MacBook Air: Notebook Design Philosophy Bellwether Or Cube-esque Overreach?
Anyway, I still anticipate that 10.5.2 can't be too far off, so hopefully there's some relief in sight and that part of the keynote disappointment will be ephemeral.
The more abiding disappointment is the MacBook Air. I'm a fan of small computers, and have been waiting with great interest to see how Apple would fill the void in its lineup vacated by the 12" PowerBook and iBook back in '06. I was pretty confident that there would be a new Apple subnotebook released at this year's Expo, and as we all know there was. It just isn't what I was hoping for. My excitement very quickly turned to dismay as I skimmed through the press release and specifications on the MacBook Air Web page Tuesday, only deepening when I read that the new 'Book didn't even have a user-replaceable battery.
Photo Courtesy Apple
If there was ever a salutary exemplar of "form over function," the MacBook Air is it. As an engineering exercise, it's interesting. As a piece of "because we can" conceit, it doesn't become Apple, which used to make notebook computers that were the ne plus ultra of the industry in terms of being efficient productivity tools. However, since Apple went on its thin computer kick, which dates back to the PowerBook G3 Bronze Keyboard (aka Lombard) release in May, 1999, and especially with the release of the Titanium PowerBook G4 at Macworld Expo 2001, practical functionality has increasingly taken a back seat to aesthetics as Apple notebooks progressively became thinner, culminating (so far) with the MacBook Air introduced Tuesday which is so thin it can fit in a standard Manilla envelope.
As I said, that's an interesting engineering tour del.icio.us force, but what is the point, other than the aesthetic appeal, which I don't dispute, but philosophically I'm a "form follows function" kind of guy. I have no objection to stylish looks, but only if they don't get in the way of functional practicality, and ultra-thin notebook computer form factors obligate too many compromises, and it should be noted that the MacBook Air's footprint is actually a small fraction of an inch larger in both width and depth than that of the standard MacBook.
Light weight, of course, is another matter, as anyone who lugs a notebook around on a regular basis will tell you. However, it would be entirely possible to build a three pound laptop with a substantially thicker form factor than the MacBook Air, and it would be a better computer. There are PC subnotebooks that weigh even less than the AirBook and come with a much more comprehensive array of I/O ports and even expansion slots, as well as having optical drives and upgradable RAM and hard drives and user-swappable batteries. Some examples are Toshiba's 1.7 pound to 2.4 pound Portege R500 can be had with both PCMCIA and Secure Digital slots, Gigabit Ethernet jack, a FireWire port, an audio-in jack, three USB 2.0 ports, and an optical drive. The Fujitsu P1620 has 2GB of RAM, WWAN, an SD card slot, wired Ethernet, a PC Card slot and two USB ports and weighs 2.2 lbs. Lenovo's well kitted-out ThinkPad X61 weighs 2.7 pounds.
I consider the PowerBook 2000 Pismo to be in a general sense the best notebook Apple ever built for a variety of reasons. I have two of them in production use as my utility and road machines. However, they would be even better if they were as thick as the first-generation PowerBook G3 Series WallStreets which their form factor derives from. It would cool more efficiently, have more room for expansion slots and bays, be easier to work on (although it's reasonably good in that context).
The same applies to this 17" aluminum PowerBook I'm typing on right now (and to its kissin' cousins the MacBook Pros). It's a great computer that has exceeded my expectations when I bought it two years ago, but it would be a better computer if it was somewhat thicker - more efficient cooling a notable reason why, as is the reliability (or more accurately lack of it) of the slimmed-down optical drives necessary to fit inside these pancake cases.
And the MacBook Air takes the thin form factor thing past the point of rationality.
Photo Courtesy Apple
I had been hoping for more or less a MacIntel version of the 12" aluminum PowerBook, which didn't seem unreasonable, since the 15" and 17" MacBook Pros are essentially MacIntel versions of the 15" and 17" aluminum PowerBook G4s. The 12" PowerBook was one of the best notebooks Apple ever built. Some folks consider it the logical successor to the Pismo as a value workhorse machine. The thing about the 12-incher was that it was completely viable as an only-computer production platform with only a few second-echelon compromises required in comparison to its larger PowerBook stablemates. Indeed, I happily used a 12" G3 iBook as my main production computer for more than three years, and it did a great job.
The MacBook Air is not such a machine. Not even close. The 12" PowerBook was hobbled somewhat by its meagre 256 MB of RAM soldered to the motherboard, which with a single RAM expansion slot, gave it a memory ceiling of 1.25 GHz, but it did eventually come equipped with all of the most powerful G4 processors Apple ever installed in laptops save for the 1.67 GHz version, a standard 2.5" hard drive, a decently comprehensive array of ports, and internal modem, Bluetooth, Airport and Ethernet, a Combo drive or available SuperDrive, and a real Graphics Processor Unit. The MacBook Air has a very respectable 2 GB of RAM soldered to its mother board, but no expansion slot at all so that's what you're stuck with, both available processor options are slower in clock speed than the slowest that shipped in the early MacBook Pros and MacBooks ( IMHO, this is not necessarily a bad thing under the circumstances since it will help keep internal temperatures down, and the cramped confines of that skinny case are not going to make for efficient cooling ). Ho hum processor performance will not be helped by the MacBook Air's slow, iPod-type 1.8" 4200 RPM hard drive, although the optional ($1,000!) solid state flash drive may be a bit more lively. It seems, although I haven't seen this confirmed yet, that even the dual platter 1.8" drive used in the 160 GB iPod is too thick to fit inside the MacBook Air's anorexic case. The AirBook has just three measly ports - an earphone jack, a mini-DVI video-out port, and one lone USB 2 port - no FireWire, and if you want Ethernet you'll have to purchase a $29.95 optional adapter which connects through that sure to be overworked USB port.
No internal optical drive either, which was expected and the omission does help keep weight down. Available is an optional external SuperDrive unit that connects through (and is powered by) that oversubscribed USB port. Sound input if needed has to be via USB as well, and adding insult to injury the battery is not user-replaceable. To replace the battery the entire machine must be shipped to Apple with a five-day turnaround and a fee of $130.00. The hard drive is not officially replaceable either, but the resourceful may find a way inside what is an iPod type sealed unit.
Photo Courtesy Apple
Then there's the price. The MacBook Air starts at $1,799, while the high-end flash memory unit with the 1.8 GHz processor is a whopping $3,099, making it the most expensive Apple notebook in years. With the optical drive and a few selections from the options list, the base model soon tops $2,000 for a features and performance impoverished computer that many are predicting will be short-lived and essentially "disposable." At least I think we can safely assume that there will be precious few MacBook Airs still providing useful service when they're eight years old like my Pismos are this year.
OK, so those of us who were hoping for a subnotebook that was a real computer like the 12" PowerBook was feel let down, but perhaps there actually is a market for a machine like this. My initial reaction to the iPod was something like "whaaaaaaat!?" and we all know how that turned out. I was skeptical about the iPhone as well, and am still somewhat mystified at the amount of money folks are willing to pay to buy and use one, but there you go. It will be fascinating to see whether there are enough enterprise execs and other serious road warriors out there who are willing to buy an expensive, features and connectivity crippled, and likely short-lived computer for the convenience of a thin, light form factor.
Photo Courtesy Apple
My computing needs and tastes are not everyone's computing needs and tastes. I pretty much concur with The Apple Core's Jason O' Grady in his profile of likely MacBook Air buyer demographics:
Rich executives
Early adopters
Showoffs, braggarts, "first on their block" types
Trustafarians
Trendy people
People who need a second machine
People that travel at least 5 days per week, less than 4 hours away
Uhhh.... if the shoe fits....
Seriously, if you fit into one of thise categories, more power to you and If substantial numbers of buyers determine that the MacBook Air meets their requirements in a lightweight computer, then good on Apple, and of course the MacBook and MacBook Pro are still excellent choices for users who want more power, connectivity, capacity and expandability in a notebook. However, that still leaves those of us who would prefer those qualities in a smaller form factor out in the cold, and my guess is that the likelihood of Apple coming out with a more conventional subnotebook are now very slim indeed, and that a substantial proportion of potential Apple subnotebook buyers will now resign themselves to getting a Windows or Linux laptop.
Another concern I have is whether the MacBook Air constitutes a bellwether as to the direction Apple will go in notebook design, even with the larger MacBooks and professional modes in the future. From my perspective, for reasons outlined above, Apple notebooks are already thinner than is desirable. Will the obsession with extreme thinness continue across the MacBook family with future form factor revisions. I profoundly hope not, but it's not a very lively hope, alas.
Charles W. Moore
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