Actually what I'm hoping for (some day) is a 13" iPad, with front & rear facing cameras.
A front facing camera might be workable and useful for FaceTime.
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Actually the cameras get my money anyway as we have family overseas and need iChat.
I think waiting for the next iPad rev is in order. Apple is seeing a lot of success with iPad so a 13" model is not impossible. I just don't think it will happen next year though.
The wait might be well worth it if some of the rumors are true. For example a Cortex A9 ARM based processor will be a considerable upgrade. As will a model with more memory. Things like FaceTime support, Gyros and other features from iPhone 4 are a given.
Expect 16:9 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air in 2011! Along with iLife '11 that will have iTunes LP & iTunes Extras. iWork '11 will have iBooks eBooks Creator plus iwork.com with extra features.
I may stop buying Mac notebooks if they move to 16:9 for any of their 13? models.
At least for my uses wide screen is by far more useful Of course a bigger screen more so, which is why I have a 15' MBP. One of the things about iPad that bothers me is its aspect ratio. Especially considering I'm always looking for more width on my screen.
In any event what is your work load like that you dismiss wide screens?
At least for my uses wide screen is by far more useful Of course a bigger screen more so, which is why I have a 15' MBP. One of the things about iPad that bothers me is its aspect ratio. Especially considering I'm always looking for more width on my screen.
In any event what is your work load like that you dismiss wide screens?
Dave
I have no objections with wide screens, I have an objection with companies moving to wider screens specifically because it's in vogue.
Note that specifically referred to the 13" Mac notebooks, not the other sizes or any desktop displays. Also note the 13" display on the 16:10 ratio (which I think is ideal) shorter in height than the 12" 4:3 PowerBook that came before it. I was stating long before the iPad arrived that Apple can't effectively introduce a smaller notebook (or tablet) without moving closer to a 4:3 display, and certainly not a wider one. If you look at a 10" 16:9 netbook you have very little room for anything that involves reading and writing in length. It's not even close to be ideal, that's only great for watching vieo. The iPad would be horrible to rea on if I had the height or width of 10" 16:9 display.
Would movies be a better experience with a 16:9 display? Sure, but at the cost of making copious amounts of reading and writing mug worse as a trade off. Heck, most movies would would look better on a 1:2.35 display, and I hope you'd think THAT is going to far.
I have no objections with wide screens, I have an objection with companies moving to wider screens specifically because it's in vogue.
Note that specifically referred to the 13" Mac notebooks, not the other sizes or any desktop displays. Also note the 13" display on the 16:10 ratio (which I think is ideal) shorter in height than the 12" 4:3 PowerBook that came before it.
This is what I was talking about. Generally a wider display is more valuable to me than a taller one. That is probably very much do to the nature of what i do with laptops.
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I was stating long before the iPad arrived that Apple can't effectively introduce a smaller notebook (or tablet) without moving closer to a 4:3 display, and certainly not a wider one. If you look at a 10" 16:9 netbook you have very little room for anything that involves reading and writing in length.
Well that would depend upon exactly what you are reading and writing. Certainly for programming the wider screen has its advantages. Even on my 15" MBP I'm often confined by width, seldom by hieght.
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It's not even close to be ideal, that's only great for watching vieo. The iPad would be horrible to rea on if I had the height or width of 10" 16:9 display.
As a reader? I can argue against that and sound reasonable. Just look at a column if text in a book of magazine. They are by nature very tall. Even a 16:9 screen would have trouble.
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Would movies be a better experience with a 16:9 display? Sure, but at the cost of making copious amounts of reading and writing mug worse as a trade off.
Much worst i think not. It certainly wouldn't be optimal for writing large amounts of text but even the current iPad is less than optimal there.
However if one of your primary uses for the device is as a video iPod then the aspect ratio is important. Even as a reader the aspect ratio would be beneficial. In any event the primary usage would dictate screen ratios more than anything.
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Heck, most movies would would look better on a 1:2.35 display, and I hope you'd think THAT is going to far.
My thing is standard parts, which implies standard ratios. That isn't just an issue of the LCD, everything needs to function with the choosen ratio.
So in this regard I'm looking for a device with a display that can handle the majority of movie & TV ratios well. Such a screen would be perfectly fine for use as a reader or web browser.
Of course that is for a Tablet type device. For AIR many of the arguements are the same. It depnds upon your intentions, but for many a 16:9 ratio would be a big advantage over a 4:3 screen. Plus on an AIR like lapyop you need that width simply to have room for the keyboard. In many ways that keyboard width plays a significant role in how much screen realestate you can end up with. To me a ten inch screen implies a laptop that might actually be to small if the keyboard becomes unusable.
As a side note I've watched people use netbooks from a distance on a number of occasions. Many struggle with the screens. In the end i actually think Apple is right here when the describe netbooks as a bad experience. So if they expect to sell a device in this class I can only see succcess if they take a different approach. That might include a non standard ratio screen to cover the base unit but at the same time maximize pixels.
With Apples focus on the user experience i have to wonder if a ten inch screen AIR is even possible. Given that the device needs a usable keyboard and a track pad how small can they go? Of course they have some patents that might address that question if the could realize producable hardware. I'm talking here about the use of the dynamic keyboard/display that can change its feel based on usage.
The micro AIR may be real or not, but if it is I have to wonder how Apple will address their own stated concerns about the user experience.
I have no objections with wide screens, I have an objection with companies moving to wider screens specifically because it's in vogue.
Note that specifically referred to the 13" Mac notebooks, not the other sizes or any desktop displays. Also note the 13" display on the 16:10 ratio (which I think is ideal) shorter in height than the 12" 4:3 PowerBook that came before it. I was stating long before the iPad arrived that Apple can't effectively introduce a smaller notebook (or tablet) without moving closer to a 4:3 display, and certainly not a wider one. If you look at a 10" 16:9 netbook you have very little room for anything that involves reading and writing in length. It's not even close to be ideal, that's only great for watching vieo. The iPad would be horrible to rea on if I had the height or width of 10" 16:9 display.
Would movies be a better experience with a 16:9 display? Sure, but at the cost of making copious amounts of reading and writing mug worse as a trade off. Heck, most movies would would look better on a 1:2.35 display, and I hope you'd think THAT is going to far.
I agree. The trend to widescreen was/is all about visual media consumption, primarily video. And also works well with some other tasks, e.g., landscape photo-editing. And, yup, because they look real cooly-cool.
But by the same token, it makes them crappy for portrait photo editing. And if you're word processing for print or blog display, which a few of us still come out of facebook and Hulu to do yet, the wide screen makes you choose between lots of blank space on the sides and small screen fonts or not being able to see more than a few paragraphs at a time if you use the whole screen.
I have a pivot monitor on my PC (my notebook is Mac) and actually find myself using it more often in portrait mode - not only for photo portrait work/viewing and w. processing, also to read longer stories and posts on the web with much less scrolling.
Being stuck in wide screen is really pretty overrated except for users who are more consumers than creators and power users. I'll settle for some letterboxing on movies (or watch 'em on my TV) so that tasks best suited for portrait viewing aren't compromised any worse than they are on today's notebooks.
PS: Apple certainly recognizes this. All of their iOS devices have been auto-pivoting since day one. Which just gave me a vision of a two piece 15.4 inch OS X/iOS hybrid device - an iPad like main component (which could boot up in iOS and be used as an iPad) closer to 4:3 than 16:9, plus a wireless BT keyboard usable as with an iPad, but with the twist of the combo also being able to boot up in auto-pivoting OS X (and down the road have simultaneous or switchable features of both OS's), e.g., Parallels-style. Suhhh-weeet!
I agree. The trend to widescreen was/is all about visual media consumption, primarily video. And also works well with some other tasks, e.g., landscape photo-editing. And, yup, because they look real cooly-cool.
The thought that wide screens are only for consumption on laptops is grabage. Obviously some aspect ratios serve certain tasks better than other ratios, but that does not make a wide screen useless for pros.
It makes about as much sense as the guys that use to complain about wide screen TVs not being high enough for a given screen size. The obvious solution is to buy a bigger screen to replace that 20 inch screen.
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But by the same token, it makes them crappy for portrait photo editing. And if you're word processing for print or blog display, which a few of us still come out of facebook and Hulu to do yet, the wide screen makes you choose between lots of blank space on the sides and small screen fonts or not being able to see more than a few paragraphs at a time if you use the whole screen.
Sounds like whining to me. If you are editing landscape or architecture you would be saying the opposite.
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I have a pivot monitor on my PC (my notebook is Mac) and actually find myself using it more often in portrait mode - not only for photo portrait work/viewing and w. processing, also to read longer stories and posts on the web with much less scrolling.
Yes the option to rotate a screen is very handy. However i haven't seen a laptop solution tha allows for this. In the end you have to design laptops to fit physical reality and the needs of the greatest number of users. These issues conspire to force smaller laptops into wider screens. As long as a keyboard is a fixed parameter around which laptops are built, small machines will be wide. The alternative is a screen with wide desseks on the left and right sides, examples of which can be found in early netbooks.
The fact is the wider aspect ratio screen allows for more pixels on screen in extremely compact portables. That doesn't mean the screen will suit every use, just that the alternative offers less.
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Being stuck in wide screen is really pretty overrated except for users who are more consumers than creators and power users.
You have no idea do you?
Wide screen works extremely well for many so called pro activities. Programming is one example with some IDEs almost demanding a wide screen. Industrial automaton is another good example. Electrical or mechanical design can also leverage the aspect ratio.
[quoye] I'll settle for some letterboxing on movies (or watch 'em on my TV) so that tasks best suited for portrait viewing aren't compromised any worse than they are on today's notebooks.
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I think you will find that you are in the minority here. No aspect ratio is perfect but much of todays software is designed to leverage wider screens. Is that the best solution for every user - certainly not but it is the best engineering trade off that we have right now.
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PS: Apple certainly recognizes this. All of their iOS devices have been auto-pivoting since day one. Which just gave me a vision of a two piece 15.4 inch OS X/iOS hybrid device - an iPad like main component (which could boot up in iOS and be used as an iPad) closer to 4:3 than 16:9, plus a wireless BT keyboard usable as with an iPad, but with the twist of the combo also being able to boot up in auto-pivoting OS X (and down the road have simultaneous or switchable features of both OS's), e.g., Parallels-style. Suhhh-weeet!
IOS devices are great in this respect, but how would they do that with AIR or any laptop? Even on iOS devices a 4:3 ratio isn't optimal everywhere. In fact i think it is less useful as the devices get smaller. Like right at this moment I'm typing this on my iPhone and would prefer an even wider screen. If the rumored midsize tablet comes out, 5 to 7 inch size, I'm convinced it would be more useful with the wider aspect ratio. The funny thing here is that the same reason you use comes into play, rotate to portrait and you can easily read text documents.
By the way I'm not gunning for a perfect 16:9 or any other ratio. What I'm concerned with is the total solutution. A long narrow device can go into more pockets that a fat one. It comes down to physical issues again, in this case how do you deliver the greatest number of pixels in a pocketable device.
You make some good points. (If a bit in that highly "pointed" way that forums seem to promote.) So I'll only call you out on one thing - not worth calling anyone out on in the real world: I found the spelling of "garbage" as "grabage" amusing. Sounds like a fun game to play with a girlfriend!
Rather than deal with them all though, my whole point - obviously overstated when I said the wide screen fetish was ALL about consumption and style - is that for this "whining" power user of 25 years with "no idea," while some of my work is helped by 16:9 (or 10 or whatever), the majority of my varied computer tasks are not enhanced by wide-screenism.
And I'll still maintain that marketing and consumer tastes rank right up there as a factor in today's form factors with sheer functionality.
And I do believe some of the gaps between iOS and OS X will be bridged in clever, clever ways in not too many years to come - both on the hardware and software sides.
PS: MacBooks do not support any pivoting monitors? If so, a pity, since I'm getting ready to ditch owning a tower and leave Windows behind, except on a dual system Mac.
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Originally Posted by wizard69
The thought that wide screens are only for consumption on laptops is grabage. Obviously some aspect ratios serve certain tasks better than other ratios, but that does not make a wide screen useless for pros.
It makes about as much sense as the guys that use to complain about wide screen TVs not being high enough for a given screen size. The obvious solution is to buy a bigger screen to replace that 20 inch screen.
Sounds like whining to me. If you are editing landscape or architecture you would be saying the opposite.
Yes the option to rotate a screen is very handy. However i haven't seen a laptop solution tha allows for this. In the end you have to design laptops to fit physical reality and the needs of the greatest number of users. These issues conspire to force smaller laptops into wider screens. As long as a keyboard is a fixed parameter around which laptops are built, small machines will be wide. The alternative is a screen with wide desseks on the left and right sides, examples of which can be found in early netbooks.
The fact is the wider aspect ratio screen allows for more pixels on screen in extremely compact portables. That doesn't mean the screen will suit every use, just that the alternative offers less.
You have no idea do you?
Wide screen works extremely well for many so called pro activities. Programming is one example with some IDEs almost demanding a wide screen. Industrial automaton is another good example. Electrical or mechanical design can also leverage the aspect ratio.
I think you will find that you are in the minority here. No aspect ratio is perfect but much of todays software is designed to leverage wider screens. Is that the best solution for every user - certainly not but it is the best engineering trade off that we have right now.
IOS devices are great in this respect, but how would they do that with AIR or any laptop? Even on iOS devices a 4:3 ratio isn't optimal everywhere. In fact i think it is less useful as the devices get smaller. Like right at this moment I'm typing this on my iPhone and would prefer an even wider screen. If the rumored midsize tablet comes out, 5 to 7 inch size, I'm convinced it would be more useful with the wider aspect ratio. The funny thing here is that the same reason you use comes into play, rotate to portrait and you can easily read text documents.
By the way I'm not gunning for a perfect 16:9 or any other ratio. What I'm concerned with is the total solutution. A long narrow device can go into more pockets that a fat one. It comes down to physical issues again, in this case how do you deliver the greatest number of pixels in a pocketable device.
You make some good points. (If a bit in that highly "pointed" way that forums seem to promote.) So I'll only call you out on one thing - not worth calling anyone out on in the real world: I found the spelling of "garbage" as "grabage" amusing. Sounds like a fun game to play with a girlfriend!
I have to admit that seeing this was funny.
Sadly this is an indication of the horrors of running iOS 4.0.x on an iPhone 3G. I've turned off some functionality to try to maintain usability even though it hasn't really worked. Hopefully Apple will resolve issues with this real soon now, I'm extremely tempted by iPhone 4 but really need to manage my personal 'IT' dollars better.
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Rather than deal with them all though, my whole point - obviously overstated when I said the wide screen fetish was ALL about consumption and style - is that for this "whining" power user of 25 years with "no idea," while some of my work is helped by 16:9 (or 10 or whatever), the majority of my varied computer tasks are not enhanced by wide-screenism.
I can accept that as long as you accept that it works really well for me. Part of that is due to IDE's being built to leverage the wider screens these days and do so really well. Personally I find that even my web based activities work well with a wide screen.
It obviously sucks for page based documents but does that surprise anybody?
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And I'll still maintain that marketing and consumer tastes rank right up there as a factor in today's form factors with sheer functionality.
Nay, it is much simpler than that. When a LCD panel manufacture has oodles of dollars invested in capital to produce wide aspect ratio screens they become the cheapest alternative. We have wide screens on PC and laptops simply because they ride on the production capacity of consumer HDTV screens.
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And I do believe some of the gaps between iOS and OS X will be bridged in clever, clever ways in not too many years to come - both on the hardware and software sides.
Well yes but the problem I have here is that people don't seem to realize just how much of iOS is already OS/X and further Apple has been very clear in stating that new features in OS/X learned a lot from iOS. Specifically mentioned was QuickTime.
In other words it is already happening, though admittedly slowly. That shouldn't be a surprise neither as OS/X needs to remain stable or better yet become more stable. Also there needs to be a realization that things won't map 100% so Touch on OS/X might look a bit different than on an iPad. In the end I wouldn't be surprised at all if Apple has Touch being refined for OS/X, the hardware to do so will soon be here.
By that I mean AMD's Bobcat or Intels coming ATOM upgrades. A tablet running OS/X could be a real possibility and frankly I don't see it impacting iPad at all. They would sever entirely different markets.
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PS: MacBooks do not support any pivoting monitors? If so, a pity, since I'm getting ready to ditch owning a tower and leave Windows behind, except on a dual system Mac.
I don't really know the answer to that question. However have you taken a look at the newest iMacs and their high resolution screens? I know you don't like wide but they are very capable of handling the tall documents side by side.
I'm not convinced that it needs to be vastly different, just that it needs to address user needs a little better to draw a wider user base. The single USB port is a real killer as is the lack of a Ethernet port, though two or three USB ports can make up for the lack of an Ethernet port to some extent. Free access to those ports is needed too.
Beyond those limitations AIR isn't that bad for ultra mobile computing.
The trouble here is that the market would see it as Apples netbook which if it follows in the foot print of AIR it obviously isn't. So unless Apple can get a 10" AIR priced well below $800 it won't be seen in to positive of a light.
It will be interesting to see what Apple has up its sleeves here. One just has to remember that the AIR serves a different market than the MB & MBP. Apple could however refocus where they focus the marketing of the AIRs. With the right rebuild and refocused marketing they could be very successful.
Dave
I don't know if the Air will ever be as successful as the MBP. However, as you mention, some tweaks are necessary. Firstly, ports, ports ports. Take the MBP, chisel away at it, throw out the disc drive, put a 2.5" SSD and 4GB RAM bulit in. Next use a more beefy CPU, 320M graphics. Lose the obsession with super-thin, it's all about the weight, baby. Compromise a little on aluminium, surely there must be another non-toxic, recyclable option for reducing weight. Drop the screen size to 12" if needed. Drop the price much closer to the higher end MBP 13" so it's actually a nice tight upsell from the MBP 13" to cover margins. Boom! MacBook Air back in business thru 2011.
Also killer battery life and full multitouch single surface trackpad.
I don't know if the Air will ever be as successful as the MBP. However, as you mention, some tweaks are necessary.
I don't think it has to be as successful as the MBP. What I have a problem with is that the general form factor could have served a lot more customers if Apple had just thought a little bit more about function.
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Firstly, ports, ports ports.
Yes very imoprtant indeed. I currently run a MBP and wish that it had more USB ports. USB seems to be the most reliable way to do I/O on a Mac these days.
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Take the MBP, chisel away at it, throw out the disc drive, put a 2.5" SSD and 4GB RAM bulit in.
I actually think that is to big for a "disk" in the AIR. You really want your storage as compact as possible. One approach would be storage on PCI Express cards using one of the compact standards. Now I see that SanDisk has debuted "iSSD" which is a complete "disk" on a chip which to me is ideal for compact storage on such a platform.
The only problem is that they currently max out at 64GB. Since I generally need at least 128GB on my boot drive that is a wash out. Actually I'd like a hell of a lot more space internally as i carry an external harddrive around with me all the time, the 100 or so gigs are just to viver boot and apps.
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Next use a more beefy CPU, 320M graphics. Lose the obsession with super-thin, it's all about the weight, baby.
if you end up to thick it might as well be a MBP. Seriously bulk can be an issue as much as weight. So i only think a faster machine is possible if Apple can harvest a new generation of CPUs. That is one of the reasons i would like to see them go with a new generation of chips. Possibly AMDs Ontario but I'm not convinced the Bobcat cores can do the job. Then again AIRis no speed demon so who knows. Intel or AMD the goal should be the highest integration SoC possible. This to shrink the mother board to allow room for a much bigger battery.
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Compromise a little on aluminium, surely there must be another non-toxic, recyclable option for reducing weight. Drop the screen size to 12" if needed. Drop the price much closer to the higher end MBP 13" so it's actually a nice tight upsell from the MBP 13" to cover margins. Boom! MacBook Air back in business thru 2011.
As far as pricing goes I'm happy if Apple is making reasonable profits. I think right now things are very unreasonable. In otherwords the unit is priced way to high.
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Also killer battery life and full multitouch single surface trackpad.
It is strange that the track pad has not been updated in ages. As for battery life that is also doable with the right combination of SoC tech and a modest reworking of the case. Yes make it a bit thicker as needed.
I honestly believe that AMD has a chance in AIR if some of the rumors appear to be true. Lets face it AMD is being extremely tight lipped about Intario even though it supposedly is only weeks or days away from release. The latest news from Hot Chips is that the cores should get 90% of a normal cores performance. That is a lot better than ATOM plus they can run faster than ATOM. It is a stretch but I'm hoping AMDs quiet is a sign that they are working with Apple.
All of this is very interesting but frankly I'm not to sure I'm going to be rushing out to buy another laptop soon. A desktop and an iPad might make more sense for me. That depends upon how iPad evolves. The current model is a little shirt on features for my satisfaction.
So, it looks like the MacBook Air will not be upgraded until the rest of Apple's notebook line-up gets refreshed in a month or so? Looks like Apple is really hesitating on this one.
But I don't buy this garbage that the iPad has made Apple laptops redundant. You still need a 'mother ship' to hold and load all the data you want to stuff on your iPad. For real world office use, you still need a large screen and a keyboard for input. At least, I do.
That said, I am not sure I have used the DVD drive on my 13" MacBook Pro more than once in the 12 months I've had it. When I did, it was only to watch a movie I could have downloaded via iTunes. Office was automatically installed when I transferred data from my Time Capsule. So, what I'm saying is that I am really ready to junk the internal DVD player, although I would like an external one (just in case).
That means I'm ready for a MacBook Air now. I sure would appreciate the lighter weight next time I travel on business. All MacBook Pros tend to get heavy when carried for more than 30 minutes. The problem is i worry that its processor and memory are just too puny.
In order for me to buy an MBA, I need the following:
- Decent processor that can handle very large spreadsheets and video
- Two or three USB ports: as I sit here now, i have an iPAd and IPhone plugged in to my MacBook plus a back-up drive and a printer. One USB port just ain't enough.
- An SSD with a capacity of 500 GB or 1 TB: Since I started buying movies online, I have less DVDs to get stolen or damaged because my kids failed to put them back in their covers. Movies no longer clutter up my den cupboards. But I've stopped buying them, because I've almost run out of hard drive space.
What I want is an MacBook Pro without the DVD drive. Hell, if Apple made a 15" MBA, i think I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
So, it looks like the MacBook Air will not be upgraded until the rest of Apple's notebook line-up gets refreshed in a month or so? Looks like Apple is really hesitating on this one.
I'm really wondering how big of a break we are likely to see with the new model AIR.
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But I don't buy this garbage that the iPad has made Apple laptops redundant. You still need a 'mother ship' to hold and load all the data you want to stuff on your iPad. For real world office use, you still need a large screen and a keyboard for input. At least, I do.
For the most part it is garbage. For Apple it actually looks like IPad is driving more sales of Mac hardware. As to the PC world, they have bigger problems than iPad.
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That said, I am not sure I have used the DVD drive on my 13" MacBook Pro more than once in the 12 months I've had it. When I did, it was only to watch a movie I could have downloaded via iTunes. Office was automatically installed when I transferred data from my Time Capsule. So, what I'm saying is that I am really ready to junk the internal DVD player, although I would like an external one (just in case).
Yes exactly, it is a lot to carry around if you never use it. The space could be better used for other things.
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That means I'm ready for a MacBook Air now. I sure would appreciate the lighter weight next time I travel on business. All MacBook Pros tend to get heavy when carried for more than 30 minutes. The problem is i worry that its processor and memory are just too puny.
I wouldn't reccomend the current model if the above is the case. The processor isn't bad but it is no where near other laptops performance wise. I'm really hoping that AMD and Apple have worked out a deal for AMDs Ontario product. Given a high enough clock rate it ought to outclass the current processor yet run at very low power. I just don't think Intel has anything to bring to AIR right now.
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In order for me to buy an MBA, I need the following:
- Decent processor that can handle very large spreadsheets and video
The original AIR bombed here but the current one will play video fairly well. That however is due directly to the GPU. As to spread sheets you will need input from somebody else.
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- Two or three USB ports: as I sit here now, i have an iPAd and IPhone plugged in to my MacBook plus a back-up drive and a printer. One USB port just ain't enough.
Assinine if you ask me. Frankly this is one thing I've complained about from day one. The good thing here is that AMD is supposedly ahead of the curve here and will have USB3 built into their coming chips. Still even one USB 3 port isn't enough.
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- An SSD with a capacity of 500 GB or 1 TB: Since I started buying movies online, I have less DVDs to get stolen or damaged because my kids failed to put them back in their covers. Movies no longer clutter up my den cupboards. But I've stopped buying them, because I've almost run out of hard drive space.
I understand your pain here but SSD that size are massively expensive. The better solution would be multiple bays/slots for storage "disks" or cards. It would be far better for this storage to be internal. Believe me I carry around an external HD just for media. I would rateher it was internal but my MBP is an early 2008 model that I don't want to tear into.
The only alternative that would be viable on the newer laptops is the use of SD cards. Far easier to carry around and far easier to loose. However i do use them to back up movies I don't want to loose and thus don't trust a back up disk with. Sd cards are to expensive though to use as general backup.
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What I want is an MacBook Pro without the DVD drive. Hell, if Apple made a 15" MBA, i think I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
I'm still a big fan of the larger screen. Dropping the DVD drive for me is simply to free up more space for internal storage. With viable storage getting smaller and smaller room for three bays should be possible. Of course you might think that would lead to a huge MBP but kets think small. 1.8" format or PCI Express cards.
San Disk has also tweaked my interest with an entire SATA "disk" on a chip.
What Is obvious is that Apple has plenty of room to innovate in the laptop space. They could make AIR a far more viable machine simply by implementing the latest and greatest tech. The potential is there.
However the latest Mac Pro rev demonstrates that Apple can still pull a boner. The best we can do is wait and hope they supply us with respectable hardware.
So, it looks like the MacBook Air will not be upgraded until the rest of Apple's notebook line-up gets refreshed in a month or so? Looks like Apple is really hesitating on this one.
[…]
What I want is an MacBook Pro without the DVD drive. Hell, if Apple made a 15" MBA, i think I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
Regarding the MBA, AnandTech has a recent review of a 3lb 13.3” ultra-portable notebook with Core-i7 with a 35W TDP. On top of that, it includes a DVD drive and 2.5” sized HDD/SSD for that weight, not 1.8” like in the MBA. This gives me hope Apple can make a MBA with a lower TDP Core-i7, still sans the ODD (optical drive drive) and be at with a good battery life which is the biggest failing of the MBA.
PS: If they don’t come out with the machine you want you may want to go my route. I replaced my ODD with an HDD using OptiBay’s kit. I installed an SSD for my boot drive and use the HDD for typical data storage and my user folders, which is a simple option built into Mac OS X.
Apple have the opportunity to bring the future to the present with a revised MacBook Air.
1. Weight is everything. Thin is nothing. A new MacBook Air should weigh in at about 1kg (2.2lbs).
2. Use liquid metal. The MacBook Air demands liquid metal more than any other Mac. It would also help to differentiate it from the MacBook. (I realize Apple will probably give us a liquid metal iPhone before a liquid metal Mac.)
3. The MacBook Air should be exactly as upgradable as an iPad. 4GB of RAM should be on the motherboard and 128 or 256GB of flash should be directly on the motherboard. This should make the next MacBook Air cheaper, lighter, thinner, and more reliable than possible with the current upgradability that 99.44% of customers never use. It would also allow a uniform thickness of about 15mm.
4. Ditch the trapdoor for the ports. It adds weight and complexity, some cables don't fit, and it just isn't that cool. Keep the number of ports small, but perhaps add a second USB port. Resist the temptation to add an Ethernet port, a Firewire port, or an ExpressCard/34 slot.
5. Reduce the screen size to 11.6" keeping the resolution at 1280x800. That would bring pixel density inline with that of the HD 15" and 17" MacBooks Pro and substantially reduce weight while allowing the same full-size keyboard to be retained.
6. Don't worry about cannibalizing iPad sales. The iPad will continue to sell spectacularly regardless of how great the next MacBook Air may be.
Apple have the opportunity to bring the future to the present with a revised MacBook Air.
1. Weight is everything. Thin is nothing. A new MacBook Air should weigh in at about 1kg (2.2lbs).
2. Use liquid metal. The MacBook Air demands liquid metal more than any other Mac. It would also help to differentiate it from the MacBook. (I realize Apple will probably give us a liquid metal iPhone before a liquid metal Mac.)
3. The MacBook Air should be exactly as upgradable as an iPad. 4GB of RAM should be on the motherboard and 128 or 256GB of flash should be directly on the motherboard. This should make the next MacBook Air cheaper, lighter, thinner, and more reliable than possible with the current upgradability that 99.44% of customers never use. It would also allow a uniform thickness of about 15mm.
4. Ditch the trapdoor for the ports. It adds weight and complexity, some cables don't fit, and it just isn't that cool. Keep the number of ports small, but perhaps add a second USB port. Resist the temptation to add an Ethernet port, a Firewire port, or an ExpressCard/34 slot.
5. Reduce the screen size to 11.6" keeping the resolution at 1280x800. That would bring pixel density inline with that of the HD 15" and 17" MacBooks Pro and substantially reduce weight while allowing the same full-size keyboard to be retained.
6. Don't worry about cannibalizing iPad sales. The iPad will continue to sell spectacularly regardless of how great the next MacBook Air may be.
Lighter would be better, but I’m not sure how to come to 2.2lbs as the magic number. What significance does 2.2lbs have other than being 1kg? Why not 2.3kg? Why not a focus on battery longevity, something this machine is currently lacking in?
LiquidMetal for the case or just elements within the case? How would compare with current milled aluminum strength to thickness to weigh comparisons? How would this compare in price of the enclosure?
4GB would be nice for this machine and I think it’s one of the most likely predictions to come true upon refresh. I would think being a PC that the storage will not be on the motherboard but as an SSD, though I do think that HDD will no longer be an option. WE now have denser NAND with better controllers and power for less money that make a single platter HDD of 1.8” or 2.5” a pointless option going forward. Where do you get 15mm from?
I’d like to see the trap door removed, too. I really like the utilitarian nature of Dell’s first “copycat” to the MBA. They used the back end for plugs, but I don’t see Apple going that way. I don’t see FW, EC, or Ethernet coming, but an extra USB would be nice. But how do you do that with a device you’ve stated shouldn’t be more than 15mm thick? One thing to consider is DisplayPort standard can push 50% faster than USB 2.0 over it’s data channel, and it uses a thin mini-DisplayPort. Having a special, included adapter wouldn’t be too bad, but I’d rather have a machine that was thicker and heavier to give me included USB Type-A ports and a battery large enough to give the iPad a run for its money on duration.
That won’t happen. 13” on a 16:10 display is about as small as you can go and still have a usable machine for the copious amounts of reading this “corporate” notebook was designed for. Making pixels denser doesn’t make items easier to read if it they considerably smaller than they were before. I can’t stand the HD displays on the larger MBPs. Everything is too small. Until Apple addresses their inability to alter the elements on the screen HD displays are still going to be an option that most people don’t want and something that will hold back display density increases. I’d rather see an IPS display on the MBA. Note that both an IPS over TN and increased pixels will increase the battery drain, which means you’ll need a larger battery to get same amount of use over lower power components.
Nothing will make the MBA sell the way the MacBook or iPad sells. Everything you and I have stated will make it less than ½ that of a MacBook according to specs sheets with at least ½ more price tag. There is a lot of give and take with this type of design.
The thought that wide screens are only for consumption on laptops is grabage. Obviously some aspect ratios serve certain tasks better than other ratios, but that does not make a wide screen useless for pros.
At 16:10 it's reasonable. At 16:9 it is annoying to useless at smaller sizes. 1280x800 (16:10) gives you reasonable screen height. 1024x576 is not. 1152x648 borderline useless. 1280x720 borderline okay. That extra 80 pixels is really nice to have.
Try using any IDE in 1024x576 for long periods. For quick and dirty edits it works...sorta...but for normal productivity you need a lot more vertical resolution.
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It makes about as much sense as the guys that use to complain about wide screen TVs not being high enough for a given screen size. The obvious solution is to buy a bigger screen to replace that 20 inch screen.
It really isn't all that reasonable a suggestion that folks should buy a larger screen to replace a 13" screen for portability. Once you get above a certain screen size and resolution aspect ratio doesn't matter as much except for consumption (and only from the perspective of black bars).
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The fact is the wider aspect ratio screen allows for more pixels on screen in extremely compact portables. That doesn't mean the screen will suit every use, just that the alternative offers less.
16:10 is a better resolution than 16:9 until you get to resolutions above 1140x900.
1280x720 is simply tight vertically.
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You have no idea do you?
And you do not seemed to have tried to code for a week on a 1024x576 or 1024x600 netbook.
1366x768 would be reasonable I guess.
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Wide screen works extremely well for many so called pro activities. Programming is one example with some IDEs almost demanding a wide screen.
Name one IDE that "almost" demands a wide screen ratio? They all work fine at 1280x1024 (5:4 ratio) and okay at 1024x768 (4:3).
Show me ANY that suck at 1400x1050 (4:3). And 2560x1600 (16:10) is still better than 2560x1440 (16:9).
Comments
Actually what I'm hoping for (some day) is a 13" iPad, with front & rear facing cameras.
A front facing camera might be workable and useful for FaceTime.
Actually the cameras get my money anyway as we have family overseas and need iChat.
I think waiting for the next iPad rev is in order. Apple is seeing a lot of success with iPad so a 13" model is not impossible. I just don't think it will happen next year though.
The wait might be well worth it if some of the rumors are true. For example a Cortex A9 ARM based processor will be a considerable upgrade. As will a model with more memory. Things like FaceTime support, Gyros and other features from iPhone 4 are a given.
Dave
Expect 16:9 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air in 2011!
I may stop buying Mac notebooks if they move to 16:9 for any of their 13? models.
I may stop buying Mac notebooks if they move to 16:9 for any of their 13? models.
At least for my uses wide screen is by far more useful Of course a bigger screen more so, which is why I have a 15' MBP. One of the things about iPad that bothers me is its aspect ratio. Especially considering I'm always looking for more width on my screen.
In any event what is your work load like that you dismiss wide screens?
Dave
At least for my uses wide screen is by far more useful Of course a bigger screen more so, which is why I have a 15' MBP. One of the things about iPad that bothers me is its aspect ratio. Especially considering I'm always looking for more width on my screen.
In any event what is your work load like that you dismiss wide screens?
Dave
I have no objections with wide screens, I have an objection with companies moving to wider screens specifically because it's in vogue.
Note that specifically referred to the 13" Mac notebooks, not the other sizes or any desktop displays. Also note the 13" display on the 16:10 ratio (which I think is ideal) shorter in height than the 12" 4:3 PowerBook that came before it. I was stating long before the iPad arrived that Apple can't effectively introduce a smaller notebook (or tablet) without moving closer to a 4:3 display, and certainly not a wider one. If you look at a 10" 16:9 netbook you have very little room for anything that involves reading and writing in length. It's not even close to be ideal, that's only great for watching vieo. The iPad would be horrible to rea on if I had the height or width of 10" 16:9 display.
Would movies be a better experience with a 16:9 display? Sure, but at the cost of making copious amounts of reading and writing mug worse as a trade off. Heck, most movies would would look better on a 1:2.35 display, and I hope you'd think THAT is going to far.
Mah prediktions:
Same form factor, same screen
Full multitouch trackpad with no button
Core 2 Duo still, but 30% faster
Nvidia 320M graphics
4GB RAM built in
Lower price (Price just a bit higher than highest-end MBP 13")
SSD as standard across the line
I have no objections with wide screens, I have an objection with companies moving to wider screens specifically because it's in vogue.
Note that specifically referred to the 13" Mac notebooks, not the other sizes or any desktop displays. Also note the 13" display on the 16:10 ratio (which I think is ideal) shorter in height than the 12" 4:3 PowerBook that came before it.
This is what I was talking about. Generally a wider display is more valuable to me than a taller one. That is probably very much do to the nature of what i do with laptops.
I was stating long before the iPad arrived that Apple can't effectively introduce a smaller notebook (or tablet) without moving closer to a 4:3 display, and certainly not a wider one. If you look at a 10" 16:9 netbook you have very little room for anything that involves reading and writing in length.
Well that would depend upon exactly what you are reading and writing. Certainly for programming the wider screen has its advantages. Even on my 15" MBP I'm often confined by width, seldom by hieght.
It's not even close to be ideal, that's only great for watching vieo. The iPad would be horrible to rea on if I had the height or width of 10" 16:9 display.
As a reader? I can argue against that and sound reasonable. Just look at a column if text in a book of magazine. They are by nature very tall. Even a 16:9 screen would have trouble.
Would movies be a better experience with a 16:9 display? Sure, but at the cost of making copious amounts of reading and writing mug worse as a trade off.
Much worst i think not. It certainly wouldn't be optimal for writing large amounts of text but even the current iPad is less than optimal there.
However if one of your primary uses for the device is as a video iPod then the aspect ratio is important. Even as a reader the aspect ratio would be beneficial. In any event the primary usage would dictate screen ratios more than anything.
Heck, most movies would would look better on a 1:2.35 display, and I hope you'd think THAT is going to far.
My thing is standard parts, which implies standard ratios. That isn't just an issue of the LCD, everything needs to function with the choosen ratio.
So in this regard I'm looking for a device with a display that can handle the majority of movie & TV ratios well. Such a screen would be perfectly fine for use as a reader or web browser.
Of course that is for a Tablet type device. For AIR many of the arguements are the same. It depnds upon your intentions, but for many a 16:9 ratio would be a big advantage over a 4:3 screen. Plus on an AIR like lapyop you need that width simply to have room for the keyboard. In many ways that keyboard width plays a significant role in how much screen realestate you can end up with. To me a ten inch screen implies a laptop that might actually be to small if the keyboard becomes unusable.
As a side note I've watched people use netbooks from a distance on a number of occasions. Many struggle with the screens. In the end i actually think Apple is right here when the describe netbooks as a bad experience. So if they expect to sell a device in this class I can only see succcess if they take a different approach. That might include a non standard ratio screen to cover the base unit but at the same time maximize pixels.
With Apples focus on the user experience i have to wonder if a ten inch screen AIR is even possible. Given that the device needs a usable keyboard and a track pad how small can they go? Of course they have some patents that might address that question if the could realize producable hardware. I'm talking here about the use of the dynamic keyboard/display that can change its feel based on usage.
The micro AIR may be real or not, but if it is I have to wonder how Apple will address their own stated concerns about the user experience.
Dave
I have no objections with wide screens, I have an objection with companies moving to wider screens specifically because it's in vogue.
Note that specifically referred to the 13" Mac notebooks, not the other sizes or any desktop displays. Also note the 13" display on the 16:10 ratio (which I think is ideal) shorter in height than the 12" 4:3 PowerBook that came before it. I was stating long before the iPad arrived that Apple can't effectively introduce a smaller notebook (or tablet) without moving closer to a 4:3 display, and certainly not a wider one. If you look at a 10" 16:9 netbook you have very little room for anything that involves reading and writing in length. It's not even close to be ideal, that's only great for watching vieo. The iPad would be horrible to rea on if I had the height or width of 10" 16:9 display.
Would movies be a better experience with a 16:9 display? Sure, but at the cost of making copious amounts of reading and writing mug worse as a trade off. Heck, most movies would would look better on a 1:2.35 display, and I hope you'd think THAT is going to far.
I agree. The trend to widescreen was/is all about visual media consumption, primarily video. And also works well with some other tasks, e.g., landscape photo-editing. And, yup, because they look real cooly-cool.
But by the same token, it makes them crappy for portrait photo editing. And if you're word processing for print or blog display, which a few of us still come out of facebook and Hulu to do yet, the wide screen makes you choose between lots of blank space on the sides and small screen fonts or not being able to see more than a few paragraphs at a time if you use the whole screen.
I have a pivot monitor on my PC (my notebook is Mac) and actually find myself using it more often in portrait mode - not only for photo portrait work/viewing and w. processing, also to read longer stories and posts on the web with much less scrolling.
Being stuck in wide screen is really pretty overrated except for users who are more consumers than creators and power users. I'll settle for some letterboxing on movies (or watch 'em on my TV) so that tasks best suited for portrait viewing aren't compromised any worse than they are on today's notebooks.
PS: Apple certainly recognizes this. All of their iOS devices have been auto-pivoting since day one. Which just gave me a vision of a two piece 15.4 inch OS X/iOS hybrid device - an iPad like main component (which could boot up in iOS and be used as an iPad) closer to 4:3 than 16:9, plus a wireless BT keyboard usable as with an iPad, but with the twist of the combo also being able to boot up in auto-pivoting OS X (and down the road have simultaneous or switchable features of both OS's), e.g., Parallels-style. Suhhh-weeet!
I agree. The trend to widescreen was/is all about visual media consumption, primarily video. And also works well with some other tasks, e.g., landscape photo-editing. And, yup, because they look real cooly-cool.
The thought that wide screens are only for consumption on laptops is grabage. Obviously some aspect ratios serve certain tasks better than other ratios, but that does not make a wide screen useless for pros.
It makes about as much sense as the guys that use to complain about wide screen TVs not being high enough for a given screen size. The obvious solution is to buy a bigger screen to replace that 20 inch screen.
But by the same token, it makes them crappy for portrait photo editing. And if you're word processing for print or blog display, which a few of us still come out of facebook and Hulu to do yet, the wide screen makes you choose between lots of blank space on the sides and small screen fonts or not being able to see more than a few paragraphs at a time if you use the whole screen.
Sounds like whining to me. If you are editing landscape or architecture you would be saying the opposite.
I have a pivot monitor on my PC (my notebook is Mac) and actually find myself using it more often in portrait mode - not only for photo portrait work/viewing and w. processing, also to read longer stories and posts on the web with much less scrolling.
Yes the option to rotate a screen is very handy. However i haven't seen a laptop solution tha allows for this. In the end you have to design laptops to fit physical reality and the needs of the greatest number of users. These issues conspire to force smaller laptops into wider screens. As long as a keyboard is a fixed parameter around which laptops are built, small machines will be wide. The alternative is a screen with wide desseks on the left and right sides, examples of which can be found in early netbooks.
The fact is the wider aspect ratio screen allows for more pixels on screen in extremely compact portables. That doesn't mean the screen will suit every use, just that the alternative offers less.
Being stuck in wide screen is really pretty overrated except for users who are more consumers than creators and power users.
You have no idea do you?
Wide screen works extremely well for many so called pro activities. Programming is one example with some IDEs almost demanding a wide screen. Industrial automaton is another good example. Electrical or mechanical design can also leverage the aspect ratio.
[quoye] I'll settle for some letterboxing on movies (or watch 'em on my TV) so that tasks best suited for portrait viewing aren't compromised any worse than they are on today's notebooks.
[/quote]
I think you will find that you are in the minority here. No aspect ratio is perfect but much of todays software is designed to leverage wider screens. Is that the best solution for every user - certainly not but it is the best engineering trade off that we have right now.
PS: Apple certainly recognizes this. All of their iOS devices have been auto-pivoting since day one. Which just gave me a vision of a two piece 15.4 inch OS X/iOS hybrid device - an iPad like main component (which could boot up in iOS and be used as an iPad) closer to 4:3 than 16:9, plus a wireless BT keyboard usable as with an iPad, but with the twist of the combo also being able to boot up in auto-pivoting OS X (and down the road have simultaneous or switchable features of both OS's), e.g., Parallels-style. Suhhh-weeet!
IOS devices are great in this respect, but how would they do that with AIR or any laptop? Even on iOS devices a 4:3 ratio isn't optimal everywhere. In fact i think it is less useful as the devices get smaller. Like right at this moment I'm typing this on my iPhone and would prefer an even wider screen. If the rumored midsize tablet comes out, 5 to 7 inch size, I'm convinced it would be more useful with the wider aspect ratio. The funny thing here is that the same reason you use comes into play, rotate to portrait and you can easily read text documents.
By the way I'm not gunning for a perfect 16:9 or any other ratio. What I'm concerned with is the total solutution. A long narrow device can go into more pockets that a fat one. It comes down to physical issues again, in this case how do you deliver the greatest number of pixels in a pocketable device.
Dave
Rather than deal with them all though, my whole point - obviously overstated when I said the wide screen fetish was ALL about consumption and style - is that for this "whining" power user of 25 years with "no idea," while some of my work is helped by 16:9 (or 10 or whatever), the majority of my varied computer tasks are not enhanced by wide-screenism.
And I'll still maintain that marketing and consumer tastes rank right up there as a factor in today's form factors with sheer functionality.
And I do believe some of the gaps between iOS and OS X will be bridged in clever, clever ways in not too many years to come - both on the hardware and software sides.
PS: MacBooks do not support any pivoting monitors? If so, a pity, since I'm getting ready to ditch owning a tower and leave Windows behind, except on a dual system Mac.
The thought that wide screens are only for consumption on laptops is grabage. Obviously some aspect ratios serve certain tasks better than other ratios, but that does not make a wide screen useless for pros.
It makes about as much sense as the guys that use to complain about wide screen TVs not being high enough for a given screen size. The obvious solution is to buy a bigger screen to replace that 20 inch screen.
Sounds like whining to me. If you are editing landscape or architecture you would be saying the opposite.
Yes the option to rotate a screen is very handy. However i haven't seen a laptop solution tha allows for this. In the end you have to design laptops to fit physical reality and the needs of the greatest number of users. These issues conspire to force smaller laptops into wider screens. As long as a keyboard is a fixed parameter around which laptops are built, small machines will be wide. The alternative is a screen with wide desseks on the left and right sides, examples of which can be found in early netbooks.
The fact is the wider aspect ratio screen allows for more pixels on screen in extremely compact portables. That doesn't mean the screen will suit every use, just that the alternative offers less.
You have no idea do you?
Wide screen works extremely well for many so called pro activities. Programming is one example with some IDEs almost demanding a wide screen. Industrial automaton is another good example. Electrical or mechanical design can also leverage the aspect ratio.
I think you will find that you are in the minority here. No aspect ratio is perfect but much of todays software is designed to leverage wider screens. Is that the best solution for every user - certainly not but it is the best engineering trade off that we have right now.
IOS devices are great in this respect, but how would they do that with AIR or any laptop? Even on iOS devices a 4:3 ratio isn't optimal everywhere. In fact i think it is less useful as the devices get smaller. Like right at this moment I'm typing this on my iPhone and would prefer an even wider screen. If the rumored midsize tablet comes out, 5 to 7 inch size, I'm convinced it would be more useful with the wider aspect ratio. The funny thing here is that the same reason you use comes into play, rotate to portrait and you can easily read text documents.
By the way I'm not gunning for a perfect 16:9 or any other ratio. What I'm concerned with is the total solutution. A long narrow device can go into more pockets that a fat one. It comes down to physical issues again, in this case how do you deliver the greatest number of pixels in a pocketable device.
Dave
You make some good points. (If a bit in that highly "pointed" way that forums seem to promote.) So I'll only call you out on one thing - not worth calling anyone out on in the real world: I found the spelling of "garbage" as "grabage" amusing. Sounds like a fun game to play with a girlfriend!
I have to admit that seeing this was funny.
Sadly this is an indication of the horrors of running iOS 4.0.x on an iPhone 3G. I've turned off some functionality to try to maintain usability even though it hasn't really worked. Hopefully Apple will resolve issues with this real soon now, I'm extremely tempted by iPhone 4 but really need to manage my personal 'IT' dollars better.
Rather than deal with them all though, my whole point - obviously overstated when I said the wide screen fetish was ALL about consumption and style - is that for this "whining" power user of 25 years with "no idea," while some of my work is helped by 16:9 (or 10 or whatever), the majority of my varied computer tasks are not enhanced by wide-screenism.
I can accept that as long as you accept that it works really well for me. Part of that is due to IDE's being built to leverage the wider screens these days and do so really well. Personally I find that even my web based activities work well with a wide screen.
It obviously sucks for page based documents but does that surprise anybody?
And I'll still maintain that marketing and consumer tastes rank right up there as a factor in today's form factors with sheer functionality.
Nay, it is much simpler than that. When a LCD panel manufacture has oodles of dollars invested in capital to produce wide aspect ratio screens they become the cheapest alternative. We have wide screens on PC and laptops simply because they ride on the production capacity of consumer HDTV screens.
And I do believe some of the gaps between iOS and OS X will be bridged in clever, clever ways in not too many years to come - both on the hardware and software sides.
Well yes but the problem I have here is that people don't seem to realize just how much of iOS is already OS/X and further Apple has been very clear in stating that new features in OS/X learned a lot from iOS. Specifically mentioned was QuickTime.
In other words it is already happening, though admittedly slowly. That shouldn't be a surprise neither as OS/X needs to remain stable or better yet become more stable. Also there needs to be a realization that things won't map 100% so Touch on OS/X might look a bit different than on an iPad. In the end I wouldn't be surprised at all if Apple has Touch being refined for OS/X, the hardware to do so will soon be here.
By that I mean AMD's Bobcat or Intels coming ATOM upgrades. A tablet running OS/X could be a real possibility and frankly I don't see it impacting iPad at all. They would sever entirely different markets.
PS: MacBooks do not support any pivoting monitors? If so, a pity, since I'm getting ready to ditch owning a tower and leave Windows behind, except on a dual system Mac.
I don't really know the answer to that question. However have you taken a look at the newest iMacs and their high resolution screens? I know you don't like wide but they are very capable of handling the tall documents side by side.
Dave
I'm not convinced that it needs to be vastly different, just that it needs to address user needs a little better to draw a wider user base. The single USB port is a real killer as is the lack of a Ethernet port, though two or three USB ports can make up for the lack of an Ethernet port to some extent. Free access to those ports is needed too.
Beyond those limitations AIR isn't that bad for ultra mobile computing.
The trouble here is that the market would see it as Apples netbook which if it follows in the foot print of AIR it obviously isn't. So unless Apple can get a 10" AIR priced well below $800 it won't be seen in to positive of a light.
It will be interesting to see what Apple has up its sleeves here. One just has to remember that the AIR serves a different market than the MB & MBP. Apple could however refocus where they focus the marketing of the AIRs. With the right rebuild and refocused marketing they could be very successful.
Dave
I don't know if the Air will ever be as successful as the MBP. However, as you mention, some tweaks are necessary. Firstly, ports, ports ports. Take the MBP, chisel away at it, throw out the disc drive, put a 2.5" SSD and 4GB RAM bulit in. Next use a more beefy CPU, 320M graphics. Lose the obsession with super-thin, it's all about the weight, baby. Compromise a little on aluminium, surely there must be another non-toxic, recyclable option for reducing weight. Drop the screen size to 12" if needed. Drop the price much closer to the higher end MBP 13" so it's actually a nice tight upsell from the MBP 13" to cover margins. Boom! MacBook Air back in business thru 2011.
Also killer battery life and full multitouch single surface trackpad.
I don't know if the Air will ever be as successful as the MBP. However, as you mention, some tweaks are necessary.
I don't think it has to be as successful as the MBP. What I have a problem with is that the general form factor could have served a lot more customers if Apple had just thought a little bit more about function.
Firstly, ports, ports ports.
Yes very imoprtant indeed. I currently run a MBP and wish that it had more USB ports. USB seems to be the most reliable way to do I/O on a Mac these days.
Take the MBP, chisel away at it, throw out the disc drive, put a 2.5" SSD and 4GB RAM bulit in.
I actually think that is to big for a "disk" in the AIR. You really want your storage as compact as possible. One approach would be storage on PCI Express cards using one of the compact standards. Now I see that SanDisk has debuted "iSSD" which is a complete "disk" on a chip which to me is ideal for compact storage on such a platform.
The only problem is that they currently max out at 64GB. Since I generally need at least 128GB on my boot drive that is a wash out. Actually I'd like a hell of a lot more space internally as i carry an external harddrive around with me all the time, the 100 or so gigs are just to viver boot and apps.
Next use a more beefy CPU, 320M graphics. Lose the obsession with super-thin, it's all about the weight, baby.
if you end up to thick it might as well be a MBP. Seriously bulk can be an issue as much as weight. So i only think a faster machine is possible if Apple can harvest a new generation of CPUs. That is one of the reasons i would like to see them go with a new generation of chips. Possibly AMDs Ontario but I'm not convinced the Bobcat cores can do the job. Then again AIRis no speed demon so who knows. Intel or AMD the goal should be the highest integration SoC possible. This to shrink the mother board to allow room for a much bigger battery.
Compromise a little on aluminium, surely there must be another non-toxic, recyclable option for reducing weight. Drop the screen size to 12" if needed. Drop the price much closer to the higher end MBP 13" so it's actually a nice tight upsell from the MBP 13" to cover margins. Boom! MacBook Air back in business thru 2011.
As far as pricing goes I'm happy if Apple is making reasonable profits. I think right now things are very unreasonable. In otherwords the unit is priced way to high.
Also killer battery life and full multitouch single surface trackpad.
It is strange that the track pad has not been updated in ages. As for battery life that is also doable with the right combination of SoC tech and a modest reworking of the case. Yes make it a bit thicker as needed.
I honestly believe that AMD has a chance in AIR if some of the rumors appear to be true. Lets face it AMD is being extremely tight lipped about Intario even though it supposedly is only weeks or days away from release. The latest news from Hot Chips is that the cores should get 90% of a normal cores performance. That is a lot better than ATOM plus they can run faster than ATOM. It is a stretch but I'm hoping AMDs quiet is a sign that they are working with Apple.
All of this is very interesting but frankly I'm not to sure I'm going to be rushing out to buy another laptop soon. A desktop and an iPad might make more sense for me. That depends upon how iPad evolves. The current model is a little shirt on features for my satisfaction.
Dave
But I don't buy this garbage that the iPad has made Apple laptops redundant. You still need a 'mother ship' to hold and load all the data you want to stuff on your iPad. For real world office use, you still need a large screen and a keyboard for input. At least, I do.
That said, I am not sure I have used the DVD drive on my 13" MacBook Pro more than once in the 12 months I've had it. When I did, it was only to watch a movie I could have downloaded via iTunes. Office was automatically installed when I transferred data from my Time Capsule. So, what I'm saying is that I am really ready to junk the internal DVD player, although I would like an external one (just in case).
That means I'm ready for a MacBook Air now. I sure would appreciate the lighter weight next time I travel on business. All MacBook Pros tend to get heavy when carried for more than 30 minutes. The problem is i worry that its processor and memory are just too puny.
In order for me to buy an MBA, I need the following:
- Decent processor that can handle very large spreadsheets and video
- Two or three USB ports: as I sit here now, i have an iPAd and IPhone plugged in to my MacBook plus a back-up drive and a printer. One USB port just ain't enough.
- An SSD with a capacity of 500 GB or 1 TB: Since I started buying movies online, I have less DVDs to get stolen or damaged because my kids failed to put them back in their covers. Movies no longer clutter up my den cupboards. But I've stopped buying them, because I've almost run out of hard drive space.
What I want is an MacBook Pro without the DVD drive. Hell, if Apple made a 15" MBA, i think I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
So, it looks like the MacBook Air will not be upgraded until the rest of Apple's notebook line-up gets refreshed in a month or so? Looks like Apple is really hesitating on this one.
I'm really wondering how big of a break we are likely to see with the new model AIR.
But I don't buy this garbage that the iPad has made Apple laptops redundant. You still need a 'mother ship' to hold and load all the data you want to stuff on your iPad. For real world office use, you still need a large screen and a keyboard for input. At least, I do.
For the most part it is garbage. For Apple it actually looks like IPad is driving more sales of Mac hardware. As to the PC world, they have bigger problems than iPad.
That said, I am not sure I have used the DVD drive on my 13" MacBook Pro more than once in the 12 months I've had it. When I did, it was only to watch a movie I could have downloaded via iTunes. Office was automatically installed when I transferred data from my Time Capsule. So, what I'm saying is that I am really ready to junk the internal DVD player, although I would like an external one (just in case).
Yes exactly, it is a lot to carry around if you never use it. The space could be better used for other things.
That means I'm ready for a MacBook Air now. I sure would appreciate the lighter weight next time I travel on business. All MacBook Pros tend to get heavy when carried for more than 30 minutes. The problem is i worry that its processor and memory are just too puny.
I wouldn't reccomend the current model if the above is the case. The processor isn't bad but it is no where near other laptops performance wise. I'm really hoping that AMD and Apple have worked out a deal for AMDs Ontario product. Given a high enough clock rate it ought to outclass the current processor yet run at very low power. I just don't think Intel has anything to bring to AIR right now.
In order for me to buy an MBA, I need the following:
- Decent processor that can handle very large spreadsheets and video
The original AIR bombed here but the current one will play video fairly well. That however is due directly to the GPU. As to spread sheets you will need input from somebody else.
- Two or three USB ports: as I sit here now, i have an iPAd and IPhone plugged in to my MacBook plus a back-up drive and a printer. One USB port just ain't enough.
Assinine if you ask me. Frankly this is one thing I've complained about from day one. The good thing here is that AMD is supposedly ahead of the curve here and will have USB3 built into their coming chips. Still even one USB 3 port isn't enough.
- An SSD with a capacity of 500 GB or 1 TB: Since I started buying movies online, I have less DVDs to get stolen or damaged because my kids failed to put them back in their covers. Movies no longer clutter up my den cupboards. But I've stopped buying them, because I've almost run out of hard drive space.
I understand your pain here but SSD that size are massively expensive. The better solution would be multiple bays/slots for storage "disks" or cards. It would be far better for this storage to be internal. Believe me I carry around an external HD just for media. I would rateher it was internal but my MBP is an early 2008 model that I don't want to tear into.
The only alternative that would be viable on the newer laptops is the use of SD cards. Far easier to carry around and far easier to loose. However i do use them to back up movies I don't want to loose and thus don't trust a back up disk with. Sd cards are to expensive though to use as general backup.
What I want is an MacBook Pro without the DVD drive. Hell, if Apple made a 15" MBA, i think I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
I'm still a big fan of the larger screen. Dropping the DVD drive for me is simply to free up more space for internal storage. With viable storage getting smaller and smaller room for three bays should be possible. Of course you might think that would lead to a huge MBP but kets think small. 1.8" format or PCI Express cards.
San Disk has also tweaked my interest with an entire SATA "disk" on a chip.
What Is obvious is that Apple has plenty of room to innovate in the laptop space. They could make AIR a far more viable machine simply by implementing the latest and greatest tech. The potential is there.
However the latest Mac Pro rev demonstrates that Apple can still pull a boner. The best we can do is wait and hope they supply us with respectable hardware.
Dave
So, it looks like the MacBook Air will not be upgraded until the rest of Apple's notebook line-up gets refreshed in a month or so? Looks like Apple is really hesitating on this one.
[…]
What I want is an MacBook Pro without the DVD drive. Hell, if Apple made a 15" MBA, i think I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
Regarding the MBA, AnandTech has a recent review of a 3lb 13.3” ultra-portable notebook with Core-i7 with a 35W TDP. On top of that, it includes a DVD drive and 2.5” sized HDD/SSD for that weight, not 1.8” like in the MBA. This gives me hope Apple can make a MBA with a lower TDP Core-i7, still sans the ODD (optical drive drive) and be at with a good battery life which is the biggest failing of the MBA. PS: If they don’t come out with the machine you want you may want to go my route. I replaced my ODD with an HDD using OptiBay’s kit. I installed an SSD for my boot drive and use the HDD for typical data storage and my user folders, which is a simple option built into Mac OS X.
1. Weight is everything. Thin is nothing. A new MacBook Air should weigh in at about 1kg (2.2lbs).
2. Use liquid metal. The MacBook Air demands liquid metal more than any other Mac. It would also help to differentiate it from the MacBook. (I realize Apple will probably give us a liquid metal iPhone before a liquid metal Mac.)
3. The MacBook Air should be exactly as upgradable as an iPad. 4GB of RAM should be on the motherboard and 128 or 256GB of flash should be directly on the motherboard. This should make the next MacBook Air cheaper, lighter, thinner, and more reliable than possible with the current upgradability that 99.44% of customers never use. It would also allow a uniform thickness of about 15mm.
4. Ditch the trapdoor for the ports. It adds weight and complexity, some cables don't fit, and it just isn't that cool. Keep the number of ports small, but perhaps add a second USB port. Resist the temptation to add an Ethernet port, a Firewire port, or an ExpressCard/34 slot.
5. Reduce the screen size to 11.6" keeping the resolution at 1280x800. That would bring pixel density inline with that of the HD 15" and 17" MacBooks Pro and substantially reduce weight while allowing the same full-size keyboard to be retained.
6. Don't worry about cannibalizing iPad sales. The iPad will continue to sell spectacularly regardless of how great the next MacBook Air may be.
Apple have the opportunity to bring the future to the present with a revised MacBook Air.
1. Weight is everything. Thin is nothing. A new MacBook Air should weigh in at about 1kg (2.2lbs).
2. Use liquid metal. The MacBook Air demands liquid metal more than any other Mac. It would also help to differentiate it from the MacBook. (I realize Apple will probably give us a liquid metal iPhone before a liquid metal Mac.)
3. The MacBook Air should be exactly as upgradable as an iPad. 4GB of RAM should be on the motherboard and 128 or 256GB of flash should be directly on the motherboard. This should make the next MacBook Air cheaper, lighter, thinner, and more reliable than possible with the current upgradability that 99.44% of customers never use. It would also allow a uniform thickness of about 15mm.
4. Ditch the trapdoor for the ports. It adds weight and complexity, some cables don't fit, and it just isn't that cool. Keep the number of ports small, but perhaps add a second USB port. Resist the temptation to add an Ethernet port, a Firewire port, or an ExpressCard/34 slot.
5. Reduce the screen size to 11.6" keeping the resolution at 1280x800. That would bring pixel density inline with that of the HD 15" and 17" MacBooks Pro and substantially reduce weight while allowing the same full-size keyboard to be retained.
6. Don't worry about cannibalizing iPad sales. The iPad will continue to sell spectacularly regardless of how great the next MacBook Air may be.
The thought that wide screens are only for consumption on laptops is grabage. Obviously some aspect ratios serve certain tasks better than other ratios, but that does not make a wide screen useless for pros.
At 16:10 it's reasonable. At 16:9 it is annoying to useless at smaller sizes. 1280x800 (16:10) gives you reasonable screen height. 1024x576 is not. 1152x648 borderline useless. 1280x720 borderline okay. That extra 80 pixels is really nice to have.
Try using any IDE in 1024x576 for long periods. For quick and dirty edits it works...sorta...but for normal productivity you need a lot more vertical resolution.
It makes about as much sense as the guys that use to complain about wide screen TVs not being high enough for a given screen size. The obvious solution is to buy a bigger screen to replace that 20 inch screen.
It really isn't all that reasonable a suggestion that folks should buy a larger screen to replace a 13" screen for portability. Once you get above a certain screen size and resolution aspect ratio doesn't matter as much except for consumption (and only from the perspective of black bars).
The fact is the wider aspect ratio screen allows for more pixels on screen in extremely compact portables. That doesn't mean the screen will suit every use, just that the alternative offers less.
16:10 is a better resolution than 16:9 until you get to resolutions above 1140x900.
1280x720 is simply tight vertically.
You have no idea do you?
And you do not seemed to have tried to code for a week on a 1024x576 or 1024x600 netbook.
1366x768 would be reasonable I guess.
Wide screen works extremely well for many so called pro activities. Programming is one example with some IDEs almost demanding a wide screen.
Name one IDE that "almost" demands a wide screen ratio? They all work fine at 1280x1024 (5:4 ratio) and okay at 1024x768 (4:3).
Show me ANY that suck at 1400x1050 (4:3). And 2560x1600 (16:10) is still better than 2560x1440 (16:9).