Reading old macbook air reviews put things in perspective

[Ghost31]

I guess i knew some of the complaints were the same and that there were parallels between the first air and the new macbook, but i didn't really feel the impact of just HOW similar they were until i went back and read this. People were even MORE pissed off at the first gen macbook air than they are now over the macbook! You see complaints about it heating up to the point where it's uncomfortably hot, the lack of ports are something people have a real issue with and are so mad you would think apple ran over their dog, the macbook air has a hard time just playing video, the battery life sucks: as people are barely even getting 5 hours and what people are left with is "Well it's a well engineered marvel that's ahead of it's time and totally overpriced".

Except the macbook launch is different in a few ways that benefits consumers.

• The macbook can actually handle tasks most people would need to use it for. I have no problem editing videos in final cut or doing anything i used to do with my 15inch pro
• the design is much more efficent than the air was. You can really see the advanced we've made over the years
• The world is very different than it was in 2008. You don't worry much about ports because alot of us use cloud services like icloud or dropbox. IF we need to transfer things we have airdrop. We have faster wifi. Airplay with the apple tv for audio and video.
• An OSX that provides greater optimization
• USB C over time will be even more versatile than the old single USB port

The more i read, the more i got it. Especially in the comments section. Just for some pure entertainment, give it a read if you like http://www.macworld.com/article/1131864/macbookair.html

Can't wait to look back on the macbook launch in 3 years and laugh

 

[xPad]

The original MacBook Air actually had a cooling issue in that plenty of normal computer activities would cause the CPU to overheat to the point that the throttling turned the UI into a slideshow.

It wasn't until the redesign of the MacBook Air that it took off. The MacBook does not have the CPU issue and it won't require a redesign to be a consumer hit.

 

[tbirdparis]

Yep, I think there's another example of Apple trying something again that didn't quite work the first time round: the Mac Mini. With that machine they arguably took another stab at what they tried to do with the G4 Cube, but the second time around they were better served by more appropriate hardware and they had a better idea of where it fit into the lineup. The MacBook Air is by no means a doomed line like the Cube was, far from it. But I think with the rMB you can see they decided to start from a clean slate with the ultra portable concept and make use of the more fit for purpose technology that's available now for such a machine.

 

[RUGGLES99]

Reading old macbook air reviews sounds about as much fun as going to the dentist.

 

[jimboutilier]

Neither the original MBA, nor this initial rMB were surprises to me. In both cases I went from a larger, heavier, higher performance machine with more ports to a smaller, lighter, lower performance machine with fewer ports because I value mobility over performance. And in both cases I was very pleased with the result.

Both were polarizing machines and both has a lot of lovers and haters. I was a lover because mobility was my primary objective, I realized you don't get something for nothing, and for me the balance of mobility and performance was acceptable. Most of the haters did not seem to be expecting to compromise even though it should have been obvious based on the specs.

Going from a "black macbook" to an original MBA was actually a much larger performance delta than going from a maxed out MBA to a rMB. The rMB was quite a pleasant surprise to me, with maximum performance taking a hit while actually improving most day to day performance. It's an awesome machine for your average user doing daily productivity tasks. But i get that this isn't a gaming machine and anything that needs sustained cpu and graphics performance is going to take a big hit.

It is an interesting parallel and how history seems to repeat itself though.

 

[FuNGi]

I guess i knew some of the complaints were the same and that there were parallels between the first air and the new macbook, but i didn't really feel the impact of just HOW similar they were until i went back and read this. People were even MORE pissed off at the first gen macbook air than they are now over the macbook! You see complaints about it heating up to the point where it's uncomfortably hot, the lack of ports are something people have a real issue with and are so mad you would think apple ran over their dog, the macbook air has a hard time just playing video, the battery life sucks: as people are barely even getting 5 hours and what people are left with is "Well it's a well engineered marvel that's ahead of it's time and totally overpriced".

Except the macbook launch is different in a few ways that benefits consumers.

• The macbook can actually handle tasks most people would need to use it for. I have no problem editing videos in final cut or doing anything i used to do with my 15inch pro
• the design is much more efficent than the air was. You can really see the advanced we've made over the years
• The world is very different than it was in 2008. You don't worry much about ports because alot of us use cloud services like icloud or dropbox. IF we need to transfer things we have airdrop. We have faster wifi. Airplay with the apple tv for audio and video.
• An OSX that provides greater optimization
• USB C over time will be even more versatile than the old single USB port

The more i read, the more i got it. Especially in the comments section. Just for some pure entertainment, give it a read if you like http://www.macworld.com/article/1131864/macbookair.html

Can't wait to look back on the macbook launch in 3 years and laugh

True. Lot's of parallels. Similar complaints occurred for the late 2010 redesign, but perhaps much less justified/vehement. I remember reading them and still purchased that computer. Guess what. It still does everything I need it to do but would be much more acceptable to use had it a retina display It really did pave the way for the new macbook pro's too. As will the MB.