1 Keynote > entire CES
 

Apple just has the more interesting stuff that is more usable :woot:

linky? )

I disagree! The Apple Macbook Air is nice if you never plan to upgrade anything in it, but Intel's Menlow design is just neat... and its just the prototype for what they plan to do with it. A microCPU smaller then a fingernail that offers the performance of a Pentium M, that sounds far more "usable" to me. :)

Upgrade what?

It is meant that you can do Office tasks, browse the web and do your emails while being on the move. What do you need to upgrade for that?


I looked at the Asus EEE and didn't understand what was so great about it because the display, the keyboard and storage capacity were crap while the Air scores for the display, the keyboard AND the battery life, all the things that really matter when you work with a laptop a lot. The EEE is a gadget that will get old soon, the Air is something that you will use a lot.

you don't want to surf the web on a 4-5 year old machine... unless you like really slow loading time and constant 100% usage

I also do not like the ASUS EE PC. However that said in direct comparison the EE has 2 or 4 USB ports (Not just the Airbook's single port!), and at least the EE PC will support more wireless standards besides 11n, such as WiMAX. The Macbook Air does not even have an ethernet port on it, it is either 11n or nothing. Only 2GB of RAM with no ability to upgrade, and if you think the EE PC's SSD is slow you should wait to see about that weak 1.8" hard drive.

Maybe when the 45nm version comes out and Apple has ironed out the regular litany of undiscovered bugs, and dropped the price perhaps...

If you are so hot on the Macbook Air, then just calculate the battery life Menlow would give you if it replaced the LV Core 2 Duo in there.

only 1USB and no Ethernet? FAIL

I actually have such a notebook and it works just fine for that.


The Air is a revolutionary product because it dares to cut off old junk.

I disagree, I have a 5 year old laptop to work with, Compaq EVO series, it's very very slow, not fun to watch photos on (takes ages to load) no fun to try and run music (MP3) and surf (audio stutters), no fun to visit media heavy webpages (CPU @ 100% all the time). strangely enough, the stagnation of CPU/MEM interface speed increase was not that long ago, a 2-3 year old system can still serve very well as "surf-station" but older... no thanks;)

only 1 USB is not enough, no ethernet either? no thanks. has NOTHING TO DO with "old junk". did you read our posts? ;)

DVD drives have been replaced by USB sticks

Ethernet has been replaced by Wireless

the need for more USB ports has been replaced by putting in a good trackpad and keyboard in, so you only need 1 port to put your USB stick in

Wireless is vastly inferior to Wired networks: speed, security, reliability.
Don't know why you bring up DVDs when all I want to do is have 2 more USB ports? No laptop keyboard or trackpad is decent enough for long workhours in my humble opinion

Most definitely.... the Macbook Air is a great concept, but any long time laptop user will have a real mouse. That is one USB port. Flash drive or two, 2nd USB port. DVD, CD, or optical drive, three ports. I'm not sure how Apple does their stuff (?) but an optical drive is needed if you update firmware, BIOS, or other things for some systems. At this rate the Macbook Air user is going to need to carry around a large USB hub.

What I am curious about is what battery life under XP would be, by direct comparison to Mac OS X? Not to mention undervolting that CPU and locking it at 600-800MHz as well. I have the feeling 7 hours battery life might be easily workable....

Macbook Air can borrow other computer's cd/dvd drives over the network. Apple developed special software so you don't need to use a connected external drive if you don't want to. Works on windows and mac OS'es by the way.

I'm in doubt to get a MBA though, as for a few 100 more you got a damn good Macbook Pro. My Powerbook G4 is getting too old to do any serious multimedia work on, and my battery needs replacing fast (lasts me about 1/2 hour max nowadays). I could get a new battery of course but the machine is just not worth it any more (5 years old). After 5 years I still use it every day though jmke, and it's fast enough to do anything but multimedia. I can't tell the difference surfing the web or using office on this one compared to my latest PC's.

I think I've found one thing that is undeniable bad about the MBA: The glossy display.

@Thorgal: G4 is different breed compared to PCs, was comparing PCs;)

Air doesn't have slim-line DVD drive? :( good luck playing that DVD movie on your next trip

It's external indeed (usb powered), and its biggest drawback to me, along with its too slow 1.8" hard drive (you can go SSD if you're rich though ;) ). Single usb and no ethernet doesn't bother me, I've got a usb to ethernet adapter if need be, and keyboards/mice can work over bluetooth. Only need the usb for the memory stick or the cd-drive, or perhaps to print.

Other drawbacks : slow integrated video card (Intel 3100), non-upgradeble ram (soldered), non user-removable battery. Apple does offer a battery replacement service which costs no more than a normal battery for its other portables, but still, if you run out of juice, play-time is over ;)

The air is obviously unsuited to be used as your single PC, but it could work as an add on to a powerful desktop, in my humble opinion of course.

I have "borrowed" other computer's DVD drivers over my home network to install things on a DVDless computer... I seriously wouldn't suggest it. DRM makes it iffy if it will work and generally give you grief, and installing a 4GB application via a wireless connection is not fast.

I didn't know the battery was non-removeable... that kills it for me! I'm not paying shipping to Apple then paying Apple for them to replace the battery.

If it weren't for Steve Jobs getting on stage to talk to his lemmings (or followers, depending which one you want to go with) the entire Macworld show would be a complete waste. :mad: Honestly, the only reason I went to the show was for the keynote and then to play with the MacBook Air for a few minutes, while I tried to fight off throngs of Apple fanboys.

The MacBook Air is a decent enough product, but isn't even close to the $1800 retail for the base model. Here is what I really thought of the Air.

CES is IMO the better show for consumer gadgets that lie outside of the Apple spectrum.

testing the "typical punishment" :D


It is quite funny when everyone talks about the price. Around the superlight notebooks the MacNook is one of the cheapest (ever looked at the price of the Sony TZ?). A 64 GB SSD disk upgrade costs MORE at Dell than it costs at Apple.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/anoth...killer_emerges


riiiight, 3600 $


Also everyone talking about what the MBA does not have forget that there already is a MB that has almost all of it, so why should Apple introduce more of the same?

I was rather bummed that the Apple show floor reps were unable to actually show this working properly when we were all watching. :mad: If it works, great... if it doesn't work... :no:

Regardless of what anyone says, I will ALWAYS want to have an ethernet port in my notebook, even if that means carrying something a little bit thicker. Unless I am lounging on the couch ready to pass out, my notebook always is connected to the Internet via cat5e cable.

I still believe the MacBook Air was designed specifically for the Apple fanboys, and no one else...

I am curious to hear what reviewers say after they've had real time to play with the MBA.

I agree with the fact that it would better work ;) But it wasn't possible to show it to you because the feature requires Mac OS 10.5.2, which isn't finished or available yet. Also, for the price they could have included the external drive I think.

Ethernet port : the USB dongle works quite good if you absolutely need ethernet. I for one have not used it for years on my Powerbook. But I agree they should include the dongle for free.

To say that MBA is designed for Apple fanboys only : I think you're wrong on that one, but only the future will provide the answers there. And no, I'm not an Apple fanboy, I critisize them all the time on the dedicated forums, and I won't buy a MBA just because Apple thinks it's great, but I still use other Apple products, and rather like most of there stuff.