Macbook Air - design and security
I got the original Macbook and have been considering replacing it for sometime - I was hoping for an Apple ultraportable. I have to cross London each day on the tube and go to the British Library and then will often meet up with friends or go to a post work function. Carrying my Macbook around for half hour stints or more can get really annoying, especially in a hot, cramped tube.
My first question concerns security. Is there any sign of a locking port on the system for a Kensington lock? The system is highly desirable for thieves - Apple have even shown how to easily smuggle it away from the owner - so surely it should be lockable? But given it's shallow depth I imagine if there is a port Kensington will have to design a new lock so that the thing sits flat.
There are lots of things that I love about the Macbook Air and from my point of view the lack of a smaller footprint is not an issue. However, I am surprised that Apple haven't shaved off more weight. I checked out the Vaio TZ and see that that DOES come with an optical drive and weighs in at 3lbs. In that case what benefit has Apple got from shedding the optical drive? The larger screen and keyboard? Or has weight increased to provide a thinner machine? (Admittedly it maybe one and the same - by having a larger footprint they've been able to spread the internals out).
I also have a couple of practical and design questions. Before my Macbook I had an iBook and their polycarbonate casing has always been tough - the image of the thing being lugged around university campuses and thrown on desks springs to mind. How tough and resistant to scratches will the Macbook Air be do you think? Will its surfaces reveal new dents and scratches every time I take it out of my shoulder bag? Could I safely take it travelling with me or will the thing look beaten to pieces? As for Apple's new design aesthetic - I thought products were moving the way of the iPhone (ref the new iMac). So I wonder why the Macbook Air's screen is not framed in black like the iMac? After all there's quite a bit of space around it and I've grown to really like the black surround on my iMac. Also, the apple on the Air is white but the keys on the keyboard black - the exact opposite of the new iMac system. I realise they like the Apple to illuminate when the system's on but normally Apple are so good at design consistency. Just wonder where they're going with it ...
My first question concerns security. Is there any sign of a locking port on the system for a Kensington lock? The system is highly desirable for thieves - Apple have even shown how to easily smuggle it away from the owner - so surely it should be lockable? But given it's shallow depth I imagine if there is a port Kensington will have to design a new lock so that the thing sits flat.
There are lots of things that I love about the Macbook Air and from my point of view the lack of a smaller footprint is not an issue. However, I am surprised that Apple haven't shaved off more weight. I checked out the Vaio TZ and see that that DOES come with an optical drive and weighs in at 3lbs. In that case what benefit has Apple got from shedding the optical drive? The larger screen and keyboard? Or has weight increased to provide a thinner machine? (Admittedly it maybe one and the same - by having a larger footprint they've been able to spread the internals out).
I also have a couple of practical and design questions. Before my Macbook I had an iBook and their polycarbonate casing has always been tough - the image of the thing being lugged around university campuses and thrown on desks springs to mind. How tough and resistant to scratches will the Macbook Air be do you think? Will its surfaces reveal new dents and scratches every time I take it out of my shoulder bag? Could I safely take it travelling with me or will the thing look beaten to pieces? As for Apple's new design aesthetic - I thought products were moving the way of the iPhone (ref the new iMac). So I wonder why the Macbook Air's screen is not framed in black like the iMac? After all there's quite a bit of space around it and I've grown to really like the black surround on my iMac. Also, the apple on the Air is white but the keys on the keyboard black - the exact opposite of the new iMac system. I realise they like the Apple to illuminate when the system's on but normally Apple are so good at design consistency. Just wonder where they're going with it ...
Comments
1. Making a "super portable" the same size as a normal laptop. Super portables are all about small footprint. He compared it against a TZ so thats obviously the space that he's pitching this product into, and yet its still a full size computer.
2. Leaving off essential components. 1 USB port!! is that all we get? everything else has to be plugged in which requires most likely a hub, if there's anything more than 1 peripheral, and then you're back to what you were trying to avoid - cables in all fucking directions. Forking out hundreds more dollars for wireless peripherals suddenly makes the whole thing more expensive than any TZ, and with all that cable clutter what else does he want to give you - magsafe USB as well?? come on man, he cant be serious.
3. The battery. not replaceable is not an option, and if you expect me to carry around a philips head screw driver to make up for the design flaws in your laptop, you must be fucking dreaming. He says its a business portable - ok, if you are on a flight of more than 5 hours and you need to keep working you're screwed. This is NOT a viable travelling tool, as super portables are supposed to be. My company doesn't put me in business class so I just take a spare battery and keep working.
Its a clever idea, however there are so many fundamental flaws with this laptop I would never even consider it. If you want to have a super-portable, just give me everything I need, put it in one package, and make it small.
And you would end up with a TZ.
Mate, for what its worth, the TZ is a vastly superior machine. If Apple wanted to make a super portable, they should have made a super portable. The design flaws in this machine are very real.
1. Making a "super portable" the same size as a normal laptop. Super portables are all about small footprint. He compared it against a TZ so thats obviously the space that he's pitching this product into, and yet its still a full size computer.
2. Leaving off essential components. 1 USB port!! is that all we get? everything else has to be plugged in which requires most likely a hub, if there's anything more than 1 peripheral, and then you're back to what you were trying to avoid - cables in all fucking directions. Forking out hundreds more dollars for wireless peripherals suddenly makes the whole thing more expensive than any TZ, and with all that cable clutter what else does he want to give you - magsafe USB as well?? come on man, he cant be serious.
3. The battery. not replaceable is not an option, and if you expect me to carry around a philips head screw driver to make up for the design flaws in your laptop, you must be fucking dreaming. He says its a business portable - ok, if you are on a flight of more than 5 hours and you need to keep working you're screwed. This is NOT a viable travelling tool, as super portables are supposed to be. My company doesn't put me in business class so I just take a spare battery and keep working.
Its a clever idea, however there are so many fundamental flaws with this laptop I would never even consider it. If you want to have a super-portable, just give me everything I need, put it in one package, and make it small.
And you would end up with a TZ.
My, my Jules. I guess you should use your superior machine TZ. I just wonder if your fingers are particularly tiny and don't mind the little keyboard, or if you don't want to run Mac OS.