for me the battery has to change for the Air. I think the current battery life isn't great for a supposed travellers note book. Its close to 2-3 hours under heavy use and should really be reaching for 7 hours under light use. I am assuming that a traveller has no access to power points over a course of a week regularly. Which brings into question the battery. I regularly take my laptop around for work (auditing). The battery is shot to pieces usually by the first year. For Apple to require the battery be replaced by them (turnover time of around 3 Business days here in Australia) is ridiculous. What exactly can you accomplish from a business perspective in those three days? Do you just stop working? Even if it took one day, does that mean your productivity takes a dive for that one day the battery decides to hightail it on you?
This i think is more important then another USB port
Sorry if this has been mentioned but I can't go back through every post to see if it has:
IMHO, the MacBook Air could most definitely benefit from just one more port and I think my reasoning is fully consistent with Apple's theme for the MBA: It's clearly a mobile computer yet there are many places where the only means (or best means) of connectivity is via a 3G service. If that wasn't important then we wouldn't be seeing all the demands for it in the iPhone. As it stands, the only way to achieve that type of wireless connection is to use the one and only USB port. Since Apple apparently has intended the MBA to be the most mobile and least desktop like of all of their computers, I doubt they view a USB hub as either desirable or necessary. However, for practical purposes using a 3G service almost forces you into a hub to achieve any additional USB functionality.
Sorry if this has been mentioned but I can't go back through every post to see if it has:
IMHO, the MacBook Air could most definitely benefit from just one more port and I think my reasoning is fully consistent with Apple's theme for the MBA: It's clearly a mobile computer yet there are many places where the only means (or best means) of connectivity is via a 3G service. If that wasn't important then we wouldn't be seeing all the demands for it in the iPhone. As it stands, the only way to achieve that type of wireless connection is to use the one and only USB port. Since Apple apparently has intended the MBA to be the most mobile and least desktop like of all of their computers, I doubt they view a USB hub as either desirable or necessary. However, for practical purposes using a 3G service almost forces you into a hub to achieve any additional USB functionality.
That makes sense, but what port are you suggesting? Another USB? IMO both 3G over USB and Ethernet over USB are bad ideas. An expresscard slot would make an excellent 3G modem or an Ethernet connector or a Wimax card if that technology ever arrives. This would satisfy everyone. Unfortunately, it's probably even harder to accomplish than an additional USB.
That makes sense, but what port are you suggesting? Another USB? IMO both 3G over USB and Ethernet over USB are bad ideas. An expresscard slot would make an excellent 3G modem or an Ethernet connector or a Wimax card if that technology ever arrives. This would satisfy everyone. Unfortunately, it's probably even harder to accomplish than an additional USB.
Ideally an ExpressCard slot would be best but I suspect an additional USB port would be more likely... especially since the MacBook Pro is the only current Mac with an ExpressCard slot.
The Express card slot is history. Sorry, it ain't ever comin' back, baby.
All of the mobile carriers in the UK offer 3G broadband cards over USB. They work very well and in many instances are faster than Ethernet broadband connections.
Similarly, the Ethernet port over USB on the Air also works pretty well too.
If you are using either a 3g data card or Ethernet and you're not connected to a network printer, then you'll need to attach one via USB. That means you'll need a USB hub, especially if you also want to attach an iPod, camera, non-wireless keyboard or a scanner. You don't need multiple USB ports, but just one additional one would make a big difference.
Everyone realises that the Air is primarily designed for wireless networks. Unfortunately, they are not yet universal. An extra USB slot simply makes a good machine even better. It would add significant functionality and flexibility, but without compromising any of the Air's other virtues. The ability to handle multiple USB devices is already built into the chipset. The issue is how difficult is it to engineer a second USB port into the Air's existing hardware design.
A removable battery makes sense, but this ain't gonna happen either, because a removable batter would compromise the robustness of the chassis as well as creating other packaging problems.
I notice that alot of people are happy with the iphone batterry too but i personally suspect if Blackberries were like that and one died it would be quite an inconvience to business users, which most iphone users are not. I just laugh at how the AIR is a travellers notebook but yet it has horrible battery life and if the battery dies on the road, your screwed
I notice that alot of people are happy with the iphone batterry too but i personally suspect if Blackberries were like that and one died it would be quite an inconvience to business users, which most iphone users are not. I just laugh at how the AIR is a travellers notebook but yet it has horrible battery life and if the battery dies on the road, your screwed
I heard that a large number of iPhone users were company heads. Can't remember where, but someone will be able to recall.
I notice that alot of people are happy with the iphone batterry too but i personally suspect if Blackberries were like that and one died it would be quite an inconvience to business users, which most iphone users are not. I just laugh at how the AIR is a travellers notebook but yet it has horrible battery life and if the battery dies on the road, your screwed
"Apple's 5 hour claim is laughable but not as much as I expected. If I wanted to I suspect I could hit 5 hours by making the web browsing test less stressful, but my focus was on real world usage scenarios, not proving Apple correct. Regardless, 4 hours and 16 minutes doing what I consider to be the intended usage model of the Air is respectable. It's not great, but it's not terrible either. "
Yes, it's a traveller's notebook. Most travellers that will have a MBA will also be flying with access to magsafe adapter to airline power plugs. If you need to fly 14 hours to Japan on a regular basis you quickly figure out which airlines and which model aircraft have plugs.
If you want to defeat the purpose of a MBA you CAN get a 130w external battery but it's not the kind of notebook to take somewhere without power anyway.
MOST travellers will fly less than 5 hours to a hotel at the other end and do no more than edit a word or powerpoint document while flying (work wise). The MBA battery should be good enough for that even if you have a seat without a power plug.
"Apple's 5 hour claim is laughable but not as much as I expected. If I wanted to I suspect I could hit 5 hours by making the web browsing test less stressful, but my focus was on real world usage scenarios, not proving Apple correct. Regardless, 4 hours and 16 minutes doing what I consider to be the intended usage model of the Air is respectable. It's not great, but it's not terrible either. "
Yes, it's a traveller's notebook. Most travellers that will have a MBA will also be flying with access to magsafe adapter to airline power plugs. If you need to fly 14 hours to Japan on a regular basis you quickly figure out which airlines and which model aircraft have plugs.
If you want to defeat the purpose of a MBA you CAN get a 130w external battery but it's not the kind of notebook to take somewhere without power anyway.
MOST travellers will fly less than 5 hours to a hotel at the other end and do no more than edit a word or powerpoint document while flying (work wise). The MBA battery should be good enough for that even if you have a seat without a power plug.
Well if your satisfied with the battery life i guess thats fair enough? But I always had the idea that the ultraportable category (or at least the target audience of the AIR) usually required around 6 hours on light use as a minimum.
I also think you've had alot of use with your Air correct? What will you do if you go on a trip as you seem to do often and the battery dies on you. On the first day of that trip?
I heard that a large number of iPhone users were company heads. Can't remember where, but someone will be able to recall.
I think if they implemented better push email software they will be in business to really dominate the business market section of it all.
Truth be told I would be interested to know how business people deal with the battery dying. This is my main concern. Access to your data, devices and people at all times seems to be the key in this world. Losing your access in your MBA or iPhone because of the battery and the fact that you can't replace it unless someone else does it for you seems to be quite
Odd thing is: my cell phone has a user-changeable battery, but I have never needed to change it in three years of heavy use. My data is fine; I back up almost every day so there is nothing to worry about.
My MBA has not yet run out of battery life while I was on the road. Closest it came as 15% after almost 4 hours of use non-stop (surfing wirelessly, editing a movie and encoding a movie). In other words, I get pretty good battery life out of the MBA.
When the battery life starts wearing down in two years, I have a back-up machine (MBP or even my wife's MB) that I can use for a couple of days, so that will not be a problem at all.
Having used a moody VAX system back in university, I make very frequent back-ups of my data, so I am never more than a half-day from a back-up. Force of habit.
BTW: I have been working on my Air for about an hour and a half now, surfing wirelessly and working on a text and the battery is at 85%. Not bad. It tends to be he people who don't own the Air who have a problem with the battery.
Comments
This i think is more important then another USB port
IMHO, the MacBook Air could most definitely benefit from just one more port and I think my reasoning is fully consistent with Apple's theme for the MBA: It's clearly a mobile computer yet there are many places where the only means (or best means) of connectivity is via a 3G service. If that wasn't important then we wouldn't be seeing all the demands for it in the iPhone. As it stands, the only way to achieve that type of wireless connection is to use the one and only USB port. Since Apple apparently has intended the MBA to be the most mobile and least desktop like of all of their computers, I doubt they view a USB hub as either desirable or necessary. However, for practical purposes using a 3G service almost forces you into a hub to achieve any additional USB functionality.
Sorry if this has been mentioned but I can't go back through every post to see if it has:
IMHO, the MacBook Air could most definitely benefit from just one more port and I think my reasoning is fully consistent with Apple's theme for the MBA: It's clearly a mobile computer yet there are many places where the only means (or best means) of connectivity is via a 3G service. If that wasn't important then we wouldn't be seeing all the demands for it in the iPhone. As it stands, the only way to achieve that type of wireless connection is to use the one and only USB port. Since Apple apparently has intended the MBA to be the most mobile and least desktop like of all of their computers, I doubt they view a USB hub as either desirable or necessary. However, for practical purposes using a 3G service almost forces you into a hub to achieve any additional USB functionality.
That makes sense, but what port are you suggesting? Another USB? IMO both 3G over USB and Ethernet over USB are bad ideas. An expresscard slot would make an excellent 3G modem or an Ethernet connector or a Wimax card if that technology ever arrives. This would satisfy everyone. Unfortunately, it's probably even harder to accomplish than an additional USB.
That makes sense, but what port are you suggesting? Another USB? IMO both 3G over USB and Ethernet over USB are bad ideas. An expresscard slot would make an excellent 3G modem or an Ethernet connector or a Wimax card if that technology ever arrives. This would satisfy everyone. Unfortunately, it's probably even harder to accomplish than an additional USB.
Ideally an ExpressCard slot would be best but I suspect an additional USB port would be more likely... especially since the MacBook Pro is the only current Mac with an ExpressCard slot.
All of the mobile carriers in the UK offer 3G broadband cards over USB. They work very well and in many instances are faster than Ethernet broadband connections.
Similarly, the Ethernet port over USB on the Air also works pretty well too.
If you are using either a 3g data card or Ethernet and you're not connected to a network printer, then you'll need to attach one via USB. That means you'll need a USB hub, especially if you also want to attach an iPod, camera, non-wireless keyboard or a scanner. You don't need multiple USB ports, but just one additional one would make a big difference.
Everyone realises that the Air is primarily designed for wireless networks. Unfortunately, they are not yet universal. An extra USB slot simply makes a good machine even better. It would add significant functionality and flexibility, but without compromising any of the Air's other virtues. The ability to handle multiple USB devices is already built into the chipset. The issue is how difficult is it to engineer a second USB port into the Air's existing hardware design.
A removable battery makes sense, but this ain't gonna happen either, because a removable batter would compromise the robustness of the chassis as well as creating other packaging problems.
The Express card slot is history. Sorry, it ain't ever comin' back, baby.
It can't be history if it was never there. And it's not likely to get dropped from the MBP. It's very useful for many "pro" users.
and the fact that it can't be replaced
I notice that alot of people are happy with the iphone batterry too but i personally suspect if Blackberries were like that and one died it would be quite an inconvience to business users, which most iphone users are not. I just laugh at how the AIR is a travellers notebook but yet it has horrible battery life and if the battery dies on the road, your screwed
so your all happy with the battery
and the fact that it can't be replaced
I notice that alot of people are happy with the iphone batterry too but i personally suspect if Blackberries were like that and one died it would be quite an inconvience to business users, which most iphone users are not. I just laugh at how the AIR is a travellers notebook but yet it has horrible battery life and if the battery dies on the road, your screwed
I heard that a large number of iPhone users were company heads. Can't remember where, but someone will be able to recall.
so your all happy with the battery
and the fact that it can't be replaced
I notice that alot of people are happy with the iphone batterry too but i personally suspect if Blackberries were like that and one died it would be quite an inconvience to business users, which most iphone users are not. I just laugh at how the AIR is a travellers notebook but yet it has horrible battery life and if the battery dies on the road, your screwed
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3220
4 hours 16 mins web browsing
3 hours 25 mins DVD playback (from HDD)
"Apple's 5 hour claim is laughable but not as much as I expected. If I wanted to I suspect I could hit 5 hours by making the web browsing test less stressful, but my focus was on real world usage scenarios, not proving Apple correct. Regardless, 4 hours and 16 minutes doing what I consider to be the intended usage model of the Air is respectable. It's not great, but it's not terrible either. "
Yes, it's a traveller's notebook. Most travellers that will have a MBA will also be flying with access to magsafe adapter to airline power plugs. If you need to fly 14 hours to Japan on a regular basis you quickly figure out which airlines and which model aircraft have plugs.
If you want to defeat the purpose of a MBA you CAN get a 130w external battery but it's not the kind of notebook to take somewhere without power anyway.
MOST travellers will fly less than 5 hours to a hotel at the other end and do no more than edit a word or powerpoint document while flying (work wise). The MBA battery should be good enough for that even if you have a seat without a power plug.
http://www.apple.com/retail/macbookair/
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3220
4 hours 16 mins web browsing
3 hours 25 mins DVD playback (from HDD)
"Apple's 5 hour claim is laughable but not as much as I expected. If I wanted to I suspect I could hit 5 hours by making the web browsing test less stressful, but my focus was on real world usage scenarios, not proving Apple correct. Regardless, 4 hours and 16 minutes doing what I consider to be the intended usage model of the Air is respectable. It's not great, but it's not terrible either. "
Yes, it's a traveller's notebook. Most travellers that will have a MBA will also be flying with access to magsafe adapter to airline power plugs. If you need to fly 14 hours to Japan on a regular basis you quickly figure out which airlines and which model aircraft have plugs.
If you want to defeat the purpose of a MBA you CAN get a 130w external battery but it's not the kind of notebook to take somewhere without power anyway.
MOST travellers will fly less than 5 hours to a hotel at the other end and do no more than edit a word or powerpoint document while flying (work wise). The MBA battery should be good enough for that even if you have a seat without a power plug.
Well if your satisfied with the battery life i guess thats fair enough? But I always had the idea that the ultraportable category (or at least the target audience of the AIR) usually required around 6 hours on light use as a minimum.
I also think you've had alot of use with your Air correct? What will you do if you go on a trip as you seem to do often and the battery dies on you. On the first day of that trip?
I heard that a large number of iPhone users were company heads. Can't remember where, but someone will be able to recall.
I think if they implemented better push email software they will be in business to really dominate the business market section of it all.
Truth be told I would be interested to know how business people deal with the battery dying. This is my main concern. Access to your data, devices and people at all times seems to be the key in this world. Losing your access in your MBA or iPhone because of the battery and the fact that you can't replace it unless someone else does it for you seems to be quite
well contary to that type of notion.
My MBA has not yet run out of battery life while I was on the road. Closest it came as 15% after almost 4 hours of use non-stop (surfing wirelessly, editing a movie and encoding a movie). In other words, I get pretty good battery life out of the MBA.
When the battery life starts wearing down in two years, I have a back-up machine (MBP or even my wife's MB) that I can use for a couple of days, so that will not be a problem at all.
Having used a moody VAX system back in university, I make very frequent back-ups of my data, so I am never more than a half-day from a back-up. Force of habit.
BTW: I have been working on my Air for about an hour and a half now, surfing wirelessly and working on a text and the battery is at 85%. Not bad. It tends to be he people who don't own the Air who have a problem with the battery.
It tends to be he people who don't own the Air who have a problem with the battery.
Isn't it always the way?