MacBook Air!

[gphillipk]

Er, I'm a bit surprised that nobody has mentioned this new addition to the MacBook family. http://www.apple.com/macbookair/
What do you all think? The solid-state 64GB HD is an interesting option, external superdrive a plus and minus depending on how you look @ it.

[mw84]

Been mentioned loads of times mate, have a look in 'The official Macworld' thread.

[gphillipk]

ah

[bbloke]

Also, there is a discussion about the "point" of the MacBook Air in another thread.

[SGilbert]

It's not for me.

Too small, non user replaceable battery, no Firewire, too slow, HD too small, and the desireable solid-stare HD is $900 addtl. AND even smaller!

[Thank The Cheese]

I think it's cool but it doesn't have a market IMO. People who are attracted to the prettyness but don't care about specs will be put off by the price. Those who like the prettyness but also care about the specs will be put off by the price and specs. It isn't small enough for an ultra-portable, so it's really just an underpowered full-size laptop that happens to be very thin.

AT the same time, I don't buy the argument of no user-replaceable battery. Everyone complains about this whenever apple releases a portable product but I just don't think it's important. Firstly, most people would replace their laptop before the 3-4 year lifespan of a battery is up, and even if you do replace it, it's only $130. If you could replace it yourself, the battery would cost at least $100 (probably more) anyway.

Small HD isn't that big a deal IMO, and I think it's plenty fast for its target audience. No ethernet and no firewire is my biggest gripe in terms of specs.

Anyway, bottom line is I think the AIr is very cool, but I was hoping for a UMPC that was bigger than an iPhone, but must smaller than a MacBook.

[mdnky]

Originally Posted by Thank The Cheese

I don't buy the argument of no user-replaceable battery. Everyone complains about this whenever apple releases a portable product but I just don't think it's important. Firstly, most people would replace their laptop before the 3-4 year lifespan of a battery is up, and even if you do replace it, it's only $130. If you could replace it yourself, the battery would cost at least $100 (probably more) anyway.

I have to disagree. Especially since I'll forced to replace my battery soon on the MacBook Pro, after owning it for only 13 to 14 months now. The Powerbook I had before this started to have battery issues at 11 months. My iBook (G3 900) had issues at about 30 months.

In fact I can't say I know anyone who made it more than 2.5 years on the original battery with full use still available to them. The vast majority had to replace their batteries with 1-2 years to keep any level of normal usage available. The majority also followed Apple (and a few other manufacturers) recommendations on charging and cycling. Some didn't and had the same luck.

While it might only be $130 to have them replace it, you forget about shipping costs (not everyone has an Apple store nearby) and -- more importantly -- downtime. I can't afford to have my machine in Apple's hands even for a few hours. Its the only one I have and way to important for my work and personal life. Even if I had a desktop unit available, being without my laptop would be undoable for me.

My last foray with shipping a laptop to Apple for a routine (3-5 day turnaround per their people) started in mid-November of 2006 and ended in January of 2007. It only ended when someone called and said "sorry, we can't find the part we need...so we can wait and see if it comes tomorrow or we can ship you a new MB Pro instead for the hassle." I chose the new option, since I had already bought my MB Pro before shipping the PB in for service. I was going to eBay the PB anyways, so I made out better in the long run being able to sell a new unopened MB Pro instead. I'm not complaining about the end result, just the time it took to happen.

[Thank The Cheese]

I guess I've been lucky with mine -- my MBP battery, while definately not as long-lasting as it was, still gets me 1.5-2 hours, depenidng on what I'm doing with it after 2 years

but that is a good point about the length of time it takes to replace. With a barrery, though, surely it would just be a matter of taking it to an authorised reseller and having them take it out the back to throw it in while you wait (much like what they do with RAM on iMacs for people who aren't confident about doing it themselves). I suppose it depends how difficult it is, so we'll have to wait until people can dismantle it.

I'm like you -- I can't be without my MBP for very long. In fact, my MBP's "o" key has not worked in 6 months. whenever I want to type the letter "o", I have to either cut and paste it from somewhere, or use my special quicksilver shortcut of Command+Option+0 (zero). Drives me insane, but I don't want to be without it for the 2-3 weeks it is likely to take. So I guess we'll have to see just how difficult it is