Hah, even my 16% edu discount doesn't make the price any easier to swallow.
I'd have to buy this in the US, in a tax free state, with a university discount to make the price easier to stomach...
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What's the purpose of the Macbook Air?
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Hah, even my 16% edu discount doesn't make the price any easier to swallow.
I'd have to buy this in the US, in a tax free state, with a university discount to make the price easier to stomach...
It is going to take off in Japan dude. Not as much as Apple would like though. Japan is big on "everywhere" wireless built in to it's mobile devices. The MBA doesn't support that. That will be the only thing to slow it down.
I think that the MBA was designed by Apple primarily so that they could have a foot in every door as far as laptops are concerned.
Some of you seem to think that the 13.3 inch display makes it not a tru subnotebook. I dissagree I think that the display and the Core 2 Duo proccessor set the MBA miles infront of the current competition. According to PC Authority mag, the best part of the MBA is the value for money.
If you have a problem paying for compactness then buy a MB or MBP.
I beleive that the MBA was designed for Buisness people that travel alot, Students (high school and college), and for people who are captivated be the design and light wieght.
Some of you seem to think that the 13.3 inch display makes it not a tru subnotebook. I dissagree I think that the display and the Core 2 Duo proccessor set the MBA miles infront of the current competition. According to PC Authority mag, the best part of the MBA is the value for money.
If you have a problem paying for compactness then buy a MB or MBP.
I beleive that the MBA was designed for Buisness people that travel alot, Students (high school and college), and for people who are captivated be the design and light wieght.
Part of the specification is "three pounds of weight" and "0.76 inch thick at its thickest point" and "full size screen, full size keyboard, full speed processor, lots of RAM, reasonably sized permanent storage". I'd happy to see you show us any manufacturer that can produce the same specification (including those parts that are the purpose of the MacBook Air) for less money.
My wife would buy one immediately. She's never plugged in anything into a USB port. She has never put anything into the DVD drive, except a CD that turned out to have copy protection and that the MacBook ejected immediately (had to rip it on an old QuickSilver). While the MacBook looks pleasant, the MacBook Air looks really, really, really nice. It's much lighter, easier to carry around, easier to hold while watching a movie (and if you don't know how to watch movies without using a DVD, what are you doing on MacRumors? ). Who cares if it is a bit more expensive. There are plenty of people out there with real jobs.
As a 12 inch PB owner for the last 4 years I can say that that the only time I put a CD in my laptop for the last 7 months was to upgrade to Leopard. I seldom use more than one usb port at at time. When I do its because I'm running an external screen and using a usb mouse and usb storage device. Bluetooth will take care of the times that I need two USB ports. Firewire is used for backups which I will not need to do anymore with time capsule.
I think the Macbook Air is perfect for how I work. I don't care for the 13 widescreen but it is an improvement over the 12. I frequently grab my wife's Macbook because of the great 13 inch screen. That said I wonder what a 12 inch Macbook Air would weight in at?
The Macbook Air is not a primary computer. We have 4 Macs at the house. A G4 Tower for TV recording and photo library, an iMac for desktop work and two laptops. Thats for only 2 people. I can see the MacBook Air replacing my laptop.
I think most of the naysayers only have their laptop. If you only have one machine the Macbook air is not for you.
I think the Macbook Air is perfect for how I work. I don't care for the 13 widescreen but it is an improvement over the 12. I frequently grab my wife's Macbook because of the great 13 inch screen. That said I wonder what a 12 inch Macbook Air would weight in at?
The Macbook Air is not a primary computer. We have 4 Macs at the house. A G4 Tower for TV recording and photo library, an iMac for desktop work and two laptops. Thats for only 2 people. I can see the MacBook Air replacing my laptop.
I think most of the naysayers only have their laptop. If you only have one machine the Macbook air is not for you.
Except... he's right. For the few who need it, the $99 external fills the need.
Optical drives sit idle most of the time for most users. It would make more sense to include a PRINTER than an optical drive! (I'm not suggesting that).
We'll see the optical drive come out of the mainstream MB and MBP over the next 18, and you'll hear a few folks complain. They'll be the same folks who insisted on a 5.25" internal drive for their PS/2 Model 80's because they just couldn't imaging have a machine that couldn't read their legacy media. Don't let they fact that they are LOUD confuse you into thinking they are numerous or correct!!!
Nah, that doesn't make sense. Your optical drive sits empty most of the time, other people's don't. One of my machines is a MacBook Pro. I don't think I've ever put a CD or DVD in it (I install most of my stuff over the network or from firewire since it's faster). Other things I've never used even once on my MBP include the card slot, the microphone input, the FireWire 800 port, and the Kensignton lock. Following your logic these are all things that should be replaced with a printer.
If you believe a computer should only have features that 90% or more of people use frequently then all you'll be left with is a keyboard, screen and trackpad... or maybe just a trackpad and screen.
You say that like it would be a bad thing.
I think a multi-touch tablet would be great.Wrong
As you so eloquently put it..
Wrong
It's a 65nm LV processor. It is not a ULV processor nor is it a 45nm processor. The LV and ULV versions of the 45nm chips are not available yet nor will they be for a while.
This chip hasn't been in development for a long time. Intel changed the Packaging so that the actual silicon [which is a small fraction of the total chip size in most processors] is smaller. The substrate that the silicon sits on is smaller. The logic of the processor isn't smaller.
As you so eloquently put it..
Wrong
It's a 65nm LV processor. It is not a ULV processor nor is it a 45nm processor. The LV and ULV versions of the 45nm chips are not available yet nor will they be for a while.
This chip hasn't been in development for a long time. Intel changed the Packaging so that the actual silicon [which is a small fraction of the total chip size in most processors] is smaller. The substrate that the silicon sits on is smaller. The logic of the processor isn't smaller.
Every damn forum
Every forum has the same inanity.
Believe it or not, there is a market for this device. Seriously. Just because YOU don't want one doesn't mean other people won't buy one. Do you think that most of the other top 10 PC vendors make a sub-note with similar specs because they all want to make a product that no one will buy?
Just because you don't mind lugging around a 5 1/2 lb laptop doesn't mean that others don't mind. Hell, even I find a 15" powerbook heavy when you carry it on your shoulder for most of 5 hours and I've not even had my mid-life crisis yet.
I used to support a man in his 80s who was quite successful, he won a Nobel Prize in fact. He was a long time Mac user and exclusively a Mac user. He purchased a crappy Toshiba Sub-Notebook a few years back so that he could read email and open Office docs at Conferences. Any Mac Laptop was too heavy for him to carry around. The cost of an additional Notebook solely for reading email on the road was trivial to him.
Most of you may find this shocking since you are of the demographic that posts on Mac rumor sites but $3000 isn't a lot of money to some people, especially when work pays for it or when you can write it off as a business expense. It's still expensive to me, but as I advance things that recently seemed expensive now seem rather trivial. I work in EDU where Pay isn't generally very good and a MacBook Air would eat up a good portion of 2 Months discretionary money.. or One month if my wife and I really tightened our belts.
Brace yourself.. This isn't designed for college students who make extra scratch working in the Cafeteria. Oh the Horror! They didn't design every Apple product for you! How dare you Apple. How DARE you.
Finally, Please stop comparing this to an Asus EEE. I've used an EEE, as a laptop it's a piece of crap. It's got a crappy keyboard and a 800x400 pixel screen (give or take a few dots). I'd just as soon give up computers rather than use that as a proper laptop. 2, 4, or 8 GB or Storage? The same people I hear griping about 80GB and 64GB options in the Air are boosting an EEE that maxes at 8GB.
The EEE is cool for what it is, but it's NOT a sub-notebook by any sane measure. I'd like one for the office but I wouldn't use it for anything other than testing Networks. I've got an iPhone If I really need to read email on the road.
Initially, my take on the MB Air was that it was pretty slick but that it's not for me.
I've been thinking about it though. This might be my next notebook. I generally use my laptop in 3 general locations: In the office, on the couch at home, and on the road. I generally never use the CDROM or USB on the road (though a portable CD would be fine for WWDC where I'd want to install developer builds.. having an external in the Hotel would be perfectly fine). At home the only time I ever plug in USB is when my wife uses my laptop to do design work and she demands a real mouse (which is rarely) or when I plug the Camera in. In the office, the first thing I do every morning is plug in Audio, DVI, Power, Ethernet, and one USB line to 'dock' to my Dell 24" LCD There's no reason why the MacBook Air wouldn't work for me.
It's awful tempting since I take my laptop home nearly every night and that extra 5lbs IS heavy when you also drag 10+ lbs of reference books around on occasion. Once in a while, I'll load up a back pack for the weekend and it's actually pretty damn heavy.
My only real complaints at this point are the lack of a proper Docking Station and the non-user removable battery. I don't swap batteries for extended life but I also don't want to give my laptop up to Apple for a battery swap. Apple's pricing for battery replacement isn't totally unreasonable (though it is pricy) but it is unreasonable if Apple can't do this work on the spot at an Apple store.
There are other things I would Prefer, like 2 USB and a proper Ethernet port instead of a dongle but these are all things I can easily live with.
Ffakr.
Every forum has the same inanity.
Believe it or not, there is a market for this device. Seriously. Just because YOU don't want one doesn't mean other people won't buy one. Do you think that most of the other top 10 PC vendors make a sub-note with similar specs because they all want to make a product that no one will buy?
Just because you don't mind lugging around a 5 1/2 lb laptop doesn't mean that others don't mind. Hell, even I find a 15" powerbook heavy when you carry it on your shoulder for most of 5 hours and I've not even had my mid-life crisis yet.
I used to support a man in his 80s who was quite successful, he won a Nobel Prize in fact. He was a long time Mac user and exclusively a Mac user. He purchased a crappy Toshiba Sub-Notebook a few years back so that he could read email and open Office docs at Conferences. Any Mac Laptop was too heavy for him to carry around. The cost of an additional Notebook solely for reading email on the road was trivial to him.
Most of you may find this shocking since you are of the demographic that posts on Mac rumor sites but $3000 isn't a lot of money to some people, especially when work pays for it or when you can write it off as a business expense. It's still expensive to me, but as I advance things that recently seemed expensive now seem rather trivial. I work in EDU where Pay isn't generally very good and a MacBook Air would eat up a good portion of 2 Months discretionary money.. or One month if my wife and I really tightened our belts.
Brace yourself.. This isn't designed for college students who make extra scratch working in the Cafeteria. Oh the Horror! They didn't design every Apple product for you! How dare you Apple. How DARE you.
Finally, Please stop comparing this to an Asus EEE. I've used an EEE, as a laptop it's a piece of crap. It's got a crappy keyboard and a 800x400 pixel screen (give or take a few dots). I'd just as soon give up computers rather than use that as a proper laptop. 2, 4, or 8 GB or Storage? The same people I hear griping about 80GB and 64GB options in the Air are boosting an EEE that maxes at 8GB.
The EEE is cool for what it is, but it's NOT a sub-notebook by any sane measure. I'd like one for the office but I wouldn't use it for anything other than testing Networks. I've got an iPhone If I really need to read email on the road.
Initially, my take on the MB Air was that it was pretty slick but that it's not for me.
I've been thinking about it though. This might be my next notebook. I generally use my laptop in 3 general locations: In the office, on the couch at home, and on the road. I generally never use the CDROM or USB on the road (though a portable CD would be fine for WWDC where I'd want to install developer builds.. having an external in the Hotel would be perfectly fine). At home the only time I ever plug in USB is when my wife uses my laptop to do design work and she demands a real mouse (which is rarely) or when I plug the Camera in. In the office, the first thing I do every morning is plug in Audio, DVI, Power, Ethernet, and one USB line to 'dock' to my Dell 24" LCD There's no reason why the MacBook Air wouldn't work for me.
It's awful tempting since I take my laptop home nearly every night and that extra 5lbs IS heavy when you also drag 10+ lbs of reference books around on occasion. Once in a while, I'll load up a back pack for the weekend and it's actually pretty damn heavy.
My only real complaints at this point are the lack of a proper Docking Station and the non-user removable battery. I don't swap batteries for extended life but I also don't want to give my laptop up to Apple for a battery swap. Apple's pricing for battery replacement isn't totally unreasonable (though it is pricy) but it is unreasonable if Apple can't do this work on the spot at an Apple store.
There are other things I would Prefer, like 2 USB and a proper Ethernet port instead of a dongle but these are all things I can easily live with.
Ffakr.
I've read many of the complaints about the Macbook air but when I go to the Sony site to compare products their 13 inch notebooks are more than a pound heavier and their 11 inch notebooks weigh less but cost more and have slower processors.
It looks to me like the only most significant difference is the inclusion of a 3G wan. Can anyone else comment.
BTW the Sony web site stinks if you are trying to get information about their computers.
It looks to me like the only most significant difference is the inclusion of a 3G wan. Can anyone else comment.
BTW the Sony web site stinks if you are trying to get information about their computers.
One thing I don't understand about the MBA is why does the bezel around the screen have to be so large? Take that away and the footprint becomes small enough to fully justify the thinness, as it is it's just a thin MB, it could've been so much more (or less in this case)
I've read many of the complaints about the Macbook air but when I go to the Sony site to compare products their 13 inch notebooks are more than a pound heavier and their 11 inch notebooks weigh less but cost more and have slower processors.
It looks to me like the only most significant difference is the inclusion of a 3G wan. Can anyone else comment.
They're smaller, and they also include optical drives. They're also outfitted with long-range broadband, which is pretty cool. I just realized my sister has one. Personally, I prefer my Macbook, but the Sony ultraportables are far more UPs than the MBA is.
it's for those who have the money and need the great loss of weight for a notebook. I hated carrying my 8.9 lb gateway computer. I updated to a 5.9lb Hp, and i will be receiving my macbook, which weighs about 5 in 4 days
Just out of Curiosity, what do people think a regular macbook would weigh if you just put it into an aluminum case, took out the optical drive, and any other things the MBA does not have?
I bet it would be coming close to 3 lb..
The machines have the same footprint in size, and the MB is only a third of an inch thicker.
I bet it would be coming close to 3 lb..
The machines have the same footprint in size, and the MB is only a third of an inch thicker.
Try walking around with one all day long. No, this doesn't mean driving to work in the morning and driving back at night. This means walking... allllll day long.
Find me a 3 lb notebook anywhere with a 13" screen, full keyboard, and 1.6ghz dual core processor, 2 GB of memory, and 80 gb hard drive costing less than $1799.
And just a warning, I'm going to kick the next person that compares the MBA to an Eee in the jaw.
i don't like that either.. however it's understandable why they did this.. it would be eitehr for a laptop to have a lid not to have the same footprint as it's body hehe and i'm sure apple would make the body smaller if they could
and i agree with others here.. yes the macbook and air have similar footprint
and the air is thinner.. the key point here is not even the footprint.. it's more about weight.. loosing like 2 pounds is huge when you walk around with your laptop all day. to me thats one of the key feature for the air
I'm so sick of everybody whining about the MBA. This is the same whining that everyone does every time there is a new release. It's pretty depressing how pissed of people get about an inanimate object. Don't get me wrong I love my mac and I love coming here to read about possible new releases and features but at the end of the day it's a computer.
I'm not going to get angry that the new mac didn't have the exact features I wanted. If you don't like it it's not for you. This is what they could fit into the case that they wanted to use. If you're going to get this angry about a computer not being exactly what you wanted you probably have some personal needs that you need to sort out before you start poisoning public areas with your dissatisfaction with life. Get a dog, meet with friends, take your spouse on a date, and stop ******** where you eat.
Can we be positive? Maybe? Instead of going on about how everyone that buys a MBA is getting ripped off because their two year old MB is faster and cheaper try saying, "I like the MBA but I like the MB more", or some happy variation. You might live longer, you'll be happier, and macrumors will be more enjoyable for everyone.
I'm not going to get angry that the new mac didn't have the exact features I wanted. If you don't like it it's not for you. This is what they could fit into the case that they wanted to use. If you're going to get this angry about a computer not being exactly what you wanted you probably have some personal needs that you need to sort out before you start poisoning public areas with your dissatisfaction with life. Get a dog, meet with friends, take your spouse on a date, and stop ******** where you eat.
Can we be positive? Maybe? Instead of going on about how everyone that buys a MBA is getting ripped off because their two year old MB is faster and cheaper try saying, "I like the MBA but I like the MB more", or some happy variation. You might live longer, you'll be happier, and macrumors will be more enjoyable for everyone.