I want a MacBook Air

From the first impressions I've read I think it's claimed to have a battery life of five hours. Incidentally the batteries aren't user replaceable; you'd need to get Apple to replace them for you.

I don't see any reason that Windows wouldn't work on the MacBook Air, as long as you can get it on there (as the Air doesn't have an optical drive).

I think it looks pretty nice, but it's a bit expensive for the convenience of a really thin laptop.

I'm still waiting to hear if there's any news about iMac upgrades; I'm in the market for a new desktop that can run Mac OS X.

Forgot to add: Actually the thing I'm currently interested in is the Time Capsule, the wireless backup and network device.

I saw it today too. I am really impressed.

Along with their rights for digital rental movies thay have grown really strong. As one of the first Wireless compleat media solutions out there.
( Apple TV, Apple TimeCapsule, Ipod and so on )

I really like the stuff with wireless backups no optical drive. SSD storage my one and only complain is that if i buy the rights for a digital media. i want to keep my licence online forever. So that i can access my licens from any desktop / media device that supporta logging into that system. And view/listen to my owned media there on that device.

I wonder when we get to se bluetooth flashdrives. Though powersupply will be a problem.


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I don't see any reason that Windows wouldn't work on the MacBook Air, as long as you can get it on there (as the Air doesn't have an optical drive).

While there is some nifty piece of software that allows you to put a disk into an optical drive on another mac, then mount it on the MacBook Air over WiFi I don't know how nicely this will play with Bootcamp and booting up Windows. The software that handles this may be built into the ROM, however it may not appear as a normal optical drive to the OS and need special drivers or it may entirely be an OSX driver that pretends to be an optical drive. In either of these cases getting windows installed won't be straight forward (though Apple may have thought of this and updated Bootcamp so it can be easily used on a MacBook Air, and if they haven't no doubt some intrepid hacker will work it out soon enough).

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Original post by Monder Quote: I don't see any reason that Windows wouldn't work on the MacBook Air, as long as you can get it on there (as the Air doesn't have an optical drive). While there is some nifty piece of software that allows you to put a disk into an optical drive on another mac, then mount it on the MacBook Air over WiFi I don't know how nicely this will play with Bootcamp and booting up Windows. The software that handles this may be built into the ROM, however it may not appear as a normal optical drive to the OS and need special drivers or it may entirely be an OSX driver that pretends to be an optical drive. In either of these cases getting windows installed won't be straight forward (though Apple may have thought of this and updated Bootcamp so it can be easily used on a MacBook Air, and if they haven't no doubt some intrepid hacker will work it out soon enough).

You could just buy the $99 Superdrive :P

Honestly, all the MacBook Air has convinced me to buy is a MacBook Pro. At that price it's really sexy and all, but honestly, for about $200 more I can get the entry level Core2 Pro.

I don't think the thing was designed for the sort of guys that visit GDnet, just like the iPhone lacks useful features by some standards. For the guy who needs to make a presentation to a room full of fancy-pants yuppies or watch a movie on an airplane or look at a friend's MySpace while eating a baguette at Panera, this is just the ticket.

Does the target audience for this device exist?

That said, it looks cool and I'm glad the technology exists and is being advanced. The trackpad is certainly becoming a less half-assed input device.

I haven't seen the specs yet, but I'm afraid to say it comes across as being typical Apple: the first generation will be patchy, it'll be underpowered, atrocious value for money and it'll be hippie art students wearing tea cosy bobble hats sitting in the corner of trendy Fair Trade coffee house who'll all be buying them.

That said, I love Apple styling.

It's a cut down 1.4/1.8GHz Core 2 Duo with a GMA X3100 (integrated, but reportedly will support DX10 in the future and has its own RAM and hardware vertex processing, so at least a step up from the GMA 950). The specs are all up on Apple's site, if you wanted to take a look before you make a post. It's rumoured it's a 65nm core, but Penryn is most likely coming in the next refresh.

It's not great hardware, but it's pretty remarkable how small the motherboard is. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's user servicable (the RAM appears soldered on). It's a better deal than the competing Vaio machines, which run into the $2K-5K range, but I still don't really need portability enough to give up the hardware that makes me actually productive.

The Pro is definitely a better deal for most GDNet types, although I'd hold off and see if the multitouch trackpad becomes standard across all the laptops. I'd also generally advise against buying Revision A, mostly because the tolerances are pretty tight on this baby.

The "Use another person's disk drive" software works at the EFI level, not the OS level, so it should work with Boot Camp.

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The "Use another person's disk drive" software works at the EFI level, not the OS level, so it should work with Boot Camp.

XP doesn't work with EFI though, according to Wikipedia here they included legacy BIOS support with their EFI firmware which is what XP will use. So I guess the question is does the "Use another person's disk drive" stuff work with the legacy BIOS stuff as well or does the OS need to be EFI aware to use it?

I assume Boot Camp is actually some kind of EFI <-> Old-Ass BIOS translation shunt, since that's what rEFIt also does on the platform.

Of course, I can't be sure until someone actually tries this, but I doubt Apple's engineers would break one of the biggest selling points of the Intel machines.

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Of course, I can't be sure until someone actually tries this, but I doubt Apple's engineers would break one of the biggest selling points of the Intel machines

I doubt they will either, it should be a simple enough thing to get working if they wanted to.

The MacBook Air software page here mentions Bootcamp, so I guess it does work fine.

I might consider getting one for next year. Basically this has everything I'm looking for in a laptop.


It is small and light enough for me to carry around without thinking much about it!

Yes, I could get a 'better' laptop for less, with more harddrive space, longer battery life, bigger screen, faster processor, more ram, far better graphics card,... But thats missing the point. I have a desktop with dual 17inch CRTs, C2D 2.6ghz processor and an 8800GTS graphics card. I'm not looking for a powerhouse, I'm looking for something to take with me so I do stuff while on the move.

Shipley has a great post, as usual.

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The criticism all basically goes like this: "It's not like a MacBook Pro!" No, really? Seriously? I mean, they introduced this new product, and it doesn't have the same specs as the MacBook Pro? God, that is bizarre. I wonder why they gave it a new name, and continue to sell the MacBook Pro, then, if it's not going to be exactly the same. I mean, that hardly makes sense, does it?

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Original post by Ravuya Shipley has a great post, as usual. Quote: The criticism all basically goes like this: "It's not like a MacBook Pro!" No, really? Seriously? I mean, they introduced this new product, and it doesn't have the same specs as the MacBook Pro? God, that is bizarre. I wonder why they gave it a new name, and continue to sell the MacBook Pro, then, if it's not going to be exactly the same. I mean, that hardly makes sense, does it?

That article really hit on why I love Apple products:

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I don't have to learn it, because it's learned me.

I mean, I see what ukdeveloper is getting at with the "atrocious value for money" comment, but it comes down to how you measure "value". The value of an Apple isn't in the power of the hardware, but in the "computer-as-appliance" design. (And I don't mean this in a Apple vs. the world way, because I really enjoy Linux for my research and Windows in the computer labs. They serve different purposes like, say, the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro.)

Also:

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a year with Zooey Deschanel

[inlove]

The Macbook Air seems to be targeted for one group:

Those who value aesthetics and brand more then functionality and price.

There are plenty of ultra-portable laptops in the < $2,000 range that have more then one USB, an ethernet port, express card slot (very important for getting a reliable connection while traveling), a DVD rom, a user replaceable battery, a decent hard drive etc.

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It's a better deal than the competing Vaio machines, which run into the $2K-5K range

Please put down the Kool-Aid. The Sony TZ that everyone likes to compare it to doesn't approach $5,000 unless you pick the most expensive model and fully load it. Something you can't do with the macbook air. The Vaio TZ is smaller and lighter then the macbook air and still manages to get a 250GB 5400rpm hard drive, ethernet port, fingerprint scanner, 2 usb ports, and a standard user replaceable battery (with better life). The macbook air does have a faster processor, but the Vaio TZ is truly an ultra-portable laptop.

If you want to do a more accurate comparison, you'd look at the Vaio SZ which has an 13.3" screen like the Air. The SZ starts at around $1,400 which gets you a 2.0Ghz cpu, 2GB of ram, 120GB 5400RPM hdd, dvd burner, fingerprint reader, and user replaceable battery. If you wanted to get it to around the same price as the Air, you can upgrade to 3GB of ram and a hybrid hard drive or even a model with a GeForce 8400M. It is a bit heavier (still a very manageable 4lbs) and a bit thicker (which is a non-issue as far as portability goes).

I was actually comparing it to the Vaio X505, which was (to the best of my knowledge) the previous slimmest laptop and started off at around $2599 USD.

If you're buying for slim rather than just "ultraportable," the Japanese Vaios get pretty expensive.

Ultraportables, you can get a better deal anywhere. I can pick up a thirteen inch Asus that looks rather chunky compared to this model for under a grand.

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Original post by Ravuya I was actually comparing it to the Vaio X505, which was (to the best of my knowledge) the previous slimmest laptop and started off at around $2599 USD. If you're buying for slim rather than just "ultraportable," the Japanese Vaios get pretty expensive. Ultraportables, you can get a better deal anywhere. I can pick up a thirteen inch Asus that looks rather chunky compared to this model for under a grand.

The X505 is discontinued and four years old. That's like 80 in human years. The Air manages to be 8% thinner, but it's also 73% heavier, 25% longer, and 33% wider. They aren't in the same class. Comparisons are absurd. And really, how is the thinness of a laptop a valuable feature?

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Original post by tstrimp The X505 is discontinued and four years old. That's like 80 in human years. The Air manages to be 8% thinner, but it's also 73% heavier, 25% longer, and 33% wider. They aren't in the same class. Comparisons are absurd. And really, how is the thinness of a laptop a valuable feature?

It really isn't. However, it is the primary marketing bent for this particular machine, so I figured a comparison along that scale was valid; I think Mitsubishi also made a relatively thin laptop recently.

The class of "widescreen ultraportables" obviously has better buys. The class of "obscenely thin luxury laptops" might not.

Apple still has the "Apple tax," but this does still seem to be a pretty good midrange laptop considering the rest of their lineup. It's a luxury machine; the price isn't going to be proportional to the performance.

It's like a car, people buy on non-technical merits all the time because a certain percentage of their purchase is driven by emotion.

[Edited by - Ravuya on January 16, 2008 12:04:13 PM]

I saw this posted on a non technical forum last night and it had degenerated into a one button versus two button mouse debate.

While it does look pretty nifty I want a optical drive standard. WiFi isn't available everywhere and what happens when you need to install something when no other computer is around? Maybe in Apple World you can't kick a dog without hitting a hotspot but where I live I imagine there isn't one for 30 miles. Maybe I'm off base with this, I have only skimmed the details.

More typical Apple for me, while I would take one as a gift, in general I'd rather pay half the price for a PC and just install a AV on it.

Well the desing is nice definitely. However I have to agree that getting a vaio is probably a better choice. A vaio for under 2000 dollars will get you a machine thats about twice as thick from what I can see on the picture which is still very small, except the vaio will be a high performance machine with all the gadgets. Comes down to preference in the end I guess, I just think that neither of the machines will fit in your pocket and both are a light load for your briefcase so...
That being said, yes, theres definitely a market for this.

-CProgrammer