No one is buying UMPC's so they are really irrelevant. There may be some crack-pipe incuced notion of where a UMPC might be of use but its' quite different in form and function from the Air. There isn't even a real argument to be made here in comparing the Air to an UMPC.
The air is overall basically a laptop, just a very thin one. Like it or not, it's very likely (right, wrong or otherwise) to be judged on its merits as one. You can kick and scream and it won't change that a bit. People will judge for themselves whether a couple pounds and the sacrifices it demands are worth it to them. Some here in this thread said it's fine for them, and others think the Macbook is a better value overall.
I guess you can use some good iPod headphones, or if you have a big enough bag, pack some external speakers. Probably not a good idea if you travel via plane, but if you have a car it would be worhtwhile.
Packing portable speakers seems to defeat the point of trying to stay light and compact.
Packing portable speakers seems to defeat the point of trying to stay light and compact.
Well, maybe for some people. If you are 6'2" and 240 pounds and have a good sized computer backpack, you could pack a pair if wanted to. I don't have speakers, but I found some iPod headphones in my desk the other day. I guess some people will and some people won't. Now with huge footprint of the Macbook Air, you'd need a Ford Expedition to pack it in.
Packing portable speakers seems to defeat the point of trying to stay light and compact.
Most airlines supply headphones free or charge that use a mini-stereo jack. I have never once had to use the airline adapter for the noise-canceling headphones.
If someone was watching a movie or listening to music on their notebook without headphones I would ask them to stop. If they didn't I would close there machine. I'm not sure what I'd do after that as it's never came up. The use of the Air for frequent flyers seems pretty ubiquitous so the fact there is one pathetic speaker is perfectly alright by me. After all, headphones take up very little room in ones pocket.
Remote disc looks kinda disappointing. It's certainly not what I'd expected...
(text stolen from Engadget)
Bummer for media:
You can browse the file contents of DVD discs, but you cannot actually play that media back over the network.
You can't rip DVDs over the network using a tool like Handbrake.
You can't even browse a music CD or listen to tracks.
Don't even think about burning a disc remotely.
Remote Disc appears only to be able to share CD / DVD drives and CD / DVD discs, not high capacity / HD optical drives.
We tested sharing a regular DVD over an HD DVD drive, no luck. Data CDs on DVD drives worked fine though.
I wouldn't be doing a remote burn or re-encoding anyway. If I had an optical drive in another computer it would most likely be faster than the Air and therefore be better using Handbrake on that end.
But can you copy the Video_TS over the network and watch them locally using DVD Player or VLC player, or you can copy your files to the other computer and then burn your disc?
Why can't people find something positive to say about anything Apple does, hmmm? Apple has a way to install software onto the Macbook Air using another computer, for crying out loud. Find something positive to say, instead of it's crap because you can't do this...
Mossberg is a genius! If you turn all the power saving features off, the battery life goes to crap. What a discovery. No wonder he's the Tech columnist fot the WSJ.[/sarcasm]
I think you're being too harsh. That's the way he reviews all notebooks. He wants to be able to compare across product offerings that way, and it's perfectly fine with me.
Many people - including me - use their notebooks without the power-saving features off. That may not be the smartest thing to do, but what many in the real world do.
While the MBA bashing is starting to get pathetic. Most have gotten caught on one or two issues and complain that the MBA is absolutely worthless because of it. All it means is that the MBA is not for them.
I on the other hand am finding the MBA very intriguing and very close to my wants. I am looking to replace my aging 15" Powerbook that I use at home to surf the net, check email and other low intensity tasks. My concerns are the screen size (I find that 15" is not always enough), processor speed and cost. I can't wait to see one in person to see if the form factor will overrule my concerns.
I agree wholeheartedly. The nay-sayers are only saying - legitimately - that it does not suit their needs, but then they project that sentiment - quite arrogantly, and even naively - to the whole world.
Unfortunately, there is a self-selection bias in the type of person that chooses to post in forums like these. It tends to be the complainers/naysayers/hard-to-please/nitpickers etc. (I am each of those at various times). That's the nature of the beast.
The magsafe connector is also incompatible with other machines using magsafe so there's no possibility of sharing powerbricks. Why?
The powerbricks output different power so they wouldn't work, but the only difference I see with the MagSafe adapter is the positioning of the cable. MB and MBPs have the cable running straight out while the MBA has it running to the side. the connector looks the same.
It's been reported that though the connectors look the same, they aren't interchangeable.
What is different about them: reversed magnetic attraction, size, shape, something else?
edit: I just found the Gizmodo site explaining the MagSafe connectors do match up and are intercahngable, though not completely ideal.
"We just confirmed for ourselves that the MacBook Air's small MagSafe charger does work with the MacBook and MacBook Pro, but the MagSafe charger on the latter two don't work with the slot on the MacBook Air when you lay it flat on a table. It works fine on a lap, or if you slide it to the edge of your table."
If someone was watching a movie or listening to music on their notebook without headphones I would ask them to stop. If they didn't I would close there machine. I'm not sure what I'd do after that as it's never came up. The use of the Air for frequent flyers seems pretty ubiquitous so the fact there is one pathetic speaker is perfectly alright by me. After all, headphones take up very little room in ones pocket.
I think the point of caring about sound is more relevant when you are at home alone on the couch or better yet sitting in a hotel bed in Tokyo trying to watch a movie or something streaming.
Anyone else notice how they mention only pointless pros, yet very substantional cons? And the cons are exactly what I and everybody else have been saying for the past few days.
Comments
The air is overall basically a laptop, just a very thin one. Like it or not, it's very likely (right, wrong or otherwise) to be judged on its merits as one. You can kick and scream and it won't change that a bit. People will judge for themselves whether a couple pounds and the sacrifices it demands are worth it to them. Some here in this thread said it's fine for them, and others think the Macbook is a better value overall.
I guess you can use some good iPod headphones, or if you have a big enough bag, pack some external speakers. Probably not a good idea if you travel via plane, but if you have a car it would be worhtwhile.
Packing portable speakers seems to defeat the point of trying to stay light and compact.
The Current DS lite would look great in a gunmetal anodized aluminum finish.
Packing portable speakers seems to defeat the point of trying to stay light and compact.
Well, maybe for some people. If you are 6'2" and 240 pounds and have a good sized computer backpack, you could pack a pair if wanted to. I don't have speakers, but I found some iPod headphones in my desk the other day. I guess some people will and some people won't. Now with huge footprint of the Macbook Air, you'd need a Ford Expedition to pack it in.
(text stolen from Engadget)
Bummer for media:
You can browse the file contents of DVD discs, but you cannot actually play that media back over the network.
You can't rip DVDs over the network using a tool like Handbrake.
You can't even browse a music CD or listen to tracks.
Don't even think about burning a disc remotely.
Remote Disc appears only to be able to share CD / DVD drives and CD / DVD discs, not high capacity / HD optical drives.
We tested sharing a regular DVD over an HD DVD drive, no luck. Data CDs on DVD drives worked fine though.
Packing portable speakers seems to defeat the point of trying to stay light and compact.
Most airlines supply headphones free or charge that use a mini-stereo jack. I have never once had to use the airline adapter for the noise-canceling headphones.
If someone was watching a movie or listening to music on their notebook without headphones I would ask them to stop. If they didn't I would close there machine. I'm not sure what I'd do after that as it's never came up. The use of the Air for frequent flyers seems pretty ubiquitous so the fact there is one pathetic speaker is perfectly alright by me. After all, headphones take up very little room in ones pocket.
Remote disc looks kinda disappointing. It's certainly not what I'd expected...
(text stolen from Engadget)
Bummer for media:
You can browse the file contents of DVD discs, but you cannot actually play that media back over the network.
You can't rip DVDs over the network using a tool like Handbrake.
You can't even browse a music CD or listen to tracks.
Don't even think about burning a disc remotely.
Remote Disc appears only to be able to share CD / DVD drives and CD / DVD discs, not high capacity / HD optical drives.
We tested sharing a regular DVD over an HD DVD drive, no luck. Data CDs on DVD drives worked fine though.
I wouldn't be doing a remote burn or re-encoding anyway. If I had an optical drive in another computer it would most likely be faster than the Air and therefore be better using Handbrake on that end.
But can you copy the Video_TS over the network and watch them locally using DVD Player or VLC player, or you can copy your files to the other computer and then burn your disc?
Here's another oddity:
The magsafe connector is also incompatible with other machines using magsafe so there's no possibility of sharing powerbricks. Why?
Mossberg is a genius! If you turn all the power saving features off, the battery life goes to crap. What a discovery. No wonder he's the Tech columnist fot the WSJ.[/sarcasm]
I think you're being too harsh. That's the way he reviews all notebooks. He wants to be able to compare across product offerings that way, and it's perfectly fine with me.
Many people - including me - use their notebooks without the power-saving features off. That may not be the smartest thing to do, but what many in the real world do.
While the MBA bashing is starting to get pathetic. Most have gotten caught on one or two issues and complain that the MBA is absolutely worthless because of it. All it means is that the MBA is not for them.
I on the other hand am finding the MBA very intriguing and very close to my wants. I am looking to replace my aging 15" Powerbook that I use at home to surf the net, check email and other low intensity tasks. My concerns are the screen size (I find that 15" is not always enough), processor speed and cost. I can't wait to see one in person to see if the form factor will overrule my concerns.
I agree wholeheartedly. The nay-sayers are only saying - legitimately - that it does not suit their needs, but then they project that sentiment - quite arrogantly, and even naively - to the whole world.
Unfortunately, there is a self-selection bias in the type of person that chooses to post in forums like these. It tends to be the complainers/naysayers/hard-to-please/nitpickers etc. (I am each of those at various times). That's the nature of the beast.
The magsafe connector is also incompatible with other machines using magsafe so there's no possibility of sharing powerbricks. Why?
The powerbricks output different power so they wouldn't work, but the only difference I see with the MagSafe adapter is the positioning of the cable. MB and MBPs have the cable running straight out while the MBA has it running to the side. the connector looks the same.
It's been reported that though the connectors look the same, they aren't interchangeable.
What is different about them: reversed magnetic attraction, size, shape, something else?
edit: I just found the Gizmodo site explaining the MagSafe connectors do match up and are intercahngable, though not completely ideal.
$1,799 is way too much money for what can, by design, only be a secondary computer.
I think you mean "...way too much money..." for you (and perhaps people you know).
What is different about them: reversed magnetic attraction, size, shape, something else?
Ok, the article I read earlier has been corrected. Apparently, the connectors are compatible.
I'm glad to hear that because if they hadn't, it would really have bothered me (just from a WTF? standpoint).
(My info regarding that came from Gizmodo)
On a remote disc note, I wonder if you can use it to map iTunes to a drive on another machine?
If someone was watching a movie or listening to music on their notebook without headphones I would ask them to stop. If they didn't I would close there machine. I'm not sure what I'd do after that as it's never came up. The use of the Air for frequent flyers seems pretty ubiquitous so the fact there is one pathetic speaker is perfectly alright by me. After all, headphones take up very little room in ones pocket.
I think the point of caring about sound is more relevant when you are at home alone on the couch or better yet sitting in a hotel bed in Tokyo trying to watch a movie or something streaming.