InLikeALion
macrumors 6502a
Yes. It would not have been the world's thinnest laptop. That was one of their primary design goals.
Maximum MacBook Air Drive 80GB for Now
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Yes. It would not have been the world's thinnest laptop. That was one of their primary design goals.
gnasher729
Suspended
On modern hard drives, the tracks on the outside contain significantly more data than the ones on the inside. As a result, reading tracks that are the outside transfers more megabyte per second (the disk rotates at constant speed), and your disk gets slower as it gets full, because the inner, slower tracks must be used.
God. Would you like some water for that PLANT? Astroturf somewhere else.
What in the world is that supposed to mean?
Particularly when you consider that he was only saying that this LAPTOP doesn't need it. For installing software, he IS using an optical drive, just not one installed in the machine in question. He borrowed someone else's.
What he was saying is that you install software fairly infrequently, and for that you can borrow the drive on some other machine. For all the other stuff, which you do a lot more often, well Apple has a better way to do that...
be well
t
If you need more space get a real laptop.
I agree with you. And I've bought a Macbook Air 64GB SSD.
numbsafari
macrumors member
I agree... my biggest concern with SSD was that Apple was going to wait for prices to come down. But now that I think about it, SSD is perfect for them. It is a premium, cutting edge technology. It's just ultra expensive.
For now... SSD is relegated to luxury devices or devices that need to operate in the most extreme conditions.
It's kinda like a Hummer or a Ferrari. It's designed for extreme conditions, but owning one for every day use is a total, almost unnecessary Luxury.
The nice thing about SSD is that it more environmentally friendly than a Hummer or Ferrari... so it plays even better for Apple
numbsafari
macrumors member
Bleh. I have 80GB in my three year old 12" PB G4. And it has a smaller footprint than the MBA. And I could upgrade the HD to 160GB if I wanted. Hmmm... maybe I should since Apple doesn't seem to be interested in releasing a laptop I can replace my 12" PB with...
I have $3800 waiting for a suitable PB replacement. If my PB would die today I would buy a used 12" PB tomorrow.
You're a luddite. Good for you.
My girlfriend still drives an '84 Westphalia Camper Van. She won't buy a new car, only new engines to put in her old one.
She happens to be a market segment nobody cares about any more. Kinda like you.
numbsafari
macrumors member
Since SSDs are still expensive, what would have been a good third option for the Macbook Air (in my opinion) would be for a 32GB SSD option which would make it $500-$600 cheaper -- therefore creating a third MBA for around $2400-$2500. (It still seems ridiculous that the high-end MBA is more expensive that the 17" MBP
Since it is suppose to be a travel-light laptop, you are not going to want to carry all your files with you, but use it in conjunction with the 500GB Time Capsule when I home/office. So you can just make room and exchange files easily on your 32GB SSD wirelessly. This way, I think 32GB is plenty.
So you could have enjoyed the benefits of SSD performance for the whole of 2008, and then in the future, once SSDs become cheaper in 2009-2010 (and your warranty passes its 12 months) you can simply open it up and exchange your low 32GB SSD into a new higher-capacity SSD of your own choice and price-range.
Any thoughts?
Someone finally speaking sense!
I completely agree with this. I have a laptop that I use for work that has a 60GB HDD in it. I am currently using... 30GB of it... and of that... I could probably ditch about 15GB because it is just backups of software downloads and things like that I should probably move to my NAS instead of keeping my laptop.
Anyhow... If you factor out media (games, videos, music, etc.) and look just at your applications and such, how much space do you really need? I mean... in those 15GB of real stuff I have multiple Oracle AS installs, an Oracle DB install, IntelliJ, NetBeans, Office and a bunch of other stuff that typical user's won't need.
If I'm a mobile user, I'll carry a 160GB iPOD with all my media (video, music, etc.) and would LOVE to have a 16 or 32GB SSD drive in my laptop.
If they had made that an option I would probably be putting my bank account on lockdown to keep myself from rushing to by an MBA. Honest.
I think Apple should have realized they were going to get beat up on the HDD front by people who don't understand and just offered these choices. They're getting the flack anyway, so sticking to the more expensive options only isn't winning them anything.
That said... if the iPhone 4GB option is any indication, people seem to be willing to spend $$$ for their GBs... although in this case I think it's a little more extreme than just a $200 difference.
numbsafari
macrumors member
Why buy BluRay/HDDVD? Because you can't just download it due to the size.
Disc-based media is for shipping bits in larger volumes than customers can download them.
Use BluRay/HDDVD in your living room with your big screen. Use BluRay/HDDVD to RIP a video to your computer and then downconvert to play on your iPod Touch (in theory).
Again, Apple is a little ahead of itself on the optical media front. But if you look at trends across the industry, digital delivery is going to the network and not to physical media.
iTunes store is booming while BestBuy is cutting floorspace for media. Netflix is beating the pants off of Blockbuster. Amazon kicked the pants off of Borders and BN.
Think about the long term trend there.
Will physical delivery disappear completely? Not likely. It'll just become a niche in the future and things like the MBA will become mass market devices instead of niche devices.
Go read some F.A. Hayek and understand the idea of Progress in capitalism... Rich people spend money on this crap to help fund its development so that it becomes cheaper to produce and then eventually gets adopted by the masses.
It's Econ 101....
numbsafari
macrumors member
Exactly... I've got an iMac with wireless keyboard and mouse. There are now exactly 4 wires on my desk:
1 - the plug for the iMac
2 - the plug for my speakers
3 - the audio out to speaker R
4 - the line over to speaker L
I wish there were some quality wireless speakers. I have no problem expanding my investment in rechargeable AA batteries to rid myself of wires.
Oh... and I use a WiFi network with a wired NAS (where speed counts) and a wireless printer (where speed doesn't). But I keep that stuff on a separate table in the other room.
I can't wait to be freed from the tyranny of wires.
numbsafari
macrumors member
Yes
numbsafari
macrumors member
Apparently I need to get back to work
Since SSDs are still expensive, what would have been a good third option for the Macbook Air (in my opinion) would be for a 32GB SSD option which would make it $500-$600 cheaper -- therefore creating a third MBA for around $2400-$2500. (It still seems ridiculous that the high-end MBA is more expensive that the 17" MBP
Since it is suppose to be a travel-light laptop, you are not going to want to carry all your files with you, but use it in conjunction with the 500GB Time Capsule when I home/office
Any thoughts?
Always nice to have more options. This is a desktop replacement for me though. I already have 2 external burner, don't use many USB devices and have wireless internet at home and office. So the machine doesn't involve sacrifice in my case.
BornAgainMac
macrumors 604
Can't you just use the iMac speakers.
numbsafari
macrumors member
Okay... one last thing...
I doubt it.. like everyone here has been saying... if you need more RAM, bigger drive, built-in optical, FW, USB, Ethernet, kitchen sink, hotter CPU... you are going to need a different laptop.
So...all those things that make the Pro the "Pro" are necessarily going to make it thicker. And people who want all those things are less concerned about the thickness. Sure, they wouldn't mind 3mm less, but what matters more is all those other numbers. So they'll buy the "Pro".
I'm sure Apple will want to make it thinner if they can (just to say they can if nothing else), but the focus will be more on getting all the components in instead of on the size.
They're a little tinny for me.
You know what... I forgot... I have an iPhone docking station... so... add 1 more wire (total of 5).
It'd be nice if they had that cool wireless power thing going... so the iMac could power the iPhone and external speakers through induction (and wirelessly sync with the iPhone and send audio to the speakers).
Now that'd be HOT. Unless the inductive power would cause me to die or get horrible cancer or cause the screen to act funny (in decreasing order of seriousness).
yzp
macrumors regular
Those who can afford the Solid State Drive (SSD) may be in in some luck, as Samsung did announce (in Jan 2008) that a 128GB SSD drive coming in the "first half of 2008". This 1.8" drive multi-level cell flash drive will be produced in 1.8" 5mm high size, although the announced interface (SATA) is not the same as that used in the MacBook Air (PATA). Pricing has not yet been announced on the 128GB SSD drive, but will certainly carry a significant premium.
Article Link[/QUOTE]
would be crazy as **** if SDD get larger than HDD!!!
Article Link[/QUOTE]
would be crazy as **** if SDD get larger than HDD!!!
InLikeALion
macrumors 6502a
While I'm not disagreeing that network/downloads are eventually going to be the conduit for our media, I think the part about Amazon doesn't support your point. In fact, it shows why bluray will be valid for a while. Amazon does beat B&N and Borders, but because it is an online retailer with low overhead and mass ordering.
They still ship physical books, and that is where their money is being made right now - not e-books. Amazon would love e-books to take off so they wouldn't have to spend money on shipping or for physical copies of material. But people still want physical books, and similarly bluray is a physical distribution method people currently still want/need.
My wife and I rented a movie from iTunes for the first time monday night. It was on her PowerBook, so it was just the SD version, not the
TV HiDef version. It still took about 45 min's to download. It also lacked special features and was jumpy in some places. I don't think US broadband is near the maturity for 50+ GB files to become mainstream downloads.numbsafari
macrumors member
I agree with you about Amazon... I guess Amazon's entry into the eBook space with the Kindle is more of an "Amazon vs. Amazon" (not a wrestling match) story than Amazon vs. BN and Borders.
They clearly see digital distribution as the future. Physical books will always be important, and there's a lot of value in the "bookstore culture" and the "cafe culture" that will keep places like BN and Borders alive (perhaps if only so people can download media over their highspeed pipe... why they haven't gone into this more aggressively, I'll never know). I mean... we still have movie theaters even though everyone has HD at home now, right?
cameronjpu
macrumors 65816
100% of the people I've helped (that's 1).
Breckenridge
macrumors regular
Thin is nice, when practical. 80G is really small, I have over 80Gs of photos on my current macbook pro. And by the way, I love how thin my macbook pro is
SSD clarification
Regarding SSDs and people saying the price points are too high for an major adoption, especially the 64GB and 128GB. The 128GB SSD being introduced by Samsung in the first half of this year will be based on MLC which will cut the price in half. Couple this with the transition to 43nm technology and you get a price decline of well over 50%.
The problem with this is that when Samsung says "first half of 2008" it means they will begin sampling then and then they can ship in the second half of 2008. Additionally SSDs based on MLC have very slow write times compared to hard drives and SLC SSDs. So even if Samsung begins sampling, OEMs will be hesitant to promote or even use them due to poor performance in standardized benchmarks.
What needs to happen is the controller technology needs to be perfected in order to get decent speeds on these SSDs and in this area there are very few specialists. Samsung is not one of them. So if Samsungs MLC SSDs are not up to par (which is likely) dont expect Apple to offer them as an option and you probably wouldnt want them anyway. Better performance with SLC at the moment although the prices at the moment are prohibative.
Regarding SSDs and people saying the price points are too high for an major adoption, especially the 64GB and 128GB. The 128GB SSD being introduced by Samsung in the first half of this year will be based on MLC which will cut the price in half. Couple this with the transition to 43nm technology and you get a price decline of well over 50%.
The problem with this is that when Samsung says "first half of 2008" it means they will begin sampling then and then they can ship in the second half of 2008. Additionally SSDs based on MLC have very slow write times compared to hard drives and SLC SSDs. So even if Samsung begins sampling, OEMs will be hesitant to promote or even use them due to poor performance in standardized benchmarks.
What needs to happen is the controller technology needs to be perfected in order to get decent speeds on these SSDs and in this area there are very few specialists. Samsung is not one of them. So if Samsungs MLC SSDs are not up to par (which is likely) dont expect Apple to offer them as an option and you probably wouldnt want them anyway. Better performance with SLC at the moment although the prices at the moment are prohibative.
numbsafari
macrumors member
Thin is nice, when practical. 80G is really small, I have over 80Gs of photos on my current macbook pro. And by the way, I love how thin my macbook pro is
Do you need all 80Gs on your laptop at all times? Can you post them on-line and also keep the ones you don't need at all times to something like TimeCapsule or a USB disk off of an AEBS?
Why do you need all your media on one disk at all times? I mean... isn't that kinda risky if that drive fails?
Also... couldn't you put most of those photos onto an iPod instead of your main HDD?
--- EDIT ---
If anything.... this is where Apple is dropping the ball... Failing to help their customers understand the range of storage options they have at their disposal and providing the tools to make managing that storage easy so that they don't have to think about it as storage with multiple tiers and access points.
Island Dog
macrumors 6502a
Yes, actually I do need 80gigs on my laptop possibly. Applications, photos, music, etc. If I'm paying thousands of dollars for this thing then I shouldn't have to worry about transferring stuff back and forth just to make space.