You need to check out apples site for there new Macbook Air.. Less then 1inch thick... mmmmmmmmmmmm..... oh wait, now i have to change pants.. 
New Macbook Air
- Thread starter Saturn0660
- Start date
I watched the guided tour on Apple's site. *Very* impressive.
I'd have to hold one before I'd buy one. Something that thin must be really fragile, I'd imagine. I wouldn't want to feel like I might break it just by typing on it. (A blogger who got his hands on one at MacWorld said that it feels sturdier than you might think, though)
I'd have to hold one before I'd buy one. Something that thin must be really fragile, I'd imagine. I wouldn't want to feel like I might break it just by typing on it. (A blogger who got his hands on one at MacWorld said that it feels sturdier than you might think, though)
As a concept the laptop looks great. But being that thin has a lot of costs associated with it beyond the monitory one.
Such as... no Ethernet, no Firewire, a single USB port, the 80GB HDD is only 4200 RPM (which is very slow, most laptops run at 5400 and most desktop at 7200) and the 64GB solid state is expensive, no user replaceable battery (Apple really likes that one these days), no built in optical drive...
The thing is certainly sexy as all get out, but you have to really have an overriding need for a thin, light laptop to get this over pretty much any other laptop.
Such as... no Ethernet, no Firewire, a single USB port, the 80GB HDD is only 4200 RPM (which is very slow, most laptops run at 5400 and most desktop at 7200) and the 64GB solid state is expensive, no user replaceable battery (Apple really likes that one these days), no built in optical drive...
The thing is certainly sexy as all get out, but you have to really have an overriding need for a thin, light laptop to get this over pretty much any other laptop.
Deleted 2
Vice Admiral
It's underwhelming, to say the least. But I have to respect Steve Jobs' marketing genius. This is making frontpage news.
Lenovo has had a very 'thin' ultraportable notebook model for a while now. 20-28mm thick (compared to Apple's wedge-shaped 4-20mm). It uses fairly standard components; no OLED display. A processor with normal laptop cpu packaging. A normal-size hard disk. It has all the connectors you're likely to wish for, and then some. It clocks in at 1.24 kg.
Considering that to make the MacBook Air Apple:
Considering what they gave up, I'd say they gained relatively little. But I'm sure they'll sell like hot cakes.
Lenovo has had a very 'thin' ultraportable notebook model for a while now. 20-28mm thick (compared to Apple's wedge-shaped 4-20mm). It uses fairly standard components; no OLED display. A processor with normal laptop cpu packaging. A normal-size hard disk. It has all the connectors you're likely to wish for, and then some. It clocks in at 1.24 kg.
Considering that to make the MacBook Air Apple:
- Used a (non user-replaceable) 1.8" disk, limiting both capacity and speed.
- Convinced Intel to redesign their processor packaging.
- Used a non user-serviceable battery
- Had to use thin aluminium instead of sturdy plastic
- Limited the number of ports on the device. one USB, one micro-DVI, one headphone jack. You don't even get an RJ-45 socket for ethernet.
- Weighs 1.36 kg, slightly more than comparable notebooks.
Considering what they gave up, I'd say they gained relatively little. But I'm sure they'll sell like hot cakes.
I still want one.. Hell with windows..
S
Stone_Cold_Sisko
Guest
It LOOKs cool but the thing is so ridiculously crippled when you consider its an $1800 laptop.
-non user replaceable battery... ON A LAPTOP!?!? This is almost unforgiveable, considering it's a laptop.
-No CD/DVD drive of any kind. I mean you cant even sit there in an airport and watch a DVD on this thing without a $100 extra peripheral dongle, which kind of defeats the purpose of such a small thin laptop.
-No ethernet???? Only one USB port?
-the slow crappy Hard drive... I didnt even know they made 4200 HDs anymore.
I was excited as it was being announced but once I saw the details i was very disappointed. Part of the presentation was something like "How did we fit a whole Mac in there?"... the real answer is they didn't, they kind of crippled it to get everything to fit in the tiny form function.
This would be a great "secondary" computer, a small laptop to compliment a home system, if it wasn't $1800. Seriously this thing should be priced like the Asus Eee or something. It'll be fun to mess around with it at Best Buy and the Apple store, but as a primary computer? Hellls no.
-non user replaceable battery... ON A LAPTOP!?!? This is almost unforgiveable, considering it's a laptop.
-No CD/DVD drive of any kind. I mean you cant even sit there in an airport and watch a DVD on this thing without a $100 extra peripheral dongle, which kind of defeats the purpose of such a small thin laptop.
-No ethernet???? Only one USB port?
-the slow crappy Hard drive... I didnt even know they made 4200 HDs anymore.
I was excited as it was being announced but once I saw the details i was very disappointed. Part of the presentation was something like "How did we fit a whole Mac in there?"... the real answer is they didn't, they kind of crippled it to get everything to fit in the tiny form function.
This would be a great "secondary" computer, a small laptop to compliment a home system, if it wasn't $1800. Seriously this thing should be priced like the Asus Eee or something. It'll be fun to mess around with it at Best Buy and the Apple store, but as a primary computer? Hellls no.
yeah, without an optical drive, how the hell do you install software on this thing?
^ But like Stone_Cold_Sisko pointed out, you wouldn't want one of these things as your *only* computer - then you'd have no other machines to borrow their drives from.
Unless companies would distribute their wares on USB flashdrives, I don't see how it would ever be possible that the Air could be one's only Mac.
Unless companies would distribute their wares on USB flashdrives, I don't see how it would ever be possible that the Air could be one's only Mac.
Apparently someone never told Apple that there is such a thing as TOO small. If they de-gimped it by adding an optical drive or a few of the other things the Air is missing then it would be less of an issue, but this thing amounts to little more than an $1800 oversized iPod Touch without the touchscreen.
And just wait for a barrel of monkeys when the battery only holds a 20 minute charge--guess you'll have to give up your laptop to Apple to get it replaced.
And just wait for a barrel of monkeys when the battery only holds a 20 minute charge--guess you'll have to give up your laptop to Apple to get it replaced.
From a technology standpoint this is pretty baddass, technology has definitely gotten smaller. But by gimping it on several features that are needed on a laptop (optical drive, replaceable battery) functionally it is deficient. But really nice try and proof of concept, I hope others figure out how to make laptops thinner but full of features at the same time.
