Steve Jobs´keynote trashing them, calling netbooks cheap laptops, and saying iPad is better at the same tasks.
The current Air and an 11.6" Air would fit in the "ultra-portable" category (basically full fledged laptops that are very small) not the netbook category (small low cost, underpowered portable computers). Jobs trashed netbooks for being underpowered (atom processors), having ridiculously small screens (we're talking about the 7" range) and undersized/unusable keyboards.
Since then, many netbooks have increased in price and come up to the 10" range to address some of those problems, but they are still as underpowered as ever.
An 11.6" Air would have none of those problems. The current Air is a little underpowered because it sees very infrequent updates, but it's still better than an atom chip. With the Macbook Pro continually shrinking (how long before we lose the optical drive?), I can see the Air having very few advantages over the MBP at 13". If Apple wants to distinguish it as the Apple's smallest fully capable laptop computer, they will probably need to shrink the screen size at some point.
I've got my credit card ready to go for a new MacBook Air. My old 12" G4 MacBook still works fine, small is good for traveling, but just need more speed. For the type of work I need to do on the road, my iPad is pretty much useless. Just give me 4GB of memory, a zippy 128GB SSD, and a good battery, and I'll be happy. Gigabit built-in too, please.
What you said.
Replaced my Rev A 12" G4 Powerbook with a top end i7 MBP. Wifey uses the old 12" known as "Minime" on our network. It's cute, but just too too slow. A MBA with your specs and we now have a final replacement for Minime.
I can't imagine why Apple would think a 11.6" screen is something consumers would want... 13.3" is pretty small as it is.
I agree, but I know Steve likes to stand before an audience and say "thinner and lighter than ever before." If Apple could engineer a laptop that disappears when you look at it from the side, Steve would sell it
The current Air and an 11.6" Air would fit in the "ultra-portable" category (basically full fledged laptops that are very small) not the netbook category (small low cost, underpowered portable computers). Jobs trashed netbooks for being underpowered (atom processors), having ridiculously small screens (we're talking about the 7" range) and undersized/unusable keyboards.
Since then, many netbooks have increased in price and come up to the 10" range to address some of those problems, but they are still as underpowered as ever.
An 11.6" Air would have none of those problems. The current Air is a little underpowered because it sees very infrequent updates, but it's still better than an atom chip. With the Macbook Pro continually shrinking (how long before we lose the optical drive?), I can see the Air having very few advantages over the MBP at 13". If Apple wants to distinguish it as the Apple's smallest fully capable laptop computer, they will probably need to shrink the screen size at some point.
I agree maybe it wouldn´t be in the netbook market, however, i don´t think they will compromise in the display or the keyboard, i don´t think you can put a full size keyboard alongside an 11.6 display
Small screen means cramped keyboard and low resolution or if it's high resolution, small on-screen UI elements. It also means less space for a thin battery. This entirely goes against the reasons they gave for building a 13" model in the first place.
The current Macbook needs to go metal. Throw out the optical drive, change the ports to all USB 3, make the battery and casing thinner and shave off 1lb of weight to hit 3.5lbs. Fast Core 2 Duo with 320M graphics and kill off the Macbook Air. If you're going to put so much effort into building a sleek lightweight, powerful machine, why not put that effort into a building a computer people will actually buy in large volumes instead of letting them go away with creaky plastic machines?
Since then, many netbooks have increased in price and come up to the 10" range to address some of those problems, but they are still as underpowered as ever.
I picked up a Samsung N150 recently. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at the speed. Of note is that the processor is set to run at 50% speed by default when on battery power. I doubt most users would know that they need to change a few settings to get it to run at full speed; at the default settings on battery power I couldn't even get Netflix to show movies acceptably.
The N150 has an Atom N450, and the new NF210 model has an Atom N455. So I would say the manufacturers are responding to the need for increased speed.
Not sure iOS as it is will merge into laptops & desktops, people still need powerful machines that are more flexible than a mobile device like an iPad. I do however think some features of iOS streamlining will make their way into 10.7 or that a more powerful version of iOS for desktops will emerge. Being able to run Windows is still critical for a large number of Mac users and a switch from i586 architecture would prevent this.
The next MBAir will be more in line with current NetBooks and will be very attractive to Systems Admins and Execs. Personally though I don't think it will get much traction if they don't switch to SSD drives & offer a lower price point.
Exactly. The reason I have not gotten an iPad is that it is not powerful enough to run a full version of Pages or Word (e.g, Endnote integration). I use a Windows netbook when I travel and it does the job.
However, if they made a smaller, less expensive version of the MBA, I would pick one up in a heartbeat and dump the netbook.
Hoping Apple will give me a reason to give them my money. It's how our relationship works
after a week of looking at options and price (my imac is at end of life) i have decided that i am not going to give apple any more of my money for computers. the imacs all use the cheaper dual channel memory (even the top imac i7) and the mac pro with 6 core is just outrageously priced. so bye bye os x when the imac dies. bought a pc 12gig, 6 core machine with an ati 5770 video card with 24" display for 1600 dollars (that includes shipping and tax). will run ubuntu on it. sorry apple, i decided to 'think different'.
"Some people think that´s a netbook (3rd category between smartphone and laptop)....netbooks are not better at anything....slow, low quality displays and run clunky old PC software...they are just cheap laptops....we don´t think they are a 3rd category of device....we think we have something that is....iPad..." BOOM! (boom part was just me)
The iPad certainly doesn't kill my need for a real computer. And since I worry about weight when I'm traveling, I carry BOTH a Netbook and an iPad with me when I travel (Mon thru Thursday every week)...
The netbook allows me to run specific software that I need to perform my job. I absolutely need a PC, and the netbook works just fine. I use my iPad in the motel room at night for leisure - Surfing the web, email, etc.
A small Apple laptop running OSX and Windows with Parallels would allow me to carry one machine, leave the iPad at home, and sell the netbook.
My opinion... an 11" MBA would be a perfect replacement for netbooks even if it costs twice as much.
I agree. The thing is the MBA costs triple or more.
I'm shopping for an inexpensive midrange notebook that runs Windows (I don't want to buy anything directly from Microsoft so I'm not buying their software to run on my Mac). I'm seeing things that will do the job for half the price of the basic Mac Book. The only thing the MBA offers is it's small size. I suppose the MBA will always be a small niche product. How much of Apple's overall sales come from MBA's?
Two years ago I bought a macbook for $999, to be used casually in my family room, when all I needed was an iPad. Only the iPad wasn't for sale yet.
Last year I bought a macbook pro for business, when all I need a macbook air.... but the macbook air (the model I wanted) was way too expensive for me.
So if they come out with a macbook air that is, say 2.5 pounds, 4gb memory, nice sized drive, and BETTER PRICE, I would love to own one. Even if the screen is 11.7". Not that there is anything wrong with my macbook pro.... but price has a lot to do with it for many people that don't have all the heavy duty needs of power users.
I agree. The thing is the MBA costs triple or more.
I'm shopping for an inexpensive midrange notebook that runs Windows (I don't want to buy anything directly from Microsoft so I'm not buying their software to run on my Mac). I'm seeing things that will do the job for half the price of the basic Mac Book. The only thing the MBA offers is it's small size. I suppose the MBA will always be a small niche product. How much of Apple's overall sales come from MBA's?
ASUS. i purchased a UL30A awhile back for my girlfriend and it was low cost, ran well (4gig ram, 500gig hard drive) and got 10 hours battery life without using the battery saving software that asus provides. they claim 13 if you use that.
The iPad certainly doesn't kill my need for a real computer. And since I worry about weight when I'm traveling, I carry BOTH a Netbook and an iPad with me when I travel (Mon thru Thursday every week)...
The netbook allows me to run specific software that I need to perform my job. I absolutely need a PC, and the netbook works just fine. I use my iPad in the motel room at night for leisure - Surfing the web, email, etc.
A small Apple laptop running OSX and Windows with Parallels would allow me to carry one machine, leave the iPad at home, and sell the netbook.
I too carry my Macbook Pro and iPad everywhere, i think the question is... Would users prefer a thiner lighter more powerful MBA with the same 13.3 display or would they prefer an 11.6 with maybe those same specs. I think the price will definitely come down be it a 13.3 or an 11.6
If my business pickups....I will sell my original iMac intel 20" and get the new MacBookAir, a 2nd gen. iPad and with my current iPhone 4 be good to go!
A bit of overlap, I know, but each of the above has it's advantages...The iPad for mobile media consumption, email and presentations! The MBA for mobile work production, update website, updating/creating said presentations/reports and, of course, the iPhone 4 for communication, camera, Real Estate eKey/FOB and GPS
No more desktops for me- sitting in a 'cubicle' for me! Uggh! Can't wait!
Did you miss the years of people asking for a replacement for their 12" Aluminum PowerBook G4s?
wait, that's another thing, I wouldn't replace my pbook 12" which already has about a cm more vertical real estate than the 13" air with an even smaller v. screen size model, no way.
Comments
Steve Jobs´keynote trashing them, calling netbooks cheap laptops, and saying iPad is better at the same tasks.
The current Air and an 11.6" Air would fit in the "ultra-portable" category (basically full fledged laptops that are very small) not the netbook category (small low cost, underpowered portable computers). Jobs trashed netbooks for being underpowered (atom processors), having ridiculously small screens (we're talking about the 7" range) and undersized/unusable keyboards.
Since then, many netbooks have increased in price and come up to the 10" range to address some of those problems, but they are still as underpowered as ever.
An 11.6" Air would have none of those problems. The current Air is a little underpowered because it sees very infrequent updates, but it's still better than an atom chip. With the Macbook Pro continually shrinking (how long before we lose the optical drive?), I can see the Air having very few advantages over the MBP at 13". If Apple wants to distinguish it as the Apple's smallest fully capable laptop computer, they will probably need to shrink the screen size at some point.
I've got my credit card ready to go for a new MacBook Air. My old 12" G4 MacBook still works fine, small is good for traveling, but just need more speed. For the type of work I need to do on the road, my iPad is pretty much useless. Just give me 4GB of memory, a zippy 128GB SSD, and a good battery, and I'll be happy. Gigabit built-in too, please.
What you said.
Replaced my Rev A 12" G4 Powerbook with a top end i7 MBP. Wifey uses the old 12" known as "Minime" on our network. It's cute, but just too too slow. A MBA with your specs and we now have a final replacement for Minime.
... and you read that Steve is calling the iPad a "netbook killer" from that statement...
Okay... whatever.
You did not?
Ok.
I can't imagine why Apple would think a 11.6" screen is something consumers would want... 13.3" is pretty small as it is.
I agree, but I know Steve likes to stand before an audience and say "thinner and lighter than ever before." If Apple could engineer a laptop that disappears when you look at it from the side, Steve would sell it
The current Air and an 11.6" Air would fit in the "ultra-portable" category (basically full fledged laptops that are very small) not the netbook category (small low cost, underpowered portable computers). Jobs trashed netbooks for being underpowered (atom processors), having ridiculously small screens (we're talking about the 7" range) and undersized/unusable keyboards.
Since then, many netbooks have increased in price and come up to the 10" range to address some of those problems, but they are still as underpowered as ever.
An 11.6" Air would have none of those problems. The current Air is a little underpowered because it sees very infrequent updates, but it's still better than an atom chip. With the Macbook Pro continually shrinking (how long before we lose the optical drive?), I can see the Air having very few advantages over the MBP at 13". If Apple wants to distinguish it as the Apple's smallest fully capable laptop computer, they will probably need to shrink the screen size at some point.
I agree maybe it wouldn´t be in the netbook market, however, i don´t think they will compromise in the display or the keyboard, i don´t think you can put a full size keyboard alongside an 11.6 display
I own an MBA. Last time I checked it has a matte screen.
http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html
It's pretty obvious that it's glossy.
The current Macbook needs to go metal. Throw out the optical drive, change the ports to all USB 3, make the battery and casing thinner and shave off 1lb of weight to hit 3.5lbs. Fast Core 2 Duo with 320M graphics and kill off the Macbook Air. If you're going to put so much effort into building a sleek lightweight, powerful machine, why not put that effort into a building a computer people will actually buy in large volumes instead of letting them go away with creaky plastic machines?
Since then, many netbooks have increased in price and come up to the 10" range to address some of those problems, but they are still as underpowered as ever.
I picked up a Samsung N150 recently. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at the speed. Of note is that the processor is set to run at 50% speed by default when on battery power. I doubt most users would know that they need to change a few settings to get it to run at full speed; at the default settings on battery power I couldn't even get Netflix to show movies acceptably.
The N150 has an Atom N450, and the new NF210 model has an Atom N455. So I would say the manufacturers are responding to the need for increased speed.
Not sure iOS as it is will merge into laptops & desktops, people still need powerful machines that are more flexible than a mobile device like an iPad. I do however think some features of iOS streamlining will make their way into 10.7 or that a more powerful version of iOS for desktops will emerge. Being able to run Windows is still critical for a large number of Mac users and a switch from i586 architecture would prevent this.
The next MBAir will be more in line with current NetBooks and will be very attractive to Systems Admins and Execs. Personally though I don't think it will get much traction if they don't switch to SSD drives & offer a lower price point.
Exactly. The reason I have not gotten an iPad is that it is not powerful enough to run a full version of Pages or Word (e.g, Endnote integration). I use a Windows netbook when I travel and it does the job.
However, if they made a smaller, less expensive version of the MBA, I would pick one up in a heartbeat and dump the netbook.
Hoping Apple will give me a reason to give them my money. It's how our relationship works
after a week of looking at options and price (my imac is at end of life) i have decided that i am not going to give apple any more of my money for computers. the imacs all use the cheaper dual channel memory (even the top imac i7) and the mac pro with 6 core is just outrageously priced. so bye bye os x when the imac dies. bought a pc 12gig, 6 core machine with an ati 5770 video card with 24" display for 1600 dollars (that includes shipping and tax). will run ubuntu on it. sorry apple, i decided to 'think different'.
"Some people think that´s a netbook (3rd category between smartphone and laptop)....netbooks are not better at anything....slow, low quality displays and run clunky old PC software...they are just cheap laptops....we don´t think they are a 3rd category of device....we think we have something that is....iPad..." BOOM! (boom part was just me)
The iPad certainly doesn't kill my need for a real computer. And since I worry about weight when I'm traveling, I carry BOTH a Netbook and an iPad with me when I travel (Mon thru Thursday every week)...
The netbook allows me to run specific software that I need to perform my job. I absolutely need a PC, and the netbook works just fine. I use my iPad in the motel room at night for leisure - Surfing the web, email, etc.
A small Apple laptop running OSX and Windows with Parallels would allow me to carry one machine, leave the iPad at home, and sell the netbook.
My opinion... an 11" MBA would be a perfect replacement for netbooks even if it costs twice as much.
I agree. The thing is the MBA costs triple or more.
I'm shopping for an inexpensive midrange notebook that runs Windows (I don't want to buy anything directly from Microsoft so I'm not buying their software to run on my Mac). I'm seeing things that will do the job for half the price of the basic Mac Book. The only thing the MBA offers is it's small size. I suppose the MBA will always be a small niche product. How much of Apple's overall sales come from MBA's?
Last year I bought a macbook pro for business, when all I need a macbook air.... but the macbook air (the model I wanted) was way too expensive for me.
So if they come out with a macbook air that is, say 2.5 pounds, 4gb memory, nice sized drive, and BETTER PRICE, I would love to own one. Even if the screen is 11.7". Not that there is anything wrong with my macbook pro.... but price has a lot to do with it for many people that don't have all the heavy duty needs of power users.
Steve Jobs´keynote trashing them, calling netbooks cheap laptops, and saying iPad is better at the same tasks.
same as 'We gonna kill them while you watch us"
I agree. The thing is the MBA costs triple or more.
I'm shopping for an inexpensive midrange notebook that runs Windows (I don't want to buy anything directly from Microsoft so I'm not buying their software to run on my Mac). I'm seeing things that will do the job for half the price of the basic Mac Book. The only thing the MBA offers is it's small size. I suppose the MBA will always be a small niche product. How much of Apple's overall sales come from MBA's?
ASUS. i purchased a UL30A awhile back for my girlfriend and it was low cost, ran well (4gig ram, 500gig hard drive) and got 10 hours battery life without using the battery saving software that asus provides. they claim 13 if you use that.
The iPad certainly doesn't kill my need for a real computer. And since I worry about weight when I'm traveling, I carry BOTH a Netbook and an iPad with me when I travel (Mon thru Thursday every week)...
The netbook allows me to run specific software that I need to perform my job. I absolutely need a PC, and the netbook works just fine. I use my iPad in the motel room at night for leisure - Surfing the web, email, etc.
A small Apple laptop running OSX and Windows with Parallels would allow me to carry one machine, leave the iPad at home, and sell the netbook.
I too carry my Macbook Pro and iPad everywhere, i think the question is... Would users prefer a thiner lighter more powerful MBA with the same 13.3 display or would they prefer an 11.6 with maybe those same specs. I think the price will definitely come down be it a 13.3 or an 11.6
A bit of overlap, I know, but each of the above has it's advantages...The iPad for mobile media consumption, email and presentations! The MBA for mobile work production, update website, updating/creating said presentations/reports and, of course, the iPhone 4 for communication, camera, Real Estate eKey/FOB and GPS
No more desktops for me- sitting in a 'cubicle' for me! Uggh! Can't wait!
Best
Did you miss the years of people asking for a replacement for their 12" Aluminum PowerBook G4s?
wait, that's another thing, I wouldn't replace my pbook 12" which already has about a cm more vertical real estate than the 13" air with an even smaller v. screen size model, no way.