Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
If Apple were to do the same it would answer the needs of some of us. Would love a MBA that is simple for on the go... and more powerful when at home...

+1 it will be a good answer to my need! But I am still dreaming about a screen doc, with internal hardware such as Graphic CPU, Memory and Hard drive to speed up the MBA. I am still a big fan of this mockup:
url
 
i wonder if it comes with the root-kit pre-installed or you have to download it first in order to boot your PC?

I personally won't buy anything that has a Sony label on it. Ever.

:mad:

AOL!

I recommended, used, and procured Sony equipment before they became bad. Both privately and on behalf of my employer. In some areas exclusively.

I stopped buying any Sony equipment/media before Sony distributed the root-kit infected CDs so I was not hit personally. Though some people I knew believed that a large company as Sony couldn't possibly do really evil acts, and did not head my advise. A few of them learned to avoid Sony the hard way, including infection of important computer equipment used for their thesis.

One person at my university managed to destroy the party throwers very expensive hi-fi equipment with a infected Sony CD. "Very popular" indeed.


If more people knew that dealing with a dodgy company might be dangerous, would it be more common to avoid the worst ones?



I know people that is affected by the Sony Other-OS scam. Sony updated the firmware and destroyed the main use they had for the Playstation, a use Sony advertised at the time they gave Sony their money.

I know of computer labs consisting of more than 1000 Playstations doing computations, that get useless units in return if they send one in for repair, as Sony "update" the firmware. I don't know if Sony does it to pretend they get fewer returns, if they do it to spite their customers, if they really does not care, or for some other odd reason.


If someone could explain to me why an producer of world class hardware turned around to be the present day Sony, I would really appreciate it.
 
This is all good, and I hope Apple will do something similar. However, Sony is using optical lightpeak (or some version of it), that should offer upp to 100Gbit transfers instead of apples copper-version that does 10Gbit per channel. While it would probably still be feasible with Thunderbolt, I can't wait for Apple to start producting Lightningbolt (that will undoubtedly be the name for it) so that we can see some truly awesome docking stations with state-of-the-art graphics boards.
 
This is all good, and I hope Apple will do something similar. However, Sony is using optical lightpeak (or some version of it), that should offer upp to 100Gbit transfers instead of apples copper-version that does 10Gbit per channel. While it would probably still be feasible with Thunderbolt, I can't wait for Apple to start producting Lightningbolt (that will undoubtedly be the name for it) so that we can see some truly awesome docking stations with state-of-the-art graphics boards.

Source? The codename for Thunderbolt project is/was Light Peak. Just because Sony uses that name instead of Thunderbolt doesn't mean that it's any different from Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt 2.0 is rumored to be released around 2015 and it will be 50Gb/s so I heavily doubt that Sony's implementation is faster than Apple's.

Does anyone else find the "based on the architecture codenamed Light Peak™" to be awkward?

Definitely. Why not just call it Thunderbolt? Or maybe they have their own name for it, seeing that the port is different.
 
Sony? Who cares. Everything is proprietary. Like their memory stick crap. They cost at least 3 times more than the same sd card. After experiencing the sony vaio terrible support I ask myself who is insane to buy one.

Good old days when notebooks where called laptops and they had lots of ports and they didn't toast our lap.

If every one starts making their own connectors lightpeak / thunderbolt / whatever either it will be dead or a niche product.

edit: battery life is actually 7 hours you have to add another battery to get more 7 hours. and I highly doubt that an small notebook like that can get 7 hours with an i7 cpu.
 
Last edited:
I've been talking about this for 3+years now. I'd figured Apple, or someone, would have done this already; Apple, being so "portable" conscious should have thoroughly plumbed the idea of a portable desktop. My figuring was that the iMac, a version of it, could go portable with a tablet and the base provides the true storage and power. With the iPad it could become a possibility, even as a third party peripheral/dock. Hope to see a lot more of this in the near future.
 
That looks like a genius concept. Only problem I see is that Apple is going to combine it into their displays instead of keeping it a seperate item that I can use on any monitor.

Most certainly the direction the MBA is heading though and quite possibly the end of the MBP as we know it today (but that isn't before in a couple of years).

T.
 
monkey see, monkey do


That is a complete fanboi comment... As much as I hate Sony and their proprietary crap (Memory Stick, etc etc) - they have a huge amount of innovation going on, off the top of my head: original Red Book CD standard (with Philips), Minidisc (great idea at the time when flash memory was measured in MB), mass-production of CCD technology (at one point they were making 90% of CCDs in the DSLRs).
 
I love the possibility of a 1920x1080 screen resolution in this new ultraportable 13" laptop from Sony. Suddenly the potential of the new sb MacBook Air is a lot less appealing to me. ;) The new Sony will undoubtedly cost a fortune, even more than the MBA, but if it could replace my insanely heavy 17" MBP I'd pay the premium.

It does appear very impressive, with a standard voltage 2.7GHz Core i7 and 256GB SSD crammed into a 2.5 lb form factor. That said, you are right that it will likely be very expensive. However, it raises the bar for the next MacBook Air. The Vaio will be out (in Europe, at least) at the end of July.
 
Sony? Who cares. Everything is proprietary. Like their memory stick crap. They cost at least 3 times more than the same sd card. After experiencing the sony vaio terrible support I ask myself who is insane to buy one.

Good old days when notebooks where called laptops and they had lots of ports and they didn't toast our lap.

If every one starts making their own connectors lightpeak / thunderbolt / whatever either it will be dead or a niche product.

edit: battery life is actually 7 hours you have to add another battery to get more 7 hours. and I highly doubt that an small notebook like that can get 7 hours with an i7 cpu.

Sony pushes a lot of stuff on the market that's true but I see that as a good thing. They really try to push the envelope and there are so many things they do and you never know its them.

Their XDCAM EXs use SxS flash cards based on Expresscard to store video. Yes they are expensive as hell but they are stupidfast and transfer to PC via Expresscard slot is such a advanced workflow that others can really dream of. Sony completely nailed it! But you don't hear nobody talking about it since its a niche product but it works like hell, I cant imagine going back to old disc technology to record video.
 
Oh hell, throw in SACD (super audio CD) and don't forget the much loved (NOT!) digital tape and digital tape players that lasted not even a year when they had that lovely minidisk launch you already mentioned.

I don't know what is more evil of Sony... the memory stick changes or the proprietary batteries that change form factors ever year or so with the magical discontinuation of the old ones... you know... to force you into a new Cybercrap, er shot camera every 2 years.

Apple has at least had consistency. The dock connector has been safe... Sony would have changed the dongle 10 times by now.

Firewire is not a good comparison IMO. Firewire was an Apple name for a technology that was not a proprietary Apple thing. (What was the non apple name? UUE something or other?). Apple just endorsed it and integrated it more heavily. Most PC's required you buy a card. You could argue mini-display port, but again, it was just something no one else ran with when Apple did. Sony usually goes to the extreme of creating a Sony only connector, port, etc. The dock connector is the only true Apple made Apple only thing I can actually think of.

IEEE 1394 is the name for the standard, Sony did indeed create their own connector (a four-pin unpowered connector) however that got rolled into one of the early revisions to the spec.

The design was (I think) initially started by Apple but delivered by a working group involving contributions from several other companies as well (including Sony, as it happens).

Personally I'd love to see a revised Cinema display that took advantage of the abilities of Thunderbolt - to have what is effectively a docking station built into the display with audio*, LAN**, maybe an upgraded graphics solution built in to the display. USB and FW too for that matter, IIRC you should be able to tunnel them over the thunderbolt link so long as appropriate hardware is present either side of it.

A one or two cable docking set up (TB and seperate power) would be great from a convenience point of view.

* But please for the love of god have audio out ports on the back of the display - while the current cinema display speakers are way better than any laptop they're nowhere near the standard of the desktop speakers I have on my desk already

** WiFi is great when on the move but I will *always* prefer to use a cabled LAN connection where possible.
 
All this talk about Sony using a proprietary connector. Isn't USB a lot more common/recognisable than a Mini Display Port adapter?

Also didn't Sony only invent 1 type of memory stick - boringly named the Memory Stick? I know there are different versions of it (Pro Duo and the mini version). I don't think that's pushing it, even though SD would have been a much better choice for the PSP.
 
Nice CTO's

Checked the UK pricelist, some nice CTO's I found:

8 GB Ram 110 £ (upgrade from 4 GB)
Backlight Keyboard 15 £
1920 x 1080 Resolution 40 £ (instead of 1600 x 900)
3G Connectivity built-in 100 £
Extra battery 60 £ (for 14 hrs total)
The Media Dock costs 400 £, with BlueRay Writer 525 £

Nice of them to leave some decisions to the customer, unlike Apple.
Still, there's one problem: This thing runs on Windows.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MBA 11" 240 GB SSD, iPhone 2G
 
Thunderbolt has 10GBs/s transfer speed.. and it's NOT fast enough for a video card? Wow.. I didn't know that standard connectors inside a computer required 15-20+GBs/s transer speed :rolleyes:
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.