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MacBook Air Analyzed By Early Adopter
Your thoughts on MacSpeech Dictate
Price differentials - Canada vs USA
A POP query
TypeIt4Me X 4.0 released?
MacBook Air Analyzed By Early Adopter
From Bill
I wanted to comment on your excellent Applelinks 18 January MacBook Air article
I agree heartily with most of the article's points about the questionable design goal of thinness for thinness' sake (form vs. function). The author summarizes very well my own initial concerns about the 'crazy thin' nature of this new MacBook. However I've come to a very different conclusion regarding whether this extreme thinness and the necessary(?) feature compromises this thinness entails, is a big problem when considering the MacBook Air. At least for me. And maybe I am in a very small minority but I don't think the potential pool of MacBook Air buyers is quite as shallow - in both senses of the word - as many have suggested.
For example, I would add one more category to Jason O' Grady's otherwise mostly derisive profile of likely MacBook Air buyers. "People that want a Mac OS laptop that weighs no more than 3 pounds but has a full size keyboard."
I, like many, was expecting / hoping Apple would introduce a new lightweight MacBook but I presumed it would have something like a 12" G4 Powerbook form factor. I fully expected to accept some of the usual compromises (no internal optical drive, reduced performance, higher price, etc.) for ultra-light laptops. Although I was disappointed / surprised that the MacBook Air design is so much thinner than it 'needs to be' and includes more compromises than I had expected, I quickly realized that none of these design compromises (fewer ports, integrated battery, etc.) really impacts me too much and I'm looking forward to using my new MacBook Air once it's delivered. I ordered one ~ 24 hours after the MacWorld keynote / introduction - It took me that long to decide that the integrated battery was not a problem for me. It took me much less time to realize that most of the other 'compromises' don't really bother me.
The thinness thing. I've never met a (recent) laptop that I thought was too thick, only laptops that I thought were too heavy. It may be that Apple decided that simply introducing a 3 pound MacBook wasn't good enough, wasn't bold enough. Perhaps they decided being able to claim it the 'world's thinnest' laptop was necessary from a marketing perspective - and it's probably true that if it weren't for the 'crazy thin' nature of the MacBook Air, there would be much less media attention paid to this new laptop. But for me, the thing could have been an inch thick all around with, otherwise, the same weight / specs, and still would have been just as attractive. As is, I get 95% of what I wanted and I'll just have to learn to live with the thinness.
My take on some of the frequently mentioned compromises:
1) Integrated battery. This one bothered me at first but when I learned that a replacement battery for the MacBook Air costs no more than one for the MacBook (and installation is free), I was not too concerned anymore. Although I don't think I'll need one, I expect Apple (and/or some 3rd party battery supplier) will eventually offer an external battery for people who need more than 5 hours of untethered operation. And yes, I realize batteries get worse with age and I fully expect to have to bring / send my MacBook Air 'into the shop' at least once during its usable life for a battery replacement (as I did with my Palm Vx in the past and may need to do with my iPod in the future).
2) No internal optical disk. I used to carry a 6+ pound notebook for work. I typically kept the (removable) optical drive in a desk drawer at the office in case I ever needed it. In practice, I hardly ever did need it - especially not on the road - but maybe that's just me. If I ever decide I need one, I'll order Apple's external drive ($99 and ~1 extra pound). I'll be disappointed if 'Remote Disk' is not painless to use with my home iMac, but it's not a deal breaker. (I also expect to take advantage of iTunes' new movie rental service - so will be able to watch movies on a plane without a DVD drive).
3) No integrated Ethernet port. No Gigabit support. I'll probably pick up the USB Ethernet adapter to have one 'just in case' for travel - for use in hotels that provide wired Ethernet but no WiFi. But at home and (usually) on the road I'll be using WiFi.
4) Only one USB port. If I ever need a USB hub at home for the MacBook Air I'll pick one up. On the road, a mouse (or Ethernet adapter when absolutely necessary) is the only USB device I expect to use - and occasionally a USB memory stick. I'll probably just use the trackpad when traveling which still leaves me with one unused USB port most of the time. In any case, travel USB hubs are generally very small / light so even if I need to carry a USB hub with me to support multiple peripherals, it wouldn't add significant weight / bulk to my luggage / pocket.
5) No firewire support. Maybe a bit sad to see this missing but I hadn't really required a FireWire port for a laptop. I have 4 FireWire devices at home (3 external drives and a DV Camcorder) but all 4 also support USB 2 so the lack of FireWire support on the MacBook Air isn't a particular handicap for me.
6) Small (80GB max) hard drive. Here's where (I think) I disagree most with Apple's trade-off. If the limit on hard disk drive capacity is in fact driven primarily by the physical volume (height) restraints imposed by the extreme thinness of the MacBook Air (i.e. larger capacity drives are physically too large (too 'tall'?) to fit into the internal space/height without sacrificing overall 'thinness') then I think this was a bad / unnecessary trade-off. I would gladly accept a slightly thicker MacBook Air to get greater on-board storage capacity (assuming no or minimal weight increase). Of course, the actual trade-off may have more to do with thermal considerations and/or a plan to move exclusively to solid state memory once prices come down more.
7) Price. I'd like to wait for the inevitable price drop / speed bump release (and avoid any unknown issues that sometimes crop up with totally new designs) but I won't wait this time. I need a laptop now, the MacBook Air gives me 95% of what I want and the $1,800 price is in line with comparable (~3 pound, full-size-keyboard) products from Sony, Lenovo, etc.
Perhaps these are just rationalizations but I don't think so. I was shocked and dismayed when Apple introduced the original iMac without an internal floppy disk drive ("What were they thinking!") and I swore I would never be counted among those who were foolish enough to spend over $200 on a digital music player that didn't have a user-replaceable battery ("Suckers!") but here I am in 2008, happily using my 1999-era iMac and 2 year-old iPod nano and now I can't imagine why I was so worked up about those compromises in the first place.
Hi Bill;
Thanks for your thoughtful analysis of why the MacBook Air is for you, and I sincerely hope that it will give you excellent service.
I can't really disagre with any of your points in the context of a user who wants the MacBook Air primarily for road work. As I said in my column, my needs in a laptop (ie: desktop substitute workhorse, although not necessarily a big machine - I got on very happily using a 12" iBook as my $1 production machine for more than three years).
I'm genuinely happy for anyone who finds the MacBook Air adequate for their needs, and I hope Apple sells a ton of them, but for my needs there are too many deal-breakers, alas, and I'm saddened that there will not likely now be a MacIntel subnotebook that would do the job for me.
Charles
Your thoughts on MacSpeech Dictate
From Brian;
From what I have read the Intel transition has allowed MacSpeech to develop a voice recognition product based on the Dragon engine rather than the Phillips engine. The good news is that it sounds amazingly accurate. The bad news (for me anyway), is that it is for Intel Macs only.
I know it has not yet been officially released but I am interested in your thoughts and speculations.
Brian
Hi Brian;
As it happens, I expounded my thoughts on that very topic at some length in my The Road Warrior column on MacOpinion last week. You can check it out by clicking here.
Yes, the Dictate app. will be Intel-only, since the Dragon Naturally Speaking speech engine it is based on is Intel-only, and there would be little sense in porting it to PowerPC at this stage of the game.
For me personally, Dictate will likely prove the tipping point for me to finally upgrade to an Intel based Mac.
Charles
Price differentials - Canada vs USA
From John
Charles,
You occasionally mention the the fact that Apple and other companies have failed to adjust their prices to account for the strong Canadian dollar. In effect, Canadians are charged a premium because the two currencies are essentially at par. Sometimes this can be explained because the production costs were paid with a high US dollar and prices will equalize as new production enters the market place. However, here's a new product from a major software company that is priced 33% higher in Canada than the USA. It is advertised at $149.95 through the Apple store and other retailers in the USA, Amazon USA lists it at $130.99; in Canada it is listed at $199.95 at all sources (for delivery after the official release date). What is it? Microsoft Office 2008 for Home and Student Edition. Does the phrase "windfall profits" jump to mind?
Best Wishes, eh!
John
Hi John;
Absolutely. It's a prima facie example of profiteering, and one could probably find myriad examples.
I'm shopping for an Intel notebook, and last week The Apple Store US had 2.2 GHz 15" MacBook Pros advertised at $1,699.00 (they're now out of stock again), while the exact same machine appeared on the Apple Store Canada simultaneously for $1,869.00. The Canadian dollar last week was at about 98 cents US.
However, some credit where credit is due, Pogue Press/O' Reilly has pegged the cover price of David Pogue's new Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: The Missing Manual, on which I'm currently preparing a review, at $34.95 on both sides of the border. That's a five buck increase for Stateside readers (the book is 50 pages thicker than the previous edition), but a Can$7.00 decrease in price for us Canucks from the Tiger TMM, and amounts to a $12 narrowing of the previous differential.
Charles
A POP query
From Bill
Charles
Hi! there, it's been awhile and then some. I am wondering; if you could tell me the settings needed to POP or perhaps even IMAP my applelinks.com mail to work from my desktop instead of the user's webmail UI?
I don't seem to be able to find that info anywhere else, and therefore I'm inquireing of a well known GURU.
TIA for any & all helpful advice.Respectful of GURUs
Bill
Hi Bill;
Wish I could help, but I don't really have anything to do with that department, and I'm not sure that POP 3 service is available with applelinks.com email, and I'm pretty certain IMAP is not. I'll forward your note to the Webmaster.
Charles
TypeIt4Me X 4.0 released?
From Brian
Hi,
Your new item refers to a new version 4.0 of TypeIt4Me, and so do others. Is this a wind-up? I can't find it.
Best
Brian
Hi Brian;
The press release from Macworld Expo said it was available, but no standard Web page URL was given.
I tried this address and a download dialog opened, although I already have Version 4 (I'm a beta tester) so didn't proceed further. You might try there.
ettoresoftware.com/iphone/beta/ty.iphone
No sign of version 4.0 on the TypeIt4Me home site as yet.
Charles
***
Charles W. Moore
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