Apple MacBook Air Announced at MacWorld '08

[thejinx0r]

I think this is gonna sound really philosophical, or weird but I think minimalist is good.

Sure there's less features than in a regular laptop, but do we really use them?

I think wer'e so used to having everything that not having it makes us worried.

No Optical drive? Who really needs it? My laptop has no optical drive. The last time I used the attachment waas to reinstall windows and office and that it. The rest of the time, I just download my programs off the internet.

One USB port? Who really needs more than one at a time? The only ones I can would be those who use a mouse which is really counter intuitive since the MBA has a brand new multi-touch trackpad. Besides that, the only time when I actually need more than one is when I'm at home at my desk where a HUB holds all my usb connections.

As for expresscard/pcmcia? Um, the only peropherals I have seen of late using it was either a SSD (which you can just buy a usb one instead) and the wireless modems for cellphone networks.


Oh well.

The only thing wrong with it is the price... So, when the refurbished models start to appear for 1200-1400$, I'm so on it.

[meh_cd]

After thinking about it, I'm going to opt for the regular Macbook over this. No ethernet + 1 usb + no optical drive did it for me.

[jbizzler]

Even if it did have 4 USB ports, an optical drive, and the such, I still would have no desire ot get this. What is useful about a thin laptop? Wow, I could fit it in a book bag. But, then again, I can fit any notebook computer in my book bag!

I hate how the average person has no clue how to price computers. The big companies with varying ranges of service make computers nearly twice the price they need to be. Lately, though, Dell has been changing this with sub-XPS machines.

This is all Apple does. They make sleek things at the cost of price, features, and performance, and people love them for it. All they are are propriety Apple versions of technology that's been around at least a year.

I could continue ranting on about I still have the same reliable MP3 player from a year before the iPod came out, but I will restrain myself, because that is off topic.

A note about the optical drive system. They're saying they have some new software where this thing can use optical drives from other machines over a wireless network. They act like they're the first. Windows has been able to share optical drives between machines as long as I can remember. YOU'RE NOT NEW OR SPECIAL!

If you want something small, or you hate Microsoft AND you want something small, go with the Eee PC. I doubt the performance advantages this has over the Eee PC make up for the fact that it's over 5x more expensive.

[Bruce Banner]

Isn't the MBA 1800$? How's that less enthusiast than Sony?

For me, the MBA is $1799 and the cheapest TZ available is $2300. That's a lot to give up for footprint and a slower processor. It's really a matter of priorities for each buyer. I don't fly enough to pay an extra 500.

[JabbaJabba]

Regardless of whether people like the MacBook Air or not, one thing is for sure:
Apple is once again causing a stir and getting lots of publicity/attention. Be it bad or good publicity it is publicity nonetheless. Just look at the amount of posts in this thread. Apart from packaging their products using simple and sleek design, Apple is very good at marketing/Google Page Ranking - and it helps their bottomline.

[thejinx0r]

Even if it did have 4 USB ports, an optical drive, and the such, I still would have no desire ot get this. What is useful about a thin laptop? Wow, I could fit it in a book bag. But, then again, I can fit any notebook computer in my book bag!

I hate how the average person has no clue how to price computers. The big companies with varying ranges of service make computers nearly twice the price they need to be. Lately, though, Dell has been changing this with sub-XPS machines.

This is all Apple does. They make sleek things at the cost of price, features, and performance, and people love them for it. All they are are propriety Apple versions of technology that's been around at least a year.

I could continue ranting on about I still have the same reliable MP3 player from a year before the iPod came out, but I will restrain myself, because that is off topic.

A note about the optical drive system. They're saying they have some new software where this thing can use optical drives from other machines over a wireless network. They act like they're the first. Windows has been able to share optical drives between machines as long as I can remember. YOU'RE NOT NEW OR SPECIAL!

If you want something small, or you hate Microsoft AND you want something small, go with the Eee PC. I doubt the performance advantages this has over the Eee PC make up for the fact that it's over 5x more expensive.

One thing is that it's light.
I take public transit all the time and the difference between 5lbs and 3lbs is huge on your shoulders. So big screen with thin and light profile is quite reasonable.

Less features means less holes for dust to creep in.

[willymcd]

yeah but the tz and others go on sale for much less and they are always much cheaper then their msrp. when a mac goes on sale its usually for a mesley $50-100 dollars.

also this thing is probably only good for photos Internet and writing stuff. when you want to do more it will become a hassle because of all the add ons you will need to do anything. it won't be so portable if you need a external optical drive, usb hub and what ever else, the thing doesn't even have a memory card reader, when will they figure out that memory card readers are usefull...

I hope they come out with a suped up 13.3" macbookpro! that would be way cooler!

[JabbaJabba]

Just noticed that Apple actually does refer to it as an ultraportable when talking about its full size keyboard feature here: http://www.apple.com/macbookair/guid...tml?size=large

As other have mentioned, it may be in the same weight class as ultraportables, but footprint wise it is far from it. It's an insult to call it an ultraportable considering the 13.3" screen with a fat bezel surrounding it.

As I mentioned earlier, Apple is good at the marketing/hype game, but they are really starting to get on my nerves when they try and hype their products into something they are not. The sad part is, that many normal consumers eat the marketing hype raw and undigested.

[roor]

so its thinner than the sony x505vp?




hmmm... wonder where apple came up with the idea haha

[ByeXample]

There is little (not nothing!) revolutionary about the MBA. It IS the evolution of the notebook. I will put this into the discussion:

MBA = iPod of notebooks

are you serious?.
with the ipod apple basically tapped in to an untapped market by producing a digital music player that utilised massive storage via hard disks that allowed thousands of songs to be stored via a pc as apposed to cd,cassette and mini disk players it was truly revolutionary. how exactly does this compare?

it lacks internal components that have been standard in notebooks for long time some of which over 10years. charging you $100 to add a external dvd drive something that comes standard in 99.9% of new notebooks they really take you for mugs. i really cant see why anyone would choose this over the macbook or macbook pro. if you want portability the macbook is a great solution and is very reasonbly priced or if you want more power and options the macbook pro is the ideal solution. who are they targeting this at? does it being thin and light as well as multitouch justify the $1799 price tag?