Apple unveils new, instant-on MacBook Air: 'MacBook meets iPad' - Page 6

Never said Apple proclaimed this, just in general.

In fairness he said it hasn't enough battery life for his needs, so his needs might indeed require a 10 h battery life. He didn't say the device didn't have enough battery life for it's class. So it goes without saying that solipsism will have to lug around something much bulkier if he wants that type of battery life, because thin and light and such battery life isn't an option technologically at the moment.

Thanks. You made my point better than I did.

Gotcha. Thought you meant they claimed this. Ive certainly claimed that the ODD is reaching its EOL as were seeing more machines without ODDs from all vendors, the huge amount of space they take up, not seeing Apple add any Blu-ray support and the lack of ODD performance upgrades for years in Mac notebooks.

Apple is now selling Mac software, big time. Don't worry about your getting bits and Apple getting cash. It will just work.

But that's not a Macbook Air thing. That's an SSD thing. Any ol' PC with an SSD will wake up from sleep quickly enough to be perceived as "instantly".

And why isn't the 256GB SSD available with the 11.6" model?

I did, I have a late 2008 MBP that came with a 320 GB HD and I upgraded it to 500GB last year.

Agreed.

"An economical notebook computer"

Just a guess, but perhaps the 256 GB module is physically larger than the others...?

I can't imagine that being the power button...but it does have the correct power symbol. Seems too easy to accidentally hit the key and turn it off.
Most all MB's have a designated power button that's flush to the metal and takes a bit of effort to press.

it will be enticing to Students and Sales-people and CEO's and just about anyone that doesn't do heavy crunching Apps. For most people who own a laptop, this will work quite well, and with the pricepoint being what it is, I'd say it's a win. There were several posts on this blog that have mentioned that CPU/GPU's are being upgraded faster than the Apps can catch up with them, so I think this will be a success. However, I think the 11" should have priced at $799 and $999 for the 13", given the White Mac book beats out these two in specs.

or when you wanna go into bootcamp... and also if it kernal panics on yah... many situations for a power button than just once, but I think you already know that.

I wonder if you have to hit FN key + the power button or you have to HOLD IT DOWN... I'm sure Apple made it so you wont hit it by accident.

I would expect that they would have anticipated the potential to accidentally hit the power key—an easy way to address that issue is to force the user to hold the key down for a couple of seconds to activate the shut-down procedure (i.e. bring up the "Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?" window). And for the past decade at least, the power buttons on all Macs are "soft" buttons, not "hard" buttons, meaning, you can't accidentally turn off your Mac by simply brushing against, or hitting the power button. You can FORCE a shutdown by holding the power button down for more than three seconds, but that's pretty hard to do accidentally.

If its like the Eject button you cant simply hit it and have it activate. There is a required time limit before it sends the command to perform its intended task.

Apple doesn't make a netbook because they suffer a lack of confidence in their ability to dramatically grow the Mac market, and instead worry about cannibalizing sales.

Here's a question. COULD Apple make a Netbook? Nobody here would doubt it! So why don't they?

It would be the portable mini to their MacBook. The same form factor as the 11" Air, but with compromises made to make it more easily affordable, especially for switchers who already have PCs. Sure, it wouldn't encode HD videos as fast, but most Netbook users are "english majors" and so on who just need to browse the web or use Office to write papers.

We know a Netbook can run Snow Leopard very well BECAUSE IT ALREADY DOES! Safari runs brilliantly, and can even play 1080P videos given the GPU. Hell, even using flash video players. It works today, and the hardware costs under half to under a quarter as much.

Why do people buy Netbooks? Are they unsophisticated barbarians who can't appreciate an $8 biscotti? I submit they don't need a $1000+ laptop to surf the web or run Quicken, so why pay that much?

But no, instead Apple shuns an entire market because they lack the confidence to own it despite having the ability. Instead they spend millions in R&D to cater to a very, very small niche market. Maybe it's because Steve wouldn't use a Netbook, and thus nobody should.

Or maybe I'm full of shit and there is no market for such a product. I suspect otherwise given the Netbook phenomenon, however.

My daughter bought a 12 inch powerbook before going to college and used it for 4 years until the main board failed. Whenever I touched it, I marveled at it. So did my wife. It was just so beautiful. I agree, best portable ever. After its failure, we gave her my wife's black macbook. It had survived a few hours at the bottom of our pool and drying out. The only parts that failed were the battery and the optical drive. The guys at the apple store cleaned it up inside, gave her a new battery, and charged her only for the replacement of the superdrive. This experience is just one more thing to make me appreciate Apple products and service.

This is a criticism of one of the most successful tech company in the world. They lack confidence in their abilities.

OK.

Tough choice now between a pro and air. Haven't used DVD drive in a while, but is sometimes useful. But is it useful enough to carry with me everywhere, that is the question.

there's no space in there to add 256 gb cost effectively, wait a few months for toshi (and to a lesser extend samsung) to drop the prices on the new smaller lithography ssds. That's the reason why the iphone didn't get 64gb.

I was really hoping that the new 11" model would be able to replace my hackintoshed HP Mini. Unfortunately it still falls far short on features.

Disappointing.

Someone already did... Apple!

The Apple SuperDrive.

Smerch, by any chance... is your brother Screech?!

Nahhh, I wouldn't think so. The only time you are going to miss it is if someone produces a cd and they lack a computer too and you are on the go, and that's very unlikely this will happen. But as long as the person who wants you to use some files from said cd has any type of laptop you can set an adhoc wifi connection on the spot, and get it off their cd drive. Plus if you go on an extended trip and you think there might be such an unlikely chance you can always have the superdrive in your suticase which will be smaller than an extra charger, so you lug your air around and leave the drive in the suitcase, without having to lag around the drive too on the machine for that 5% chance (and I think it's closer to 1%) that you are going to need it.

I used to have a toshi btw lappie circa 1996 (boy am I old...). Back then the floppy was mandatory, but the cd was just catching on, so that lappie had a cd onboard and a plug in floppy drive, and if I remember correctly you could exchange these two. In any case it was a clever thing what toshi had done, much the same way as apple now, because you didn't HAVE to carry both around, only when you really needed to.

So now we have the cloud/email/wifi/sd cards/usb sticks in place of the cd, and the cd in place of the floppy. The case is stacked very much in favor of the former so apple wisely do away with it on an ultra portable and if none of the other options fits, you can still use a cd/dvd, you just don't HAVE to lug it around at all times, just when you need it.



His older, wiser brother.

Steve said this is like the ipad and macbook combined.

Not even close- It it were than there would be a 3g radio built in and maybe a GPS. How about a touch screen.

I currently have a macbookpro 13" That is my primary computer. I am considering an IPAD as my walk around machine.

This new mcabook is under powered, under storage, and the battery life is unimpressive.
Sorry apple I do not see the value in this one.

I have a newest macbook pro to do my major job and play games like Starcraft II.
But I don't wanna always bring it with me all the time since 15'' macbook pro is not that thin.
If macbook air 11'' or 13'' can be used to play those games, I may buy one because when I have a rest with my colleagues, we may play some games

Good thing they offered a speed bump to the MacBook Pro today then, isn't it?

It is perfectly usable ultra-portable machine for everyone who isn't going to use it as main (and only) computer... or even is going to use it as main computer but doesn't have big demands. Hardware is more than strong enough for everyday use and you can always unload extra data (movies etc) to USB HDD.

I think it is no-brainier for Mac users who want to supplement their MacBook Pro or iMac (and want more power than iPad). For Windows (or don-t-care-which-platform) users, less. There is already nice selection of 11" - 13" ultra-portables with choice of Atom, C2D ULV and Core i that will offer more for less in comparably portable units.

LOL. Look up "phenomenon" in the dictionary and you'll see a picture of the iPad and Apple is sitting comfortably in the driver's seat.

Yes, according to Apple's site when you attempt to build and configure options, it appears every model entry level - high end can be upped to 4gb at the factory for $100 extra. I don't know if it is user upgradable after it has been assembled.

In my opinion, this new MBA is totally WIN. Apple really did their homework! The new air will be fast thanks to faster graphics and SSD which will negate the slower core 2 duo processors. And really, the purpose of the air is understood. I think in the previous air, Apple tried too hard to make it as fast as possible but light. Now they are making it fast ENOUGH and more aggressively priced.

I do agree this is a netbook, but done RIGHT. The specs are better than most netbooks, but the aim of what it does is a high end netbook. I am very impressed. Feel free to argue that it is not a netbook, that one is up to opinion.

Anyone notice that the Windows Phone 7 reviews are going up today? Interesting coincidence? Apple dominates the news all day when Microsoft desperately needs the attention.

I haven't been checking much 11", but comes to 13", you can get (claimed) 8.5 hours out of Toshiba Portege R700. While not as thin as Air, it does start with 1.1kg (which actually should be a bit less than Air?), has optical drive and comes with selection of CPUs from i3 to i7... and also choice of standard or SSD drives. Only integrated Intel graphics, though. Entry level i3 config with 4GB of RAM and 320GB HDD (I think) is US$899, last time I checked.

Asus also has couple of reasonably thin and light notebooks with C2D and iCore, some of then claiming 10+ hours of battery life, with different graphics configurations.

Not a bad computer, but it is 3 pounds, just a bit more than the Air. Plus you have to use Windows!

You can get 6-10 hr batteries with most current netbooks. My HP Mini has a 6 hr (a 9.5 hr was optional), and it actually gets that 6 hrs too.

The new MBA are still using glossy-shinny-glassy screens, on an ultra-portable ! WTF !?

I need a MATTE SCREEN on my PORTABLE, Steve ! GEEZ !

HP is coming out with a new Mini though

Not to mention you can carry extra batteries

He said similar laptops.

Figure out a way to make those darn hinges thinner and robust... Possibly using the liquid metal process. This will enable the back to be as thin as the front.