[Lamna nasus]

Rofl.. Cushion interface durability might be the USP.. but I doubt it.

My comparisons with the Duo stand, everyone made exactly the same justifications about weight saving, convenience, size, etc. back in the day.. unfortunately the number of vocal evangelists was enormously greater than the number of actual paying customers.

[jamus]

I wonder what OS rev the demo units are running? Maybe the awaited 10.5.2?

[KendallGelner]

The Air does not have a user replaceable battery, but the replacement battery is reported to cost $129 - including installation. That's the same price as a Macbook battery. For those that want a second battery for long plane trips either gat an airplane adaptor or an external battery pack to add extra time to the Macbook.
I agree with the other poster that noted the Mac Pro and this Air would be a perfect combination. I have a desktop now, and a Macbook Pro. I don't always travel with the Macbook as it's a bit heavy, but I would with the Air - being about the size of a magazine I'd have a lot of options for transporting it.
I'm really looking forward to hearing how the SSD fares in performance tests. It may not matter that it has only 2GB of memory if the SSD is fast enough to make swapping cheap...

[mjtomlin]

JakeT said:

Do people really care that it's this thin that they would give up half of the capabilities. No graphics card! No firewire! Can't watch DVDs! Limited memory! Limited hard drive! I like the size of the 12 inch Powerbook better and it had more features!

Dude! You're a tad bit over-emotional. I think you've proven to us all that this laptop is obviously not something you would EVER buy! Just because you don't see any value in it doesn't mean others won't. Honestly, I would never buy a laptop in this configuration; there's no benefit to me to justify the price or lack of certain features, but I'm certainly not going to whine about it. Like you, a better laptop for my needs would probably be a MacBook or maybe even a MacBook Pro, which I'm sure will be updated soon enough with all the same spiffy new features of the Air.

[ChuckieSF]

So no optical drive, and no firewire. If your system gets corrupted, no Target mode?

If you want to install new/upgrade O/S, will the update come on flash USB?

Hopefully Apple thought about this beforehand.

[gdieter]

jedi228 has it right!

Pile everything that you think is missing onto a MacBook Air and, well, I guess you'd wind up with a MB or MB Pro with their respective sizes and weights. The MB Air wasn't intended to supplant the other two models.

And I'm stumped at the thought of anyone wanting to use edit movies on a subnotebook?

This is MB Air 1.0. I'll be interested to see what happens with the next version.

[Frantish]

Why FW is so critical to MB Air.

Apple has been pushing it for years, and it is an excellent bus to connecting HDD, Video cameras, and other high end devices.

I save the most time (and money) by using FW devices.

MB Air is priced for the Professional, but its feasures are for the Amature.

The main customer I see is Women (who are sensitive to weight), and an in-office computer to call up documents from a wireless server. My life revolves around the 'Book's, and I think MB Air is an excellent design, everthing is brilliant, except not having a FW port.
With out FW, to me it might as well be a ton of manure.

USB is for Toys.

http://www.qimaging....FirewireUSB.pdf

[robco]

I can only speak from personal experience, but those I know who have used tiny laptops use them because of the weight. The footprint matters, but mostly they like the weight. They hate the tiny screen and shrunken keyboard.
To those who say the MB is a better value, have you ever traveled with one? I'm no road warrior by any means, but I have taken my MB on the road. Sure, 5 lbs seems pretty light. Until you pack the AC adapter, not to mention the other items that go into a travel bag. Suddenly the MB becomes big and heavy as you're moving things around trying to jam everything into a carry-on.
Again, speaking from personal experience only and not trying to generalize, I took stock. Went down my ports one-by-one. The gigabit ENet is nice, but I only use it when I need to transfer large files and I could easily live without it. I've never used FW and don't think I've ever used more than one USB port at a time (wireless printing is great). Don't use the audio-in. I do wish the output jack was the same mini-optical that I have on the MB. I do occasionally hook it up to the home theatre and HDTV to watch content, but now the AppleTV is actually useful, that may change. micro-DVI has the display front covered. I used the optical drive for back-ups, but no more now that I use TM. The only time I use it is the rare occasion I need it to install software, becoming increasingly rare as more apps are available as digital downloads.
I agree that Apple is a bit ahead of where many consumers are, like when they ditched the floppy in the original iMac. But for me, I could easily use the MBA. I can't really justify an upgrade right now, nor do I travel enough to justify the added expense. But I know folks who travel a lot and will love this thing. It is a niche product and I don't think Apple intends to move as many of these as they do MBs or MBPs. I'm just happy to see Apple willing to expand their product line.

[robco]

They did. Watch the guided tour on the website. He mentions that Remote Disc can be used to reinstall the system software.

[iJavaJoe]

"The main customer I see is Women (who are sensitive to weight)"

Well I'm a man, and I'm sensitive to weight! Now, I am in a wheel chair unlike most of you, so carrying things around can and is a real pain! A MacBook Air plus a desktop Mac Pro, for me would be fantastic. Ultra portability with the "Air" and raw screaming Power with the MacPro. I do graphics, web sites, 3D, animation and I support about 15 mac users around the area.

As to affordability, that's the real concern. I've scrapped up enough money for one computer and I REALLY need the speed so I think I have to go Mac Pro, but if I could afford the Macbook Air I would get one, I think it is way, way cool. Anyone know "Steve", perhaps he would take sympathy and pass along a MacBook Air? Anyone? Anyone?

[jessehammer]

SEXY! Looks like a really nice machine. Too expensive for me, though. Kind of underpowered too. I guess Apple will offer downloads of all their software now that they're phasing out the optical drive?

[KendallGelner]

Another user besides "women" is photographers. Firewire is nice but USB works for lots of things, just not quite as quickly. With an SSD drive the system would make for a great mobile editing platform that would not add much weight atop an already heavy load of cameras and lenses.

Videographers might need something different but there are a lot of people the Air makes sense for.

[lantzn]

I've seen a lot of bluetooth mice I've hated. We bought this mini mouse for our MacBook when we went on a trip. It is the most comfortable compact mouse I've ever used and fits nicely in a small pocket in our laptop case. It automatically goes to sleep and all you do is push a little button on the bottom to wake it.

Kensington PilotMouse Mini Bluetooth
http://www.buy.com/r...852&dcaid=17902

[maxcalvino]

I think what will solve all the air problems will be a base like the one that the ThinkPad x has.
I don't get how apple did not think about it.
the base can have the SuperDrive, 2 or 3 usb ports firewire enternet port and maybe 2 speakers.
that will be perfect.
so you take the base only when you need it.


with all of the limitations is still a sexy bad ass machine I'm just trying to convince myself of not buying it.

MB air is about style

MB Air = 2 seater Porsche convertible.
Full Featured Laptop = Minivan