Let's face it the original AIRs took a good concept and buggered it. They are possibly the best example in recent memory of design over function. The new AIRs did a 180 and successfully packaged up exactly what most people need in a light weight travel laptop. A triumph of function over design.
I don't agree. Apple used essentially the same design concept since the original MBA. The same design that countless of ranters on this forum assaulted Apple for. Why buy a crippled Macbook Pro? Can't play Crysis. It use's an "outdated" core2duo CPU!! Ghast!!
I was totally happy with my 2.5 year old MBA. It was a solid machine. If the new MBA never came, I would still have been happy using it. I sold it two months ago for a very, very nice chunk of change and applied it to my new MBA. What other trashy ulta-mobile machine can say the same thing?
Where are those ranters now? The MBA still has that same Core2Duo chip! Still has that same form factor. Still one of the more "expensive" (not much so) laptops around compared the garbage referred to as netbooks, and it is a ridiculously fast machine now.
With the huge success of the MBA, those critics are nowhere to be heard. Once again praise goes to Apple to ignoring those critics and moving forward on their beliefs head-on against the opposition. We'd still be stuck with clunky lead-weights of the 90's if the geeks, nerds, and tech-heads called the shots.
THE FUTURE IS HERE, TODAY, and it's called MB AIR!
Agreed!
But for too long, we have been conditioned to believe that a faster processor and more memory resulted in a far superior, faster and better experience. I won't point any fingers, but with the release of the "Air" Apple disproved that way of thinking - at least for me. That's why now when I turn on the idiot box and see manufacturers boasting about how fast you can type out a text message, or about how the snap dragon processor will cure cancer, I get a nice little chuckle. They obviously don't own a MacBook Air.
At the end of the keynote Wednesday, Steve addressed this very thing - And once again the tech world took his message to mean Apple has conceded performance to its competitors. It's sad - very sad.
Let's face it the original AIRs took a good concept and buggered it.
I see it as Apple took a good concept and made it great - They used what they learned as the foundation for perfecting the current iteration. And I absolutely love it.
Seeing the iPad will never have the Cortex-A9 I would say both of you are incorrect. The iPad 2 will have the A5 which is not just another name for the A9.
Right.. and AAPL will "never" hit $270 in this economy as you've said in the past. You should seriously consider removing the word "Never" from your vocabulary. Would do you better in forum postings.
Apple is using ARM's reference design for the A9 (and prior A8) and modifying it to suit their needs. Hence, we had the A4 and A5 chips. Nowhere does it say that Apple is required to use the "A8" or "A9" name. A4 and A5 is Apple's own name for their own use. Heck, they could have called it "Pixie-dust" and ARM could care less.
Yeah, of course lowering the price opens the door to new buyers, but neither you nor tipoo have made a case for this being advantageous for Apple. Are you sure they can still get a good profit at that price point? How are you sure that they aren’t selling as many as they can make at $999? If $799 is good then $599 is even better, and $399 is even better than that, and $199 is better still, which makes throwing out a number because you like the way it looks a fruitless way to form an argument for a company lowering their price.
No, I have no idea about their profit margins. I was just speaking to the statement that the 13 inch MBP and the MBA are probably eating the macbooks lunch in terms of sales, its just not compelling at that price.
My 3-month old 13" MBA is a treat to use each time. I actually end up using it more than my 27" i7 iMac now. The SSD setup makes my MBA much faster for everyday use. Phenomenal machine.
I would question your need for a desktop system if you think the Air is more productive for your needs.
The Macbook Air has proven itself as a mainstream product. I've been seeing a ton of them lately- 4 just in the coffee shop tonight. Apple should just go ahead and drop the white Macbook this year and call it a day. They can also drop the 'Air' from the line and simply advertise them as Macbooks.
Happy MBA owner, but to say it is almost as good as a 27" i7 (which I also own) is a bit of a hyperbole. AutoCAD in Parallels is noticably slow, although I wouldn't expect much more. MS Office on the other hand, I would have expected no noticable different. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Each has their purpose, and happy to use each for it's strengths. Just wish it wasn't as painful to deal with ACAD. Also really wish it had an ethernet port; the lack of one defeats the purpose of bringing it into the office at all.
Absolutely loving my 13" ultimate MBA. Best computer I've ever owned. I slip it in my shoulder bag and hardly know it's there, great battery life, beautiful screen. Couldn't ask for anything more than this.
I want a MacBook Air but I'll wait til the first revision to have a Thunderbolt port. I need to be able to access decent video files, ProRes and bigger (not edit them especially, just deal with media) and the idea of having to buy an MBP just to get that is stopping me in my tracks. So please. Thunderbolt on the Air, soon!
Happy MBA owner, but to say it is almost as good as a 27" i7 (which I also own) is a bit of a hyperbole. AutoCAD in Parallels is noticably slow, although I wouldn't expect much more. MS Office on the other hand, I would have expected no noticable different. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Each has their purpose, and happy to use each for it's strengths. Just wish it wasn't as painful to deal with ACAD. Also really wish it had an ethernet port; the lack of one defeats the purpose of bringing it into the office at all.
Which is why I said that for every-day tasks, my MBA is more pleasant to use. I use my i7 iMac for the heavy-duty CPU stuff which thankfully, I only need access to when I'm at home.
My MBA is mainly for business-use like Office, 5250 sessions, etc... For this type of work, my iMac may be faster for the CPU stuff, but is hindered by a slow hard drive. My MBA may have a slower CPU, but it more than makes up for it for it's crazy-fast SSD setup. The SSD can finally keep up with the CPU and it makes a huge world of difference in everyday computing.
I was one of those who bought one of the 1,000,000 MacsBooks Airs. Great computer. I got the top of the line 11" and it is the best electronic device i have ever purchased.
Comments
You don't see report saying Ford have sold over 14 millions Ford Focuses, do you?
Well, Ford Foci would just sound silly. Of course Toyota did recently declare that the plural of Prius is Prii...
http://www.toyota.com/upcoming-vehicles/prius-family/
Let's face it the original AIRs took a good concept and buggered it. They are possibly the best example in recent memory of design over function. The new AIRs did a 180 and successfully packaged up exactly what most people need in a light weight travel laptop. A triumph of function over design.
I don't agree. Apple used essentially the same design concept since the original MBA. The same design that countless of ranters on this forum assaulted Apple for. Why buy a crippled Macbook Pro? Can't play Crysis. It use's an "outdated" core2duo CPU!! Ghast!!
I was totally happy with my 2.5 year old MBA. It was a solid machine. If the new MBA never came, I would still have been happy using it. I sold it two months ago for a very, very nice chunk of change and applied it to my new MBA. What other trashy ulta-mobile machine can say the same thing?
Where are those ranters now? The MBA still has that same Core2Duo chip! Still has that same form factor. Still one of the more "expensive" (not much so) laptops around compared the garbage referred to as netbooks, and it is a ridiculously fast machine now.
With the huge success of the MBA, those critics are nowhere to be heard. Once again praise goes to Apple to ignoring those critics and moving forward on their beliefs head-on against the opposition. We'd still be stuck with clunky lead-weights of the 90's if the geeks, nerds, and tech-heads called the shots.
THE FUTURE IS HERE, TODAY, and it's called MB AIR!
Agreed!
But for too long, we have been conditioned to believe that a faster processor and more memory resulted in a far superior, faster and better experience. I won't point any fingers, but with the release of the "Air" Apple disproved that way of thinking - at least for me. That's why now when I turn on the idiot box and see manufacturers boasting about how fast you can type out a text message, or about how the snap dragon processor will cure cancer, I get a nice little chuckle. They obviously don't own a MacBook Air.
At the end of the keynote Wednesday, Steve addressed this very thing - And once again the tech world took his message to mean Apple has conceded performance to its competitors. It's sad - very sad.
We agree up to this point.
MacBook is a noun. Air is used as an adjective. The noun gets the 's' and the adjective doesn't.
I want a 15" MacBook Air.
That's not right. MacBook Air is the name of the product.
Let's face it the original AIRs took a good concept and buggered it.
I see it as Apple took a good concept and made it great - They used what they learned as the foundation for perfecting the current iteration. And I absolutely love it.
Seeing the iPad will never have the Cortex-A9 I would say both of you are incorrect. The iPad 2 will have the A5 which is not just another name for the A9.
No need to believe me on this one.
http://www.arm.com/products/processo...ex-a/index.php
Right.. and AAPL will "never" hit $270 in this economy as you've said in the past. You should seriously consider removing the word "Never" from your vocabulary. Would do you better in forum postings.
Apple is using ARM's reference design for the A9 (and prior A8) and modifying it to suit their needs. Hence, we had the A4 and A5 chips. Nowhere does it say that Apple is required to use the "A8" or "A9" name. A4 and A5 is Apple's own name for their own use. Heck, they could have called it "Pixie-dust" and ARM could care less.
Yeah, of course lowering the price opens the door to new buyers, but neither you nor tipoo have made a case for this being advantageous for Apple. Are you sure they can still get a good profit at that price point? How are you sure that they aren’t selling as many as they can make at $999? If $799 is good then $599 is even better, and $399 is even better than that, and $199 is better still, which makes throwing out a number because you like the way it looks a fruitless way to form an argument for a company lowering their price.
No, I have no idea about their profit margins. I was just speaking to the statement that the 13 inch MBP and the MBA are probably eating the macbooks lunch in terms of sales, its just not compelling at that price.
My 3-month old 13" MBA is a treat to use each time. I actually end up using it more than my 27" i7 iMac now. The SSD setup makes my MBA much faster for everyday use. Phenomenal machine.
I would question your need for a desktop system if you think the Air is more productive for your needs.
MacBook is a noun. Air is used as an adjective. The noun gets the 's' and the adjective doesn't.
The MacBook Air is great but I'm satisfied with my MacBooks Pro for the time being.
We like our iPods Touch too.
Each has their purpose, and happy to use each for it's strengths. Just wish it wasn't as painful to deal with ACAD. Also really wish it had an ethernet port; the lack of one defeats the purpose of bringing it into the office at all.
Happy MBA owner, but to say it is almost as good as a 27" i7 (which I also own) is a bit of a hyperbole. AutoCAD in Parallels is noticably slow, although I wouldn't expect much more. MS Office on the other hand, I would have expected no noticable different. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Each has their purpose, and happy to use each for it's strengths. Just wish it wasn't as painful to deal with ACAD. Also really wish it had an ethernet port; the lack of one defeats the purpose of bringing it into the office at all.
Which is why I said that for every-day tasks, my MBA is more pleasant to use. I use my i7 iMac for the heavy-duty CPU stuff which thankfully, I only need access to when I'm at home.
My MBA is mainly for business-use like Office, 5250 sessions, etc... For this type of work, my iMac may be faster for the CPU stuff, but is hindered by a slow hard drive. My MBA may have a slower CPU, but it more than makes up for it for it's crazy-fast SSD setup. The SSD can finally keep up with the CPU and it makes a huge world of difference in everyday computing.
Apple should make a really portable MacBook Air:
- 400 to 600 g.
- 5 to 7-inch screen.
- Pocketable.
The ultimate Keynote and PowerPoint presentation tool!
Just when I thought I would never hear you say this kind of list again
Know what? There is already a device like that! It's called "Dell Streak"
It is also a steaming pile of bull crap.
Also, the default 2GB RAM is woefully inadequate in 2011.