Posted on 01/15/2008 7:05:28 PM PST by webschooner
The new laptop from Apple is the slimmest in the world, but potential customers will need a thick wallet
Impressively thin but expensive - that would be the quick take on Apple's new laptop.
The MacBook Air is an ultra-sleek notebook computer designed, like many other Apple products, to appeal to people who like devices with superior functionality and, importantly, who have healthy incomes.
It is extremely thin - at the narrowest point it tapers to just 4mm (0.16 inches), about the width of a pencil - and when waved about its aluminium finish gives it an almost blade-like quality.
At its thickest point - 22mm (0.86 inches) - it is still thinner than the thinnest section of its nearest competitor - the Sony Vaio TZ, Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, took great pleasure in pointing out.
In his demo, Mr Jobs pulled it out of an A4-sized enveloped, much to the collective amazement - and then delight - of the crowd.
It has an impressive 13.3in screen, and while the display itself is not touch-sensitive, Apple has incorporated several of the 'touch' controls that it introduced on the iPhone in the mouse pad at the bottom of the keyboard.
A pinching gesture allows you to zoom in and out of a web page or document, while placing two fingers on the pad and twisting them lets you rotate what you are looking at - a picture, say.
Unusually, there is no built-in CD drive. Apple is betting the uses of such drives - for instance burning discs and loading software - will become less relevant as more and more services can be performed wirelessly or delivered over the internet. An external drive can be bought for £65.
All this comes at a price, though. The Air - which ships in two weeks globally - will cost £1,199, several hundred pounds more than the cheapest MacBook, but about on par with the more advanced MacBook Pro.
Another downside is that the battery cannot be removed, meaning that business users on flights, say, will be limited to its 5-hour life.
Also of note in Mr Jobs's keynote were updates to several existing Apple products.
A free upgrade to the iPhone's software means that owners will now be able to find out their current location, a feature that will radically improve the device by allowing people to search for restaurants or shops, say, in their vicinity.
The feature uses nearby mobile phone masts and wi-fi networks to locate the device's position via a process called triangulation, unlike GPS, which relies on satellites.
Apple TV - a device which enables people to watch videos in their iTunes library on their TV - has also had an overhaul. It will now be a stand-alone unit - not connected to the computer - meaning that an owner will effectively be able to access iTunes directly from their TV.
A web-based interface, which looks a bit like the existing iTunes store only less busy, appears directly on the owner's TV screen, and lets anyone - Apple and PC users alike - buy content from iTunes, to watch either on the TV or their iPod.
Combined with the new iTunes movie rental feature, which will enable iPod owners to rent new release films from all the major studios for $3.99 (£2), this will give a jolt to all the existing video-on-demand providers, including the television networks and specialists like Lovefilm.com.
The new Apple TV will cost $229 (£117), but for the time being is only available in the US.
That is one stinking sweet machine.
I’ll get the Air Jr. when it comes out....
It is a piece of junk. My wife has a Sony Vaio and the super-thin screen is too fragile to be taken anywhere. I guarantee if the owner flexes the screen it will crack. Notebooks are intended to be mobile. This thing will be too delicate to take anywhere.
Or, for the state-of-the-art configuration, $3098 with the solid-state drive.
I bought 50 more shares of AAPL today... at $163. I think their PC sales are going to take off... now that they can run MS programs BETTER than Vista!
And worth every penny. It is beautiful.
Yeah, because that's what Apple is known for.
Just the thing to use for defending yourself if you get jumped in a dark alley. Seriously, that looks so insubstantial that you would be twice as likely to drop it. A better alternative would be to make a tablet pc that really, really doesn’t need a keyboard to work, and that’s a software issue, not hardware.
Drink up my minions!
Ahhh, to be wealthy and be able to afford all the just too kewl new electronic toys such as this ...
Sweet!!
Count me in!!!
Since I only use portables on the road and don’t expect desktop performance, my primary consideration is battery life. The novelty of all the other bells and wistles wears off pretty quick but battery life is a spec that will dog you every day you ever use a portable. Wonder what this thing gets.
I read on another story about this that the batt life is 5 hours. The batt is not removeable though.
When you are pulling down that second 8-hour shift for time-and-a-half, now you will know why...
I bet somebody comes along with an external power supply pretty quick, for those who just gotta have more than five hours.
The ability for a businessman to pack his laptop inside his briefcase or even in an envelope is huge (or rather not huge). You can see the computer is almost down to the paper thin multimedia device in 2001 A Space Odyssey.
And the high introductory price is still half what a decent system cost maybe 8 years ago?
I’m typing this on a MacBook Pro (which I love), and I’ve been a Mac fan, user and owner since 1988, but Apple has a dud on their hands with this new MacBook Air. There’s no way that I’d pay $1,799 for a notebook with a 13” screen, no optical drive and no ethernet port. It looks cool, but looks aren’t nearly enough to overcome the machine’s numerous limitations. I can’t imagine this becoming a very strong seller.
Read what another poster was saying about the ability to easily crack the screen. Putting a laptop in an envelope would be a very silly thing to do. The only suitcase I would use for a laptop like in is a heavy, crush-proof, padded one one.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
I could be very wrong, but my best guess is that unless it has some serious problems (like screens cracking easily), that it will be a big hit.
The micro-notebook segment is really hot right now -- the Asus Eee at 2 lbs. sells like hotcakes, and the Everex Cloudbook comes out this month, plus others in the segment are on the near horizon. Yes, these are way less $ than the Mac Air, but I still predict this one will be a strong seller, if sturdy. Smaller and lighter seems to be a market segment of notebooks that has been overlooked heretofore, as most laptops got bigger and bigger (15.4", 17").
This notebook has a molded aluminum case. I have seen other Macbooks with metal cases, and they have been very tough. The toughness of this thing might surprise you.
He was talking about a different brand. Nobody's had their hands on this computer. As to the envelope thing, that was the way Jobs introduced it. He pulled it out of an A4 sized envelope. I doubt anyone would actually carry it that way.
You mean, other than the adapters for homes, cars, airliners and the sun? External power supplies for laptops have been around longer than laptops.
I picked up an Asus EEE for the wife over the weekend. She absolutely loves it. An amazing little machine, and it only set be back $399. Sure, there are a lot of compromises that go along with the miniature size, but they are well considered, IMHO.
I was a little leery about the Linux OS, but I have to say it was a real pleasure to work with, ran fast, and was remarkably trouble-free.
Plus, I am much cooler and more intelligent now that I finally have a Linux machine...
I was thinking along the lines of a clip-on battery base, like you see on the sub-notebook Dells.
In my experience, Apple equipment is durable.
My wife accidentally backed out the car over her PowerBook. The screen was cracked and the keyboard was broken, but it still worked well enough to transfer the data to another system.
I have an Apple computer that will be thirty years old in a few months, and it still works good as new.
When I was in J&R over the weekend picking up the Asus EEE, there were a lot of people looking at notebooks. Almost everybody was pawing over the sub-notebooks and sub-sub-notebooks. There were big, beautiful desktop replacement laptops all over the place, at really good prices, and nobody was giving them a second look.
Well, I could be wrong, too. With Amazon.com recently selling a full-featured MacBook Pro for $1,849, the MacBook Air wouldn’t be my choice. But I’ll admit that I’ve been wrong before concerning consumer tastes. Heck, 15 years ago, I told a friend that Starbucks was an overpriced fad that wouldn’t last.
Damn, we're old! When did that happen?!?
Check the many vids on youtube for the Asus Eee PC -- this thing is getting hacked and pimped more than a 63 Chevy. They are adding: touch screens, bluetooth, 3G Broadband with a Simcard, yada yada, plus there is a website or two devoted to it.
Plus, I am much cooler and more intelligent now that I finally have a Linux machine...
Yes, and that, plus the arrival of the Mac Air are depressing Mr. Gates. Surely you must feel guilty?
Apple most likely gets their parts from the same sources everyone else does. That’s why they’ve been able to keep up with Wintel machines. Anything that thin bends easily. And when it does, it will either stay bent (unlikely) or break.
I would believe they have already done the homework about what demographics will want this. It’s too small for me and it does appear like it’s kind of delicate for travel.
And the nonremovable battery is not good for when it fails. It also is not good not to have an ethernet port.
I don’t know who the demo groups are but I am not in it.
The thing is, who wants to type on a reduced size keyboard? I mean that’s how carpal tunnel comes about. Much less eye strain on a smaller screen.
Cute but not practical.
After all, this is an Apple thread.
OUCH! The price is kinda steep.
Does it have a traditional platter style hard drive? I don’t see how they can fit one in this paper thin thing. And the battery...they claim 5 hours...I bet it’s more like 2 hours, or less.
I think it is time to start shorting Microsoft. Really.
This Linux machine was really impressive and really cheap. It ran faster and better than it would with Windows Vista, that’s for sure.
I may not be able to buy the latest bloat-ware from the major software developers, but somehow I think I will be able to bear the pain.
These kids are going to eat Bill Gates’ lunch.
It’s thinner, but it’s not smaller. My wife was really hoping they’d come out with something small to replace her beloved 5 year-old P5000 Lifebook (Fujitsu). It’s tiny, light, has a combo drive (removable), ethernet & g wireless, and has a cardbus slot for her verizon broadband access. It fits in her purse, so she doesn’t have to carry a separate laptop bag.
This thing ain’t even close, unfortunately.
It’s beautiful though.
I was hoping the rumors of a mid-tower were true - I was hoping to replace my MDD without needing to go whole hog on a Mac Pro.
The screen is the same size as the Macbook's, the keyboard is full size, same as on the Macbook.
And those of us that didn’t listen to you are laughing all the way to the bank...
Apple is claiming it is a full sized keyboard. I haven’t matched it to my peasant fingers, so I don’t have any first hand knowledge. It lights up in the dark, though, which is cool.
The super-sub-notebooks like your wife’s Lifebook turned out to be a niche market at best and a flop at worst. They’re *too* small for most people to use.
And many of those that did developed CTS/RSD, so most makers dropped them.
it’s a 1.8” drive. Optional flash drive for major $
At least you're not the IT guy that told me the Internet was going to be a fad in '95.
That is exactly what a lot of MS-DOS users said about the mouse point device. They were wrong.
The MacBook Air will be a game-changer for the industry.
In whole, the new technologies announced today are historic.
Size and weightHeight: 0.16-0.76 inch (0.4-1.94 cm)
Width: 12.8 inches (32.5 cm)
Depth: 8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
Weight: 3.0 pounds (1.36 kg)1Processor and memory
Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB on-chip shared L2 cache running at full processor speed
800MHz frontside bus
2GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM onboardStorage
80GB 4200-rpm Parallel ATA hard disk drive2
Optional 64GB solid-state drive2
Optional external USB MacBook Air SuperDriveEnvironmental status report
MacBook Air embodies Apple’s continuing environmental progress. It consumes the least amount of power of any Mac and is also designed with the following features to reduce environmental impact:
Highly recyclable aluminum enclosure
Mercury-free LCD display with arsenic-free glass
PVC-free internal cables
Largely recyclable, low-volume packaging
Meets ENERGY STAR requirements
MacBook Air received a Silver rating from EPEATDisplay
13.3-inch (diagonal) glossy widescreen TFT LED backlit display with support for millions of colors
Supported resolutions: 1280 by 800 (native), 1152 by 720, 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, 800 by 500, 720 by 480, and 640 by 480 pixels at 16:10 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and 640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio; 720 by 480 pixels at 3:2 aspect ratio
Graphics and video support
Pure digital video output
Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory
- DVI output using micro-DVI to DVI adapter (included)
- VGA output using micro-DVI to VGA adapter (included)
- Composite output using micro-DVI to video adapter (optional)
- S-video output using micro-DVI to video adapter (optional)
Extended desktop and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 1920 by 1200 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors
Built-in iSight camera
Input
Built-in full-size keyboard with 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys, including 12 function keys, 4 arrow keys (inverted “T” arrangement), and embedded numeric keypad
Backlit keyboard with ambient light sensor for automatic adjustment of keyboard illumination and screen brightness
Solid-state trackpad with multi-touch gesture support for precise cursor control; supports two-finger scrolling, pinch, rotate, swipe, tap, double-tap, and drag capabilities
Wireless
Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking (based on IEEE 802.11n draft specification); IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible
Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
Peripheral connections
Audio
Analog audio output/headphone out (minijack)
Built-in mono speaker
Built-in omnidirectional microphoneBattery and power
Integrated 37-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery
45W MagSafe power adapter with cable management system
MagSafe power adapter port
Most Linux builds are capable of doing the simple things the majority of computer users do, which is nothing more than web browsing and e-mail.
I’m sure they won’t be very happy the first time they run into problems setting up a printer or changing network settings, which is nowhere near as intuitive or easy as it is on other platforms.
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