It will handle most photoshop functions fine, as the processor is actually faster than single processor PowerMac G5 for photoshop tasks. SSD drives are extremely fast, some benchmarked at faster speed than 10k Raptors.
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will MBA flop?
- Thread starter sbb155
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It will handle most photoshop functions fine, as the processor is actually faster than single processor PowerMac G5 for photoshop tasks. SSD drives are extremely fast, some benchmarked at faster speed than 10k Raptors.
i dont think the MBA will flop.
for those that say that you'll have to "haul" around the SuperDrive. HAUL? it's the size of a CD-jewel-case! and theres no power adapter. that's pretty sweet.
And as for the lack of ports. I NEVER use the ethernet port (my house and school has wireless) and I never seem to need more than 1 USB port. If I do, it is more for my desktop computer (iMac). My printer(s) are connected through my network at home.
The only thing I'll miss is the screen size of my MBP and the fact that its not Matte. but whatevs. I'd rather carry around 3lbs than 5.4 lbs. I have enough textbooks and shiz already that adds to the weight.
I think it's totally awesome for what i do. itunes, word, excel, safari, iphoto (facebook!!)
Can't wait to get mine!
for those that say that you'll have to "haul" around the SuperDrive. HAUL? it's the size of a CD-jewel-case! and theres no power adapter. that's pretty sweet.
And as for the lack of ports. I NEVER use the ethernet port (my house and school has wireless) and I never seem to need more than 1 USB port. If I do, it is more for my desktop computer (iMac). My printer(s) are connected through my network at home.
The only thing I'll miss is the screen size of my MBP and the fact that its not Matte. but whatevs. I'd rather carry around 3lbs than 5.4 lbs. I have enough textbooks and shiz already that adds to the weight.
I think it's totally awesome for what i do. itunes, word, excel, safari, iphoto (facebook!!)
Can't wait to get mine!
Yup, exactly.
The target audience is people in business. Typically business people would need to carry documents, notepad. Guess what? These documents are letter sized (or about letter size in Europe, etc.) Guess what? MacBook Air is about letter sized... Think about it.
Are business men going to carry a purse sized bag for a computer wannabe with tiny, nonstandard keyboard? No they will carry folio sized or briefcase size bag/ cases. Thus the footprint don't matter. If it's any smaller, it will slide around the case / bag and be more prone to damage.
17" MBP is easier to carry, at least for me, than a 14" dell that is thick, weights the same, and need a thick bag for the big power brick.
Standard, full sized keyboard will be very useful, as people can actually touch type (much harder on a purse sized keyboard), thus the footprint make sense for the target audience.
You waaaaa wa want. Keep whining. And dreaming. Just call up Apple and have them custom build you what you want. Maybe a MBP in a Tangering Clamshell case with 3 optical drives, SSDs and 8 hr battery life.
My mom emailed me last night that she wants one and she knows nothing about Apple, I'm still trying to figure out how she found out about them.
It hits the mark for its market and will do well with that. We knew there would be no optical drive. That's great I'll use my 24" iMacs drive. The only bummer is the 2GB RAM, unfortunately there is no option to up that to 4GB, but maybe for its uses you really don't need it. Honestly it is great for everything it is.
Blackbook vs MBA.
If you take the Black MB and equip it with the same 2GB RAM, it will run you $1,649 vs $1,799. Sure it has optical, more HDD space and speed, more ports, and a slightly faster CPU, BUT I bought a 24" iMac b/c I wanted a desktop as my main machine. For me this would make a great living room notebook for looking things up, light, small, easy to use, great battery life, etc. as well as a phenomenal machine for taking on trips b/c it is so light and slim. That said since I bought a 2.8 iMac in August, I am not going to jump on this when I don't need it. But I will sure wait to see what rev. B brings in terms of tweaks/improvments and maybe go with a refurb of a rev. A or rev. B once they are available. I can see myself being in the market for it within 12-15 months.
i agree with this:
and as for this:
i think the following kinds of people will love this:
wordsmiths:
- journalists
- bloggers
- writers
- journalers/myspacers/facebookers
- liberal arts students (note taking, paper writing, online research, etc.)
- etc..
business/road warriors:
- sales force
- offsite managers
- evangelists/presentation
- etc..
and then also:
- urban hipsters (never home except to sleep in tiny overpriced apartment, etc)
- fashionistas
- celebrities
- high-profile people (CEO's, agents, producers, etc..)
- gadget heads
- "be seen at starbucks" people
- exhibitionistic yuppies
i think it will can be a primary computer for some of the wordsmith people and students (before you say "too much for students" i spent $4000 on a powerbook when i was a student; and that was a REQUIREMENT of the school), and a secondary computer for a lot of others. and before you say "an $1800 secondary computer?!?!?" i think you need to realize that its not uncommon. my girlfriend and i are both designers and we have 4 computers (macbook pro + powerbook laptops, a server and a new mac pro coming soon) between the two of us; and 4 iPods and an iPhone; thats about $12,000 of computer equipment for 2 people. such is the life we lead.
it is NOT FOR:
power users
designers
mathmaticians
video
animators
heavy coders
etc..
except as a second machine. you do not want to run photoshop on this all day every day, but it WILL work if needed.
so will it outsell the macbook or the iMac? hell no. will it hold a solid percentage of the laptop market? yes.
and as for this:
i think the following kinds of people will love this:
wordsmiths:
- journalists
- bloggers
- writers
- journalers/myspacers/facebookers
- liberal arts students (note taking, paper writing, online research, etc.)
- etc..
business/road warriors:
- sales force
- offsite managers
- evangelists/presentation
- etc..
and then also:
- urban hipsters (never home except to sleep in tiny overpriced apartment, etc)
- fashionistas
- celebrities
- high-profile people (CEO's, agents, producers, etc..)
- gadget heads
- "be seen at starbucks" people
- exhibitionistic yuppies
i think it will can be a primary computer for some of the wordsmith people and students (before you say "too much for students" i spent $4000 on a powerbook when i was a student; and that was a REQUIREMENT of the school), and a secondary computer for a lot of others. and before you say "an $1800 secondary computer?!?!?" i think you need to realize that its not uncommon. my girlfriend and i are both designers and we have 4 computers (macbook pro + powerbook laptops, a server and a new mac pro coming soon) between the two of us; and 4 iPods and an iPhone; thats about $12,000 of computer equipment for 2 people. such is the life we lead.
it is NOT FOR:
power users
designers
mathmaticians
video
animators
heavy coders
etc..
except as a second machine. you do not want to run photoshop on this all day every day, but it WILL work if needed.
so will it outsell the macbook or the iMac? hell no. will it hold a solid percentage of the laptop market? yes.
great list? I dont think so
I AM a road warrior and business person
I would never get the MBA
With one USB and no ethernet, it is worthless to us business and road warrior types.
I was looking forward to this, but it seems like this is for the non-corporate market and non-video market.
If I wanted a machine that could do some web surfing, email, etc, then ANY pc can do that.
I was looking for the road warrior mac - it has to be sturdy, easily connectable (no dongles, etc.), have a few USB ports for mouse, USB key, etc., and reasonably priced. It doesn't need to be thin, just small...
Seems like the MB is the one to get. MBA? Even my IT guys are saying no way. Road warrior? No way.
This computer is for people who want a stylish computer at the expense of practicality.
I AM a road warrior and business person
I would never get the MBA
With one USB and no ethernet, it is worthless to us business and road warrior types.
I was looking forward to this, but it seems like this is for the non-corporate market and non-video market.
If I wanted a machine that could do some web surfing, email, etc, then ANY pc can do that.
I was looking for the road warrior mac - it has to be sturdy, easily connectable (no dongles, etc.), have a few USB ports for mouse, USB key, etc., and reasonably priced. It doesn't need to be thin, just small...
Seems like the MB is the one to get. MBA? Even my IT guys are saying no way. Road warrior? No way.
This computer is for people who want a stylish computer at the expense of practicality.
flop ? no
huge seller ? no, as well
it's a niche product aimed at a very specific circle of customers (travelers, who appreciate the 900 g less than the macbook, people who like the appearance including women who don't like white, people who want a fashionable 2. mobile computer and have money to spend)
i guess it will end up like the mac mini:
found and hit it's niche
constant but not outstanding sales
regulars silent upgrades
and important design impact on upcoming hardware
huge seller ? no, as well
it's a niche product aimed at a very specific circle of customers (travelers, who appreciate the 900 g less than the macbook, people who like the appearance including women who don't like white, people who want a fashionable 2. mobile computer and have money to spend)
i guess it will end up like the mac mini:
found and hit it's niche
constant but not outstanding sales
regulars silent upgrades
and important design impact on upcoming hardware
I doubt this computer is intended to replace the high performance MBP or the affordable MacBook, but it will sell well to those who want a lightweight, very high quality notebook.
I think it will also be successful in the professional photography market, assuming it is as durable and rigid as the aluminum iMac.
(I'm sure I would buy one if I did a lot of Photography in the field; weight is a significant factor when you are already carrying a bag full of lenses and a bulky DSLR)
Performance issues are roughly analogous to complaining that a 10oz hammer isn't as good as a sledgehammer for driving tacks.
I can virtually guarantee that Photoshop will 3x faster on this machine than it did on the Powermac G4 I used for 5 years professionally!
Gamers and hardware-centric users should probably pass on this machine for obvious reasons, and I doubt anyone is going to be editing video with it.
I think it will also be successful in the professional photography market, assuming it is as durable and rigid as the aluminum iMac.
(I'm sure I would buy one if I did a lot of Photography in the field; weight is a significant factor when you are already carrying a bag full of lenses and a bulky DSLR)
Performance issues are roughly analogous to complaining that a 10oz hammer isn't as good as a sledgehammer for driving tacks.
I can virtually guarantee that Photoshop will 3x faster on this machine than it did on the Powermac G4 I used for 5 years professionally!
Gamers and hardware-centric users should probably pass on this machine for obvious reasons, and I doubt anyone is going to be editing video with it.
I don't think this rev. will sell well, but like some have said, as the price of components and such keeps coming down, they'll be able to make it more powerful. hopefully rev. b or c. will add a firewire port (why couldn't they put one of those mini video camera style firewire ports?) and a removable battery. Those batteries are always the first thing to go in laptops, there is now way I'm buying a unit that has to be shipped to apple yearly for a battery upgrade.
To me, not having the optical drive built in actually makes a lot of sense: who uses it every day, anyway?
But I don't think that they actually expect this to sell well. I think they're just priming the market to start adopting SSD and the small size factor.
Then, in two years: this form factor with 4x the storage capacity, firewire, and (i can dream) a touchscreen.....and THAT will sell like hotcakes.
To me, not having the optical drive built in actually makes a lot of sense: who uses it every day, anyway?
But I don't think that they actually expect this to sell well. I think they're just priming the market to start adopting SSD and the small size factor.
Then, in two years: this form factor with 4x the storage capacity, firewire, and (i can dream) a touchscreen.....and THAT will sell like hotcakes.
All the MacBook Air did was make the 2.2GHz MacBook look even better.
I think Apple would have more success with a Aluminum MacBook with a NVIDIA graphics card and 13.3" LED screen at $1699.
well my fear currently is that they might cripple the normal macbook in some features over the coming years because they now have this somewhere-in-between notebook
of the 13.3" notebooks the macbook is actually one of the cheaper ones
I, respectfully, disagree
My wife has already pre-ordered one (she's a bank exec) and I just got off the phone with my dad who was curious about what Apple released yesterday. He didn't have the time to investigate himself because he's a "road warrior", too.
He's a sales rep for a large metal-fab company here in Western Canada who does most of their work in the oil and gas industry. He needs a laptop primarily for email and viewing CAD drawings and then doing quotations. He's excited about this. He doesn't like the look of the MBs and doesn't need the power of the MBPs and this fits right in the middle price-wise. He's set up to do everything wirelessly at home and finding wireless connections where he travels is not an issue so this machine should work great for him. Also, as a sales rep, this will be a great conversation piece. The purchasers and engineers he deals with on a day-to-day basis all appreciate good design and engineering.
This is a niche-product but the niche may be bigger than you think.
My wife has already pre-ordered one (she's a bank exec) and I just got off the phone with my dad who was curious about what Apple released yesterday. He didn't have the time to investigate himself because he's a "road warrior", too.
He's a sales rep for a large metal-fab company here in Western Canada who does most of their work in the oil and gas industry. He needs a laptop primarily for email and viewing CAD drawings and then doing quotations. He's excited about this. He doesn't like the look of the MBs and doesn't need the power of the MBPs and this fits right in the middle price-wise. He's set up to do everything wirelessly at home and finding wireless connections where he travels is not an issue so this machine should work great for him. Also, as a sales rep, this will be a great conversation piece. The purchasers and engineers he deals with on a day-to-day basis all appreciate good design and engineering.
This is a niche-product but the niche may be bigger than you think.
Fair enough, but my point was that everyone is moaning about how it not up to pro standards and that's why it'll flop, however apple haven't once said it's a pro level notebook
Well that's a start, Apple.
They sure have limited their market with the price/peripherals thing though.
The ultralight target market is different than that of the MacBook or MBP.
They wanted to really excel with this form factor, and to do so involved some inevitable feature compromises- less ports, soldered onboard RAM, non-user-removeable battery, etc. Yet they didn't compromise in some other areas- good CPU power, battery life, screen size.
There's many ways to do an ultralight, no matter what it is a matter of checks and balances. So for some the MBA is perfect, for some they wish it just had user-replaceable battery or RAM, and others say 'Blech! It's too expensive' or 'It's underpowered!' The general notebook user isn't as wowed by the MBA, thus a lot of the complaints. But the general notebook user already has the MB and MBP that is for them.
It's easy to draw comparisons with the Cube. But size isn't really a big issue with desktops, so the price and feature compromises were questionable there. With a notebook computer, size and weight are an issue so there is definitely a market for the MBA.
I think making a MBA makes more sense for Apple than making a 13.3" MBP which would be too close to the MB. About my only complaint is that I wish it were a little cheaper, but who knows how much those new Intel chips are, etc. Even if it were $1500, I'd probably still pick a loaded MB over it at this point. But if I used my notebook on the go a lot more, I'd probably want the MBP whether it's $1500 or $1800. It would have been nice to throw us a bone and include the USB-ethernet adapter though.
They wanted to really excel with this form factor, and to do so involved some inevitable feature compromises- less ports, soldered onboard RAM, non-user-removeable battery, etc. Yet they didn't compromise in some other areas- good CPU power, battery life, screen size.
There's many ways to do an ultralight, no matter what it is a matter of checks and balances. So for some the MBA is perfect, for some they wish it just had user-replaceable battery or RAM, and others say 'Blech! It's too expensive' or 'It's underpowered!' The general notebook user isn't as wowed by the MBA, thus a lot of the complaints. But the general notebook user already has the MB and MBP that is for them.
It's easy to draw comparisons with the Cube. But size isn't really a big issue with desktops, so the price and feature compromises were questionable there. With a notebook computer, size and weight are an issue so there is definitely a market for the MBA.
I think making a MBA makes more sense for Apple than making a 13.3" MBP which would be too close to the MB. About my only complaint is that I wish it were a little cheaper, but who knows how much those new Intel chips are, etc. Even if it were $1500, I'd probably still pick a loaded MB over it at this point. But if I used my notebook on the go a lot more, I'd probably want the MBP whether it's $1500 or $1800. It would have been nice to throw us a bone and include the USB-ethernet adapter though.
The MBA is a phenomenal notebook as long as you don't spend a lot of time trying to quantify it's performance in order to assign a relative value to it.
There's a lot more to computing than raw performance.
There's a lot more to computing than raw performance.
Or those people can just buy a MBP.
I mean i get what you're saying, your suggested computer is a lot more 'mass market'. But to expand their customer base with a new model, it also makes a lot of sense to introduce something that is not more or less covered by existing models.
Is aluminum vs. white/black that big of a deal? And if you want the graphics card, is 15" vs. 13.3" that big of a deal?
As to the first question: Er, yeah. The MacBook might be fine for students and slackers, but for grown-ups and professionals it looks a bit cheap and tacky (no offense).
As to the second question: Short answer, no. But what makes a bigger difference, portability-wise, is weight. The new MBA is nearly half as light as the alternatives. (That's one of the biggest drawbacks of the MB vs. MBP, btw -- while the MB is slightly smaller, it's just about as heavy as a MBP.)
As for the overall question, looking at it from my perspective, I'm really torn. And I suspect I'm not alone.
I was looking forward to what Jobs would whip up for MacWorld, holding back on my purchase of a new laptop (still using a PowerBook G4) until then.
I'm thrilled with the overall form factor. What I'm not so thrilled with are:
1. Price. The minimum, imho, is $2099, not $1799, since it only makes sense to get the 1.8 MHz customize option to extend the life of your MBA. I don't know why anybody would not opt for that. And when you're spending that kind of money, it's hard not to notice what else you could get with the same amount, or how much you could save by picking up a MB instead -- and with more power, etc.
2. USB. At first the idea of only one USB port didn't bother me, until I realized that I like to use a mouse with my PB. Which means that my MBA's port will be filled most of the time with the mouse receiver. One extra USB port doesn't seem like too much to ask for. (Jobs' vision of a wireless world is inspiring and all, but in my real-life experience utopia just ain't here yet.)
3. Hard drive. I don't mind the limited memory space. What I'm concerned about is the speed of the thing. I'm no expert, but I hear that it would be pretty slow. (Not the SSD, of course, which I'd love, but it's just way too expensive right now.
So... I'm thinking that maybe I'll wait some more. What will I be waiting for?
1. The next MBA revision. Maybe by then SSD prices will have come down to a reasonable level. Maybe other aspects will be improved (additional port, etc.).
2. The next MB revision. What I'm really curious about, however, is what will the next MB revision look like. Will Apple keep encasing them in plastic? Somehow I doubt that. Also, what will it do for the MB based on what it will have learned from the MBA experience? According to our trusty Buyer's Guide, they're due for a revision in about four months. Can I wait that long? Probably.
Ultimately, I'm waiting to get my hands on a demo model of the MBA to make my final decision.
Its funny how people think Apple is filling some void in the notebook market.
Ultra portable laptops are nothing new, theyve been around for years and theyve been this thin for years. All of them have flopped. Nobody wants these things. They are too expensive, too slow, and arent any more portable once you put the thing in a bag. By far the most important thing that is causing all the UPPC's to flop is price, they are wildy too expensive and people refuse to pay that much for so little. Apple failed to remedy that problem with flying colors.
How exactly will the MBA be different than the dozens of PC laptops that have flopped? Oh ya, they were PC's, running Windows, they couldnt do it even with 90% of the market.
If Apple wanted to fill a void they would have made a low priced slim laptop, that would have actually set them apart from all the PC failures. But they didnt. Going into the ultra portable market was a really stupid move, the market has proven itself to have no potential.
I really think they should have entered the market the EEE created. Its new, it has potential, and the EEE is flying off the shelves faster than theyre being made like its the Wii of computers. Theres a lot of people wanting a super cheap small laptop rather than an expensive full laptop, the EEE is proving that, why Apple went the opposite way is mind boggling.
Ultra portable laptops are nothing new, theyve been around for years and theyve been this thin for years. All of them have flopped. Nobody wants these things. They are too expensive, too slow, and arent any more portable once you put the thing in a bag. By far the most important thing that is causing all the UPPC's to flop is price, they are wildy too expensive and people refuse to pay that much for so little. Apple failed to remedy that problem with flying colors.
How exactly will the MBA be different than the dozens of PC laptops that have flopped? Oh ya, they were PC's, running Windows, they couldnt do it even with 90% of the market.
If Apple wanted to fill a void they would have made a low priced slim laptop, that would have actually set them apart from all the PC failures. But they didnt. Going into the ultra portable market was a really stupid move, the market has proven itself to have no potential.
I really think they should have entered the market the EEE created. Its new, it has potential, and the EEE is flying off the shelves faster than theyre being made like its the Wii of computers. Theres a lot of people wanting a super cheap small laptop rather than an expensive full laptop, the EEE is proving that, why Apple went the opposite way is mind boggling.
People. people, people.
It's not going to flop.
The people on here need to realise that they are not the only user base that Apple plays to.
True enough that the MBA would not fit my needs. But the IT director of the company I work for it ordering one today. And he's in no way an Apple fan boy, he's a road warrior. He needs light. He's more than willing to pay a premium for a computer that he can use for decent periods of tim to write documents on when he's away from the office. He's not even a Mac user, but he's going to switch because of the form factor.
He doesn't need an optical drive, doesn't need firewire, doesn't need lots of USB, he needs a good computer that doesn't weigh much and has Apple's reliability. He also doesn't need a 17" MBP, he thinks we're silly for carrying around all that power. Who really needs 2 firewire ports, 3 usb ports and an external video port on a laptop?
People, see the MBA for what it is. It's not designed for *all* of us.
Cheers.
It's not going to flop.
The people on here need to realise that they are not the only user base that Apple plays to.
True enough that the MBA would not fit my needs. But the IT director of the company I work for it ordering one today. And he's in no way an Apple fan boy, he's a road warrior. He needs light. He's more than willing to pay a premium for a computer that he can use for decent periods of tim to write documents on when he's away from the office. He's not even a Mac user, but he's going to switch because of the form factor.
He doesn't need an optical drive, doesn't need firewire, doesn't need lots of USB, he needs a good computer that doesn't weigh much and has Apple's reliability. He also doesn't need a 17" MBP, he thinks we're silly for carrying around all that power. Who really needs 2 firewire ports, 3 usb ports and an external video port on a laptop?
People, see the MBA for what it is. It's not designed for *all* of us.
Cheers.
It will do fine with its target audience. And to all the wanna-be graphic designers who are complaining that it wont add a filter fast enough for them on photoshop then you best go out and buy the latest mac pro with a 30" ACD.
Understand audience. End of story.
Understand audience. End of story.