MacBook Air: Apple drops a dud.

[Thee Alex]

Yes, it's thin, but useful?

1.6ghz processor? My year old MacBook has a 2ghz
13" screen? So? MacBook has 13.5 so this is hardly the replacement for the much missed 12" Powerbook
4200rpm PATA harddrive? Basically an iPod harddrive, right? And much much slower than the drive in even the first generation of MacBooks
No optical drive? No Mic line? Only one USB port? This thing is not going to be used by musicians.
Oh, and the battery is sealed in and not user serviceable.

Price?

An eye watering £1,199. Or if you want to make it useful by going for a solid state flash 64gb HD, a wallet murdering £2,028.

Underspec'd, over priced, gimmicky.

Apple should have looked to the Eeepc and delivered a subnotebook that could compete with that, picture a 7" machine, running a cut down version of OSX with easily upgradable HD storage (just slip it in the SD slot), wireless, and less than £250.....actually, you don't need to imagine, cos here it is -



With a bit of bravery and following a few online guides, the Asus Eeepc can be made to run OSX (though why anyone would want to put it on there when the preinstalled version of Linux does everything you need quickly and elegantly is a mystery, especially as OSX runs at half speed on the low spec'd Eeepc). It may not work well, but it is a convincing proof of concept.

Imagine if Apple had introduced a machine the size of the Asus, running a simplified and optimised for portable devices version of OSX (OSX Air anyone?) and retailing at £300. Apparently the Asus is flying off the shelves (I'll be getting myself one as soon as I'm back in gainful employment), just think of the market Apple could have tapped into. It would have fitted neatly between the iPod Touch/iPhone and the entry level MacBook....they would have sold millions and completely changed the face of portable computing.

Instead they've dropped an underpowered, over priced turkey.

[Thee Alex]

For just £100 more than the basic model costs you can have the MacBook Pro 15"

* 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1440 x 900 resolution
* 2GB memory
* 120GB hard drive1
* 8x double-layer SuperDrive
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 128MB SDRAM

I don't understand who Apple thinks will buy this.

[Rebelius]

time capsule looks like a hit though, I would be getting one if I hadn't just bought a WD MyBook a couple of months ago.

[kj]

I agree. I'm quite disappointed with this announcement. I would still buy the Asus over the new MacBook Air simply because, to me, it looks a better option for the money. I think the MacBook Air is one to cater to the fan boys and the share holders.

[kj]

MacBook Air: Thinning My Expectations : culture|garage

And that solid state drive I mentioned? Remember Steve himself called it expensive, but just how expensive? Try $999. For a drive. With less space. So your choice as a consumer is to purchase the MBA with the larger 80GB HDD, and then you can either spend your extra $1000 on an additional MacBook, or a drive with less storage space (but faster!). Thanks, Apple.

[Thee Alex]

The solid state drive would have been the only thing worth having this for, no moving parts is a VERY good idea in an ultra portable, just ask ASUS!

[Thee Alex]

[Thee Alex]

Apple sell Shit in a Box

[xdavidx]

it's less of a dud than Mac OS 8

[Thee Alex]

Originally Posted by xdavidx

it's less of a dud than Mac OS 8

???

OS8 was vastly better than OS7

[xdavidx]

when I jumped from OS7 with a PowerPC to OS8 on an iMac, I doubled the amount of random, pointless crashes, even though I was using it for half as much. I remain unconvinced.

[kj]

My work machine gives me the spinning beach ball every 2 minutes and lasts for around 5 seconds. It's starting to annoy me so much that I'm thinking of going back to Windows at work.

[kj]

Also it should be mentioned that they did something good yesterday in making available the update patch for iPod touches so that they have the same applications on them that the iPhone has, just a pity they charge £20 for it I think. However the wi-fi triangulation thing is pure genius. Tracking your location using wi-fi signals in your area.