MacBook Air announced

[theprodigalrebel]

It has the same hard drive as the iPod (remember reading that on Engadget). That can't be good for performance, can it?

And don't blame Apple for the ridiculous SSD pricing - SSD pricing is pretty ridiculous to begin with, there really isn't anything Apple can do about it.

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Eug

People also get weird problems with various software, etc., not surprisingly. If you just want to test out the OS, OK fine. But if you really want to do real work in OS X, then get a Mac. But of course, that should be obvious.

It's mostly laptops that work funny...I haven't found a single laptop that works 100% with Leopard, although I think the Acer Aspire series comes pretty close iirc. My Intel Bad Axe 2 system works flawlessly, but you have to disable onboard sound and the second SATA controller. Other than that, I've had mine up and running for over a month without problems. But if you want a hassle-free Mac experience, Hackintosh is definitely not the way to go

well there's the macbook and macbook pro.

 

[aphex]

http://video.on.nytimes.com/?f...2d446923680dcfed1572f5

What a stupid interview... They blocked the laptop the whole time

 

[Kaido]

Someone over at Mac Rumors brought up an interesting point -

How do you re-install OS X?

The SuperDrive is a $99 option and you need the software pre-installed to run Remote Disk...so...if you buy a stock Air config and need to reinstall Leopard...how do you do it? You can't remove the hard drive either, apparently.

Um...okay Apple...

 

[TheStu]

Remote disk allows for a netboot

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: TheStu
Remote disk allows for a netboot

Ahhh, thanks goodness!

Honestly if I had the cash, I would pick one up. It would be a perfect compliment to my Quad desktop - a small totable for documents & Internet and some like ARD to my home machine. Pretty snazzy but too pricey for me right now. I am anxious to read reviews on it!

 

[Chadder007]

Originally posted by: aphex
now I'm torn, dell m1330 w/leopard or MacBook

I really want an led screen and a video card, but I dunno

That was my issue too. I wanted an Apple 13" MBP basically. This ended up being a major disappointment to me. I guess i may just go with the m1330 now.
All they had to do was take the regular Macbook, add aluminum casing and LED backlight to make it a tad thinner and lighter, another gig of RAM, and an SSD option and it would have been all set. But Noooooooo.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: TheStu
Remote disk allows for a netboot

Ahhh, thanks goodness!

Honestly if I had the cash, I would pick one up. It would be a perfect compliment to my Quad desktop - a small totable for documents & Internet and some like ARD to my home machine. Pretty snazzy but too pricey for me right now. I am anxious to read reviews on it!

Me too. I do all most of my work on my MacBook because it is actually faster in terms of processor than my desktop, but that is fairly easily and inexpensively remedied. So, for me, I am already used to using something Air like. I pretty much only ever use 1 of the USB ports.... but I cannot afford the $2100 that I would want to spend on the 1.8GHz model (mine is 1.83, definitely don't want to be slower). Sigh.... want it sooo bad.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: TheStu
Remote disk allows for a netboot

Ahhh, thanks goodness!

Honestly if I had the cash, I would pick one up. It would be a perfect compliment to my Quad desktop - a small totable for documents & Internet and some like ARD to my home machine. Pretty snazzy but too pricey for me right now. I am anxious to read reviews on it!

Me too. I do all most of my work on my MacBook because it is actually faster in terms of processor than my desktop, but that is fairly easily and inexpensively remedied. So, for me, I am already used to using something Air like. I pretty much only ever use 1 of the USB ports.... but I cannot afford the $2100 that I would want to spend on the 1.8GHz model (mine is 1.83, definitely don't want to be slower). Sigh.... want it sooo bad.

Yeah I'm really interested in seeing the SSD results as well and how they stack up to the HDD. You know, I'm sure Apple put a lot of thought into how people actually use their laptops...the trackpad is now good enough to replace multi-button mice for most applications (swipe, rotate, zoom, etc.) and wifi takes care of most everything, so...it makes sense what they did. The lack of optical output and onboard mono speaker instead of stereo were odd choices, but then again it's a first-gen product. Like I said, if I had the cash I would buy it in a heartbeat to supplement my dekstop

 

[aphex]

Anyone know when/if the std macbook is due for a refresh?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: aphex
Anyone know when/if the std macbook is due for a refresh?

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

MacBook Pro is slated for the next, while the MacBook still has a good 4 months, so I'd say the June event is when it would be updated. Again Jobs said their entire product line would be LED-based by the end of 2008, so it's either June or the pre-holiday season, most likely June.

 

[Kaido]

Looks like the processor is a 65nm Merom. Which means the Air would only support 3 gigs of ram anyway (or 3.3 unofficially).

 

[hmsrolst]

As I've been reading the rumors about Apple coming out with an ultralight, I've been concerned that I wouldn't be able to resist buying one. However, I'm finding this very resistible and much prefer my current laptop which I recently put together for just under $1,000.

Used, but mint condition, Latitude X1 from ebay still under Dell warranty
Samsung 32GB SSD
2GB SODIMM (yes, I know Dell says 1.25 maximum but BIOS and XP recognize 2GB)

With the SSD, this has no moving parts and is silent. And it really is an ultralight at 2.5 pounds, even if it's a "thick" 1 inch.

In this case, my $3,000 will stay in my pocket, not go into Steve's!

 

[spikespiegal]

I've supported a lot of laptops in corporate over the years, and have a love/hate relationship with the Mac portables. I like the design and the seamless way the integrated wireless and other peripherals work. Even the better Wintel portables like Dell Lattitudes have a quirky driver issue here and there that is avoided on the Apple products.

However, we have not found the latest Macintel portables to be all the durable. I'm concerned this one might not be much better given it's even more spartan design.

Nice looking though.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: spikespiegal
I've supported a lot of laptops in corporate over the years, and have a love/hate relationship with the Mac portables. I like the design and the seamless way the integrated wireless and other peripherals work. Even the better Wintel portables like Dell Lattitudes have a quirky driver issue here and there that is avoided on the Apple products.

However, we have not found the latest Macintel portables to be all the durable. I'm concerned this one might not be much better given it's even more spartan design.

Nice looking though.

That's a big concern for me as well...it's really cool that it's thin, but I'm afraid it would break even in the laptop pocket of my backpack. I wouldn't dream of using any Mac laptop without some kind of plastic protective shell like a Speck case or Techshell. They feel so flimsy...the 13" plastic MacBook feels more durable than the 15" aluminum one...

 

[ObiDon]

Originally posted by: spikespiegal
I've supported a lot of laptops in corporate over the years

since (due to the lack of features) the macbook air is mostly only good for web browsing and e-mail, business/corporate should have been the majority of their market segment. too bad that is ruined by the large footprint.

the non-replaceable (by the user) battery is also a deal-breaker. if your battery is low and you're somewhere without an outlet or time to charge up, you're SOL. not to mention that when it finally no longer holds a charge, your laptop has to make unnecessary unattended trips through multiple hands just to get it back in working order.

thanks for trying to compromise our data, apple.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: hmsrolst
As I've been reading the rumors about Apple coming out with an ultralight, I've been concerned that I wouldn't be able to resist buying one. However, I'm finding this very resistible and much prefer my current laptop which I recently put together for just under $1,000.

Used, but mint condition, Latitude X1 from ebay still under Dell warranty
Samsung 32GB SSD
2GB SODIMM (yes, I know Dell says 1.25 maximum but BIOS and XP recognize 2GB)

With the SSD, this has no moving parts and is silent. And it really is an ultralight at 2.5 pounds, even if it's a "thick" 1 inch.

In this case, my $3,000 will stay in my pocket, not go into Steve's!

Nice setup for $1k!

 

[umrigar]

Originally posted by: hmsrolst
As I've been reading the rumors about Apple coming out with an ultralight, I've been concerned that I wouldn't be able to resist buying one. However, I'm finding this very resistible and much prefer my current laptop which I recently put together for just under $1,000.

Used, but mint condition, Latitude X1 from ebay still under Dell warranty
Samsung 32GB SSD
2GB SODIMM (yes, I know Dell says 1.25 maximum but BIOS and XP recognize 2GB)

With the SSD, this has no moving parts and is silent. And it really is an ultralight at 2.5 pounds, even if it's a "thick" 1 inch.

In this case, my $3,000 will stay in my pocket, not go into Steve's!

Pity it runs Windows & not Mac OS X.

 

[hmsrolst]

Originally posted by: umrigar

Originally posted by: hmsrolst
As I've been reading the rumors about Apple coming out with an ultralight, I've been concerned that I wouldn't be able to resist buying one. However, I'm finding this very resistible and much prefer my current laptop which I recently put together for just under $1,000.

Used, but mint condition, Latitude X1 from ebay still under Dell warranty
Samsung 32GB SSD
2GB SODIMM (yes, I know Dell says 1.25 maximum but BIOS and XP recognize 2GB)

With the SSD, this has no moving parts and is silent. And it really is an ultralight at 2.5 pounds, even if it's a "thick" 1 inch.

In this case, my $3,000 will stay in my pocket, not go into Steve's!

Pity it runs Windows & not Mac OS X.

I'm pretty sure it can be Hackintoshed.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: hmsrolst

Originally posted by: umrigar

Originally posted by: hmsrolst
As I've been reading the rumors about Apple coming out with an ultralight, I've been concerned that I wouldn't be able to resist buying one. However, I'm finding this very resistible and much prefer my current laptop which I recently put together for just under $1,000.

Used, but mint condition, Latitude X1 from ebay still under Dell warranty
Samsung 32GB SSD
2GB SODIMM (yes, I know Dell says 1.25 maximum but BIOS and XP recognize 2GB)

With the SSD, this has no moving parts and is silent. And it really is an ultralight at 2.5 pounds, even if it's a "thick" 1 inch.

In this case, my $3,000 will stay in my pocket, not go into Steve's!

Pity it runs Windows & not Mac OS X.

I'm pretty sure it can be Hackintoshed.

This would be my ultimate Hackintosh machine:

http://www.dailytech.com/Repor...o+Web/article10400.htm

 

[Parasitic]

Maybe soon enough you need a MBA to buy a MBA.

 

[Kaido]

USB 3G modems won't fit in the MacBook Air

 

[Kaido]

Confirmed: MacBook Air SuperDrive does NOT work with other machines

 

[Kaido]

MacBook Air hands-on gallery at Engadget

 

[Kaido]

I see the MacBook Air as a second machine for consumers with cash to burn. I would personally love to have one, but I don't have $1,800 burning a hole in my pocket at the present time. The Air seems to be the perfect second computer, especially to complement a powerful desktop - you can take it to school or work with you, on the airplane, toss it in your bag or backpack, or just lounge around the house with it. No more hot processors burning holes in your jeans! Nice and lightweight, a great LED screen, and a light-up keyboard.

I'm hoping the price will come down by at least $200. $1599 is much more reasonable to swallow, although still high (come on Steve, pull an iPhone price drop on us!). I am also curious as to how the SSD performs. Here are some reviews from the media:

Engadget review summary & links to 3 reviews (Baig, Levy, & Mossberg)