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Mossberg’s early impression of Apple’s new MacBook Air: ‘Very attractive product’

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 · 12:41 am · 112 Comments

From Macworld Expo 2008 today in San Francisco, The Wall Street Journal’s Personal Technology columnist Walter S. Mossberg discussed his early impressions (he hasn’t yet tested it for review) of the ultra-thin Macbook Air with WSJ’s Stacey Delo:

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Apple’s MacBook Air guided tour (7:26):

Direct link via YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml1j59smdcM

See Apple’s new MacBook Air here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Citymark" for the heads up.]

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Comment Feed

112 Comments

1 2 3 … 6 Next »

Phred

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:06 am · Reply

MacBook Air, she’s pretty and petite, but she won’t be attending MIT.

Can’t replace the battery at home or on the road, can’t add or replace RAM at your convenience, just ONE USB port, no FireWire port, no Ethernet port, miniature 80GB HD.

Let’s call her the MacBook HotAir. Thanks fer nothing, Apple.
Mr. Reeee

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:10 am · Reply

Phred… The screen is GLOSSY, too.

No SALE!
MaLvado

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:15 am · Reply

Phred, sounds like you want a MacBook or MacBook Pro.

You aren’t getting the Air’s differentiation.
Phred

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:15 am · Reply

Mossberg, “She’s attractive and she sucks, that’s what I want in a woman, not a notebook.”
Loru

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:16 am · Reply

I think i can speak for everyone…this thing looks great…but i really still want a better MBP. gimme multigesture on an MBP please!!

P.S. i would also settle for a regular macbook in aluminum….
jhn

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:21 am · Reply

The eeePC is still a more attractive super-portable option.
coolfactor

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:23 am · Reply

Yes, all the complainers about this new notebook are failing to see that it’s designed for a very specific target audience. It’s not meant to be a complete standalone laptop. It’s meant to supplement another computer, and this one you take along to meetings, travelling, and so on. It’s designed for a specific type of usage. The MacBook Pro will be upgraded within 6 months and incorporate some of the design philosophies introduced in the Air, while hanging onto the wider array of featured expected in a full-featured laptop. The Air is “sub-” notebook.
Jooop

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:23 am · Reply

The Macbook Air ships with 2GB RAM standard, out of the box…so why is not being able to access the RAM slots supposedly a downside? You can’t put more than 2GB of RAM in a regular Macbook either, and those only ship with 1GB standard.
Jooop

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:28 am · Reply

Explain why this can’t be your “central computer”. With apple’s tiny $100 external superdrive and a USB hub, I don’t see why I would need another computer.
TowerTone

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:33 am · Reply

Since when can you not access the internet with a USB connection? I think Walt “misspoke” when he said it only had one way to get online.

I just love watching a reporter interview a reporter about something they have not even touched.

I know, it is just first impressions, and I do like Walt, but why the cheesy interview format? You get so much more info when a person can speak rather than inform through conversation.
agent zero

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:36 am · Reply

people aren’t getting that this isn’t a “supplemental computer” like some windows CE device, it’s the shape of things to come. In the near future where all your peripherals are wireless, all synching is wireless, hard drives and printers are plugged into your router or just wirelessly talk directly to each other, this is what your computer will look like. No optical drive, no ethernet, 1 USB port, and no need for anything more.

Seriously, some of the people commenting on the Air sound exactly like the people who just couldn’t wrap their heads around a computer without a floppy drive in 1997. “No floppy drive? How is this iMac thing supposed to be useful?”
Phred

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:36 am · Reply

coolfactor:

The only demographic that wants a device with only one USB port, a miniscule hard drive, and no user access to the battery are folks with more money than common sense. Anyone sporting this cute little thing will immediately be recognized as a sucker.

joop:

Because few people want to pay Apple’s exorbitant prices for RAM and would rather install their own at much less cost.
Andrej

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:42 am · Reply

The macbook and macbook pro can be upgraded to 4gb, so just 2gb is a drawback.
Phred

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:44 am · Reply

agentzero:

When the day comes when wireless services can be found worldwide and all peripheral devices are wireless, I’ll be sure to circle that date on my calendar and crack a cold one. Also, when that day arrives MacBook Air will be a fond but distant memory.

I do believe that Apple has reinvented the Newton.
R2

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:44 am · Reply

Where the hell are the iTunes movie rentals?
Brau

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:46 am · Reply

I’m not allowed to be WOWed either … so I’m not.
@R2

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:50 am · Reply

Take a look in iTunes. They’re starting to show up. Only several now, but hopefully many, many more in the next few days.
TowerTone

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:56 am · Reply

Phred
I don’t think having one of these would brand someone a sucker. I have only 2 gigs of RAM on my iMac Core Duo and it runs great You can have storage wirelessly, and not everything needs to be maxxed out.

Is this for me? No.

Would I like one? Hell yeah!

I would look at it as a portable video and music player. A place to dump pictures on a trip. I could read my magazine with Zinio and do most of my computing with it. I wouldn’t want it as my main computer, but hey, that’s just me.

And then again, I get a lot done with just my iPhone……
Ralph M

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:59 am · Reply

@agent zero — Finally, somebody who gets it. The MBA is what the future looks like. Right now, it isn’t for everybody. But it will sell well and will be a great testbed for Apple’s approach to increasingly more sophisticated mobile devices.

It is “old” PC-style thinking that imagines that more ports and user access are what everyone needs. In fact, the VAST MAJORITY of laptop users rarely use more than one USB port. I’d consider myself a power user — I am on my 7th Apple laptop and it serves as my primary computing system for everything from email to pretty advanced image processing — and I only occasionally need both USB ports on my MBP. And since everywhere I go — office, home, hotels, Starbucks, etc. — has WiFi, I only use the Ethernet port once in a blue moon.

So, to all those who are stuck in the past and measure a laptop by its features list, I recommend that you go buy one of those boat anchors made by HP or Dell or Toshiba. You’ll be happier. And for those of us who prefer to live 15 mins in the future, we will be taking a close look at the MacBook Air.
Phred

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 3:04 am · Reply

joop:

My central computer has two 24-inch monitors, one 500GB internal HD, and two 500GB external HDs. MacBook Air cannot match this functionality and versatility. MacBook Air is less a computer and more an overpriced peripheral device where practicality has been sacrificed for a few ounces of weight.