So far I heard people getting around 3 hours of usage. I forgot how the test is conducted.
Anyway I love AppleInsider and I found this article really akward.
First of all the title is misleading, as much as we love apple. You cant change the fact that the MBA is not design for everybody. With the lack of USB port you cant even watch movie while charging your ipod unless you decide to rent it like Steve suggests. (or get a USB hub which will look ugly with your Air) Lack of RAM upgrade means once your laptop use most of its memory, there is no way for you to upgrade it (yet). And also it would be a hassle just to go to a Apple store to replace your battery, imagine if that guy is very far from a Apple Centre and his MBA battery is dead. How is he going to use his Air?.
Bottomline, I love how the MBA looks and feels but its certainly not for everyone, you cant change the fact that its not for mainstream users.
- Firewire (Target Disk Mode for repairs is a must)
_ Ethernet port (Wireless is not everywhere)
- Video out port (again, Wireless is not everywhere)
- More USB ports (one is not enough)
I guess you missed the entire point of the article. The MBA is not a smaller MBP. It's a different computer designed for people who don't need all that excess functionality.
If you want Fireware, video out, several USB ports, and Ethernet, then you want an MBP, not an MBA.
This is the first apple product with some major sacrifices. So we all need to get some getting use to
Actually ALL Apple products (as well as all products from every other computer manufacturer) involve some sacrifices. The bottom line is that no product will satisfy everyone all the time, so every manufacturer has to decide which features to include and which to leave it.
The strange thing is the number of people who apparently never understood that - and can't understand now that Apple has chosen a specific set of trade-offs for the MBA to target a specific niche. If they aren't part of the target audience, that doesn't mean that Apple is evil or stupid, it just means they should buy a different model of Apple (or other) laptop.
2) Who would buy an expensive FW flash drive when a higher capacity for USB is cheaper?
3) You don't need FW for TDM.
I just talked to Steve this morning. They are making a new notebook that has everything everything everyone has asked for. It;s called the MacBook Waah!.
Actually, they already have it on sale: it's called the MacPro with a Cinema Display.
Maybe you should check the name of this thread again?
They have been writing long pieces in various threads, regardless of the title. The title of this thread is in a question form, which leads me to imagine that it is being a little sarcastic, perhaps, particularly because there were so many negative posts of great length before this thread was started.
- Firewire (Target Disk Mode for repairs is a must)
_ Ethernet port (Wireless is not everywhere)
- Video out port (again, Wireless is not everywhere)
- More USB ports (one is not enough)
Meanwhile, note that all that and in particular the Firewire port is possible even for tiny devices like the Kanguru Fire Flash (Firewire Flash Drive):
I would assume that running the MBA and charging the battery at the same time makes it getting hot. Imagine just running it produces approx. 8 watts of heat dissipation, which is fine apparently. Charging produces another (uneducated guess) 8 watts, so there is twice the heat to get rid of. Of course it gets hot that way. I've noticed a similar behavior on all the laptops I've owned, albeit not to the same extent. But with a very tight heat envelope such as the MBA would have probably, what you describe doesn't sound totally unreasonable.
I wouldn't have really mentioned it if that were the case - the laptop was getting extremely hot, fan was at maximum, and it was NOT charging. I merely turned it on for a few minutes.
Like I said, it hasn't displayed this behavior since, and I've even been using it while charging too - it does just fine. I'm not worried, but I figured it was worth noting.
1. How is the battery life under different conditions? Are the promised 5 hours with WLAN reached?
From my experience, yes. The rated 5 hours with WiFi while web browsing is achievable. Keep in mind, this is JUST for web browsing. Bluetooth off, power to maximum battery savings. LCD set to 30%.
Add in bluetooth + WiFi, + email, + web browsing + ichat +itunes + lcd at 50-60% and I've gotten a little over 4 hours..not to shabby if you ask me. Now, to be fair, I wasn't really pounding away at the thing going to different webpages like crazy trying to tax the machine - however I was using it as most people would.
Quote:
How is it with the SSD?
I'm utilizing the 80GB so I can't comment on the SSD. However the 80GB doesn't appear to be slowing the machine down noticably at all..I'm quite happy.
Quote:
2. Does the automatic brightness adjustment for screen and keyboard work well enough, so I don't have to adjust brightness manually?
From my experience, the automatic brightness seems to work great on the keyboard backlight, and though it does work on the LCD, I tend to change the setting anyway when I'm on battery as I want it to be lower than the sensor usually sets it for.
Quote:
3. Is the performance of the machine satisfiying for: Webbrowsing/Flash-Sites, iPhoto/iMovie and Office/iWork?
Simply - Yes. The Core 2 Duo 1.6 is very well up to the task for all of the above. The machine is very zippy. Now, obviously encoding movies in iMovie is going to be slower than a Pro, but I'd assume you were expecting that anyway
Quote:
4. How hot does it get, and how loud does it get in the usage described in (3)?
It gets warm on your lap, but not scorching. I haven't delved into iMovie much on this thing, however I can say for all the other uses, the machine does not get loud at all - you hardly ever hear the fan in it, and when you do, it's very quiet.
Quote:
5. Is the sound of the built-in speaker good enough to share a movie with a second person?
The built-in speaker does achieve a decent volume, and the audio quality is decent for a laptop speaker. It's somewhat annoying having only mono sound, and that becomes even more wierd when you realize that they mounted it on the right side of the keyboard under the keys. This makes it so the sound doesn't seem "centered" with the screen, which is just plain odd at first. It also makes the sound odd as you're typing as your hands will go back and forth between you and the speaker, changing the sound field.
I guess you missed the entire point of the article. The MBA is not a smaller MBP. It's a different computer designed for people who don't need all that excess functionality.
If you want Fireware, video out, several USB ports, and Ethernet, then you want an MBP, not an MBA.
A lot of you seem to have the idea that the MBA doesn't have video out- I don't know where you got that, because it does- ships with both Micro DVI and Micro VGA adaptors- at least mine did!
To try to do a two line summary of this article, the MBA will be criticized (like many Apple products) because it doesn't conform to a conventional checklist approach to picking the product features to put in the design. Instead, what Apple did was pick the important most used quality for a light weight notebook, and incorporate those- and nothing more.
I have an MBP17. I use the DVD drive mainly for installing software, or importing a DVD to Drive in, and I'm never doing those on the road. An external light weight Superdrive that can be tossed in the luggage if needed in the hotel room works fine for me. My laptop is hardly ever are connected via ethernet, given my Airport Extreme at home and the ubiquity of wireless in US hotels these days.
I have a MacBook, loaned it to a friend, because the lack of a backlit keyboards is a real hassle on airline flights, and an inconvenience in dimly lit hotel rooms (the way I like them in the evening).
I'm sure you can see a pattern emerging here.
My MBA came in Friday, and a spent a few hours installing software on Saturday to put just what I need on it- cloning the MBP17 didn't seem the best way to go. All the apps I played with after installing, to assess performance, and they seemed to run just fine- I was concerned before actually having the system in hand how the 80GB 1.8" HD would do, but it seems quite adequate. Installed software includes iWorks, Office 2008, Adobe LightRoom, Scrivener, Pixelmator, Things, Journler, Curio, MathType, Together, Rosetta Stone, OmniPlan, ViaCAD, and OmniFocus. Lots of room left after dumping a bunch of data files on board- over 30GB.
Nothing really prepares you for how light it is and how nicely the form factor works, or the display looks. The Touchpad is a step up from previous Apple models, too, as is the functionality.
Though I've ordered an SF Bags Racer-X for it, I also found that it slips nicely in the document folder of an aluminum briefcase I have, with all the accessories, including a mouse and Belkin USB hub for site offices or the hotel room, and a set of noise canceling headphones. Can't do that with any other laptop I've got. It's just what I want for travel- of which I do a lot.
Once again, AppleInsider has chosen to take a swing at Apple even while musing about the potential of their newest product, the MacBook Air. The title "What's wrong with the MacBook Air?" will be universally interpreted as an indication that there is indeed something very wrong with the MacBook Air?which, of course, there is not.
It could also be interpreted as a defense:
- "lol, you bought a MacBook Air?"
- "what's wrong with the Air?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by brianb
....The OP makes a good point - though I was weary at first (heck, I almost cancelled my order after learning there was no dvd drive....
Why do I get the impression that if it were $3000 with an internal 32GB SSD and 80GB drive there would be a lot less whining going on? There's not a lot of room in there for more chips so maybe it could be tiny hair thicker on one edge or something.
What I'm very concerned with is the physical durability of the laptop. It's so thin at the opening end I'd be concerned with wear and tear after a few months. How fragile is this thing?
Everyone who has reviewed the MBA praised its sturdy build quality; I am sure it won't be an issue.
The MBA is kinda expensive for my mobile needs, but is surely the way to go in case I wanna replace my old iBook...no useless ports, no bulky loads, while thin as a razor blade with more than enough power...all I need for now.
No, it's obviously not a smaller MBP ... the problem is that it's priced like one.
Have you checked the pricing for comparable computers? The Sony equivalent, for example, has a much slower processor and smaller screen, but costs $800 more than the MBA.
No, it's obviously not a smaller MBP ... the problem is that it's priced like one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
Have you checked the pricing for comparable computers? The Sony equivalent, for example, has a much slower processor and smaller screen, but costs $800 more than the MBA.
Smallness costs money.
The haters here don't want logic and facts. They want torches and pitch forks.
Actually ALL Apple products (as well as all products from every other computer manufacturer) involve some sacrifices. The bottom line is that no product will satisfy everyone all the time, so every manufacturer has to decide which features to include and which to leave it.
The strange thing is the number of people who apparently never understood that - and can't understand now that Apple has chosen a specific set of trade-offs for the MBA to target a specific niche. If they aren't part of the target audience, that doesn't mean that Apple is evil or stupid, it just means they should buy a different model of Apple (or other) laptop.
The sad thing is thing is how many people are spec whores and bean counters. They only evaluate things on how high or how low the numbers are and the number of features the device has. They never look at its usability. I don't know the number of times I have heard somebody trumpet how great a device was because it had n features. Never mind that the ten core features didn't work and the rest of the features had no impact on the devices functionality. We need to have more people do their evaluations based on functionality.
So far the best criticism I have heard about the MBA is the lack of a cellphone card slot. That would be a big feature to the targeted customer. Not everybody goes to Starbucks.
Comments
Maybe you should check the name of this thread again?
That's right, the question actually asks: "What's WRONG with the MBA?"
NOT
"What's GREAT with the MBA?"
(But I'm a Pro MBA fan myself and when I save enough money, I'll go to town on this badboy in June!)
5 hours with WLAN reached
So far I heard people getting around 3 hours of usage. I forgot how the test is conducted.
Anyway I love AppleInsider and I found this article really akward.
First of all the title is misleading, as much as we love apple. You cant change the fact that the MBA is not design for everybody. With the lack of USB port you cant even watch movie while charging your ipod unless you decide to rent it like Steve suggests. (or get a USB hub which will look ugly with your Air) Lack of RAM upgrade means once your laptop use most of its memory, there is no way for you to upgrade it (yet). And also it would be a hassle just to go to a Apple store to replace your battery, imagine if that guy is very far from a Apple Centre and his MBA battery is dead. How is he going to use his Air?.
Bottomline, I love how the MBA looks and feels but its certainly not for everyone, you cant change the fact that its not for mainstream users.
We will purchase when MacBook Air has:
- Firewire (Target Disk Mode for repairs is a must)
_ Ethernet port (Wireless is not everywhere)
- Video out port (again, Wireless is not everywhere)
- More USB ports (one is not enough)
I guess you missed the entire point of the article. The MBA is not a smaller MBP. It's a different computer designed for people who don't need all that excess functionality.
If you want Fireware, video out, several USB ports, and Ethernet, then you want an MBP, not an MBA.
This is the first apple product with some major sacrifices. So we all need to get some getting use to
Actually ALL Apple products (as well as all products from every other computer manufacturer) involve some sacrifices. The bottom line is that no product will satisfy everyone all the time, so every manufacturer has to decide which features to include and which to leave it.
The strange thing is the number of people who apparently never understood that - and can't understand now that Apple has chosen a specific set of trade-offs for the MBA to target a specific niche. If they aren't part of the target audience, that doesn't mean that Apple is evil or stupid, it just means they should buy a different model of Apple (or other) laptop.
1) FW is not often used.
2) Who would buy an expensive FW flash drive when a higher capacity for USB is cheaper?
3) You don't need FW for TDM.
I just talked to Steve this morning. They are making a new notebook that has everything everything everyone has asked for. It;s called the MacBook Waah!.
Actually, they already have it on sale: it's called the MacPro with a Cinema Display.
does the Mac OSX "migration" feature work with external usb drives, or only with f/w drives?
The Air does that over the network.
Except if all partitions fail. Firewire target disk mode is a MUST. No Firewire, no purchase. That simple.
The firmware supports booting from a disk on a nother computer.
Maybe you should check the name of this thread again?
They have been writing long pieces in various threads, regardless of the title. The title of this thread is in a question form, which leads me to imagine that it is being a little sarcastic, perhaps, particularly because there were so many negative posts of great length before this thread was started.
Or did that miss a few people?
We will purchase when MacBook Air has:
- Firewire (Target Disk Mode for repairs is a must)
_ Ethernet port (Wireless is not everywhere)
- Video out port (again, Wireless is not everywhere)
- More USB ports (one is not enough)
Meanwhile, note that all that and in particular the Firewire port is possible even for tiny devices like the Kanguru Fire Flash (Firewire Flash Drive):
http://www.kanguru.com/fireflash.html
And one last thing... We also need this with both Firewire and Mac OS X inside:
OQO Model e2
http://www.oqo.com/intl
Yeah that's a really obnoxious post. Uncle Steve will get right on that...
I would assume that running the MBA and charging the battery at the same time makes it getting hot. Imagine just running it produces approx. 8 watts of heat dissipation, which is fine apparently. Charging produces another (uneducated guess) 8 watts, so there is twice the heat to get rid of. Of course it gets hot that way. I've noticed a similar behavior on all the laptops I've owned, albeit not to the same extent. But with a very tight heat envelope such as the MBA would have probably, what you describe doesn't sound totally unreasonable.
I wouldn't have really mentioned it if that were the case - the laptop was getting extremely hot, fan was at maximum, and it was NOT charging. I merely turned it on for a few minutes.
Like I said, it hasn't displayed this behavior since, and I've even been using it while charging too - it does just fine. I'm not worried, but I figured it was worth noting.
I guess you missed the entire point of the article. The MBA is not a smaller MBP.
No, it's obviously not a smaller MBP ... the problem is that it's priced like one.
1. How is the battery life under different conditions? Are the promised 5 hours with WLAN reached?
From my experience, yes. The rated 5 hours with WiFi while web browsing is achievable. Keep in mind, this is JUST for web browsing. Bluetooth off, power to maximum battery savings. LCD set to 30%.
Add in bluetooth + WiFi, + email, + web browsing + ichat +itunes + lcd at 50-60% and I've gotten a little over 4 hours..not to shabby if you ask me. Now, to be fair, I wasn't really pounding away at the thing going to different webpages like crazy trying to tax the machine - however I was using it as most people would.
How is it with the SSD?
I'm utilizing the 80GB so I can't comment on the SSD. However the 80GB doesn't appear to be slowing the machine down noticably at all..I'm quite happy.
2. Does the automatic brightness adjustment for screen and keyboard work well enough, so I don't have to adjust brightness manually?
From my experience, the automatic brightness seems to work great on the keyboard backlight, and though it does work on the LCD, I tend to change the setting anyway when I'm on battery as I want it to be lower than the sensor usually sets it for.
3. Is the performance of the machine satisfiying for: Webbrowsing/Flash-Sites, iPhoto/iMovie and Office/iWork?
Simply - Yes. The Core 2 Duo 1.6 is very well up to the task for all of the above. The machine is very zippy. Now, obviously encoding movies in iMovie is going to be slower than a Pro, but I'd assume you were expecting that anyway
4. How hot does it get, and how loud does it get in the usage described in (3)?
It gets warm on your lap, but not scorching. I haven't delved into iMovie much on this thing, however I can say for all the other uses, the machine does not get loud at all - you hardly ever hear the fan in it, and when you do, it's very quiet.
5. Is the sound of the built-in speaker good enough to share a movie with a second person?
The built-in speaker does achieve a decent volume, and the audio quality is decent for a laptop speaker. It's somewhat annoying having only mono sound, and that becomes even more wierd when you realize that they mounted it on the right side of the keyboard under the keys. This makes it so the sound doesn't seem "centered" with the screen, which is just plain odd at first. It also makes the sound odd as you're typing as your hands will go back and forth between you and the speaker, changing the sound field.
I guess you missed the entire point of the article. The MBA is not a smaller MBP. It's a different computer designed for people who don't need all that excess functionality.
If you want Fireware, video out, several USB ports, and Ethernet, then you want an MBP, not an MBA.
A lot of you seem to have the idea that the MBA doesn't have video out- I don't know where you got that, because it does- ships with both Micro DVI and Micro VGA adaptors- at least mine did!
To try to do a two line summary of this article, the MBA will be criticized (like many Apple products) because it doesn't conform to a conventional checklist approach to picking the product features to put in the design. Instead, what Apple did was pick the important most used quality for a light weight notebook, and incorporate those- and nothing more.
I have an MBP17. I use the DVD drive mainly for installing software, or importing a DVD to Drive in, and I'm never doing those on the road. An external light weight Superdrive that can be tossed in the luggage if needed in the hotel room works fine for me. My laptop is hardly ever are connected via ethernet, given my Airport Extreme at home and the ubiquity of wireless in US hotels these days.
I have a MacBook, loaned it to a friend, because the lack of a backlit keyboards is a real hassle on airline flights, and an inconvenience in dimly lit hotel rooms (the way I like them in the evening).
I'm sure you can see a pattern emerging here.
My MBA came in Friday, and a spent a few hours installing software on Saturday to put just what I need on it- cloning the MBP17 didn't seem the best way to go. All the apps I played with after installing, to assess performance, and they seemed to run just fine- I was concerned before actually having the system in hand how the 80GB 1.8" HD would do, but it seems quite adequate. Installed software includes iWorks, Office 2008, Adobe LightRoom, Scrivener, Pixelmator, Things, Journler, Curio, MathType, Together, Rosetta Stone, OmniPlan, ViaCAD, and OmniFocus. Lots of room left after dumping a bunch of data files on board- over 30GB.
Nothing really prepares you for how light it is and how nicely the form factor works, or the display looks. The Touchpad is a step up from previous Apple models, too, as is the functionality.
Though I've ordered an SF Bags Racer-X for it, I also found that it slips nicely in the document folder of an aluminum briefcase I have, with all the accessories, including a mouse and Belkin USB hub for site offices or the hotel room, and a set of noise canceling headphones. Can't do that with any other laptop I've got. It's just what I want for travel- of which I do a lot.
~Jon
No, it's obviously not a smaller MBP ... the problem is that it's priced like one.
It's not. It's priced like an ultraportable.
Once again, AppleInsider has chosen to take a swing at Apple even while musing about the potential of their newest product, the MacBook Air. The title "What's wrong with the MacBook Air?" will be universally interpreted as an indication that there is indeed something very wrong with the MacBook Air?which, of course, there is not.
It could also be interpreted as a defense:
- "lol, you bought a MacBook Air?"
- "what's wrong with the Air?"
....The OP makes a good point - though I was weary at first (heck, I almost cancelled my order after learning there was no dvd drive....
You didn't pick that up from the keynote?
It's not. It's priced like an ultraportable.
Why do I get the impression that if it were $3000 with an internal 32GB SSD and 80GB drive there would be a lot less whining going on? There's not a lot of room in there for more chips so maybe it could be tiny hair thicker on one edge or something.
What I'm very concerned with is the physical durability of the laptop. It's so thin at the opening end I'd be concerned with wear and tear after a few months. How fragile is this thing?
Everyone who has reviewed the MBA praised its sturdy build quality; I am sure it won't be an issue.
The MBA is kinda expensive for my mobile needs, but is surely the way to go in case I wanna replace my old iBook...no useless ports, no bulky loads, while thin as a razor blade with more than enough power...all I need for now.
No, it's obviously not a smaller MBP ... the problem is that it's priced like one.
Have you checked the pricing for comparable computers? The Sony equivalent, for example, has a much slower processor and smaller screen, but costs $800 more than the MBA.
Smallness costs money.
No, it's obviously not a smaller MBP ... the problem is that it's priced like one.
Have you checked the pricing for comparable computers? The Sony equivalent, for example, has a much slower processor and smaller screen, but costs $800 more than the MBA.
Smallness costs money.
The haters here don't want logic and facts. They want torches and pitch forks.
Actually ALL Apple products (as well as all products from every other computer manufacturer) involve some sacrifices. The bottom line is that no product will satisfy everyone all the time, so every manufacturer has to decide which features to include and which to leave it.
The strange thing is the number of people who apparently never understood that - and can't understand now that Apple has chosen a specific set of trade-offs for the MBA to target a specific niche. If they aren't part of the target audience, that doesn't mean that Apple is evil or stupid, it just means they should buy a different model of Apple (or other) laptop.
The sad thing is thing is how many people are spec whores and bean counters. They only evaluate things on how high or how low the numbers are and the number of features the device has. They never look at its usability. I don't know the number of times I have heard somebody trumpet how great a device was because it had n features. Never mind that the ten core features didn't work and the rest of the features had no impact on the devices functionality. We need to have more people do their evaluations based on functionality.
So far the best criticism I have heard about the MBA is the lack of a cellphone card slot. That would be a big feature to the targeted customer. Not everybody goes to Starbucks.