MacBook Air: One instead of Two
"It's all about bucks, kid. The rest is conversation." Gordon Gekko - Wall Street 1987
Just realized that the cost of MacBook Air 1.8 GHz is the exact sum of a MacBook 2.0 GHz plus a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz.
MBAir = 3.098 $
MB + MBPro = 1.099 $ + 1.999 $ = 3.098 $
Is the MacBook Air worth two computer?
Titan10
::
Solid State Drive you crazy
Just realized that the cost of MacBook Air 1.8 GHz is the exact sum of a MacBook 2.0 GHz plus a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz.
MBAir = 3.098 $
MB + MBPro = 1.099 $ + 1.999 $ = 3.098 $
Is the MacBook Air worth two computer?
Titan10
::
Solid State Drive you crazy
Comments
Right.... but we do realize that MacBooks and MacBook Pros are not ultra-portables, right?
Sorry I do not.
I just realized that I can carry 2 pounds more, for a more powerful computer, and have a MacBook Pro for free.
Titan10
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It is a cost/benefit analisys
MacBook $1249 (w/ 2GB RAM)
MacBook Air $1799
MBP $1999
So, for less than the cost of a MBP and just 300 more than a MB, I can get a much lighter and more compact computer that is therefore much easier to carry around and to whip out and get to work with, which is just what some professionals (ie businessmen, writers, the like) are looking for. They don't want or need the power or expandability.
Where did you get the one for two bit? I wouldn't dream of the SSD drive for another year.
Right.... but we do realize that MacBooks and MacBook Pros are not ultra-portables, right?
The Air isn't an ultra-portable either, just an unusually thin/light normal size notebook.
Why do people compare these things like the SSD is standard rather than a luxury option?
For the same reason people compare the price of a nano to ipod classic? "Wow, for only $x more I can get x more GB's..." People always disregard the fact that shrinking something is expensive. Plus, of course, the R+D of engineering something into such a small package.
Sorry I do not.
I just realized that I can carry 2 pounds more, for a more powerful computer, and have a MacBook Pro for free.
Titan10
::
It is a cost/benefit analisys
No, you will have a computer that is approximately 10,000 times slower every time it accesses the hard drive. The vast majority of non-computer scientists have no idea of what a bottleneck reduction the flash drives are in comparison to traditional spinning hard drives. With a SSD you can reasonably kiss the spinning cursor of death goodbye for a properly running program.
Sorry I do not.
I just realized that I can carry 2 pounds more, for a more powerful computer, and have a MacBook Pro for free.
Titan10
::
It is a cost/benefit analisys
you are not the target audiance of these ultra lights: the target group s really two fold: celebu-tards with too much money to spend and executives who only need Excel and Poweropint and Outlook, and the lightest possible laptop for it as they travel and just want to toss it in their breif case inside a sleeve...this is not for the every day user, creative pro, or college student, it is for execs and the "gotta have the latest on the red carpet" crowd
that said, sign me up for a Macbook with 100GB SSD a couple years from now!
I work out pretty hard and wouldn't even mind if the computer weighed 5, 6, even 7 pounds. A few years ago I would carry around a bag with two laptops: a 6 pound TiBook and a 7 pound Toshiba. What's more important is the ability to easily slide into luggage, sleeves, briefcases, etc. As far as I can tell, in this regard the Air is at least a generation ahead of anything else in the industry. Going through airport security sucks. It's worse when your laptop is chunky and hard to pack and unpack. Same goes for accessing it when it's in an overhead bin.
I would also like to point out that usage of PDF is at least as important to the contemporary business traveller as is the usage of MS Office apps. This is a distinct advantage for the Air, simply because it runs a PDF-rich OS. Adobe Acrobat is a beast of an app which, frankly, is only valuable for going through very long, very detailed documents. Preview is much more responsive than is Acrobat, has all of the note-taking features of Acrobat Standard, and is essentially free. I can't image how sluggish Acrobat is on a Sony ultra-portable compared to how fast Preview would be on a MacBook Air.
By the way, I wouldn't exactly call myself an executive (or a celeb-u-tard).
Just realized that the cost of MacBook Air 1.8 GHz is the exact sum of a MacBook 2.0 GHz plus a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz.
MBAir = 3.098 $
MB + MBPro = 1.099 $ + 1.999 $ = 3.098 $
Uh, that's totally false. You're comparing an upgraded MBA to standard configs for the others. I mean, I could also say "OMG what a ripoff the MacBook is $2499 which is $700 more than the $1799 MBA!" and not explain that I upgraded the RAM and hard drive on the MacBook.
No, you will have a computer that is approximately 10,000 times slower every time it accesses the hard drive. The vast majority of non-computer scientists have no idea of what a bottleneck reduction the flash drives are in comparison to traditional spinning hard drives. With a SSD you can reasonably kiss the spinning cursor of death goodbye for a properly running program.
From what I've been able to research, SSD are faster reading, but slower writing as of today. In the future, it looks very promising.
Write speeds are a fraction of read speeds. Most benchmarks show an average of 8x-10x slower sustained write speeds then a spinning hard drive. They even state lower write speeds then read speeds in the specifications. However, it is usually much worse than even the stated speed. With the normal amount of random writes that occur, and file systems that are not optimized for flash on SSD, you will find that the real world tested write peformance on an SSD drive is lacking.
Anand Tech SSD test..
From what I've been able to research, SSD are faster reading, but slower writing as of today. In the future, it looks very promising.
Anand Tech SSD test..
No. I cannot accept those tests a face value. They were using a SSD with an IDE interface against an SATA 150 interface hard drive, and probably a horrendous driver to boot. That test isn't a measure of the SSD Flash capabilities, but a test of known interface technology speed differences. In short, the test is meaningless to the case of a MacBook Air.
The 1.8" drive in the MacBook Air is not an SATA150 interface, but a slow parallel ATA interface mounting a 4200 rpm drive, not the 7200 rpm platter which will also skew the test results compared to the actual MacBook Air. With the PATA interface being the same for both the SSD and the HD, there will be no comparison in performance, SSD will win by a mile.
The odd thing is: when I look at Apple's Store, I see
MacBook $1249 (w/ 2GB RAM)
MacBook Air $1799
MBP $1999
I write again the second line of my original message
"Just realized that the cost of MacBook Air 1.8 GHz is the exact sum of a MacBook 2.0 GHz plus a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz."
MacBook Air 3,098 $
MacBook 1,099 $
MacBook Pro 1,999 $
Titan10
I write again the second line of my original message
"Just realized that the cost of MacBook Air 1.8 GHz is the exact sum of a MacBook 2.0 GHz plus a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz."
MacBook Air 3,098 $
MacBook 1,099 $
MacBook Pro 1,999 $
Titan10
It's already been proven that you don't know what you're talking about - give it a rest.
I write again the second line of my original message
"Just realized that the cost of MacBook Air 1.8 GHz is the exact sum of a MacBook 2.0 GHz plus a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz."
MacBook Air 3,098 $
MacBook 1,099 $
MacBook Pro 1,999 $
Titan10
And a Mac Pro with the 3.2ghz, 32gb of RAM, this, that and blah costs more then the price of all of Apple's computers put together! Including the standard configuration of the Mac Pro!
I compared the price of three computer, all of them made by Apple, all of them portable.
My point is: with the price of one computer, you can buy two.
Obviously the have different specs.
A forum is a place to express an opinion and listen to other persons opinions.
Someone with a different opinion improve my knowledge of the matter because it gives a different point of view.
I compared the price of three computer, all of them made by Apple, all of them portable.
No, you didn't.
You compared the price of a spec'ed-out MacBook Air to the base model Macbook and the base model MacBook Pro.
The MacBook Air is $1799, not $3098, as you stated in your main premise. You were either wrong, or trolling. Admit it.
Uh, that's totally false. You're comparing an upgraded MBA to standard configs for the others. I mean, I could also say "OMG what a ripoff the MacBook is $2499 which is $700 more than the $1799 MBA!" and not explain that I upgraded the RAM and hard drive on the MacBook.
Exactly.
And if you want to be a jerk and say you said specifically the 1.8GHz Air, then you'd still be wrong. The (non spec'ed out) 1.8GHz MacBook Air is $2099.