Apple Announces New 13.3-Inch and 11.6-Inch MacBook Air Models with Flash Storage

[KnightWRX]

Can the Acer run OS X and the full spectrum of OS X applications?

That's just proving his point more. There are no apps that lock you down to OS X. People can switch back and forth with ease.

However, I can find you a big hulking desktop that beats his laptop choice on specs and price too, showing him his laptop is also "overpriced".

It's easy to find cheaper and "better" when you don't take into consideration the whole package. The Air's form factor is very much a feature and you very much pay for it. Compare other ultra portables like the Sony Vaio X and the Dell Adamo and you notice the Air is not that expensive after all.

Of course if you start comparing the Air with full tower desktops, you might not understand where your money is going, but I sure wouldn't want to dragging and using a full tower desktop on the bus.

 

[drsmithy]

The 320 and 330 are discrete GPUs.

They are not. The distinguishing feature between an integrated and discrete GPU is whether or not it relies completely on system RAM. That definition has existed since before Apple even made Intel Macs.

 

[lilo777]

The GPU in that is about 3-4 times slower than the one in the air.

You are probably confusing this laptop with Aser Aspire One netbooks. As the original poster stated, CPU in Aser laptop has almost identical performance (passmark) to the one in MBA.

NO. Add SSD, aluminum unibody, full trackpad. That's where you're saving money. That thing is even heavier than the 13" MBA LMAO!.
It looks like what it's worth, cheap.

What might be cheaper than aluminum? As all MBP owners know all to well, aluminum case is a nightmare (dents, scratches, sharp edges you name it).

 

[iEdd]

What might be cheaper than aluminum? As all MBP owners know all to well, aluminum case is a nightmare (dents, scratches, sharp edges you name it).

Subtract me from that "all" group. My aluminium notebook is very durable, especially being unibody. I even dropped it down a flight of stairs once.

 

[Mal]

What might be cheaper than aluminum? As all MBP owners know all to well, aluminum case is a nightmare (dents, scratches, sharp edges you name it).

I think you're a bit confused. The previous style (non-unibody) MBP's used a very thin aluminum shell that was prone to denting. I've yet to see a unibody aluminum laptop that was dented without it being a major, destructive drop or impact. They simply don't really dent.

Sharp edges are a matter of contention, though I've not had trouble with mine, but the rest are really non-existent.

jW

 

[lilo777]

I think you're a bit confused. The previous style (non-unibody) MBP's used a very thin aluminum shell that was prone to denting. I've yet to see a unibody aluminum laptop that was dented without it being a major, destructive drop or impact. They simply don't really dent.

Sharp edges are a matter of contention, though I've not had trouble with mine, but the rest are really non-existent.

jW

Sure, the dents are results of drops (mostly) but so what? Carbon fiber, magnesium alloy and even plastic do not get dents from such drops. Just try searching for "macbook skin" on Google. The search returns 1.7 million pages. And I am not even aware if there are any skins (like a single skin model) for any other laptop but MBP. I think this tells us something. BTW search for "macbook unibody dent" returns 15K pages Here is one account: "Hi

I have a 2009 Macbook unibody 2.4ghz laptop and the other day whilst carrying too much tripped and the first thing that hit the floor was my macbook

It was in a INCASE foam carrier but when I opened it i found I had 2 dents in a line across the back of the laptop.

One side is dented by the CD drive, lifting the bottom part of the drive about 1mm... I just put a CD in and now can not remove it due to the bend of the casing.

Anyone else had this problem? Is it expensive to fix? Time and where to take it??? Any help will do??"

 

[AidenShaw]

I have a 2009 Macbook unibody 2.4ghz laptop and the other day whilst carrying too much tripped and the first thing that hit the floor was my macbook

Clearly, he was holding it wrong.

 

[lilo777]

Clearly, he was holding it wrong.

Good one

 

[CWallace]

That's just proving his point more. There are no apps that lock you down to OS X. People can switch back and forth with ease.

Yes, when I migrated from Windows to OS X I did have to find new versions of the applications I was using - either straight swaps (Office 2007 for Office 2008 or Creative Suite for Windows for Creative Suite for OS X) or "functional equivalents" (WS_FTP for Transmit).

But I happen to prefer the OS X environment to the Windows environment so while I can functionally operate between the two, I would prefer not to and being forced to do so by choosing the Acer would significantly - fatally, to be honest - reduce my desire to own it.

But as always, to each their own.

 

[Epsilon88]

Awesome! Wouldn't buy as my primary computer, tho.

 

[JordanNZ]

You are probably confusing this laptop with Aser Aspire One netbooks. As the original poster stated, CPU in Aser laptop has almost identical performance (passmark) to the one in MBA.




What might be cheaper than aluminum? As all MBP owners know all to well, aluminum case is a nightmare (dents, scratches, sharp edges you name it).

I said GPU, not CPU.
The GPU computer he linked is 3-4 times slower than the one in the air.

 

[Mal]

Sure, the dents are results of drops (mostly) but so what? Carbon fiber, magnesium alloy and even plastic do not get dents from such drops.

Nope, they just crack. Are you seriously trying to argue that the unibody aluminum cases are not durable? The account you cited sounds like an extreme example, btw, Incase or no. Any computer, when dropped to the floor from arm-height, and most likely having other items land on it, is going to suffer damage. Sucks in that case it was over the optical drive, but many plastic computers or magnesium alloy would have suffered far greater damages from that fall.

Let me put it this way: I used to work as an AASP. I saw hundreds of unibody and non-unibody aluminum machines and plastic machines. The plastic ones were almost always scratched or cracked somewhere. The non-unibody ones were almost always dented, scratched, and bent somewhere.

The unibody aluminum laptops were almost always pristine. On rare occasions I'd see a scratch. Three or four times we had machines come in with catastrophic damage, but they had protected the internals of the computer far better than I'd expect plastic or any other material I've seen in a computer. Those damages were also the result of falls or crushing that no computer (expect maybe a ToughBook, which isn't really in the same category) could withstand.

The unibody design and the aluminum casing are top-notch.

jW

 

[TheCableGuy]

Yeah, I guess my 'vast' collection comes nowhere close to yours. Between music, home videos (I don't own a single movie), and pictures, I'm right about @ 170GB, so the 128GB 11-incher is what I'm going with (too bad 256 isn't an option on that size). I've just had to come to an understanding that sacrifice will have to be made. Do I intend to drag an external drive everywhere I go? HELL NO. I feel it defeats the whole purpose of the MBA, plus an external drive constantly attached to my MBA would be as unattractive as a dialysis bag on a human. (no offense to anyone) Obviously, a ton of my home videos, pictures, and mp3's will have to be quarantined in my external drive and if I ever needed them, I know I can fetch them later. I mean, seriously, do I really need to carry 150+ Christmas songs with me 24/7? Or pictures and videos of Uncle Tony's 50th bday, from 4 years ago? Probably not. I'm content carrying the things I know I'll want me with at all times.

Besides, let us not forget the greatness from 'up above'. MobileMe and/or Dropbox are AMAZING sidekicks and offer that extra room.

I think for those who can afford multiple devices, this is the right way to think about the MBA. I just bought the 13" with 128GB yesterday and I have to say I am extremely impressed. It is much faster for everything I do than my daughter's new 13"MBP, largely due the flash drives, I assume.

I fit squarely in the 90% of people who just need the basics. I do email, internet, occasional photo editing, itunes, a movie and some streaming to Apple TV. It works seamlessly / instantly for these tasks.

I've got a good 100GB of music, but I've found that I have what I need for iPhone synching with only 5GB or so. Of the 70GB of photos I have, only 3GB are 5 star photos that I feel I need on this machine. And, why would I want to carry a bunch of movies around I never watch?

At first glance -- this does the essentials better than any other computer I own, easily (considering I have a work laptop for heavy-duty Excel / pc-based work).

This gets five stars from me so far. (BTW, I was worried about the lack of a back-lit keyboard -- that proved unnecessary. The light from the screen does a good job in low-light conditions).

 

[pr5owner]

The GPU in that is about 3-4 times slower than the one in the air.

right, but the GPU is near the same speed as the nvidia 9400, what did that lower speed prevent previous macbookair, macbook and macmini users from doing?

for the 330, its probably ment more for gaming, do you think the 1.4 would do well in gaming nowadays? i dont think so, i think it was a waste to include a 330 as it sucks way too much power (hence the 5hr battery life), the people that buy the air probably will not be playing games, most likely netbook duties, chatting, email, surfing. the integrated i3 and i5 GPU's can handle 1080p no problem (any youtube HD video)

source based games are still heavily dependant on CPU still my gaming rig is actually CPU limited when playing source games.

gaming rig is a Core2duo e8400@4.04GHz and dual GTX470s in SLI

 

[KnightWRX]

for the 330, its probably ment more for gaming, do you think the 1.4 would do well in gaming nowadays? i dont think so, i think it was a waste to include a 330 as it sucks way too much power (hence the 5hr battery life), the people that buy the air probably will not be playing games, most likely netbook duties, chatting, email, surfing. the integrated i3 and i5 GPU's can handle 1080p no problem (any youtube HD video)

The 320M, not 330, included in the AIR is not less power efficient than the i3/i5's integrated part and is much more powerful. However, the C2D used are much more power efficient than the i3/i5s currently on the market while not significantly slower (in fact, they are pretty much on par with the i3 parts).

Combine that with the fact that the 320M is supported under OpenCL and the VDA framework and not the Intel graphics, and you'd be dumb as a brick to even suggest an i3 with Intel GPU would have been a better overall choice. It would have had less battery life, it would have had lower graphics performance and you would have lost out on hardware acceleration for GPGPU supported apps and 3rd party apps that want to use hardware h.264 decoding like Flash (Flash's latest release uses the VDA framework).

Are you purposefully ignoring all these facts when attacking the Air ? Seriously, again, if you don't like the form factor, just move on, there are other Macs.

 

[pr5owner]

These are beautiful machines! If I could justify one, I'd certainly buy it.




No, it has better battery life.

1. The standards then for battery testing were way lower, in this case, you'll actually get five hours, but before you'd get around 3 if that.

2. The standby time is 30 days. That's insane.

most real life tests show that macbooks never reach their appointed battery life

also that 30 days is hibernation, ALL PC's can hibernate indefinately, it just saves ram to the HDD and shuts off completly, i realize the battery will self drain in this time so i guess thats why they say 30 days.

i doubt sleep time is 30 days, most laptops can last 4-5 days on standby (SUSPEND TO RAM)

The 320M, not 330, included in the AIR is not less power efficient than the i3/i5's integrated part and is much more powerful. However, the C2D used are much more power efficient than the i3/i5s currently on the market while not significantly slower (in fact, they are pretty much on par with the i3 parts).

Combine that with the fact that the 320M is supported under OpenCL and the VDA framework and not the Intel graphics, and you'd be dumb as a brick to even suggest an i3 with Intel GPU would have been a better overall choice. It would have had less battery life, it would have had lower graphics performance and you would have lost out on hardware acceleration for GPGPU supported apps and 3rd party apps that want to use hardware h.264 decoding like Flash (Flash's latest release uses the VDA framework).

Are you purposefully ignoring all these facts when attacking the Air ? Seriously, again, if you don't like the form factor, just move on, there are other Macs.

actually all i3/i5 low voltage laptops that ive seen (timelines and U series) have 8 hours to 11 hours battery life, that seems better than 5

also as long as all the apps you run are smooth (as well as videos), do you care if its decoded on a GPU rather than an onCPU video? do most apple users even know the difference? i doubt most customers even know what a GHz is.

 

[KnightWRX]

actually all i3/i5 low voltage laptops that ive seen (timelines and U series) have 8 hours to 11 hours battery life, that seems better than 5

Those laptops have bigger batteries and bigger cases. The peak wattages and TDP are higher on the Core iX series than the ULV C2Ds. That's a fact, sorry. The reason the Air has less battery time is that it uses smaller batteries. With a Core iX it would have even less.

also as long as all the apps you run are smooth (as well as videos), do you care if its decoded on a GPU rather than an onCPU video? do most apple users even know the difference? i doubt most customers even know what a GHz is.

"My fans spin up! My laptop is hot!" is a result of doing software decoding on the CPU. The GPUs can do the decoding in a much more efficient fashion. Seriously, if we had your mentality, 3Dfx would have never introduced 3D graphics accelerators to the world.

Why would you want something inferior on all counts (as I pointed out) just because, hey, it's Core iX! Intel's current marketing fad! Sometimes, jumping onto newer tech as soon as its available doesn't make sense.

Again, Apple makes Core iX laptops/desktops. If the Air doesn't interest you, why do you keep posting about it ? It's not like the Air is Apple's only computer, no one is forcing you to buy or like it. That's the beauty of choice.

 

[pr5owner]

Those laptops have bigger batteries and bigger cases. The peak wattages and TDP are higher on the Core iX series than the ULV C2Ds. That's a fact, sorry. The reason the Air has less battery time is that it uses smaller batteries. With a Core iX it would have even less.

TDP doesnt represent the CPU's computing power, nor does it represent how well the cpu will perform on battery.
a 65W 130nm cpu will get less battery life than a 65W 45nm CPU.
TDP simply means how much heat the CPU will put out (MAXIMUM)
an i3/5/7 is faster on all counts than a core 2 duo of the same clock speed and manufacturing process

oh well either way, $1400 is $1400, i got what i want, everyone else got what they want.

 

[KnightWRX]

i3 is faster on all counts than a core 2 duo of the same clock speed and manufacturing process

Check the benchmarks again. And again, GPU. End of story.

 

[ibmman69]

Not sold yet.

I have 2nd Gen MBA (1.87, 128GB) and would jump on the new one for the 4GB of RAM if I could upgrade the RAM and processor on the 128GB model. I have over 50GB of free space as it is and have every program I could possibly need installed (including xcode which I installed and only used one time). I need a little extra power and RAM to run Parallels and would shell out the money for the new model, but don't want to pay $300 for an extra 128GB of storage I don't need. They need to add the processor upgrade option to the 128GB model.

 

[AidenShaw]

I need a little extra power and RAM to run Parallels and would shell out the money for the new model, but don't want to pay $300 for an extra 128GB of storage I don't need. They need to add the processor upgrade option to the 128GB model.

Apple is certainly the master of "the art of the up-sell"....

 

[Chase R]

Sometimes a little form over function is OK, in my opinion. A lot of average users go for more than just the raw specs--something techies have a hard time understanding. Apple's notebooks are just plain sexy compared to PCs.

 

[KnightWRX]

Sometimes a little form over function is OK, in my opinion. A lot of average users go for more than just the raw specs--something techies have a hard time understanding. Apple's notebooks are just plain sexy compared to PCs.

Uh ? The Air's form is a function. The Air's weight and size are specs. People really need to understand what form over function means. The Air is not form over function, it's form providing function. If you don't need the portability an Air provides and you are judging its price and comparing it to other less portable machines, you are missing the boat.

 

[Chase R]

Uh ? The Air's form is a function. The Air's weight and size are specs. People really need to understand what form over function means. The Air is not form over function, it's form providing function. If you don't need the portability an Air provides and you are judging its price and comparing it to other less portable machines, you are missing the boat.

Completely agreed, but with it's form, comes somewhat of a loss of function (ports, processor, etc.), but then again, like you said, you gain more function in portability... (When I said "form" I meant what you said about it's form being it's function).

I said what I did to kind of come back at all the folks on here comparing the Air to Acer's and other bulky PCs saying it doesn't provide as much value. Those are the guys that are missing the boat.

 

[KnightWRX]

Completely agreed, but with it's form, comes somewhat of a loss of function (ports, processor, etc.), but then again, like you said, you gain more function in portability... (When I said "form" I meant what you said about it's form being it's function).

True form over function would be something like 2 huge spikes on the palm rest. Sure it would give the laptop that nice gothic dungeon look, but piercing your hands each time you type and destroying the screen when closing the laptop would kind of defeat the purpose.

That is what is meant by form over function. Some kind of visual/audio design element that actually reduces function without providing anything but aesthetic advantages.

I said what I did to kind of come back at all the folks on here comparing the Air to Acer's and other bulky PCs saying it doesn't provide as much value. Those are the guys that are missing the boat.

Yes, they are. Same as the people comparing the Mac Mini to 400$ Dell towers about 10 times as big. Same as the people comparing consumer grade Core i7s with cheap off the shelf RAM with the Mac Pros using Xeon CPUs and ECC RAM.

Most of the "PCs are cheaper and better!" crowd have developed a real talent for isolating specs to fit their scenario.