[MacosNerd]

The test results don't look all that surprising given the modest specs of the MBA, but as many people have pointed out and evn the author of the article stated. People don't buy this machine because it's fast, but rather small and light.

[Martian]

“Small and light” means optimized for mobility
For good mobility you don’t need speed but you absolutely need:
* Small footprint....Air ain't that small
* Good battery access....Air breaks new ground in lousy access, and for what purpose?
Versatile* on-board connectivity (not limited by WiFi coverage)....Air puts all eggs into the WiFi basket
Message was edited by: Martian

[DocMacPS]

I think the MacBook AIR will be a far more successful product than most realize, one that has nothing to do with benchmarks or it's tradeoffs. The ability to slip the AIR into the lid flap of a briefcase is utterly going to halt the millions of miles of air travel where you see people lugging a second bulky laptop case down the concourse. It isn't even shipping to the masses and already it's the PERFECT product for traveling professionals. Like many other Apple products, the AIR is going to change the world. Again.

[Martian]

DocMacPS said:

... PERFECT product for traveling professionals.

Traveling professionals:
* Work on crowded airline trays best suited to ultra-compact footprint
* Stay in some hotels without WiFi, only Ethernet in the rooms
* Visit offices with Ethernet only
* Visit offices where network access initial configuration is much easier with Ethernet, and impractical for WiFi
* Need ExpressCard for on-board cell modem
* Some even need a swappable battery
* Don’t have time for “coolness” trumping standard functionality.
* Don't have time to fumble with dongles
* May need to attach a thumb drive while the single, overworked USB port is occupied
* May have replaced their USB thumb drive with an SD card stuffed in their wallet

[Macdev8]

Three reasons to buy a MacBook Air

Because it suits your personality
Whether or not you are on an ego trip, you just like sleek looks, or you are in that percentile that loves innovation, to be ahead of the curve or explore a new standard, the MacBook Air rises above all others.

To address your needs
You need more room in your computer bag to pack hard copy. You are tired of hauling heavy bulky accessories. You like to travel light and fast. You understand the advantages of larger screens and full-size keyboards. You are more than satisfied to work in Pages, Numbers and Keynote. You love to leisurely dabble in iPhoto, iMovie and Garage Band. You look foreward to connect and backup effortlessly, as well as plod when necessary in the afterworld of Windows. You would rather take a camel over a Bugatti to venture from Camp Thar. Then the MacBook Air would more than suffice.

Because it is right for you
You have done your homework. You have learned enough to understand or accept the 'Thinnovation' strategy (http://www.apple.com/macbookair/) and all the links associated with it. Although you are intelligent enough to separate the wheat from the chaff, i.e., experts' opinion vs 'know-it-all bloggers you also appreciate that you should not make judgement calls on comparisons of oranges vs apples. In other words you know that if you played for the New York Yankees that a Rawlings Primo would be a better choice for you than your wife's pair of Hermes 'H' Kid Gloves or your dad's Mark's Work Wearhouse Dakota Ultimates. Then the MacBook Air is for you.

For me, I would only buy a MacBook Air if all the three reasons were satisfied. However, my wife would have another: 'Show me the money!'

[fmiddleton]

The pitfall with many of tests that Jason ran is they are focused on "traditional" Mac activities, with one or two exceptions. As a business consultant, I tend not to be playing Unreal Tournament, nor using Photoshop or Cinema whilst on the road. I don't even remember the last time I needed an optical drive while on the road, and I'm happy to pay the extra $100 for it if I really need to.
I'm firing up Excel/Numbers or PowerPoint/Keynote. Not even doing compression all that often (except at the end of an engagement, at which point I can let it go and grab a coffee while it finishes).
I currently use a MacBook with a 2.2gig CoreDuo, and I must say, I'm very tempted to give up some speed and go with the Air: two pounds is a significant difference when you're trekking through an airport almost daily -I'm sure my back is going to thank me in the long run. Ultimately, people are going to make a decision based on their own expected use of the machine - and for some of us, it doesn't seem particularly crippling. It's not fair to compare it with a MacBook Pro: it's not meant to be a MacBook Pro; if it was, it would've been called a MacBook AirPro or something.
So, Mr Snell, do you think you could do a quick test on some of the business apps, that I suspect many purchasers of the Air are likely to be using? Doesn't even have to be scientific for me: a stopwatch test on firing up a presentation on a 2.2gig machine against the Air would be quite useful, and then if there is any appreciable difference when editing a slide.

[leicaman]

I'll give you one good reason to buy the MacBook Air. When I was in India last year, I stayed at the Taj and Meridian hotels in Mumbai, Surat and Jaipur, and all of their wireless networks were really fast. Better than US hotels I've been in!

And apologies to the lab for my suggesting Spotlight indexing could slow it down. I don't know what I was thinking suggesting such an obvious thing. :p

[vintagegeek]

IT IS WHAT IT IS!!!!!It's for the premium audience who doesn't want to burn or rip DVDs, make home movies or do Photoshop. They need Internet, e-mail, word processing and iTunes in a light form factor...that's probably it. VG

[vintagegeek]

Here's the REAL disaster in my mind.....
Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, one of the lucky few to already have his hands on the optical drive-less MacBook Air, tested the notebook's "Remote Disc" function -- which lets you "borrow" the optical drive in a nearby computer -- and found that it doesn't work for:
"Installing Windows on your Mac, for watching DVDs, or for playing or importing music."
How would you get iTunes songs from your CDs? Guess you'd have to rip them elsewhere and transfer them by WIRE....fun eh?
VG

[iReality85]

Macdev, you pretty much nailed it on the head there. Couldn't agree more. Also, the Air is catering to a very niche market, which more or less resides in an already niche market Apple has created with its brand of complimentary products. I really don't foresee non-Mac users rushing out to pick up this puppy. I think the average user will be confounded that there is not optical drive, no ethernet port, and only 1 USB port. I know Apple is touting the virtues of wireless this and that, but to be honest, unless you live in Silicon Valley or a major metropolis, you're not going to find abundant Wi-Fi hotspots in suburbia and mid/small-size cities unless you happen to be at Starbucks or on a college campus. The 1 USB port is passable, the no optical drive- understandable and workable perhaps, but with no way to physically connect to the interent? That's a tough sell. Wireless internet is not as pervasive and ubiquitous as we might all think when we're on the go.

[Jason Snell]

fmiddleton said:

The pitfall with many of tests that Jason ran is they are focused on "traditional" Mac activities, with one or two exceptions.

Actually, Jim Galbraith, Brian Chen, and Jerry Jung ran the tests. I just wrote about them.

Our Speedmark test suite (which only gets one line in the table, I realize) is a composite of numerous common tasks, including startup times, a file duplication, a file compression and decompression in the Finder, Microsoft Word scrolling, Entourage e-mail downloading, search and replace in Pages, music conversion in iTunes, two tasks in iMovie, an import into iPhoto, a web-browser page load, and yes, Unreal, Cinema 4D, Compressor, Photoshop, and HandBrake.

We feel this mix of tests provides a "best guess" as to general-use performance, but of course we break out other individual tests so you can get a feel for where systems are particularly slow or fast.

For detailed info, visit http://www.macworld..../speedmark.html

[pln]

"I think people would be interested to know that the Remote Disc feature of sharing an optical drive can only be used for installing software, Mac only software. It does not work for watching DVD's or importing music from an Audio CD into iTunes. It doesn't even work for installing Windows in Boot Camp."

I'll grant you the criticism about installing an second OS (although, I don't see how installing an OS over Remote Disk would work since you need the MBA OS running to access Remote Disk) but really, why would you want to rip a DVD or CD using Remote Disk when you have the disk in another computer anyway?

The MBA isn't for me ... but it's more powerful than say, the two year old Dell D810 (which cost $3000 two years ago and weighs almost 7 lbs without power supply) I work with daily. I have a four week trip to Ireland coming up in June ... hmm, choices ... take my Dell, or my wife's 4.5 lb MB, or can I justify a 3 lb MBA? It would be more than sufficient, but nah, my next computer's going to be a MBP.

But just because I prefer a faster machine doesn't mean I think this is lemon.

[Martian]

KPO said:

We already know you're not going to buy one, Martian, so we don't need a rehash of everything you think is wrong with it. Some people will. Why does it seem that the Mac faithful want this machine to be an utter flop?

My "rehash" responded specifically to the mention of "Traveling professionals", the last group who would want the Air.

Why do we want the Air to fail?

We should all be concerned when manufacturers get away with crippling products for their own manipulative marketing agenda. Mac users don't tolerate Microsoft leveraging their power drawn from controlling Windows, so why should we condone Apple doing the same with Mac OS?

I am not talking about reasonable trade-offs like optical drive vs. lots of space saving, or a larger footprint to accommodate a larger screen. I am talking about deleting tiny but useful ports like Ethernet and Firewire and a battery door which were deleted for absolutely no good reason other than for Apple's grand marketing tactic.

The Mac community has already been manipulated into accepting that ExpressCard slots are reserved only for the "pro" models whereas even sub-compact PCs have them. Why?

The "Big Three" auto manufacturers, for example, lost market share to imports for several reasons which included Detroit's marketing practice of artificially withholding and sabotaging features in lower cost models while competing Toyotas and Hondas didn't. What's left of the Big Three now no longer does this.

Another example of effective consumer backlash is against Sony's contrived proprietary Memory Stick. At least now their new computers have multi-format card readers and their higher end cameras can also use industry standard cards like SD and CF.

So yes, a big market failure for the Air is a win for Mac users and even for Macintosh's long term success.

[mfbernstein]

Helpful chart and article, though not too surprising I guess. While the tests are run and done, would it be possible to add the 1.5GHZ or 1.66GHZ Mac Mini to the table? It would help quantify the 'slowness' or not of the MacBook Air vis a vis the rest of the Intel Mac universe. Thanks.