The Macbook Air is Not a Sub-Notebook
Having had a few hours to digest the announcement of Apple's latest product, the Macbook Air, an extremely thin, relatively lightweight notebook computer incorporating some of the same design concepts as the iPhone, I've come to realize what is fundamentally irksome about it.
It's not the lack of a user-accessible battery. While the lack of battery that can be swapped for another to extend away-from-socket use time is regrettable to some, for most the five hour "web browsing via Wi-Fi" time should be plenty. And though laptops tend to chew through batteries at an alarming rate—the one in the very Macbook Pro on which I am typing has less than an hour of usable life from "full charge," despite being less than a year old—I could live with paying $129 every couple of years to have Apple install a replacement. We can have wafer thin gadgets or user replaceable batteries, but not both, and I trust the consumer electronics industry will continue to produce an heterogeneous selection of slightly less waifish devices with rumble seats.
It's not the lack of a FireWire, although that may be a diminution of the Macbook Air's usefulness to those—like myself—who use tape-based camcorders. Anyone dedicating any appreciable time to video editing should want a computer with a faster processor, more memory, and a hard disk with both greater rotational speed and capacity.
It's not the price. $1,800 is a fair price for a well-engineered slab of fashion and science. The Asus Eee, to which it has most commonly been compared, often almost fairly, is perhaps only half the machine of the Macbook Air in capability, albeit at less than one-fourth the cost. But it is impossible to mistake the Eee for anything other than the latest achievement of an efficient manufacturing culture, a marvelous but still-plastic toy, while the Air is a scythe paused mid-stroke. Thin as enamel under a cold gasp.
It's not the perfidious, lumpen shape which allows Apple to claim "World's Thinnest" title while stuffing the computer's midsection with components, a roundness forgivable in a pocket-bound iPhone but not the Macbook Air. It looks over-leavened, like a thinner laptop left too long in the oven. Yet I could, being a man capable of finding the truth and beauty in any model provided she is thin, learn to love it.*
The Macbook Air has one intractable flaw.
It's too big.
More precisely, too wide. As I said just this week, a sub-notebook's defining feature is its keyboard. At first glance, the Macbook Air would seem to have met this criterion. It has a full-sized keyboard which I'm sure meets the same level of quality of previous wonderful Apple laptop keyboards.
Why did Apple choose to extend the dimensions of the machine beyond those of the keyboard? (The Macbook Air is exactly the same depth and width as the vanilla Macbook.) They have guessed that Mac users in search of a lightweight laptop were not willing to give up any more screen size. That a thirteen-inch widescreen is the minimum comfortable display for a laptop that will be used for five hours at a time. That a smaller screen would make the Macbook Air less capable as a surrogate for a larger Macbook. Maybe they're right.
But it's not the sub-notebook Mac I have wanted for years. I would say it isn't a sub-notebook at all, but simply a thin laptop. A super-sub-notebook. A laptop that is no more portable than its thicker predecessors, but less capable.
It'll probably be a big success. I'll wait.
* I joke, of course. I like my women in a variety of form factors.
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I will always love my 12 inch powerbook.
I agree. The weight (or lackthereof) is great, but choosing an Air over my current MacBook doesn't at all increase my choice of bags.
I'm rocking a hacked iPod Touch and, while not at all capable as a general computing device, makes travel a breeze (slip it in pocket) and I have the security (gross, isn't it?) of still being reasonably connected when I need to be.
I think the Air is a stellar piece of hardware, but it doesn't fit that niche I want between my Macbook and my Touch---specifically, I can toss it in my small bookbag and *forget about it* until I realize "I need to do something".
But, I'm currently waiting for OLPC to get their act together and ship me my XO!
Then again, it seems like more and more bags (at least for men) have the size and aspect ratio to carry a laptop (cause I guess books are so yesterday and you should be buying your sandwiches at Starbucks, not carrying them in tupperware like a loser). So maybe Apple is on to something.
That's my concern, Joel. I was hoping Apple would introduce something really sub-sub-size so their notebook lineup would have three tiers of size and capability. But instead of creating something like the Foleo done right, or something really out there like the dockable tablet Wired theorized with wireless power... they basically just made an extra-thin MacBook.
So now people have to either assume one of two things:
• The price is really high because the new tech being used is so new, and the Air will eventually be much cheaper... so they should wait.
• The Air is the eventual replacement for the MacBook... so they should wait.
It is unclear exactly what the target market for the Macbook Air is.
Mobile creatives? Not powerful enough.
Mobile execs? Not enough battery life.
Mobile browsers/writers? Too expensive.
I'm also concerned that this is the first step towards the ipodification of their laptop line. I like laptops with at least some user upgradeable components.
I am not sure that there IS a real market between the Touch and the MacBook. Sure, the MacBook (or this) could drop an inch to 12", but how much of a difference would that REALLY make for portability. Yeah, the Air fits in an envelope, but there is still a power cord, cables, and all that. So, if I'm taking a bag either way, how much difference am I going to see between this and a standard 13" MacBook?
If I am taking a bag, the laptop should be fully functional. No serious compromises. If I'm not, everything better fit in my pants pocket (even if it takes a deep pocket to do it). I figure the first hardware revision of the Touch/iPhone will be souped up for apps. That should handle my needs for mobile access.
oh, and Joel, just curious but is your Pro the 17" model? My 15" is about a year old with 85% health for the battery and as long as I turn off wireless and keep the screen brightness in the lower third I still get roughly 3 hours video/DVD playback. Tested a couple weeks ago on a Christmas flight. I was surprised to hear your much lower number.
Exactly!
It's really nice, but it's too wide. I realised this about my MacBook after having it for about a month. I'd get an old 12" PowerBook, if not for the fact that they're still expensive for their size and feature set. Since using the MacBook, I'm loathe to switch back to a slower, single processor Mac laptop (unless it was a G3/G4-upgraded PowerBook Pismo--that design was the best, even if the machine was somewhat large at 14". I have also been tempted to put the guts of a 14" iBook in the old G3 PowerBook's case, too).
But the MacBook Air does what it does both elegantly and smashingly. Unfortunately, it's not the computer for me. I'd get more use out of a new SSD for the MacBook I have (it would be cheaper than Apple's premium price, too). We've re-hashed the video/graphic professional view on this, too.
But it is too wide. Not to thick, but too wide. If it were a 12", I'd be all over it (like flies on honey or whatever other apt metaphor you can think of). As it is, the size of my MacBook makes me think twice before throwing it into my bag.
Plus, the niche (itch) that I would want the laptop for--e-mail, some web, some video--is already filled (scratched) by the combination of BlackBerry (for e-mails--though an iPhone could be easily put into the same place) and an iPod for video (save for YouTube vids). The lack of the optical drive is not a deal breaker, but the ability to watch DVDs is quite handy on a laptop.
I suppose that I'm simply not the target customer for the thing. But it's still pretty, and terribly useful. And it costs the same as the old PowerBook G3 did in 2000, with all its features.
I would just like to say I too have less than 1 hours worth of battery on a macbook pro that is slightly older than a year. Crappy. Least I can look for potential deals on my own.
As a New York biker/pedestrian laptop toting type, I think the real difference is two pounds. That seems like nothing at first, but after a mile on your shoulder, it weighs.
Oh well, still no right mouse button.
I'll join in with the majority on this. It's too big for the compromise in features it brings.
No firewire is a deal breaker for me, and there isn't an expansion card slot to allow you to correct for tha. But, the Base 10/100 external USB is just stupid. And the fact that it still requires a case with a Macbook footprint and that has to be as thick as the maximum thickness not the minimum. All that tapering gets you is fewer ports.
I can't even recommend this to my friends. Any road warior will have to travel with a USB hub, Ethernet adaptor and an external DVD player, which reduces the advantage of its lightness.
Pass.
I've read a lot of criticism of the Air today. A lot of folks find it doesn't meet their needs I guess. Still, those are YOUR needs and highly individual. Tiny laptops are all about compromises. If you are a Windows user you have tons of options so you can find a company that makes a machine with the appropriate set of compromises to meet your needs (I don't mind the lack of an optical drive or the tiny 10" screen on my Lenovo x60s but others hate it). I guess if you are a Mac user you have only one company to get your hardware from so you hope they make a model that matches your personal preference. I'm sure the Air isn't right for all Mac users but I'm also sure they will sell a ton of them.
It drives me nuts though when people critique the Air for not being a perfect match for their personal needs. Not being right for you doesn't mean it is a mistake.
I really only care if it is right for me or my friends, family or coworkers. So far, I think I can say fairly confidently that it isn't.
As for "not being right," well, if enough people think it isn't right then it will be a mistake.
As an eee owner I do think apple have missed a trick, the small form factor is great for the stick it in th bag and forget abot it. and the eee 7" screen is fine for most browsing and open office etc. 10" would be great.
I think there is a real niche there, you can say the iphone will let you surf but it isn't going to let you do much in the way of actual work.
I think most people are dissapointed because they wanted to buy the apple sub-notebook... but the air doesn't do it.
the other point of course is that thin doesn't mean light, structural design beig what it is I bet it could have been made lighter if it was the same width as normal... and who's really so worried about the width other than for the 'wow that's thin' factor.
If you "could live with paying $129 every couple of years to have Apple install a replacement" then what exactly are you complaining about, re the battery, and why?
(Or did you mean you COULDN'T live with it? I know I'm being very pedantic, but American English is sometimes just too far beyond merely being counter-intuitive. How would you express yourself about something you COULD live with? I assume you'd use the same words!)
I'll get my coat....
Pretty much completely agree with you Joel. I actually had my credit card lined up, ready to go and preorder... until I saw this thing, and was so disappointed.
I hope you're wrong about one thing - I hope it IS a bomb for Apple. I hope it tanks. I hope the company realises their folly that a pursuit for thinness may work fine with something you stuff in your pocket, but it doesn't apply to notebook computers - footprint is supreme, not thinness.
I'm hoping this will be Apple's "Rokr" iPhone attempt. It will bomb, they'll go back to the drawing board, and come out with a truly revolutionary ULTRAPORTABLE that completely redefines what an ultraportable can be, while still remaining true to the tenants of what it's supposed to be:
- lightweight
- small footprint (nothing bigger than a 11.3" WS, imo)
- swappable battery
- usable (and more usable than the ultralight I'm typing on now - a Fujitsu P1620).
Really, really sad introduction by Apple. Thin works for iPods and iPhones. It doesn't work so well for macbooks. Anything 1" thin will do, thanks. Give me a small footprint. And at least 3 USB ports. ;)
The Air, while thin, doesn't even come close to matching the Panasonic W7 which is a far better package and includes an optical drive. And the bezel around the monitor is huge on this thing.
It is an expensive cafe-surfing machine. A toy.
Akatsuki nailed it. It's a toy.. let's make a really thin macbook, weeee...
"Thin as enamel under a cold gasp." I love that line. Beautiful.
Personally I think it's sexy as hell but it'll tank I'm afraid. Too many dings against it already, even from Apple fanboys like myself.
I'm really surprised at the vitriol.
It's a nice slim high-end notebook for people that primarily use Office for the Mac and browse the web, a perfect cafe computer that slides into a thin little case perfectly. High end consumers are the target market.
Such people don't upgrade RAM, such people don't have any use for gamer graphics, and they don't expect to use this device for video editing, and in three to five years it will be obsolete. When the technology that is needed is a commodity then all that is left is form.
The battery has been overengineered such that even as it degrades over time you still get 80% charge out of it. Li+ technology has improved drastically. In a small computer the cost of the Li polymer is trivial compared to the cost of manufacturing specialized removable components. Given that an oversized non-removable polymer is a better decision for the build dollar than a fancy custom battery pack.
Ethernet cable? Why? Firewire? Why? A gazillion USB ports? Why? This is a device that targets the generic user that primarily uses WIFI and is a test run for solid state drives.
Footprint matters. Especially on a plane, in coach.
as someone pointed out in another forum the motherboard on this could easily be put in a umpc... air nano in 6 months?
sure most people don't NEED the upgradable ram and replaceable battery but i bet almost everyone will wish it had more than one usb port, especially since so many people plug mice into laptops.
That's it exactly - I really wanted a subnotebook to upgrade my 12" ibook to in a year or so. And this won't do it. I was hoping for something a smidge smaller than an X60 - and that wouldn't make me run windows!
Though my requirements for keyboard are lower - I could touch type on my psion revo.
I know most of you are guys - but girls are already used to carrying a purse, so we're a lot more willing to carry something in the 10"x7"ish range - that will fit in a variety of purses without too much trouble.
@captainkabab: The XO is not that much smaller than a 12" ibook ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/ansate/2125928328/in/photostream/ )and mine is currently sulking about talking to any of the networks at school, while connecting to WEP happily at home. It's very much still a "oh, I missed arguing pointlessly with linux!" toy at this point, but software upgrades are promised.
"It drives me nuts though when people critique the Air for not being a perfect match for their personal needs. Not being right for you doesn't mean it is a mistake."
Well, to be honest, most of the critique I've read here says not just that it doesn't meet their needs, but that it doesn't fulfill any of the requirements left wanting from Apple's current (or recent past) lineup. It's not that small, it's not that capable, and it's just not that different from what they already have.
This is a keynote address making a huge deal out of releasing a very minor evolution of an existing product. Steve's past keynotes have been building to a fever pitch. The expectations were so high he probably couldn't have fulfilled them.
But really, this was a weak product evolution to build up so much. It's as if Dell was making a big deal out of releasing a desktop computer for the home that was $329 instead of $349. Everybody would be underwhelmed.
I still remember the sniffs when the first iPod came out:
"it's an mp3 player. meh."
"no microphone! no AM radio! No gazillion buttons or features!"
"The Creative Labs one has more features!"
Whatg people miss about the Air is that the notebook computer is very much a consumer commodity just like ipods and iphones. The future will be less features and options, not more.
Doesn't "perfidious" mean disloyal? Is the shape disloyal to the usually squared-off edges of the MacBook / PowerBook line or is it disloyal to your expectations?
Other than that, I agree...
TTFN
This has been much the opinion that I've seen across the web. It's too big to be a sub-notebook and it's too expensive to compete with the other 13.3" notebooks out there, and definitely not with the Eee and its soon to arrive clones.
It's also correct that it's more like an appliance than a full strength laptop. I can see a domestic vision forming here with the Time Capsule at the centre of a home media hub to which machines connect wirelessly as they join the network, which means that the relatively small disk isn't so important and the lack of peripheral support is mitigated by networked drives (then again, the only applications I've installed from disk in recent years have been music based).
So yes, it will sell, and there probably is some kind of vision, but it's not for me, and I think a lot of other long term Apple users look at it in that way, possibly the same ones that said the same thing about the iPhone. That it might extend Apple's footprint in the same way as the iPhone does remains to be seen but it's in that market, rather than the power users, where it wil be popular.
Can we stop calling it World's Thinnest? World's thinnest what, Mac Laptop? 13" laptop? Because there must be a qualifier: there have been thinner notebooks with equivalent specs.
Sharp's Mebius Murasama MM, for example,
http://www.sharp.co.jp/mebius/lineup/mm/index.html
is 15.7 mm, or 0.62" thin.
I work in a non-creative field where horsepower is not necessary for my day-to-day work, and as such my relatively new imac is typically what I use for messing around while I use my tibook for getting work done.
Tibook has been on it's last legs for years now and I was looking forward to Apple introducing a replacement for it. Something lighter that wouldn't bust my back if I wanted to take it on a bike with me, and something with all the trackpad magic they've introduced lately.
The MBA is sexy as hell and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want one. That said, I don't think I can justify the cost of it. I don't need something this slick to type up a document, as much as I'd like to think I do.
y'know what i really want to do?
Ever since i saw sir jobs pop out his presentation slide of the motherboard, and declared "there's a whole mac on that thing" I've been pondering. Then he put the graphic of the motherboard next to pencil for comparison, all I can think is about how to hack one of those wee boards into a truly ultraportable mac.
Since it's all so self-contained, with the cooling systems being it's own little add-on, it can't be that insane to do. Could it? I'm not dropping almost 2 large to find out though.
Joel, (and Tommy) I think you're wrong here. If there's a dimension to bitch about, it's height. Footprint doesn't matter much, even in coach. And width is the least critical dimesnion unless you're rocking one of those 19-20" monstrosities...and you're not going to try to use *that* in coach anyway.
But height, expressed as the probability that the top of the screen will get caught in the notch the tray table came out of when the guy in front of you leans back, is a big deal. I dearly loved my Libretto L1 because it was *short* when opened, and while the Air is a lot taller, it does seem to be shorter than the plastic MacBook.
I love the fact that the Air gives me the same 'interface surface' as my MacBook in a smaller, and most importantly thinner, package.
Hitachi got this right (about the only thing they did) when they tried to sell notebooks here a decade ago. Match the footprint of a notepad/folio, and pack as much screen and keyboard in as you can. Then make the thickness as close to zero as possible. It *really* makes a difference if you're carrying it around.
Apple missed badly on this one. When Sharp, Sony, Panasonic and Frikin Dell have nearly identical models it ain't an innovation.
The EEE on the other hand defines a price/size/performance point which is really exciting. The EEE is the volkswagen beetle of laptops. Tiny, cheap, funky and a joy to mod and hack. The laptop for the rest of us.
An EEE running Leopard, bluetooth, and touchscreen (all of which have been done already) and touted as the next eMate or iMac would have worked. Even with a 50% markup.
A tablet which was tightly integrated with Time Capsule would have worked too, particularly coupled with the new AppleTV and a good VNC/Synergy2 and bluetooth keyboard mouse release. Such a line would essentially divorce the keyboard, mouse, displays and hardware from each other. In essence you would just put the components anywhere you like and some OSX software would sort everything out. In essence your whole houses set of apple hardware would be one big ubiquitous computer. That would have been neat and innovative.
You're quite right in stating that the Air isn't a sub-notebook. Perhaps that's why the term "sub" isn't being applied to the product in any way. It's simply a very thin notebook.
I had a chance to check the thing out yesterday (my office is a couple blocks from Moscone and I was able to borrow a pass) and was quite impressed. It's solidly built, perfectly portable and powerful enough for nearly all of the work I need to do. That makes it far more than a toy.
It's not positioned to replace a more powerful desktop machine, but to elegantly complement it (see the remote drive functionality, etc). Were I not already the proud owner of a black MacBook, I'd be buying one right now.
@dculberson #22:
"Well, to be honest, most of the critique I've read here says not just that it doesn't meet their needs, but that it doesn't fulfill any of the requirements left wanting from Apple's current (or recent past) lineup."
And I still say it is a lack of imagination amongst those that don't find it personally compelling.
"The expectations were so high he probably couldn't have fulfilled them."
Right. Further evidence that the naysayers are reacting more out of personal disappointment than reality (which I totally get).
I'm also interested in some comments here and elsewhere about the closed case meaning Apple is leaning more toward turning its laptops into iPod-like commodity devices. I can see the downside to not being able to hack your gadgets but there are big upsides too. The average user (if you're reading a gadget blog, you aren't one) just wants something that works and doesn't hack, modify or otherwise gloriously manipulate. For those folks, the thought of having a laptop that is very simple to operate would be awesome. Fewer options lead to simplicity. Certainly it wouldn't be for everyone (I work in IT and like to tear stuff apart) but I'd love to find a sealed and super easy to use machine for my Mom and the majority of people that are just like her.
Finally (and I know I've already said too much so sorry!), I think we're in an interesting period here. Technically we're capable of building smaller and smaller computers but certain parts (screen, keyboard, etc) generally need to be big to make it workable. Many companies will find many different ways of marketing to those realities over the next few years and many of them will be duds - the key will be to find a form factor that is light and portable but still capable of getting real work done. I for one welcome all of those iterations and can't wait to see what actually sticks.
ICKY2000@#32
It would be nice if Apple was going for making commodity products out of products, and if you had to seal off the package so be it.
But the EEE is the commodity laptop. It has commodity pricing $300-400. It has an utterly idiot proof interface in easy mode. And if you foul it up all you have to do is mount a USB key, boot it, wait a few minutes and it will be back to factory condition. I've done it, dead simple. In addition the thing is built like a tank. A perfect machine for Joe Sixpack.
But it also is dead simple to tear apart and hack. It's a full out linux distro, with gobs of precompiled packages for install. The hardware is dead simple to tear apart and put back together. And if you do mess up, its only $300 down the drain (not counting the spares for the next EEE you mod).
From what I hear the XO is the same only more so.
In comparison, I'd be terrified to touch an Air for fear of breaking it.
It's the G4 Cube all over again. Awesome, but I'm not that wealthy.
I'm still quite happy with my ibm-240 :)
I hear people saying "it's only got one USB port -- what if I want to use a mouse?" ... as if they've never heard of bluetooth mice. (Hint: the MBA has bluetooth.)
Speaking as an Eee-owning Mac/Linux guy, I think comparing the Eee and the Macbook Air is a category error. These machines are designed for utterly different user bases.
The Eee: it's a cheap compact gadget aimed at providing a mobile accessory for someone who thinks £400 is a lot to pay for a computer. If you've looked at the software in the Eee's Xandros installation, it's woefully out of date (OpenOffice 2.0? That's about 18 months behind the release track! They're up to 2.3.1 at present!), the 800x480 screen does not -- I'm sorry to say -- let you see much of your documents or spreadsheets while you're working, and the keyboard isn't up to long periods of interaction. As for the battery life, two and a half hours (with wifi in use) is pushing it, not the three and a half to four hours they claim.
The Macbook Air: a high end laptop aimed at people who travel a lot and for whom every gram of weight matters -- but who want their full-sized keyboard and screen and applications with them in their hotel room. These people are likely to fly in Economy Plus or Business class, with seatback power (you noticed the amazing magsafe airline power cable, with no need for a brick-sized transformer?). I hear that the SSD version's battery life is somewhat better than the claimed 5 hours; but in any case, Apple got bitten hard by the backlash from bogus battery life claims in the 90s, and now tend to be fairly realistic. (Asus, in the case of the Eee, are taking the piss.) Finally: I've got a 18-month-old Macbook. Walking around with that thing in a bag on my shoulder makes my neck ache after a couple of hours. And I get to do a lot of walking around strange towns with a laptop in a shoulder bag.
The Eee is your best option if you've got a very cramped space to work in for a short period of time (like an economy class airline seat). It's really a jumped-up PDA, and as the logical inheritor of the Psion Series 5MX/Netbook's niche it's brilliant -- all it needs is a better battery. But in terms of performance and practicality, if you've got to spend a month on the road, living out of suitcases in a succession of hotel rooms, the Macbook Air wins hands-down.
If you're getting less than an hour of usable battery life, you may want to check the "MacBook Pro Battery Exchange Program." You can find details @ https://support.apple.com/macbookpro15/batteryexchange/
Tofui
You could fit about three of them into one of those Solar powered laptop bags
Tofui: Just got my replacement from Apple about 30 minutes ago!
@icky2000
The issue with the MacBook Air is not that it doesn't fit the needs of just certain people, it misses the boat on portability. It tries to be something it's not - a full on laptop that's smaller and lighter. Apple didn't want to compromise on enough to make the Air a truly ultra portable computer. They already make 12" laptops, they could've made the screen smaller than 12" if they wanted an ultra portable and people would've bought it like crazy.
And the price is ridiculous. Someone said they might make it the MacBook replacement... not at that price. It's more expensive than a 15" MacBook Pro.
@Charlie Stross
The Asus EEE PC is designed for people who want something in addition to their desktop for when they're on the road and need to quickly check the web or their email or stocks or quickly edit a document. If you're truly working from the road and are doing it for a month or more at a time, you're not going to want a laptop that compromises on features, which is what the MacBook Air does. Someone on the road for that long will want a higher end laptop than the EEE, but will want features not available in the Air (possibly an optical drive, extra USB ports, perhaps even Firewire). All these features are available in less expensive Apple laptops that still have the power of the Air (and the ability to take a spare battery with you on the road).
Charlie: it's interesting that you find your Macbook heavy. I have a black Macbook that has spent much of the last year and a half on my shoulder in various places and I must have become used to it as I hardly notice it any more. Prior to that I had a 12" PB, and, as lovely a machine as it was, it was noticeably heavier. And don't get me started on the various PCs that have made walk with a leftwards slant.
Light is great but smaller but fully functional would be miles better. Both, well, I would have been at the Apple Store yesterday.
I've still got a 12" Powerbook, and use it as my main machine (unlike some, I can't afford to upgrade less than every 4 or 5 years, nor do I really have the need to...)
I don't really see a need for it to get any *smaller* I can fit it into any bag, and although it's a tad thicker than the other powerbooks, it's still pretty darn thin. I also prefer the aluminum casing to the icky plastic of the Macbook, as well as the better keyboard.
The truly great thing about the 12" Powerbook was, however, that it was a completely full-featured machine. Nothing got left out, and it was speced similarly to the other Powerbooks, and *vastly* exceeded anything of a similar size in the PC world.
I'm sure they could shed a few mm in terms of the thickness, but the need to do so doesn't really exist.
The Air's biggest crime, however, is the battery. It needed to be 8 hours. Minimum. Long enough that I can use the machine unplugged all day without worrying about charging. My 12" PB easily manages 4+ hours. The fact that a tiny solid-state laptop can't do the same is absolutely pathetic.
In conclusion: The Air is almost as useful as an iPhone. (Perhaps Apple should revisit the eMate concept?)
mbp12.com
1) Trash the whole thing and just give me a trackpad on a MacBook Pro where I can not only do multi-touch gestures but also be able to drag my finger in patterns that will work with xGestures. THAT would be revolutionary.
2) Also, hasn't anyone noticed that Apple is severely lacking in LARGE screen laptops? I want Apple to come out with a MacBook Pro that has the industry's largest screen AND highest resolution.
Your children will use gestures and your children's children will use gestures. Why aren't you? You can right now.
xGestures, the future.... NAW
The MacBook Air doesn't fit the needs of just certain people. It tries to be something it's not - a full on laptop that's smaller and lighter. Apple didn't want to compromise on enough to make the Air a truly ultra portable computer...
By the way, this could be helpful, if someone's going to buy the Air:
http://www.maconair.com
There are lots of reviews and sruff about it.
Have just read this discussion - just 7/8 months late then. :-) But wanted to have my say too.
OK, I've been using Macs for about 5 years and have a MacBook which I think is wonderful. I wanted a smaller, lighter laptop though, one that I could take out without feeling I was carrying a brick around all day. I'm only just over 5' tall and slight and there's no way I could possibly carry my MacBook with me for any length of time.
So I bought an Asus EEE 901 xp, small, light, very portable. I don't enjoy having to use Windows, though I know the system pretty well. It's simply not as good as Mac, IMO, and feels like I've taken a step backwards. But what really bugs me are the things I hadn't really expected, such as the hopelessness of the EEE trackpad which is far too sensitive and for which I can find no cure (and believe me, I've tried). And oddly enough the EEE isn't a pleasure to work with sitting on your knee - it's too small to balance itself properly and keeps slipping off. The 8.9" screen isn't too bad but I still have to scroll sideways for many websites. And the text seems rather lacking in contrast, something I can't seem to fix except by changing the font to a bigger size which is something I don't really want to do.
These things are very irritating when I'm using it for any length of time. I did think originally of buying the Mac Air but decided against it on price and size. I want something smaller and lighter than the Air and ideally I think Apple should be looking at something between the sizes of the Air and the EEE. Weight is VERY important to me and I'd like my ideal maching to weight about 1 Kg, no more. I'd like a screen of about 11/12 inches, as this would be a good compromise. Three USB ports and a swappable battery are essential and of course I'd love it also to have a CD/DVD drive.
So come on, Apple, you must be able to make this type of machine. If you did I reckon every Mac user would want one and there'd be many Windows fans who might take their first serious look at Mac. I wouldn't expect to get this machine for £300 (sorry, don't know what that is in US dollars or Euros) but neither would I want to have to pay £1000 for it. Around £400 - £500 seems about right to me.
That's all I want. Please, Apple, make my dream come true.