Yesterday, The New York Times’ John Markoff spent a half-hour with Apple CEO Steve Jobs after he introduced iTunes movie rentals, Time Capsule, the MacBook Air and more.
According to Markoff, the MacBook Air “is a reversal of field for Mr. Jobs, who in the past has insisted that less-than-full-featured laptops are undesirable.”
MacDailyNews Take: Did Markoff watch Jobs’ keynote? Job spent considerable time on, and stated rather clearly, that Apple’s new MacBook Air does not compromise to get the weight down like other laptops. Jobs said that, unlike other so-called thin (before yesterday, at least, they seemed thin) laptops, MacBook Air doesn’t compromise on thickness, keyboard or screen size. The whole point is that the MacBook Air is so thin and full-featured. So, where’s Jobs’ “reversal of field?”
Markoff continues, reporting that Jobs told him that the MacBook Air “is the most elegant computer the company has created, right down to the four rubber footpads that support it. Some of the competitors’ machines are so flimsy, he said, they require a fifth or even sixth pad to keep from sagging.”
Markoff reports, “[Jobs] had a wide range of observations on the industry, including the Amazon Kindle book reader, which he said would go nowhere largely because Americans have stopped reading. ‘It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,’ he said. ‘Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Besides the fact that Kindle is a product in search of a market, it also doesn’t help that it looks like something John Dykstra superglued together back in 1975.
Markoff continues, “He was equally skeptical about Google’s decision to develop smartphone software… ‘Having created a phone its a lot harder than it looks,’ he said. ‘We’ll see how good their software is and we’ll see how consumers like it and how quickly it is adopted.’ In seeking not to get locked out of the mobile phone world, ‘I actually think Google has achieved their goal without Android, and I now think Android hurts them more than it helps them. It’s just going to divide them and people who want to be their partners.'”
Markoff continues, “Mr. Jobs saved his greatest compliment today for his former archrival Bill Gates, who has now largely retired will retire from Microsoft this summer. ‘Bill’s retiring from Microsoft is a big deal,’ he said. ‘It’s a significant event, and I think he should be honored for the contributions he’s made.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: LOL! Yeah, right after Gates serves his time for stealing and copying from Apple for 30 years while calling it “Microsoft innovation,” an oxymoron if there ever was one. Honor Gates, for what, exactly? Stifling productivity worldwide for the last two decades by plunging the world into the Dark Ages of Personal Computing because he couldn’t resist buying a Mac and trying (and failing) to replicate it every G.D. year? For driving countless innovators out of business by illegally abusing his monopoly? For stealing from the ignorant for years so that he could try to buy his way into heaven at the end? Microsoft Bob? Promoting solid pastel V-neck sweaters? We’re at a loss.
For which contributions, exactly, should we be scrambling to honor Bill Gates? Maybe Jobs meant for producing upside-down and backwards, insecure, poorly-faked Macs for the masses which eventually worked to get him back at Apple and therefore get Apple back on track? “I think he should be honored for the contributions he’s made.” Maybe Jobs simply means the charity contributions, but we have a tough time commending anyone who donates ill-gotten gains. (However, we will say that giving it away to charity is at least better than amassing collections of cars, yachts, and mansions – unless, of course, you build and sell cars, yachts, and mansions for a living, that is.)
Jobs is crafty. He comes off looking magnanimous towards Gates in The New York Times, but don’t discount what are obviously also his feelings — perhaps his true feelings — which were clearly on display in the “Get a Mac” video that opened Jobs’ keynote yesterday. And these are Jobs’ feelings or this video wouldn’t have been shown:
Direct link via YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcqzaMtwQWk
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Citymark” for the heads up.]
Sorry MDN – you’re quite plainly wrong on this one. The MacBook Air, pretty as it is, is riddled with compromise i.e. an 80 gig, 4,200rpm disk drive; a single USB port (and no firewire – so no importing video from your camcorder or using external firewire disks, for example); mono-only speaker output; ethernet and optical disc capabilities only available at additional expense… The list goes on.
“I think he should be honored for the contributions he’s made.”
If he made worthy contributions, he should be honored. He’s not saying he made worthy contributions. He’s basically saying “honor him for what he’s done”, which could be read either way. I read it as hilariously left-handed. Jobs has mastered the economy of the double entendre.
Steve Job’s comments about the Air remind me of the enthusiasm he showed when introducing the Cube. I hope he does not make the same mistake about consumer’s taste.
Admittedly, it is a very cool design, but is it worth the extra $$$.
Removable battery is a probably non-issue as many have said. As far as needing one on a plane flight — I may be wrong, but I believe there accessories that allow you to power your laptop in flight. You actually plug into the seat.
I was ready to buy……but will wait for the Macbook update. I’m sure it will have the multi-touch track pad and LED keyboard among other new features. Any guesses on when it might come out based on past releases?
Man… the troll’s just come out of the woodwork around MacWorld, don’t they? And it’s funny how they use the same argument, year after year, to attack every new product Apple creates.
GET A NEW SCRIPT, KIDS! Call your manager at whatever anti-advertising firm you work for and tell them you need new material! Your old stuff isn’t even fooling my cat!
I mean, the whole idea that you’d show up to a Mac discussion board and gripe about a product that you don’t want… Do you think we troll the Dell discussion groups railing about the color selection or their lack of cup holders?
And it’s not like it’s Windows – Many people want nothing to do with Windows, but it’s forced on them by their employers, so they have no choice but to suffer through it – these people have a case to complain, but you? I’ll wager that if you choose not to, you will never ever have to touch a MacBook Air. And yet you flood Mac message boards with your crying and whining about user-replaceable batteries and no ethernet port? Are you serious?
Who here doesn’t have a life?
i can’t remember the last time i switched to my extra battery for my powerbook. i’m guessing it’s been almost a year and that was because i was waiting for a replacement powerblock. besides that i don’t use my second battery… not even sure where it is right now.
also.. the lack of an optical drive is not a problem to most anyone i know. just about everything i need/want is on this thing called the internet.
Full Featured – you must be joking! Why on earth would I want an AIR that gives me less processing speed, less graphics, no optical and then charge me $1700! This thing is way over priced – I am not giving up my MBP anytime soon to save 2 lbs out of my bag!
Like ChrissyOne says, after Macworld, every MS Troll in the planet comes out of hiding from dark corners of FUDLAND. The campaign to smear anything Apple does goes into full gear. Whats sad is some of these Trolls are actually paid by companies to do these trashy write ups. Amazing.
Alright, buckle up….
First, @R (Whatever “R” means, next time put a real handle or your real name…same with you “Why”).
Compromises on the Macbook Air. You said 80Gig HD was a compromise. Go to Dell, go to HP, Go to any other manufacturer. Look at their DESKTOPS (not laptops, let me say again, desktops). There are still plenty of machines that have 80GB hard drives as a basic size. The truth is, many people can get by with 80Gigs. HOWEVER, I will say that with movie downloads, music downloads, and TV downloads as well as all those software downloads, 80GIG should start to be considered relatively small.
But look at the bigger picture here folks, take your “horse blinders” off and see past the next 6 months or even the next year.
HDD are going bye-bye. Their days are numbered. SSD are so much more reliable and faster. Sure the flash memory in Solid State Drives will wear out eventually and you will have to replace it, but even HDD have mechanical issues after a few years and bad sectors…so it’s a wash. But the HUGE Speed increase and the HUGE power decrease is worth it alone.
SSD are only available in 64GB size…and they are costly. Within about 12-18 moths however you will see 120GB-128GB SSD’s and within 24-36 months you will see 250-300GB SSD’s. Prices will come down.
Now let me ask you, if you had a choice between a 64GB HD and a 160GB HD, and the 160GB HD cost $1,000 less than the 64 GB HD, wouldn’t you go with the bigger cheaper one? Everyone would. Since the days of 1.8″ HDD are numbered (Toshiba and others have announced the end-of-life for them for the middle of 2008), then that means that people (and computers, and ipods) will be converting to SSD’s in their place.
So, Jobs is simply keeping the size requirements similar between an 80GB HHD and a 64GB SSD.
Let us not forget, the Air is not a work machine. If you need a work machine you go with the Pro. If you need a school machine (or in some cases a lighter work machine) you go with the original macbook.
The Air is designed solely for those that have an iMac or Mac Pro at their home and/or office that need something to stay in touch. Let us not forget “Back to my Mac” that leopard has built in. The “Air” is supposed to be able to connect over the internet to your home and/or office PC’s so you can continue you work while out without having to compromise. That is what it is for, and I think their will be a huge market for it.
AS FOR THE BATTERY ISSUE..
Shut up! How many times have you ever had to replace your battery? Oh, none? That is what I thought. However, a good arguement does exist about needing “extended” battery life “while on a plane” (oh wait, apple sells magsafe airline adaptors for that, so you won’t need them there). The airport (most airports have power). Well, in any case look for someone to make a companion piece that is an all enclosed rechargeable battery that has a magsafe connector to connect to your laptops power port to give you extended life for when your battery goes dead. That is the best solution.
AS FOR THE OPTICAL DRIVE
I only use mine to import CD’s (when i get a CD as a gift because I buy my music on iTunes), or when installing a piece of software that came on a CD (such as Leopard) and not downloaded
I might use my Optical Drive about 5 to 10 times per year. However, I have NEVER had to use it outside of an area where there are other computers around, so with the Remote Disk (or whatever they call it), that would suffice just fine.
As prices for SSD’s come down and a more manageable size for my video’s and/or songs become available, I will consider investing in an iMac/Macbook Air combination instead of my Macbook I use just now.
See the future, don’t look at the now. Sheesh!
I’m really curious to see what the battery life of the MacBook Air is with the SSD and with wireless disabled (as would be the case on an airplane, train or car). I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it could go for 7-7.5 hours, 6-6.5 with the hard disk before needing a charge.
That being said, expect to see third party external battery packs make it to market that will simply plug into the MagSafe jack and provide an additional 5-10 hours of mobile use or allow you to charge your MacBook Air when away from an outlet.
Some people will just never understand progress. We’ll be waiting for the rest of you here in the future, please join us whenever you’re ready.
@ REALTORben
Might try arguing with fruit, ben, for all the good that logic will do you here.
Steve is trying to tell Amazon.com that people don’t read anymore? I guess that’s why Amazon.com has been such as spectacular failure. Steve, you’re an idiot.
Ninety percent of the people in the U.S. use Windows. The whole conception of the Mac is flawed at the top!
‘It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,’ he said.
That’s sad. Poor Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble. No more book market. They must be devastated.
Sorry, I said “PC’s” for “Back to My Mac” and I meant connect to your office Mac.
As for addressing the “Processor Speed” anybody with knowledge of computers will tell you that the big processor companies figured out years ago that it is not about the speed in Mhz or Ghz, it is about so much more.
The Front Side Bus of the board, the onboard memory, RAM and the “core” of the processor can make a huge impact.
I have an Intel Core Duo 2.0 Ghz processor with 2 GB of Ram. A friend of mine has an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 Ghz with 2 GB of ram, his “slower” next gen processor kicks my processor in the teeth when it comes to performance.
Apples to Apples (no punn intended), a 2.0 Ghz core 2 duo on a current gen MPB would not be as fast as an MBA 1.6 Gzh Core 2 duo with a SSD. Imagine you have a 7200 RPM hard drive. The faster the RPM, the faster the speed of the HD.
Now, the equivalent of an SSD in RPM (there are no moving parts so it doesn’t have it) would be like 64,000 RPM. That kills the little 7200 RPM.
So, 1.6 Ghz Core 2 duo with SSD will destroy in speed tests even a current MBP configured with 2 GB of ram.
Wait for the benchmarks before you judge on the speed of the processor.
“Please MDN… The MacBook Air is hobbled by the fact that it has NO removable battery. Sorry, but that is a deal-breaker for me.”
Then don’t buy it. Buy another model they sell.
bunch of cry babies.
that is why they sell other models with different features.
Oh, and if you can’t think of enough bad things to say, just spit out the few you made up/read other places and then write “The list goes on.” at the end to make it seem like you’re being reserved. That should do it.
The MacBook Air is> compromised, but that’s what you get when you build an ultra-portable. It clearly hasn’t been meant as your primary computer, but rather an extension of your desktop iMac/Mac Pro to take with you to presentations, work etc. Considering this and its price the MBA will probably be succesful in its own niche, but don’t expect it to be even nearly as popular as the MacBook or even the MBP.
BTW, remember those patents involving a iMac-esque dock and a notebook Mac that could be inserted there? A MacBook Air would be an ideal fit to such a system (pun intended).
Just like the iPod and the iPhone, MBA contains the features 99% of users need 99% of the time. It is missing features that 1% of users out there would actually need. Judging by my own experience with 7 laptops over the past 10 years, the following are practically never needed:
1. Removable battery (cpu/RAM became obsolete faster than the battery)
2. Ethernet port (WiFi everywhere)
3. Optical drive (I’m not sure the one I have in my current MB and previouis PB ever worked – never tried them!)
What I had needed on my laptops (and was introduced by MB) was an iSight.
When we look at the competition, there are still some makers that throw in everything, including the parallel and serial ports, as well as a floppy drive.
Apple always makes a decision to reduce the feature set to the smallest possible combination that would satisfy the broad majority of population. That means eliminating those features that are rarely used and putting in those that are popular.
Many popular laptops out there (Toshibas, Vaios, Acers) have no web-cam, but plenty of ports (and a removable battery). I am absolutely convinced that the MBA will sell better than most of those other brands, because it has just about everything people need.
I expect no target disk mode should be much more concern than everything else missing in the MBA. What happens if it will not boot ?
My contribution on the MacBook Air:
It’s designed as a second computer for road warriors. As a former road warrior (there were years I spent more time in Asia than at home in the US), I would have murdered for something like the the Mac Air – especially compared to the company issue Windows boat-anchor laptop I carried at the time – it had a floppy and CD drive, both of which I never used on the road. Also a single battery, which was also good enough. The typical Mac Air road warrior will have a “big mac” back at home or the office for the optical disk work, backup, etc. Or now, a Time Capsule.
The second market target is technology fashonistas. Look for the Mac Air to start showing up at Starbucks and other trendy locations near you.).
Gates did innovate one thing.
He invented the perfect bowl haircut.
Somewhere in his mansion is an almost magical bowl that provides the perfect coiffure template and guarantees the Bill Gates look every time. That’s genius.
Oh, and you could give him credit for the need for a multi-billion dollar anti-virus industry.
The MacBook Air is a superlative computer – for the future. Anyone pointing out its failing are living in the past.
That goes for most Apple innovations, ie most people don’t know or understand them until long after it stopped being an issue..
Trolls trolls trolls.
When I was at Adobe, 90% of my work was done in email or via web-based apps. Because I was in tech support, I did a lot of install testing on various setups, but we had a lab for that. All my personal work was done in Safari and Parallels and Entourage.
The MBA could have done everything that I used my full size PC laptop for. Period. And it would have been much more pleasant to carry around than that ugly StinkPad with its impossible-to-operate docking bay that I broke trying to free it one day.
Some people just need tom complain, I think. If the MBA was a time machine and a hovercraft, it would still be the wrong color for someone. Who cares? I’ve used the imagination that I have and it seems many do not, and I’ve thought of way that I could use a MBA, and it would be nice to have. For me.
Costs too much – For who? Sony laptops in the same genre are hundreds more, by my checks. Dell’s XPS are a couple of hundred cheaper, but much bigger. None would fit in my camera bag like the MBA would. And I have lenses that cost over $1700 that I get less use out of.
No replaceable battery – Non issue for me. I never carry around extra laptop batteries. If one dies, you get it replaced. “Then they have it for days!!! And they look at your hard drive!” Tighten down that foil hat, Mulder. They just replace the battery. They don’t care about your comic book database. If you order a battery for an old iBook it’s going to take a few days to get there anyway. This is such an idiotic thing to panic over.
No wired internet – So? If I really need to spend 20 bucks on a USB converter I think the bank won’t break.
No optical drive – One less thing to carry around. I certainly don’t need it “But how will you burn CDs?!?!” Well, if I need to make you a mix CD I’ll just have to do it at home. Other than that, all my file transfers are done over the net anyway.
For my needs, I’d tuck the MBA into my camera bag, and when my 4GB card fills up, I’d plug the card reader into the USB port and import my photos into Lightroom, so I could review and edit them right away. When I got home, I’d offload the images onto the server. That’s about it, and the MBA seems reasonably priced to fill that role. Unless you live in a trailer park and eat mayonnaise sandwiches like many here must, by the sounds of it.
So, clearly, the MBA will be a miserable failure.
I have to disagree with MDN on the MacBook Air not being “less-than-full-featured.” I mean, it only has 3 ports—headphone, mini-DVI, and a USB. (Where’s my firewire?!) It doesn’t have a user-replaceable battery (albeit the batteries that come with Apple’s laptops generally last 5+ years b4 showing any signs of major degradation, but still). And to top it all off, it doesn’t have an optical drive—that’s the biggest compromise, I’d think. Eventhough most ppl may not use their optical drive on their laptops that often, it’s still nice to have one b/c there’s not always gonna be one around to wirelessly use. Plus, think about how long it’ll take to import a CD to iTunes, or God forbid if you have to reinstall the OS, if that’s the only way you have to do it. What about someone that might have the MacBook Air as their only computer? Of course, I don’t think that’s the market these are targeting, but you know someone will do that, it’s inevitable. This could be the Apple folly of the 21st century… the mess ups are few and far between, but they do still happen from time to time. However, I hope I’m wrong on that and the MacBook Air finds it’s niche in the market. I mean, if I traveled all the time, I might be prone to buying one.