New Macbooks make Airbooks obsolete...
LOL...ok...not obsolete.
But as a photographer who travels ALOT....I was going to get an airbook for it's size....but was put off by its small HD.
When the new macbooks were announced, I ran down to the Apple store here in NYC....and was blown away. They are things of beauty. Every bit as amazing as the awesome airbooks.
I was surprised at how relatively little difference there felt between the two. YES the Airs are slimmer. But the new Macbooks are not TOO much thicker and give you SO much more.
THey are noticeably slimmer then the previous macbooks.
PLUS...they are CHEAPER than the Airbooks.
So after seeing them in person, I am DEFINITELY getting one!
But as a photographer who travels ALOT....I was going to get an airbook for it's size....but was put off by its small HD.
When the new macbooks were announced, I ran down to the Apple store here in NYC....and was blown away. They are things of beauty. Every bit as amazing as the awesome airbooks.
I was surprised at how relatively little difference there felt between the two. YES the Airs are slimmer. But the new Macbooks are not TOO much thicker and give you SO much more.
THey are noticeably slimmer then the previous macbooks.
PLUS...they are CHEAPER than the Airbooks.
So after seeing them in person, I am DEFINITELY getting one!
Comments
LOL...ok...not obsolete.
But as a photographer who travels ALOT....I was going to get an airbook for it's size....but was put off by its small HD.
When the new macbooks were announced, I ran down to the Apple store here in NYC....and was blown away. They are things of beauty. Every bit as amazing as the awesome airbooks.
I was surprised at how relatively little difference there felt between the two. YES the Airs are slimmer. But the new Macbooks are not TOO much thicker and give you SO much more.
THey are noticeably slimmer then the previous macbooks.
PLUS...they are CHEAPER than the Airbooks.
So after seeing them in person, I am DEFINITELY getting one!
You have a point. The Macbook can create bit of confusion and brings to light the hazy "value" of the Macbook Air.
The Air is a lot like the Powermac Cube. It's not a bad computer ..it just sits in an
area that doesn't make much sense from within the product line.
I could see Apple moving the Air internals into a scaled-down MacBook uni-body chassis with a 10" display.
This could cause the death of the Air line, or just give Apple a larger order of those particular components. Larger component orders could allow lower prices on the Air and allow a lower price point on the hypothetical 10" MacBook model.
SSD prices could come down with larger component orders as well.
Using the same Air/MacBook(net) components bin on an eventual 10" Mac tablet could further reduce component costs...
Obviously, a 10" MacBook-esque laptop would be targeted at the mid-to-high end netbook market.
This could be marketed as the base laptop to go with an equally hypothetical 20" LED Cinema Display.
? Now the MacBook has a bit of the Air and the Pro about it. It's price in particular, is now distinctly Pro.
? The MacBook Pro has had it's core Pro features removed, and is more like a MacBook with a 15" screen.
? And the everyone's scratching their heads about the now, to all intents and purposes, redundant Air.
I can't help but think that Apple has shot itself in the foot with the latest release. Whereas in the past, each of the three notebook families were aimed squarely at a specific market, it's now as though Apple aren't sure who they are selling to, and they want each of the three families to appeal to everyone. There's too much overlap in their offer, which signifies uncertainty.
I suspect that the new MacBook is going to cannibalise MacBook Pro sales. After all, the previous features that had people ponying up for the Pro have now either been removed (the FireWire 400 port and matte screen option) or are available in the consumer MacBook (the performance of a discrete graphics chipset, the aluminium enclosure, the LED backlit display and the illuminated keyboard).
I suspect in the future, we'll see Apple attempting to redifferentiate the Pro with features like BluRay, quad core processors and higher RAM capacities. But for the time being, there seems very little reason to pay the extra for Pro?
The Air is an executive computer. I think it is Apple's subversive attempt to get Macs into the corporate scene, from the top down.
I think this is a good summary of the situation with the Air. However, I suppose the MB and the MBA share the same manufacturing processs, isn't that so? If yes, then the Air could also have served as a test ground for the new process.
There's too much overlap in their offer, which signifies uncertainty.
What if this is on purpose?
I suspect in the future, we'll see Apple attempting to redifferentiate the Pro with features like BluRay, quad core processors and higher RAM capacities. But for the time being, there seems very little reason to pay the extra for Pro?
Well, there are certainly people who would pay the extra because of the extra features. But for most, yes, the new high end MB is something like MBP-Lite. And yes, I too expect Apple to add mode differentiation in the future along the lines you already traced.
I think this is a good summary of the situation with the Air. However, I suppose the MB and the MBA share the same manufacturing processs, isn't that so? If yes, then the Air could also have served as a test ground for the new process.
Watch the special event video again. They clearly state that the uni-body concept started with the Air.
Sorry Ireland...
The answer provided when questioning about Apple producing a netbook was non-commital, reminding me of answer given when asked about Apple producing cell phones a few years back...
So, many (or some; and according to the naysayers, few...) wish to see Apple produce a tablet that is larger than the iPhone/iPod touch platform. But many/some/few are willing to give up a physical keyboard.
And Apple is just starting to train its users in gestural control via touchscreen interfaces.
So, for the next few years we might still have a need for a keyboard on our portable computing devices.
As much as the whole pivot/swivel joint frightens me from a 'huh, that just broke' point of reference; I think a convertible laptop/tablet might make the distinction for Apple entering the netbook market. Obviously, the upper-mid to high end of the netbook market. And the Japanese market should eat this hypothetical product up!
I imagine something between the Air & the MacBook internals, but after a version/revision bump; stuffed into a MacBook-derived uni-body chassis that has been adapted to the convertible laptop/tablet concept. The hinge would be bombproof and industrial sleek, as only Apple could do. The glossy glass touchscreen display, when in slate mode, would totally resemble the often compared 'Star Trek tablet' (just thicker).
4GB or RAM, a 128GB SSD & a backlit keyboard would be standard, to 'validate' the higher price point...
A stylus that stores in the unit (similar to the ModBook, just cleaner) would indicate both multi-touch and stylus capabilities in regards to the touchscreen display.
Tethering to an equally hypothetical iPhone nano (3G capable) via BlueTooth would be allowed, since there isn't really room for an ExpressCard/34 slot...
This could be contained to a 10" model, or expanded across the Apple laptop line, encompassing a range of convertible laptop/tablets; 10", 13", 15" & 17" models.
But that damned pivot/swivel hinge still bothers me...