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ExtremeTech: MacBook Air - Let's Not Lose Our Minds
PC Mag: Apple Simply Follows
Hands-On With the Disappointing MacBook Air (With Video)
MacBook Air Out-of-Warranty Battery Replacement Program
MacBook Air: Technical Details
MacBook Air Spec Shootout
MacBook Air's Tradeoffs
The MacBook Air Is Nearly Perfect
MacBook Air - Second thoughts
My Impression Of The New MBA
Mac Air And The Cost Of Flash
MacBook Air: In a Word, Impressive
MacBook Err - Why I'm disappointed in Apple's ultraslim new laptop
The Apple Ultrathin: Who's Driving the Innovation Now?
MacBook Air: First Impressions
The MacBook Air - Definitely NOT a Desktop Replacement
Clash Of The Compacts: Eee vs Air
Compared To Rivals, Apple MacBook Air Pricing No Bargain
Apple's MacBook Air a Mixed Bag
MacBook Air: How Incomplete is It?
Apple MacBook Air A New Class Of Laptop
MacBook Air Why It Will Succeed Where Others Have Failed
ExtremeTech: MacBook Air - Let's Not Lose Our Minds
"So Macworld is going on now, and as usual Steve Jobs has caused a fervor on the tech community with his powerful salesmanship. Love or hate Macs, you have to hand it to him-the guy can sell. There's plenty to talk about, from Apple senselessly gouging iPod Touch customers for $20 to enable apps that should be on there for free, the cool (and welcome) software updates to the Apple TV, to the new iPhone firmware we all sort of knew about that still doesn't add MMS support. But the big news is the Macbook Air.
It sounds almost too good to be true. A 13-inch Macbook that is so thin and light it fits into a manila envelope! Finally, you'll be able to carry around just a super-thin three pound notebook, saving your back, and your luggage space, and all that good stuff. Right?
Then the gotchas set in."
To read more, go to:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,2249685,00.asp
PC Mag: Apple Simply Follows
Steve Jobs' latest "one more thing" isn't all that inspiring, and certainly isn't industry-leading either.
To read more, go to:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2249283,00.asp
Hands-On With the Disappointing MacBook Air (With Video)
PBCentral's Noah Kravitz says:
MacBook Air looks kind of lame to me. At $1,799 for a 1.6 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 80 GB 4200 rpm hard drive (i.e. an iPod drive), and a single USB port, Apple has basically given us a very overpriced entry level machine (with a multitouch trackpad!) in a sexed up outfit. Don't get me wrong, it's one of those very alluring sexed up outfits, but unless you're either lugging your laptop around darn near every day or absolutely must make an image statement every time you pull out your laptop, I'm not sure why you'd want this machine. The "entry level" MacBook is faster, more versatile, and $700 cheaper than Air, and the MB Pro provides way more performance for the dollar if you've got two grand to spend.....
....MacBook Air won't be a total bust, but it's not the gee-whiz home run that most folks I know wanted from a Mac subnotebook. I'm pretty sure the footprint of my Duo 280 is smaller than Air's footprint. That is to say that Air is more a flattened out, compromised MacBook than it is a truly new genre of machine from Apple. It's no Vaio TZ, Eee PC, or Everex Cloudbook that weighs two pounds and fits in a coat pocket. Instead it's a very thin MacBook that's also very light. Which is great. But not as it could have been.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.pbcentral.com/columns/hildreth_kravitz/mwsf08a.shtml
MacBook Air Out-of-Warranty Battery Replacement Program
A new Apple Knowledge Base article says:
If your MacBook Air requires service only because the battery's ability to hold an electrical charge has diminished, Apple will repair your MacBook Air for a service fee.
The program cost is based on your region:
United States $129
Canada CA$159
Europe Ł139 inc. VAT
Japan Ą15,800
Asia Pacific AU$199 inc. taxes
....Many repairs require Apple to replace or reformat the hard disk, which will result in the loss of your data. Please make sure you back up your data on a regular basis to minimize your data loss.
The repair process normally takes 5 business days.
For more information, visit:
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookair/service/battery/
MacBook Air: Technical Details
HardMac's Lionel reports:
Following readers' requests, we publish some official and exclusive technical details related to the MacBook Pro:
- The 13.3" LED-backlighted display feature 1280x800 pixels.....
- The 2GB of RAM are soldered to the motherboard....
- One can not remove the battery....
- For the moment, one can not use the MacBook Air in Target mode to transfer data....
- The maximal thickness of the SSD or 1.8" HD accepted in the MacBook Air is 5mm
All those "negative" points for releasing an extremely thin and light notebook, that's the price for such an elegant and powerful notebook.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.hardmac.com/news/2008-01-16/#7617
MacBook Air Spec Shootout
Ars Technica's Charles Jade reports:
....If only the mass of human flesh waiting was indicative of success a year later, but there was no shortage of interest in the Mac mini in 2005. Three years later, we are all waiting for "the most affordable Mac ever" to die. The MacBook Air won't have that problem - being affordable that is.....
Let's be rational. It's not even remotely affordable, especially at the high end - the high end being defined by the option of a 64GB SSD.....
....it's clear Toshiba beats Apple, even if they are lying about battery life and Apple is not. Sure the MacBook Air is faster, but it's equally crippled by integrated graphics. So much for CPU, but potentially worse is what most people will settle for in the low-end model, a 4200RPM hard drive.....
A 1.8" hard drive is not unheard of in this class of laptop, but there are better choices on the low end.... the astonishing lack of upgradability - even the option of more RAM at purchase - is surprising and appalling. An utter dearth of ports adds to the dismay - whither FireWire?...
Clearly, Apple has failed to understand the needs and desires of laptop users with the MacBook Air.
[Editor's note: I agree with Charles Jade's analysis and conclusion. CM]
For the full commentary visit here:
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/01/16/macbook-air-spec-shootout
MacBook Air's Tradeoffs
Macworld's Dan Frakes reports:
....subnotebooks - laptops designed to be smaller and lighter than traditional models - generally involve many tradeoffs. For the reduction in size and weight, many smaller notebooks compromise on such attributes as the size of the display and keyboard, processor speed, battery life, and included features. Most also cost more than a comparably-featured larger model. The MacBook Air is no exception, Steve Jobs' claims to the contrary notwithstanding. What makes the MacBook Air unique is that Apple has chosen to make different compromises than those found in most other subnotebooks. The company has essentially said, "It has tradeoffs and limitations, but we think our tradeoffs and limitations are better than the competition's."
.....the MacBook Air is just as usable as a MacBook for general computing, which is to say much more usable than a typical subnotebook. ...
But to squeeze into such a svelte package, the MacBook Air is missing a number of features, and other features are scaled back.....
You also lose ports and expansion options.....
Thanks to heat and space concerns, the Air also isn't as speedy as its larger siblings....
Space and heat issues also limit the MacBook Air's storage options....it appears that only single-platter, 1.8-inch hard drives - the same type found in the 80GB iPod classic - fit; even a dual-platter, 1.8-inch drive, like the one used in the 160GB iPod classic, is too thick...
Perhaps the most controversial compromise Apple has made will turn out to be that, unlike nearly every other subnotebook, the MacBook Air uses an integrated battery that can't be easily removed...
So who wants one?
[Editor's note: good question... CM]
For the full commentary click here.
http://www.macworld.com/article/131624/2008/01/macbook_air_tradeoffs.html
The MacBook Air Is Nearly Perfect
Low End Mac's Dan Knight says:
The prayers of many for an ultralight MacBook have been answered, but in an unexpected way. And that's pure Apple.....
Two years after beginning the Intel transition, Apple has tried to fill the 12" PowerBook hole with the MacBook Air, the world's slimmest notebook computer.
The question is: Does it fill the 12" PowerBook niche?....
In terms of weight, the 3 lb. MacBook Air (MBA) is 35% lighter than the 12" PowerBook G4. And the 5-hour battery life with AirPort active puts it on equal footing with any notebook Mac ever made.
The full-sized, no compromise keyboard should make PowerBook users happy, and despite being incredibly thin, there's even a built-in iSight webcam. The base MBA includes an 80 GB hard drive and 2 GB of RAM, giving it the same drive capacity and more memory than the 12" PowerBook.
People are already pointing to the MacBook Air's shortcomings: there is no memory expansion, the 1.8" hard drive is slow compared with traditional 2.5" hard drives, it uses integrated graphics, there's no built-in optical drive, and the battery is not user replaceable.
Keep in mind that the MacBook Air isn't a consumer notebook or a pro notebook. It's more of an executive notebook..... and it's not designed to do the same heavy lifting as a MacBook Pro. It's meant to supplement your desktop computer, not replace it.....
Yeah, the 1.8" 4200 rpm hard drive (the same one used in the iPod classic) is relatively slow. It's also small by today's standards. It's too bad Apple isn't offering a 160 GB option. If that had made the MacBook Air 1-2mm thicker, a lot of users would have considered it worth doing.
Compared with the 12" PowerBook G4, though, the MBA has a lot less hard drive options. You can put a 500 GB drive in a traditional notebook computer.....
Dedicated graphics are better than integrated graphics, but .... the integrated graphics will run circles around the GeForce FX Go5200 graphics found in the 2005 12" PowerBook.....
The biggest disappointment for travelers is going to be the lack of a built-in optical drive..... Advantage: 12" PowerBook....
The biggest stink is probably going to be over the built-in battery, like the iPod and iPhone use. Road warriors can't pack a spare charged battery, as they can do with other Mac notebooks....
The MacBook Air and MacBook have the same footprint, although the MacBook is 70% heavier and over 1" thick. The biggest complaint about the MacBook from 12" PowerBook fans hasn't been its weight or its thickness; it's been the footprint....
All things said, the MacBook Air looks like its going to be a real winner for Apple - and maybe someday it will have a smaller sibling for those who want or need a still smaller footprint.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/musings/08mm/macbook-air-nearly-perfect.html
MacBook Air - Second thoughts
ZNet blogger Adrian Kingsley-Hughes says:
Yesterday, I sounded pretty enthusiastic about the newly announced MacBook Air. Now, having slept on it (not literally), I feel that I might have been off the mark.
The biggest problem with the MacBook Air is that once you scratch away the sex appeal of an aluminum clad ultra-mobile, you start to see the compromises that Apple had to make to bring this product to market. The first compromise that struck me today was the hard drive. 80GB.....
Then there's that 64GB SSD drive that costs an extra $999.....
Then there's the non-expandable memory. 2GB is your lot.....
Then there's the battery, which can only be replaced by sending the unit back to the Apple mothership and paying a fee. No carrying a spare battery as insurance. I also don't like the idea of the locked-in battery acting as a ticking obsolescence time bomb.
That one USB port also sounds awfully limiting.....
Which leads me onto the the fact that the MacBook Air doesn't have built-in Ethernet or modem.....
There's also no HSDPA/3G/GPRS support, which means that you might need to add a wireless broadband dongle.....
Another compromise that struck me today is the lack of a built-in microphone.
Then there's the processor....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1163
My Impression Of The New MBA
MyMac's Roger Born says:
I love the idea of the thing, being so thin and light. I would have hoped for something a bit smaller, say 11 inches or so. That formfactor would have had the same size keyboard, But something that small would have fit in my lap or curled up with me on my couch, just a bit more comfortably than one with a 13.3 inch monitor. The lighted keyboard is a great feature, though.
Yes the MBA is sealed. but the battery is the same as the one in the MB Pro and will be replaced for no charge by Apple when the time comes to replace it. The cost is about $120. Life expectancy of the new battery is supposed to be exceptional.
Is there anything wrong with it? I think the MBA is very cool and desirable, but my first impression from the SPECS page at Apple is that they will need those 2 GB of RAM because of the iPod Hard Drive. To me, that drive is just not a good fit for a laptop, regardless of the speed of the new CPU, because that iPod hard drive is doggy-slow.....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.mymac.com/showarticle.php?do=something&id=2417
Mac Air And The Cost Of Flash
ZNet blogger Robin Harris says:
Apple offers a flash drive on their new MacBook Air. And it ain't cheap. Should road warriors bite?
Replacing the standard 80 GB hard drive with the 64 GB flash drive costs $999. 64 GB is plenty for business use and way-too-small for personal use - as is the 80 GB. But this isn't a desktop replacement. The Air is a road warrior's status symbol.
2 odd things in the announcement
Apple didn't make a specific claim for improved battery life with the flash drive, like X minutes more.....
Nor did they offer any specific performance claims for the flash, which surprises me. The stock 4200 RPM 1.8? drive is about as slow as they come for today's notebooks.....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=278
MacBook Air: In a Word, Impressive
Seeking Alpha says:
TV Convergence devices, just aren't ripe for the picking, yet. (Case in point, on Apple's own site, Apple TV is relegated to a placement under the iPod + iTunes tab. Unlike the Mac, the iPhone, or the iPod, Apple TV doesn't yet rate its own top-billed section)
The new Macbook on the other hand? It was the show stealer at this Macworld. Michael Jordan wasn't on hand to share his famed "Air" Moniker, but the Macbook Air would have done him proud. It's another design sensation. With tapered edges and a sleek shape, the design cues remain minimalist, right down to the now classic Apple magnetic power connector (though this one is different at the tip). In line with the aesthetic there's also a fold-out door which hides a USB port, a headphone jack and a micro DVI port, and amazingly, it doesn't look flimsy as folding computer components often do. (Adapters are included for different monitor connections).
....Its tapered case ranges from 0.76inch to 0.16inch thick. It's like holding a legal pad. And in weight, it's not much heavier.....
All in all, for anyone who travels, for people who like Macs, for gadget freaks, the Macbook Air is wowing. True, the battery is not removable. True, there are things that can be criticized. True, it's evolutionary. True, it's not shocking in its feature set, but it's a product easy to see yourself using (for many). I can picture it on my desk. Or in a bag when I'm on the go. Accompanying me on a plane. Improving my work. I can see it.
For the full report visit here:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/60383-macbook-air-in-a-word-impressive?source=yahoo
MacBook Err - Why I'm disappointed in Apple's ultraslim new laptop
Slate's Paul Boutin says:
Apple's new super-extra-ultraslim MacBook Air laptop is undeniably sexy. As shown in Apple's TV spot, the new laptop slides effortlessly into a manila envelope.... But as I watched Steve Jobs demo his new products onstage at San Francisco's Moscone Center, I was struck by all the things you can't do with the MacBook Air. That's because the balance of power at Apple, and in the tech world generally, has tipped. In many ways, phones are now more powerful than laptops....
I'm a sucker for products that look good, but there need to be some guts beneath the shiny skin. I don't care about having the world's skinniest laptop. Rather, I need to be able to blog breaking news when I'm not near a Wi-Fi hotspot.....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2182227/
The Apple Ultrathin: Who's Driving the Innovation Now?
One Laptop Per Child News's Alexandre Van de Sande says:
The first manufactured computer to ship without a floppy drive was the original candy colored iMac, back 1998, which relied only on internet, a CD-ROM and a port called the Universal Serial Bus ports.....
Fast forward to 2008 and Apple announced the wireless Macbook Air, a ultralight low power laptop with no cd or dvd drive, no hard disk, but highly connected portable computer. In a few years this will probably be the industry standard, but this time around it's not Cupertino who's setting it.
Granted, one cannot compare the $199 XO to a $1,799 Macbook anymore than one can compare the recently announced $2,500 Nano Car by India's Tata motor to a $50,000 Porsche, unless on technological grounds. And that is what I'm going to do.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/competition/apple_ultrathin_innovation.html
MacBook Air: First Impressions
MacInTouch's Henry Norr says:
Even if it wasn't exactly a surprise, the MacBook Air is still a sight to behold. It's undeniably a tour de force of engineering and design. Subnotebooks have never sold terribly well, but the thinnest of them have always elicited a special excitement (I remember years ago when a normally staid Wall Street analyst described an then-upcoming HP ultralight to me as "pure sex"), and the MacBook Air is the thinnest ever – by far....
The appeal of the machine is obvious: in addition to becoming an instant cult item among the hip and affluent, it's sure to attract a lot of business travelers who don't do a lot of video or graphics and would gladly sacrifice some of the screen real estate and features offered by the MacBook Pros in order to reduce the weight they have to schlepp all day.....
That said, you will give up a lot if you opt for the MacBook Air over a MacBook Pro or even a plain MacBook...
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.macintouch.com/specialreports/sf2008/macbookair.html
The MacBook Air - Definitely NOT a Desktop Replacement
MacNightOwl's Gene Steinberg says:
What's clear from the outset is that the MacBook Air is no desktop replacement in the fashion of the other portables in Apple's lineup. It is designed from the ground up as a computing appliance for travel, and that explains some of the key decisions....
So just what is Apple's target audience? Well, it's not the folks who want to use their notebooks as desktop replacements.....
But consider the plight of the confirmed road warrior, who sees no need to ditch a desktop computer, or is rarely at home or an office to enjoy one. For them, the extra cash they pay for an MacBook Air may be a godsend. Its feather-weight form factor will save the wear and tear on one's shoulder, and there will be little sacrifice in terms of basic convenience and usability. Other than the need for an external or networked optical drive, you'll be able to enjoy a complete computing environment.....
To read more, click here.
Clash Of The Compacts: Eee vs Air
The Register's Tony Smith reports:
The hottest mobile products of the moment? Undoubtedly, Apple's MacBook Air and Asus' Eee PC. So how do these would-be pinnacles of ultra-portability compare?
Let's take a look at the features each machine offers....
You can check it out at:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/16/eee_vs_air/
Compared To Rivals, Apple MacBook Air Pricing No Bargain
InformationWeek's Antone Gonsalves says:
In releasing the MacBook Air, Apple is betting that the PC market has changed enough to where consumers will be willing to pay more for light and sexy, and ignore the lack of some traditional features.
The MacBook Air, launched Tuesday by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs at the Macworld conference in San Francisco, reflects how consumers' attitudes toward notebooks, and PCs in general, have changed, experts say. Rather than buy solely on a comparison of specifications, people today are placing a larger emphasis on looks and on whether the machine satisfies a particular need.
In the sub-notebook category, that would mean light, as in less than four pounds, long battery life, easy wireless connectivity, and a full keyboard. Apple is entering this market niche charging its usual premium, betting that people will pay more for design.....
To read more, click here.
Apple's MacBook Air a Mixed Bag
IT Week 's Martin Veitch says:
The MacBook Air packs a great deal of innovation but is expensive and will need to convince sceptical IT departments about price and service terms....
On the plus side, the MacBook Air includes a trackpad with iPhone-like multitouch capability so that users can pinch together images or expand them. Ports are hidden to add to the elegance of the design.
However, Apple has sacrificed significant features to enable the striking form factor.....
To read more, click here.
http://www.vnunet.com/itweek/news/2207356/apple-macbook-air-mixed-bag
MacBook Air: How Incomplete is It?
PC World's Harry McCracken says the list of features missing from Apple's wafer-thin laptop is almost as long as the list of what it's got:
Steve Jobs is, among many other things, the great denier. Second mouse buttons, floppy drives, 56-kbps modems--for decades, he's been perfectly willing to release producrs that lack one or more features that are standard equipment on everyone else's computers if he thinks they're unnecessary or offend his design principles or aesthetic sense.
Usually, the news that a new Mac is missing a feature is met by yelps of protest. But then, sooner or later, the rest of the industry follows his lead. (Okay, usually--I haven't seen any one-button mouses on PCs lately.) Jobs, in other words, tends to figure out that we can live without something before the rest of the world does.
I'm not sure if he's ever denied Apple customers as many features as he will with the MacBook Air, the super-thin notebook that he unveiled at this morning's Macworld Expo keynote. In introducing the Air, Jobs said that manufacturers of other thin-and-light laptops made too many compromises to make their machines sleek, like using small keyboards and screens and wimpy CPUs. But nobody else in the industry would dream of making some of the compromises that the Air makes.
So what's missing? And how big a deal is it?
You can check it out at:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141407-pg,1/article.html
Apple MacBook Air A New Class Of Laptop
PCMag's Cisco Cheng says:
The MacBook Air is a new class of laptop, even though it has a similar design as its MacBook Pro brethrens. What makes this ultraportable unique from the MacBook Pros and everything else in the industry is its thickness, or rather, lack thereof. It measures 0.76 inches deep at the back, tapering down to 0.16 inches as you move toward the front bezel. That's simply unheard of on a 13-inch ultraportable. The MacBook Air weighs in at 3 pounds and includes features that the rumor sites have long been predicting, including a 13-inch LED screen and an optional SSD drive. It lacks an internal optical drive, and the (very) limited number of connectivity ports will raise eyebrows, but the $1,799 starting price, standard voltage processing parts, and a full size keyboard make up for its few limitations.....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2249835,00.asp
MacBook Air Why It Will Succeed Where Others Have Failed
IT Enquirer's Erik Vlietinck says:
... Undoubtedly, the MacBook Air was Apple's most spectacular announced computer product in years.....
Who is going to buy a MacBook Air? Except for the "early adopters" who always want the newest gadgets before anyone else, I suspect the MacBook Air will appeal to writers and editors, and to users who don't have to run graphics-intensive applications, or do heavy number-crunching. I also think designers who work with programs like Adobe Illustrator, and even Photoshop CS3 will find the MacBook Air especially appealing when they have to present their work while on the road.
And web designers will like this machine as well. So, is it perfect then? Not to me, it isn't.....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.it-enquirer.com/main/ite/more/macbook_air/
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