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Unboxing Video of MacBook Air, More Notes

oooooooooooooooooo yeah!

I have to say that I have no need for a MBA... I know not having a superdrive will annoy me. I know I am going to need something faster. I know I'm going to need a bigger hard drive. The list goes on and on...

So why oh why do I want one so very badly ??????

just looking at that vid.... just compounded my confusion

Thank you and Damn you at the same time!;):D

Macam
 
MacRumors said:
[
- The MacBook Airs were reportedly pulled from the 5th Avenue NYC Apple Store for now. They will likely return on Friday which is the official retail launch of the MacBook Air.
Click to expand...

Everyone I talk to from Apple denies and says they don't know when they will be getting Macbook Airs. They tell me not likely on friday.

This is very frustrating...
 
pale9 said:
i dont think anybody will get off by watching you taking off the freaking wrapping paper.
Click to expand...

Shrug... I didn't submit this as a news item to Macrumors.. I just posted the video because people were desperately asking for it in the huge Air thread here... And believe it or not, people do want to know what kind of a box the Air comes in – there were actually questions about it.

Unboxing videos / pics, much like the Air, have a target market. They're not exactly the most exciting videos on earth ;)
 
Overall package looks amazing but i just cant justify buying one in any way.
 
Yes!!

My MBA order finally says prepared for shipping!!! anyone know how quickly that changes to shipped?? The video was off the hook, I want mine now:D
 
seems silly that they would pull it off the floor at the 5th ave store.

were people really having a hissy fit that people in new york could play with them a day early?
 
"One reason I loved the 12-inch PowerBook G4 was that it crossed some hard-to-define weight barrier, one I hadn’t even been aware of until I started using a laptop that crossed it. The 12-inch PowerBook was so small and light that carrying my laptop around with me became an afterthought. "

I does this even make sense? Say in comparison to a MacBook. The MB Air has the same footprint as the MacBook. The 12-inch PowerBook was smaller, but it weighed 4.6 pounds, perceptively the same as the MacBook at 5.2 pounds over a larger footprint.

Why, by implication, is carrying a 12-inch PowerBook G4 an afterthought, and carrying an MB Air is afterthought, but carrying a MacBook is not? Why wouldn't have the standard MacBook created the same sense for the user?

Whatever you may think about the MB Air, you have to admit it's Apple's paramount achievement in using design to create an illusion for consumers. It should be canonized in the annals of consumer-product industrial design, for that alone.
 
Wow! that box is just amazing, i love the totally square nature of it, very iPhone or, dare i say, Apple 2.0
 
Envelope

Am I the only person disappointed it didn't come wrapped in an inter office envelope? :)
 
sanford said:
"One reason I loved the 12-inch PowerBook G4 was that it crossed some hard-to-define weight barrier, one I hadn’t even been aware of until I started using a laptop that crossed it. The 12-inch PowerBook was so small and light that carrying my laptop around with me became an afterthought. "

I does this even make sense? Say in comparison to a MacBook. The MB Air has the same footprint as the MacBook. The 12-inch PowerBook was smaller, but it weighed 4.6 pounds, perceptively the same as the MacBook at 5.2 pounds over a larger footprint.

Why, by implication, is carrying a 12-inch PowerBook G4 an afterthought, and carrying an MB Air is afterthought, but carrying a MacBook is not? Why wouldn't have the standard MacBook created the same sense for the user?

Whatever you may think about the MB Air, you have to admit it's Apple's paramount achievement in using design to create an illusion for consumers. It should be canonized in the annals of consumer-product industrial design, for that alone.
Click to expand...

Say it with me, the Macbook Air was not, is not, and will not be intended for all people. I am not Apple's only priority.
 
NAG said:
Say it with me, the Macbook Air was not, is not, and will not be intended for all people. I am not Apple's only priority.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying it is. I'm not saying I expect it to be. I'm saying even the people for whom it was intended have, beyond "the new new thing" and pure aesthetics of a particular kind, far better options available in Apple's own portable line.

I'm saying the MacBook Air is intended to "compel" -- emotionally -- people to buy for a minimum of $1,800 a computer they don't need, of if they do need a new portable, or a portable upgrade, they can do far better with another Mac model.

It's marketing genius: selling a portable computer with half the practical use at 150% the price, with very, very, very little beyond aesthetics, again of a particular kind, to recommend it.

It's working it seems, locally, among MacRumors forum regulars. I'd love to see how it plays to the bulk of Mac buyers. If Apple pulls it off, it will be quite the feat. With iPod, there were other, cheaper digital music players, but iPod was better. With iPhone there were other, arguably cheaper, "smart-phones", but iPhone was better. With MB Air, there are other, cheaper, better, portable computers, designed by Apple themselves, readily available. If they sell MB Airs over those they will have succeeded in selling design for design's sake alone, form far ahead of function, which has not been Apple's stated mission in the past decade, certainly -- which opens up a whole new market for them.
 
macam said:
ISo why oh why do I want one so very badly ??????
Click to expand...

Because Apple has always been good at selling people a new iPod every six months or so, bearing in mind the new ones may have had little if any practical superiority over the most recent one they bought. Because Apple is outstanding at using their design and engineering skills to make you desperate to own something that is attractive but will not suit you in practice at all.

You like Van Gogh? Monet? Manet? Leonardo? Any classics of fine art hanging in the walls of the world's best museums? You can't have those, I'm afraid. Not without putting yourself to horrible risk. You don't need the MB Air. In fact, you profess that it's terribly unsuitable for you. Use the same philosophy as with a masterwork of art not for sale: Look, appreciate, keep walking; don't tear it off the wall, cut it from its frame, stuff in your bag and make a mad dash for the nearest exit.
 
sanford said:
Why, by implication, is carrying a 12-inch PowerBook G4 an afterthought, and carrying an MB Air is afterthought, but carrying a MacBook is not? Why wouldn't have the standard MacBook created the same sense for the user?
Click to expand...

Because it's fairly heavy! The MacBook is heaver than the 12" iBook by quite a big margin! Never handled the PB G4, but I imagine the small footprint created the illusion of “lightness” of something…

FPCat said:
Am I the only person disappointed it didn't come wrapped in an inter office envelope? :)
Click to expand...

No.
 
Oh wow. I have a sudden urge to whip out my credit card and buy one of these beauties. Gotta hold back tho.
 
sanford said:
"One reason I loved the 12-inch PowerBook G4 was that it crossed some hard-to-define weight barrier, one I hadn’t even been aware of until I started using a laptop that crossed it. The 12-inch PowerBook was so small and light that carrying my laptop around with me became an afterthought. "

I does this even make sense? Say in comparison to a MacBook. The MB Air has the same footprint as the MacBook. The 12-inch PowerBook was smaller, but it weighed 4.6 pounds, perceptively the same as the MacBook at 5.2 pounds over a larger footprint.

Why, by implication, is carrying a 12-inch PowerBook G4 an afterthought, and carrying an MB Air is afterthought, but carrying a MacBook is not? Why wouldn't have the standard MacBook created the same sense for the user?

Whatever you may think about the MB Air, you have to admit it's Apple's paramount achievement in using design to create an illusion for consumers. It should be canonized in the annals of consumer-product industrial design, for that alone.
Click to expand...

Half a pound can be significant, especially so if your computer is increasing in weight because you're used to a 12" PB. The main thing for me is that I often carry a lot of crap around besides my computer, and having a computer that's more than a pound and a half lighter than my current one (and two pounds lighter than anything else I could get from Apple now) means that with an MBA I could carry a computer and all the crap in the same weight that my computer alone used to take up. (I'm not actually getting one now, because I can't justify the expense and my PB still works, but when it's finally time to replace it you can bet that it will be with an MBA.)
 
sanford said:
I'm not saying it is. I'm not saying I expect it to be. I'm saying even the people for whom it was intended have, beyond "the new new thing" and pure aesthetics of a particular kind, far better options available in Apple's own portable line.

I'm saying the MacBook Air is intended to "compel" -- emotionally -- people to buy for a minimum of $1,800 a computer they don't need, of if they do need a new portable, or a portable upgrade, they can do far better with another Mac model.

It's marketing genius: selling a portable computer with half the practical use at 150% the price, with very, very, very little beyond aesthetics, again of a particular kind, to recommend it.

It's working it seems, locally, among MacRumors forum regulars. I'd love to see how it plays to the bulk of Mac buyers. If Apple pulls it off, it will be quite the feat. With iPod, there were other, cheaper digital music players, but iPod was better. With iPhone there were other, arguably cheaper, "smart-phones", but iPhone was better. With MB Air, there are other, cheaper, better, portable computers, designed by Apple themselves, readily available. If they sell MB Airs over those they will have succeeded in selling design for design's sake alone, form far ahead of function, which has not been Apple's stated mission in the past decade, certainly -- which opens up a whole new market for them.
Click to expand...

Why do you think that you know what options are better for me better than I do? Why do you think that your definition of "better" is the only one? Yeah, the aesthetic is nice, but the aesthetic of a MacBook is fine too. I don't care. What I do care about is the weight, and if Apple hadn't come out with something of this sort, the next laptop I bought would have been from another manufacturer. I like OS X, but it's not enough better than Ubuntu to make it worth lugging around an extra two pounds of computer all the time.
 
Wow! The tear down pictures!

The little wireless card made me want to hug a kitten... It's so little and so cute! And amazingly easy to access everything! The only thing I wasn't sure if I saw or not was the ram. I think it sits next to the fan... and if so it looks like there is a tiny lever as if it could be unseated. For replacement. Or perhaps upgrade? Could it not be soldered in? In fact the hard drive also seems an easy swap when higher capacity 1.8mm drives become available, or dare I say it, higher capacity and less expensive flash drives. Hmm, I wonder if the flash and non flash drives are pin compatable?
 
USB Lock??

Over at 9to5mac there is a video of the MBAs in the 5th ave store. (see it here) and someone picked up on what appears to be a pass through USB lock keeping them attached to the table.
Was anyone there to witness these? Do they look like they work well? Do you think Apple will be selling them?
 
Nice to see Apple cutting down on their packaging.

When I got my PB 15'', it came in a MASSIVE box, about the same size as the current iMac 20'' box.

My new macbook came in a much smaller box, and now I see the MB Air comes in a box only just larger than the laptop itself.

Hopefully other companies will follow their lead, and see that quality and luxury doesn't mean massive overpackaging.
 
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