cards, RAID or fibre channel SAN access.
Because wifi is crap. Oh wow, i can get 300 or 450 megabit. Shared between everybody in the area. And if i'm more than 10 feet from the AP it drops down to 120 meg anyhow (yes, I have an airport extreme and 802.11n with my MBP).
I don't want to have to buy a $1000 Thunderbolt display to get a port that costs all of a couple of dollars to include.
No ethernet rules a portable out as a serious work machine. A 100 megabit USB dongle is better than nothing, but it's still crap. The thunderbolt display is a pretty high barrier to entry - I (hypothetically) can either buy a $1000 display for my laptop just to get decent access speed to the corporate LAN, or I can just buy something else.
Wifi only is fine for home machines. For a work machine, its a deal breaker.
A thunderbolt dongle will help, but its just another piece of kit to carry around and break/lose that should be standard on that class of machine.
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Uh? Right.. which is exactly my point. You're wasting OS X on a weak machine... for thinness... or "portability" or whatever.. when iOS functions much better for that purpose.
What's the advantage of OS X over an iPad again? Oh right. Power, and file management.
Wait? You're telling me the MBA limits power, storage, and peripherals - therefore file management?
Oh. Well that kinda defeats the purpose of running OS X.
Cause if you water down the power, and the storage, and the ability to obtain / distribute files... then you get.... oh. Wow. iOS.
"Oh hey there. Where'd you get an iPad soldered into a MBP body?"
I agree that some people may no longer need the OD, however others will, thus modularity should be kept in confurable options.
Wasting how ? I'm a Unix guy, my tools were written on a PDP-7. Heck, the most intensive tool I use is probably Gimp, which I was using back on my Pentium 100 running Linux with barely 32 MB of RAM.
Weak machine ? The MBA I have blows both of those away by a very, very large margin. It's mostly overpowered for what I do.
File management wha... ? How does the MBA limit file management ? mv, cp, ls, rm, mount, umount are all there ? Then I can manage files as well as on an iMac.
Advantages ? Numerous. Better form factor for typing, better overall form factor when sitting down on a couch, in bed, anywhere really. Can be hooked up to an external monitor/keyboard/mouse and used as a desktop. Not limited in applications I can use, Macports, bash, perl, vim, XCode, etc.. etc...
iPad... oups, can't do any of the above.
Uh... I think you don't quite understand what the Macbook Air is. It is a laptop. It has no limits on storage or ability to obtain/distribute files at all.
Exactly. Going around claiming it's all legal in the EU with a PCWorld interview that just says Apple hasn't contacted them is quite disingenuous. And again, quite besides the point I was making.