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Have you even looked at the price of solid state hard drives these days? Apple is getting you are 64GB SSD for the bargain price of a little under $1000. You cannot buy one for anything close to that.
Apple introduces MacBook Air
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#58
macprogrammer 
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Posted 15 January 2008 - 12:50 PM
What a colossal disaster.
People, it's an entry level 13-inch laptop with no firewire and no DVD for $1799.00.
They'll sell 30,000 of them and barely recover their investment before it's canceled.
It's DOA.
People, it's an entry level 13-inch laptop with no firewire and no DVD for $1799.00.
They'll sell 30,000 of them and barely recover their investment before it's canceled.
It's DOA.
#60
legionary14
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Posted 15 January 2008 - 01:00 PM
Those US residents who think the SSD expensive can laugh at us Brits: here the Apple store offers you the simple option of slower processor with ATA drive or the faster processor with the SSD. Here you can get the MacBook Air 1.8 GHz for 4,000 current dollars.
I am never going to buy one of these machines, but hope Apple sells truckloads. Which sounds perverse.
I am never going to buy one of these machines, but hope Apple sells truckloads. Which sounds perverse.
#61
Smithers
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Posted 15 January 2008 - 01:05 PM
Yeah this is no news at all. iTV? Time machine hard drive? Movie rentals? Air Book? this is the big news? I think the biggest news this macworld was the Mac Pro update last week. Apple could've replaced the macbook with this and added the track pad and wireless features to the macbook pro. They need something to compete with a UMPC, or a smaller macbook pro. but this is a regular laptop. for 2 pounds more and 1000 bucks less i can get an mb that kills this machine and buy/install my own ssd with the money i saved. This machine isn't small, it's thin, there's a difference. It's THE SAME SIZE as a mb but an inch thinner. Its slower than a two year old model computer. You cant change the battery, HD, or RAM. The only thing nice about it is it LOOKS nice. 2 pounds is a set house keys in weight.
And to add insult to injury, they didn't even update the current mb/mbp models with the new Intel chips. I would've been more excited about a quad mb/mbp. This is a joke. Booooooooo
And to add insult to injury, they didn't even update the current mb/mbp models with the new Intel chips. I would've been more excited about a quad mb/mbp. This is a joke. Booooooooo
#62
jmincey
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Posted 15 January 2008 - 01:06 PM
> macprogrammer wrote: What a colossal disaster. People, it's an entry level 13-inch laptop with no firewire and no DVD for $1799.00.
They'll sell 30,000 of them and barely recover their investment before it's canceled.
It's DOA.
[/quote]
This is not an entry-level machine. Ultra-thin notebooks in the PC business market are typically MORE expensive than the standard 15" wide screen notebooks. This is about understanding the market and how a company plays a part both in defining it and reading it.
They'll sell 30,000 of them and barely recover their investment before it's canceled.
It's DOA.
[/quote]
This is not an entry-level machine. Ultra-thin notebooks in the PC business market are typically MORE expensive than the standard 15" wide screen notebooks. This is about understanding the market and how a company plays a part both in defining it and reading it.
#63
montgomery_burns
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Posted 15 January 2008 - 01:15 PM
I wish Apple would stop referring to their laptop keyboards as "full size". It's like Starbucks calling their smallest coffee cups "Tall".
Different power connector means you can't use a Mac laptop adapter that you may already have. And it uses yet another different video connector that nobody but Apple uses. Couldn't the existing Magsafe and mini DVI connectors have worked just as well?
Different power connector means you can't use a Mac laptop adapter that you may already have. And it uses yet another different video connector that nobody but Apple uses. Couldn't the existing Magsafe and mini DVI connectors have worked just as well?
#65
nightshrill
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Posted 15 January 2008 - 01:21 PM
When i had heard the rumor mill going on about these I was personally getting excited. During the keynote update I was also getting excited as I'm getting a new laptop in 4 weeks (was planning on a macbook), in the end all of my excitement dissipated when I heard the price. I can live without an optical drive (this is not going to be my primary computer but basically a small portable workstation for taking notes/working with documents for school, email, etc), but to ask that much for a laptop with lower specs, forget it.
W/my student discount it's still 1700 as opposed to the 1000 i'm going to spend on the macbook, I'll take my 700 dollar savings and just upgrade the ram and hdd myself on a macbook to make it a 4gb and 160gb hdd macbook.
W/my student discount it's still 1700 as opposed to the 1000 i'm going to spend on the macbook, I'll take my 700 dollar savings and just upgrade the ram and hdd myself on a macbook to make it a 4gb and 160gb hdd macbook.
#66
montgomery_burns
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Posted 15 January 2008 - 01:24 PM
Parallel ATA hard drive? Is it 2.5 or 1.8 inch?
Sure, Time Machine supports wireless backups. But in order to do a full system restore, you still have to boot from a Leopard DVD. Does the Remote Disk feature support booting wirelessly from a shared DVD drive?
Sure, Time Machine supports wireless backups. But in order to do a full system restore, you still have to boot from a Leopard DVD. Does the Remote Disk feature support booting wirelessly from a shared DVD drive?
#68
eschrad
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Posted 15 January 2008 - 01:38 PM
From the comments I have read, I feel like a lot of people are missing the point of this laptop. If you use a laptop as your one and only computer, no, this is probably not the laptop for you. It's too stripped down for gaming or high-end graphics work and the lack of a built-in optical drive and the minimal number of ports limits the versatility of this machine. However, if you are someone with a desktop Mac at home or at the office, this is a great companion laptop for travel and work on the go. (And I am sure before the year is up, we will see a "dock" for it that basically turns it into an iMac.)
True, for a few hundred less, you could have a MB (or a few hundred dollars more a MBP) and have a DVD drive and other features, but I have to agree with Steve... I rarely use an optical drive anymore. To those folks that complain that you can't watch a DVD movie on a MBA while traveling I ask, why not rip that DVD at home using Handbrake (with the aid of the external SuperDrive or the optical drive on another computer) and forgo having to carry that DVD in the first place? (Of course, Steve would rather you buy/rent that movie from iTunes. But if you have the disk to start with...)
And to the folks that say a MB or MBP isn't that large/heavy to carry around... that the size specs between them and a MBA aren't that different, I can tell you that a small difference goes a long way. My mom/boss has a Sony TZ and I see everyday the ease at which she is able to tote that little notebook. Where I require a full computer bag to tote my MBP, she can stick her Sony inside some padfolio from the latest conference we attended and shove it in her briefbag with her pile of paperwork. And when really traveling light, I have seen her stick it in a large purse. (Okay, no, she isn't exactly treating it with the level of protection I think a $3000 computer deserves, but that's how she is. And yes, I just said $3000... that's what it cost a couple years ago, but even today it is still about $2400, and with a slower processor than the MBA! So I think $1800 is a steal.) At a convention or in an airport or just in some other work environment where one literally has to carry their laptop bag all day, it's amazing how heavy even a MB can get. The MBA would be a welcome relief.
Besides, even with it's slower processor and smaller hard drive, it's specs are more than ample for most computer users whose computer tasks are 95% email, internet, and word processing (which is what my mom does). I wouldn't want do my graphics intensive work on it on a regular basis, but if my main computer was a desktop Mac, then I would rather have a MBA as my laptop than a MBP that is heavier and quite frankly has more features than I need on the road.
So isn't it nice that we have choices? It's not like this computer has replaced the other MacBook options... it just adds to them. There's no need to be put out with Apple just because this new product is not useful to you or doesn't have the specs you want... buy the product that DOES if you are in the market! Otherwise, be happy that you DON'T need to send Steve another $2000 of your money because you already have the right MacBook for you right in front of you! So no, people, this is not a colossal disaster or the worst thing since the Newton... I guarantee you it is just the thing to attract more people from the Windoze camp, particularly the business traveler.
Now Apple just needs that mid-range desktop Mac that is expandable like the MacPro, but not so suped up that it is unaffordable, and isn't an all-in-one like the iMac for those that want to use their own monitor. That will address every segment.
True, for a few hundred less, you could have a MB (or a few hundred dollars more a MBP) and have a DVD drive and other features, but I have to agree with Steve... I rarely use an optical drive anymore. To those folks that complain that you can't watch a DVD movie on a MBA while traveling I ask, why not rip that DVD at home using Handbrake (with the aid of the external SuperDrive or the optical drive on another computer) and forgo having to carry that DVD in the first place? (Of course, Steve would rather you buy/rent that movie from iTunes. But if you have the disk to start with...)
And to the folks that say a MB or MBP isn't that large/heavy to carry around... that the size specs between them and a MBA aren't that different, I can tell you that a small difference goes a long way. My mom/boss has a Sony TZ and I see everyday the ease at which she is able to tote that little notebook. Where I require a full computer bag to tote my MBP, she can stick her Sony inside some padfolio from the latest conference we attended and shove it in her briefbag with her pile of paperwork. And when really traveling light, I have seen her stick it in a large purse. (Okay, no, she isn't exactly treating it with the level of protection I think a $3000 computer deserves, but that's how she is. And yes, I just said $3000... that's what it cost a couple years ago, but even today it is still about $2400, and with a slower processor than the MBA! So I think $1800 is a steal.) At a convention or in an airport or just in some other work environment where one literally has to carry their laptop bag all day, it's amazing how heavy even a MB can get. The MBA would be a welcome relief.
Besides, even with it's slower processor and smaller hard drive, it's specs are more than ample for most computer users whose computer tasks are 95% email, internet, and word processing (which is what my mom does). I wouldn't want do my graphics intensive work on it on a regular basis, but if my main computer was a desktop Mac, then I would rather have a MBA as my laptop than a MBP that is heavier and quite frankly has more features than I need on the road.
So isn't it nice that we have choices? It's not like this computer has replaced the other MacBook options... it just adds to them. There's no need to be put out with Apple just because this new product is not useful to you or doesn't have the specs you want... buy the product that DOES if you are in the market! Otherwise, be happy that you DON'T need to send Steve another $2000 of your money because you already have the right MacBook for you right in front of you! So no, people, this is not a colossal disaster or the worst thing since the Newton... I guarantee you it is just the thing to attract more people from the Windoze camp, particularly the business traveler.
Now Apple just needs that mid-range desktop Mac that is expandable like the MacPro, but not so suped up that it is unaffordable, and isn't an all-in-one like the iMac for those that want to use their own monitor. That will address every segment.
#70
haim_vital
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Posted 15 January 2008 - 01:53 PM
Intel has announced the Penryn chips that Apple will use in the macbook pros and the iMacs.
Other PC vendors will use the new Penryn chips and Apple will have to follow.
Consider this: With the macbook pros only being about $200 more than this 'air book' - an announcement of an update (macbook pro) would take away from potential sales.
Give it 2 weeks when this thing launches - they are taking pre-orders, and then you will get the updates quietly to the macbook pro.
Think about it:
Sleek 'airbook' and 2 lbs lighter. Very nice...but -
1) Worse video card than pro
2) not as expandable in memory as pro
3) not as large harddrive as pro
4) not as tight trim around monitor as pro (wast of space on the air... it could have been yet smaller in width)
5) no fire wire ports for me to hook up my firewire dvd player
5a) I dont have wifi, so apples connect method wont work
6) Not as fast as Pro
Sure, you take out everything that makes the laptop a laptop and price it for only $200 less than the pro machine, someone buys it and thinks its a deal...well it is - for apple.
Is that 2 lbs worth it if you compare how much you loose between that an a pro machine that is not that much more expensive? See where Im coming from?
Peace
Other PC vendors will use the new Penryn chips and Apple will have to follow.
Consider this: With the macbook pros only being about $200 more than this 'air book' - an announcement of an update (macbook pro) would take away from potential sales.
Give it 2 weeks when this thing launches - they are taking pre-orders, and then you will get the updates quietly to the macbook pro.
Think about it:
Sleek 'airbook' and 2 lbs lighter. Very nice...but -
1) Worse video card than pro
2) not as expandable in memory as pro
3) not as large harddrive as pro
4) not as tight trim around monitor as pro (wast of space on the air... it could have been yet smaller in width)
5) no fire wire ports for me to hook up my firewire dvd player
5a) I dont have wifi, so apples connect method wont work
6) Not as fast as Pro
Sure, you take out everything that makes the laptop a laptop and price it for only $200 less than the pro machine, someone buys it and thinks its a deal...well it is - for apple.
Is that 2 lbs worth it if you compare how much you loose between that an a pro machine that is not that much more expensive? See where Im coming from?
Peace
