Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

will MBA flop?

Will the MBA flop?

  • Yes

    Votes: 68 33.3%

  • No

    Votes: 100 49.0%

  • Undecided

    Votes: 36 17.6%
  • Total voters
    204
S

sbb155

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 15, 2005
498
5
I was anxiously awaiting the MBA today, which I envisioned as a "pro" level computer, similar to the older 12" PBG4. You can imagine my disappointment with the MBA. I am a corporate road warrior with a mac in a sea of PCs on the road. The MBA looked great yesterday as a theory - in reality it is nothing that I want. Too expensive, not good for plugging in things. Dongles are painful for us travelers - we lose them... Ethernet dongle? No way. One usb port? ugh, cannot do it.

I'd rather have a black MB. Wish I could get a 12" MBP. It doesnt exist. And never will.

But, I think the MBA will flop. Dont like it. It is like apple TV or newton... Seems "ok" but I expect better from apple. I don't want "ok"
 
i think it will flop as well, too expensive, too large, too slow, not enough ports, too short life span as I expect.
 
I don't think it will flop. Even if it doesn't sell well at first, a year from now it will be cheaper, SSDs may become standard, and they could make other small changes like digital audio out or a second USB port. I'm a bit disappointed with the Air, but I think it only needs a little time to become a really nice product.
 
I'm with Chasmyr. This will be a success with the "computer as appliance" segment of the market, which represents the vast majority of computer users.

Personally, I think it could be a decent replacement for/addition to my iBook in about 6 months or so. What I really want is an Intel based 12" iBook, and this is better than that, for my purposes.

B
 
I don't think it will be a flop. The vast vast majority of people don't know anything about computers or specs. They will see a very pretty glorified pancake and buy it for looks and show.
 
I don't think it'll flop either. $1799 is a great price point. I bet Intel isn't making this processor only for the MBA. I'm sure another device Apple (or another company) will use it, and once those start selling, it'll bring the CPU price down, thus bringing down the MBA price. Give it time :)
 
flop

it is gonna flop as hard as the iPod (that everyone was saying sucked on release day)

just you wait. :rolleyes:
 
reminds me of the palm fooleo (a flop).

should get one now, it's gonna be a collector's item.
 
It will work for people who really cannot stand lugging around a "larger" macbook/pro on their trips etc.

HOWEVER, the macbook pro or (maybe) macbook can be used as desktop replacements, esp. the pro with its fast processor and 8600m.

This 1.6 ghz thing is kinda pokey from the specs point of view....
 
it is funny watching all the people who are saying they are going to buy one, many of them switchers, and watching my sister and wife drool over it and watching the tiny puffed up critic population talk about how bad it will flop....

i should make popcorn.
 
only time will tell. I think the mba is good in concept, but could have increased the thickness a bit to put in some more features... i mean, you don't have to be the thinnest, do you?
 
pianoplayer1 said:
This 1.6 ghz thing is kinda pokey from the specs point of view....
Click to expand...

Not really. A 1.6ghz Core 2 Duo processor is quite powerful, more than enough so for everyday computing and basic AV editing.

I don't think it will flop. Look at the size. It's incredibly small, which, to many people, is an important characteristic in a laptop.
 
Flop... Definitely not. Like some here have said, technology will follow. SSD will become cheaper over time (Just like how RAM has and everything else we buy cheap nowadays). The design is simply amazing, but the specs just aren't there yet. It will be a great traveler, for those that just need internet, mail, office, etc. It wasn't designed to be a pro computer, or for video editing. Was designed for exactly what el Jobso said it was.

Sure there are a lot of people here that won't buy it, because they were expecting so much more, but there are many people (I don't want to call out the girls but I have to) that love this thing. Chicks dig great design. Most don't require 4GB RAM or strong processors. This is for them. Guys get their MBP and the ladies can have their MBA..
 
kuebby said:
Not really. A 1.6ghz Core 2 Duo processor is quite powerful, more than enough so for everyday computing and basic AV editing.

I don't think it will flop. Look at the size. It's incredibly small, which, to many people, is an important characteristic in a laptop.
Click to expand...

I agree 1.6GHZ C2D CPU is good enough for most day-2-day use.

However, I think 4200rpm HDD is significantly slower. and the size is NOT "incredibly small", incredibly thin, IMHO, can hardly equals to "incredibly small"
 
I think it is nearly perfect. I don't want to haul around a bunch of garbage (DVD player, dongles, cables etc.). It is trim, full featured for its purpose, light, and well designed. If you need something more full featured, then Apple already sells that. This is a great device. I'll pick one up in a couple of months. I only wish the screen bezel were narrower and that you could swap batteries.
 
Well its true that a 1.6 is ok, but midrange iMacs have 2.4's...

But the 4200 is like running off of an iPod - it is an iPod 1.8 drive.
 
Definitely impressive engineering. But the aesthetics comes at too high a price imo. After the first month of oohing and aahing...then what?

You realize you need to start dumping files to make space after installing photoshop cs3, or you wish you could just view the holiday photos a friend gave to you on disc, but don't have the external optical drive with you. Yes, the one you paid another $99 for after dishing out over $3000. Sounds like a lot of situations where you will be thinking, "If only" or "I wish". The MacBook is already so neat and small...not to mention upgradeable and cheap. Don't really see the MacBook Air taking off...
 
sbb155 said:
I was anxiously awaiting the MBA today, which I envisioned as a "pro" level computer, similar to the older 12" PBG4.
Click to expand...

ah yes, the myth that the 12" powerbook was a "pro" computer like its bigger siblings.

Wrong wrong wrong. It had lower RAM capacity. No backlit keys. Woefully weaker graphics. Slower processor. No FW 800. No high res screen. etc. etc. It was a glorified ibook in an aluminum shell. People have this idea that apple used to offer a "true pro-level laptop" in a 12" form factor, and woe-is-us because they don't any more. Well, they never did.

The reason I say this is because I think a lot of the disappointment about MBA comes from the fact that people wanted a replacement for a 12" powerbook, but the powerbook they "remember" never actually existed.
 
but the 12" PB was a lot closer to pro than this ummm... aire.

also, the non-expandable 2gb ram is like an $1800 uber thin time bomb... i'm struggling w/ my 2gb ram right now as we speak.
 
Considering performance-wise the MacBook Air is better than the rapidly aging (dinosaur-like) 12" PowerBook I can't see why you would complain or why it would be a failure. Let's look at the sales figure a quarter from now and decide.

Granted the bigger screen makes it slightly bigger but it is still lighter than the PowerBook.

The size difference between the MacBook Pro and MacBook is not much really

MacBookvsPro.jpg


I can only think the jump from the PowerBook to MacBook Air would be even smaller.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back