... I'd choose a normal macbook over a macbook air. (compared 999 dollar macbook vs 999 dollar macbook air). The 11" may be interesting because of being smaller, but buying the 13" would be just dumb (in my humble opinion).
I think you're all wrong on this. the new plastic MacBook is junky looking in person and a dirt magnet with the rubberised bottom. It has "stop gap product" written all over it. The baseline plastic MacBook is aimed squarely at the student market, but the Airs are a much better value proposition and much more desirable than that piece of plastic junk.
LOL! That is so true. There is much to be said in the above statement that the ranters here just don't seem to get.
"But the Ferrari is also made of aluminum, glass, plastic and rubber too! It uses pistons and gasoline also!! I can get all that from a Kia, so using my amazing, superior intelligence I have determined that Ferrari is only ripping off the consumer and the Ferrari-fanbois will follow anything with a Stallion logo."
Maybe Kia can get more respect if they just increase their prices tenfold but keep everything else the same.
The guys offers one quibble about memory size in an overwhelmingly positive review and you call him a dork? What's the matter with you?
Furthermore, isn't Mossberg known for writing generally positive reviews of Macs? And for a while, wasn't Steve Jobs quoting Mossberg's positive reviews at every one of his keynotes?
So where is yours so we can all see how it should be done?
I have to be a movie star to criticise a review?
What I meant is that it's well accepted common wisdom that one shouldn't make a video of what is essentially a still subject. That it's also common wisdom that one shouldn't write a review, and then just stare blankly into a camera and read that review of off a screen or piece of paper in front of you. That you shouldn't talk slowly and say uh, umm... between every sentence, and that you should *add* something to the review by reason of doing it on video, (like maybe smiling once in a blue moon or actually engaging the audience with your personality).
Anyone who's shot professional video or taken a class in it can see that he's violating every rule in the book. What he says is usually accurate and informative and well worth reading, but having a video of him saying the same words (usually published side by side with the written review!) while blankly staring into a camera is not only not helpful, it makes him look foolish and takes away a certain amount of credibility IMO.
More of Mossberg's typical word-fellatio. He barely mentions the fixed amount of RAM and Solid State, when those are two critical drawbacks to choosing the Air. I'm not saying it isn't an impressive machine but the sacrifices it makes to be impressive are too serious to just mention in passing. Even the "comparable" ultra-portable Dell uses replaceable/upgradable parts... for machines that are low on power to begin with, upgradeability (or lack thereof) is an important factor.
Well, they seem nice, but a normal macbook (pro), has the same capabilities to start up instantly (when you close and open the screen).
I like them using the flash memory though (SSD it's called actually), but it's not like they invented the thing :P It's expensive and has a quite small storage-size. It is, however, the only thing better than a normal macbook. The processor is weak. Oh, and they may be lighter and smaller, but not that much in comparison to a normal macbook.
I'd choose a normal macbook over a macbook air. (compared 999 dollar macbook vs 999 dollar macbook air). The 11" may be interesting because of being smaller, but buying the 13" would be just dumb (in my humble opinion).
1) The MB does not come with an SSD option (good luck with a spinning hard drive that you walk around with so that you can 'open and close' for instant startup, or with trying to get it to do that on, say, Day 22). Also, the MB offers only 4GB max for RAM, just as the 11" MBA does.
2) The 128GB option on the 13" MBP costs $350 extra, and the 256GB option is $800 extra. For that, the 13" MBA is a steal.
Different people choose for different reasons. For instance, I think yours would be 'dumb' (in my humble opinion, of course), given the attributes that I am looking for.
What I meant is that it's well accepted common wisdom that one shouldn't make a video of what is essentially a still subject. That it's also common wisdom that one shouldn't write a review, and then just stare blankly into a camera and read that review of off a screen or piece of paper in front of you. That you shouldn't talk slowly and say uh, umm... between every sentence...
You are exactly right. It was painful to watch that video. I like Walt and I think his written reviews are generally spot on. But as I hit play, all I could think was, "I see dead people..."
I don't want to look up an old man's nose or try to rectify the looking-into-a-spoon appearance in my head. Also, it's distracting to see where Walt gets his boom boom on. Your bed probably shouldn't be in your video unless it's also occupied by Megan Fox.
There's many people who write so well but can't appear on camera. I've read so many brilliant WSJ articles only to see the writer on camera fumbling through the topic.
Interesting. I thought I was the only one that was distracted by the quality of the video.
More of Mossberg's typical word-fellatio. He barely mentions the fixed amount of RAM and Solid State, when those are two critical drawbacks to choosing the Air. I'm not saying it isn't an impressive machine but the sacrifices it makes to be impressive are too serious to just mention in passing. Even the "comparable" ultra-portable Dell uses replaceable/upgradable parts... for machines that are low on power to begin with, upgradeability (or lack thereof) is an important factor.
In my humble opinion.
-Clive
People that buy ultra-portable notebooks don?t care about upgradeability.
People that buy ultra-portable notebooks don’t care about upgradeability.
Buying a notebook over a desktop implies one is already willing to sacrifice performance and upgradability for portability, and paying a premium for it on a comparative basis.
Do most notebook buyers upgrade their systems or do they just buy a new one?
I wonder what percentage of users are actively using more than 64GB on their systems and what percentage of users are actively processing data that requires a faster processor. It seems to me, anecdotally speaking from the majority of people I know, that most use a handful of apps for IM, web browsing, email, and playing video, which can easily be done by the cheapest MBA. Most aren?t converting large amounts of data, or copying large DV video to edit in iMovie, etc. I think these will be very popular.
I use my 1st-gen MBA with VMware/XP. It's my 9-to-5 machine. The CPU is a totally a capable processor that's able to handle my two concurrent environments with no problem. The only issue is when it has to request data off the slow hard drive that things slow down. It's not a dog by a long shot, but it is noticeable. With the SSD drive setup in the new MBA's, I know the (tiny) issues I've had with my MBA performance-wise would pretty much be gone. If acquiring an SSD PATA drive was within reach, I would probably do that instead but I can't find anything like that for first-gen MBA's without questioning the source/quality.
The CPU's are fine in these machines. It's only the egos of those criticizing them that overheat and need big heat-sinks.
1) The MB does not come with an SSD option (good luck with a spinning hard drive that you walk around with so that you can 'open and close' for instant startup, or with trying to get it to do that on, say, Day 22). Also, the MB offers only 4GB max for RAM, just as the 11" MBA does.
2) The 128GB option on the 13" MBP costs $350 extra, and the 256GB option is $800 extra. For that, the 13" MBA is a steal.
Different people choose for different reasons. For instance, I think yours would be 'dumb' (in my humble opinion, of course), given the attributes that I am looking for.
It?s funny (read: sad), that people complain that Apple doesn?t offer enough variety in their lineup, but when Apple does upgrade and add to their lineup then they complain that it?s not the right kind of variety because it doesn?t suit their needs and therefor couldn?t possibly suit anyone?s needs.
Love Uncle Walt and will probably get MB Air as soon as it equals performance of my perfectly good 2006 MBP C2D. The bed in the BG was a bit much though. Does Walt take his Air to bed?
The worst part of this non-review is Mossberg's repetition of Apple's hype that the new MBA is inspired by the iPad. That is nothing more than marketing hyperbole -- the new MacBook Air is not fundamentally different than the original one that predated the iPad. But they all repeat this line that it's inspired by the iPad. It's like everyone suddenly "remembered" that we've been fighting Eastasia all this time!
Just for the record, here is what Mossberg actually said:
Quote:
Some of the nicest, if little discussed, benefits of using an Apple iPad tablet are that it starts instantly, resumes where you left off, and has a long enough battery life that you aren?t constantly fretting about running out of juice or looking for a place to plug it in. And it can do a lot of things for which people use laptops.
What if somebody designed an actual laptop that worked this way?you know, a computer with a real keyboard and a larger screen that could run traditional computer software and store more files than an iPad? And what if it was almost as light and portable as an iPad? Well, somebody has, and that somebody is Apple itself.
Love Uncle Walt and will probably get MB Air as soon as it equals performance of my perfectly good 2006 MBP C2D. The bed in the BG was a bit much though. Does Walt take his Air to bed?
Seeing as the 2006 C2Ds were Merom-based, with a 667MHz FSB, a maximum addressable 3GB RAM, ATI X1600, and what I assume is still an HDD, I have to assume the 13? MBP will trounce a 2006 MBP. The 11? may even beat it on all but raw processing power. Even against a 2009 MBP (pre-Core-i7) they are competitive in some areas. I could pull out synthetic benchmarks for a 2006 MBP compared to these new MBAs but it really won?t mean much.
Please tell me which part of what I wrote on my blog is nonsense.
I don't click on self-promotion links. I really have no interest in reading your blog. The point is is, you're throwing around hype ("a lot of Apple is dishonest hype") in a public forum to attract eyeballs to your website. It's no different from ads you see from people trying to peddle their products.
If you are actually trying to say something, argue it/summarize it here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tods
Are you implying that if they're all dishonest, it's okay for Apple to be dishonest?
No. I am simply calling you out on your claim by suggesting that: (i) Apple is not the only one; (ii) Perhaps Apple is not really the problem, but a lot of marketing is; (iii) perhaps it is what consumers expect in a free-for-all market such as ours, so companies are maybe playing up to what consumers want; i.e., you have to shout/hype/exaggerate to make yourself heard in the din.
Instant On refers to something different. It refers to the standby mode. You can leave your MBA sitting closed for as long as 30 days and it will start up pretty much instantly.
I can think of plenty of general examples that would find these MBAs to be more ideal for usage needs.
It?s a small niggle, but it is an odd one for Mossberg to make seeing at how competitively priced these machines are. There is nothing I can find that even comes to these ultra-portables for the money.
The Sony Vaio X may look like it?s competing with the 11? MBA, the Vaio X uses an anemic Atom CPU and Intel IGP, has a cramped keyboard, all while starting at $1,300 with a 3 hour (Sony?s rating) battery. It look like the HP Voodoo Envy and Dell Adamo XPS have been canceled. These were the only real competitors in that category that I can recall. Are there any others?
You know, I think otherwise straight thinking types have so internalized the "Apple tax" meme that they can't drop it even when it makes no sense.
For instance, in an otherwise excellent review that balances the pluses and minuses of the new Airs, Anandtech has this mystifying bit:
Quote:
While $999 is much more affordable than the previous generation MacBook Air, it?s at least $400 more than you would expect to pay for a notebook with these hardware specs. We?re talking about 2GB of memory, a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU with 3MB L2 cache and an NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics chipset.
I guess I would "expect to pay" $400 less if the notebook in question were simply a low specced Dell that weighed 4 or 5 pounds with shoddy build quality that got 3 hours of battery life, but WTF? What is this insistence on comparing the price of Apple gear according to an ever changing set of limited criteria seemingly tuned to put the result in the worst possible light?
Almost worth it. Now if Apple would only add a multitouch display that can flip and fold back over the keyboard like the convertible PC tablets and give it the capability to run iOS as well as Mac OS apps, I'd be willing to part with $1500 for the 11" model. Better yet, make it automatically switch to iOS when the keyboard is covered, although let the user choose the OS when the keyboard is exposed since both OSs can make use of keyboard input.
I think Apple realized pretty early on that those "convertible" designs were a bad idea. Any moving part is subject to wear & tear over time. The hinge in a standard laptop is a necessary evil?but rotating the hinge about one axis mitigates it somewhat. Rotating a screen around two axes magnifies the problem significantly, and is much more subject to failure, let alone wear and tear.
Comments
... I'd choose a normal macbook over a macbook air. (compared 999 dollar macbook vs 999 dollar macbook air). The 11" may be interesting because of being smaller, but buying the 13" would be just dumb (in my humble opinion).
I think you're all wrong on this. the new plastic MacBook is junky looking in person and a dirt magnet with the rubberised bottom. It has "stop gap product" written all over it. The baseline plastic MacBook is aimed squarely at the student market, but the Airs are a much better value proposition and much more desirable than that piece of plastic junk.
LOL! That is so true. There is much to be said in the above statement that the ranters here just don't seem to get.
"But the Ferrari is also made of aluminum, glass, plastic and rubber too! It uses pistons and gasoline also!! I can get all that from a Kia, so using my amazing, superior intelligence I have determined that Ferrari is only ripping off the consumer and the Ferrari-fanbois will follow anything with a Stallion logo."
Maybe Kia can get more respect if they just increase their prices tenfold but keep everything else the same.
The guys offers one quibble about memory size in an overwhelmingly positive review and you call him a dork? What's the matter with you?
Furthermore, isn't Mossberg known for writing generally positive reviews of Macs? And for a while, wasn't Steve Jobs quoting Mossberg's positive reviews at every one of his keynotes?
So where is yours so we can all see how it should be done?
I have to be a movie star to criticise a review?
What I meant is that it's well accepted common wisdom that one shouldn't make a video of what is essentially a still subject. That it's also common wisdom that one shouldn't write a review, and then just stare blankly into a camera and read that review of off a screen or piece of paper in front of you. That you shouldn't talk slowly and say uh, umm... between every sentence, and that you should *add* something to the review by reason of doing it on video, (like maybe smiling once in a blue moon or actually engaging the audience with your personality).
Anyone who's shot professional video or taken a class in it can see that he's violating every rule in the book. What he says is usually accurate and informative and well worth reading, but having a video of him saying the same words (usually published side by side with the written review!) while blankly staring into a camera is not only not helpful, it makes him look foolish and takes away a certain amount of credibility IMO.
Maybe Kia can get more respect if they just increase their prices tenfold but keep everything else the same.
or stop copying designs from other companies.
In my humble opinion.
-Clive
Care to name any marketing from tech companies that is consistently honest hype?
Well, they seem nice, but a normal macbook (pro), has the same capabilities to start up instantly (when you close and open the screen).
I like them using the flash memory though (SSD it's called actually), but it's not like they invented the thing :P It's expensive and has a quite small storage-size. It is, however, the only thing better than a normal macbook. The processor is weak. Oh, and they may be lighter and smaller, but not that much in comparison to a normal macbook.
I'd choose a normal macbook over a macbook air. (compared 999 dollar macbook vs 999 dollar macbook air). The 11" may be interesting because of being smaller, but buying the 13" would be just dumb (in my humble opinion).
1) The MB does not come with an SSD option (good luck with a spinning hard drive that you walk around with so that you can 'open and close' for instant startup, or with trying to get it to do that on, say, Day 22). Also, the MB offers only 4GB max for RAM, just as the 11" MBA does.
2) The 128GB option on the 13" MBP costs $350 extra, and the 256GB option is $800 extra. For that, the 13" MBA is a steal.
Different people choose for different reasons. For instance, I think yours would be 'dumb' (in my humble opinion, of course), given the attributes that I am looking for.
I have to be a movie star to criticise a review?
What I meant is that it's well accepted common wisdom that one shouldn't make a video of what is essentially a still subject. That it's also common wisdom that one shouldn't write a review, and then just stare blankly into a camera and read that review of off a screen or piece of paper in front of you. That you shouldn't talk slowly and say uh, umm... between every sentence...
You are exactly right. It was painful to watch that video. I like Walt and I think his written reviews are generally spot on. But as I hit play, all I could think was, "I see dead people..."
I don't want to look up an old man's nose or try to rectify the looking-into-a-spoon appearance in my head. Also, it's distracting to see where Walt gets his boom boom on. Your bed probably shouldn't be in your video unless it's also occupied by Megan Fox.
There's many people who write so well but can't appear on camera. I've read so many brilliant WSJ articles only to see the writer on camera fumbling through the topic.
Interesting. I thought I was the only one that was distracted by the quality of the video.
More of Mossberg's typical word-fellatio. He barely mentions the fixed amount of RAM and Solid State, when those are two critical drawbacks to choosing the Air. I'm not saying it isn't an impressive machine but the sacrifices it makes to be impressive are too serious to just mention in passing. Even the "comparable" ultra-portable Dell uses replaceable/upgradable parts... for machines that are low on power to begin with, upgradeability (or lack thereof) is an important factor.
In my humble opinion.
-Clive
People that buy ultra-portable notebooks don?t care about upgradeability.
People that buy ultra-portable notebooks don’t care about upgradeability.
Buying a notebook over a desktop implies one is already willing to sacrifice performance and upgradability for portability, and paying a premium for it on a comparative basis.
Do most notebook buyers upgrade their systems or do they just buy a new one?
I wonder what percentage of users are actively using more than 64GB on their systems and what percentage of users are actively processing data that requires a faster processor. It seems to me, anecdotally speaking from the majority of people I know, that most use a handful of apps for IM, web browsing, email, and playing video, which can easily be done by the cheapest MBA. Most aren?t converting large amounts of data, or copying large DV video to edit in iMovie, etc. I think these will be very popular.
I use my 1st-gen MBA with VMware/XP. It's my 9-to-5 machine. The CPU is a totally a capable processor that's able to handle my two concurrent environments with no problem. The only issue is when it has to request data off the slow hard drive that things slow down. It's not a dog by a long shot, but it is noticeable. With the SSD drive setup in the new MBA's, I know the (tiny) issues I've had with my MBA performance-wise would pretty much be gone. If acquiring an SSD PATA drive was within reach, I would probably do that instead but I can't find anything like that for first-gen MBA's without questioning the source/quality.
The CPU's are fine in these machines. It's only the egos of those criticizing them that overheat and need big heat-sinks.
1) The MB does not come with an SSD option (good luck with a spinning hard drive that you walk around with so that you can 'open and close' for instant startup, or with trying to get it to do that on, say, Day 22). Also, the MB offers only 4GB max for RAM, just as the 11" MBA does.
2) The 128GB option on the 13" MBP costs $350 extra, and the 256GB option is $800 extra. For that, the 13" MBA is a steal.
Different people choose for different reasons. For instance, I think yours would be 'dumb' (in my humble opinion, of course), given the attributes that I am looking for.
It?s funny (read: sad), that people complain that Apple doesn?t offer enough variety in their lineup, but when Apple does upgrade and add to their lineup then they complain that it?s not the right kind of variety because it doesn?t suit their needs and therefor couldn?t possibly suit anyone?s needs.
The worst part of this non-review is Mossberg's repetition of Apple's hype that the new MBA is inspired by the iPad. That is nothing more than marketing hyperbole -- the new MacBook Air is not fundamentally different than the original one that predated the iPad. But they all repeat this line that it's inspired by the iPad. It's like everyone suddenly "remembered" that we've been fighting Eastasia all this time!
Just for the record, here is what Mossberg actually said:
Some of the nicest, if little discussed, benefits of using an Apple iPad tablet are that it starts instantly, resumes where you left off, and has a long enough battery life that you aren?t constantly fretting about running out of juice or looking for a place to plug it in. And it can do a lot of things for which people use laptops.
What if somebody designed an actual laptop that worked this way?you know, a computer with a real keyboard and a larger screen that could run traditional computer software and store more files than an iPad? And what if it was almost as light and portable as an iPad? Well, somebody has, and that somebody is Apple itself.
When Mac OS X 10.7 ships, it?ll be even more iPad-like.
I?d like to see Mossdork find a comparable netbook for less.
this review is from the person that compared windows 7 to snow leopard
i'd take it with more than a grain of salt
Love Uncle Walt and will probably get MB Air as soon as it equals performance of my perfectly good 2006 MBP C2D. The bed in the BG was a bit much though. Does Walt take his Air to bed?
Seeing as the 2006 C2Ds were Merom-based, with a 667MHz FSB, a maximum addressable 3GB RAM, ATI X1600, and what I assume is still an HDD, I have to assume the 13? MBP will trounce a 2006 MBP. The 11? may even beat it on all but raw processing power. Even against a 2009 MBP (pre-Core-i7) they are competitive in some areas. I could pull out synthetic benchmarks for a 2006 MBP compared to these new MBAs but it really won?t mean much.
Please tell me which part of what I wrote on my blog is nonsense.
I don't click on self-promotion links. I really have no interest in reading your blog. The point is is, you're throwing around hype ("a lot of Apple is dishonest hype") in a public forum to attract eyeballs to your website. It's no different from ads you see from people trying to peddle their products.
If you are actually trying to say something, argue it/summarize it here.
Are you implying that if they're all dishonest, it's okay for Apple to be dishonest?
No. I am simply calling you out on your claim by suggesting that: (i) Apple is not the only one; (ii) Perhaps Apple is not really the problem, but a lot of marketing is; (iii) perhaps it is what consumers expect in a free-for-all market such as ours, so companies are maybe playing up to what consumers want; i.e., you have to shout/hype/exaggerate to make yourself heard in the din.
Instant On refers to something different. It refers to the standby mode. You can leave your MBA sitting closed for as long as 30 days and it will start up pretty much instantly.
I can think of plenty of general examples that would find these MBAs to be more ideal for usage needs.
It?s a small niggle, but it is an odd one for Mossberg to make seeing at how competitively priced these machines are. There is nothing I can find that even comes to these ultra-portables for the money.
The Sony Vaio X may look like it?s competing with the 11? MBA, the Vaio X uses an anemic Atom CPU and Intel IGP, has a cramped keyboard, all while starting at $1,300 with a 3 hour (Sony?s rating) battery. It look like the HP Voodoo Envy and Dell Adamo XPS have been canceled. These were the only real competitors in that category that I can recall. Are there any others?
You know, I think otherwise straight thinking types have so internalized the "Apple tax" meme that they can't drop it even when it makes no sense.
For instance, in an otherwise excellent review that balances the pluses and minuses of the new Airs, Anandtech has this mystifying bit:
While $999 is much more affordable than the previous generation MacBook Air, it?s at least $400 more than you would expect to pay for a notebook with these hardware specs. We?re talking about 2GB of memory, a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU with 3MB L2 cache and an NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics chipset.
I guess I would "expect to pay" $400 less if the notebook in question were simply a low specced Dell that weighed 4 or 5 pounds with shoddy build quality that got 3 hours of battery life, but WTF? What is this insistence on comparing the price of Apple gear according to an ever changing set of limited criteria seemingly tuned to put the result in the worst possible light?
Almost worth it. Now if Apple would only add a multitouch display that can flip and fold back over the keyboard like the convertible PC tablets and give it the capability to run iOS as well as Mac OS apps, I'd be willing to part with $1500 for the 11" model. Better yet, make it automatically switch to iOS when the keyboard is covered, although let the user choose the OS when the keyboard is exposed since both OSs can make use of keyboard input.
I think Apple realized pretty early on that those "convertible" designs were a bad idea. Any moving part is subject to wear & tear over time. The hinge in a standard laptop is a necessary evil?but rotating the hinge about one axis mitigates it somewhat. Rotating a screen around two axes magnifies the problem significantly, and is much more subject to failure, let alone wear and tear.