“It fits in a manila folder, you can slide it under a door, and if you threw it hard enough you could probably chop someone in half with the thing. It’s the thinnest, and if we may say so, sexiest laptop around today: the MacBook Air,” Ryan Block writes for Engadget.
“It’s hard to take lightly (har) the purposeful design that went into the Air, it’s simply and without a doubt the most beautiful laptop we’ve seen in a while,” Block writes.
“There are a lot of things that the Air gets right, and a decent amount of horsepower is one of ’em. Apple didn’t take the easy route and go with an etiolated Ultra Low Voltage (read: ultra low performance) chip, they actually pushed Intel to repackage a slower version of its full-on Core 2 Duo processor. We were a little disappointed when Steve announced this wasn’t the new power-efficient, lower-heat 45nm Penryn chip design, but in the time we’ve played with the Air, it’s still rarely managed to output enough heat to raise an eyebrow. This is actually a laptop that belongs on your lap — without any fear of sterility. Of course, as our Mac-on-Mac benchmarks showed, the 1.6GHz chip is still a little on the slow side, but the Air is by no means unusable. It’s not really one of Steve’s ‘screamers’ — but ultraportables aren’t really intended to be,” Block writes.
“The Air isn’t supposed to be everything for everyone. For those in need of a machine that masters basics in a super thin, light form-factor, and who have the coin to pay for that ultraportability, the Air absolutely nails it like few others,” Block writes.
“Apple’s learned to take the next step in miniaturizing their portable computers. While not all Mac users are going to stand in line to get this latest machine, Apple is doubtless welcomed back into the ultraportable laptop market by the technology world. Perhaps the largest side-effect of the Air won’t be ditching optical drives, though; for the rest of Apple’s consumer base it’s now just a matter of time before other Mac laptop lines benefit from the technical and engineering advances that made this thing so thin and light. Give us the lovechild of the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro, and it’s all over,” Block writes.
Full article here.
Let the bitching begin.
Well yeah, it fits in a manila folder, you can slide it under a door if you so desire, but that’s about all it’s good for!
Odds are that it won’t survive a slight drop that a MacBook will and I can’t wait to hear the horror stories from the GB!
I’ll buy a MacBook instead—more for my money. Not as slim and sexy, but built like a tank compared to the MacBook Air!
Engadget concludes (which MDN left out):
“The Air is a tough call. On the one hand it proposes to be a no-compromises ultraportable, but on the other hand it compromises many (but not all) the things road warriors want. We’re all about removing unnecessary frills and drives (we rejoiced the day the original iMac bucked the floppy), but laptops are increasingly becoming many users’ primary — often only — machines, which is why the Air’s price doesn’t do it any favors, either. It’s hard to justify almost two grand for a second laptop (or a third machine) just for travel needs — and even then, that’s only easily done if all your data lives in the cloud. Given those sacrifices and that higher-end sticker, it’s more than likely not going to replace most peoples’ current workhorse laptop.”
See what I mean?
In Japan, miniaturization is a benefit that a significant part of the market values and will pay for.
In the western world, the thinness will likely be seen merely as a feature, not a benefit. Still, it will bring more traffic into the stores, just to see it. The curious may well walk out with another machine.
It fits in a manila folder…
Not advised, it might get mailed by the office gofer.
if you threw it hard enough you could probably chop someone in half with the thing
Odd Job with his flying hat already has that job covered. Unless your willing to challenge him to a duel?
It’s the thinnest, and if we may say so, sexiest laptop around today.
I say not. That title goes to my girlfriend, a current French model.
“Here eat something you poor girl”
I don’t understand why people complain when Apple gives customers another choice. The previously existing choices are excellent, with the MacBook and MacBook Pro. Apple provides another distinctly different choice without taking away the existing choices; that’s even better.
I can see how I could use a MacBook Air as my only Mac. Most of the software I use these days gets installed through a download. In a few years, I think most laptops will save weight and volume by not having a permanently attached optical drive.
@old mac man:
I didn’t realize that your right hand was a French model
@ Old Mac Man
….ditto that, but that title goes to my model Finnish girlfriend.
“Odds are that it won’t survive a slight drop that a MacBook will and I can’t wait to hear the horror stories from the GB!”
and you know this because…..?
seriously, what god died and made you all knowing?
good call, macaholic!!
You guys can have yer boney little stick figure models.
Me, I want a REAL woman. That’s why my favorite mistress is an Italian model. She’s stacked like a brick shithouse.
You may have heard of her. The name is Alotta. Alotta Fagina.
@ken1w
Your post is the first sensible thing I’ve read about the MBA.
Clearly this isn’t for everyone. I see it as the direction laptops are heading. So much is downloaded over wifi. The external drive is there WHEN it’s needed ( new CD, burn DVD)
It’s laughable when everyone writes that this is supposed to encompass everything a desktop does (come on, play game like unreal???) I really read that somewhere.
This is going to sell like crazy. Wait until this comes down into the macbook price range and then a Macbook air(pro) comes out.
Lot of possibilities. Not in my price range but desirable.
Every review of this thing that I read they always have a line about “what roadwarriors want” or how the air isn’t up to snuff for the average “roadwarrior.” This is the classic straw-man argument and I don’t see why people don’t see it as such.
I asked five people at work last week what a “roadwarrior” was to them, and they all described the guy with the thinkpad and a couple of spare batteries and fifteen peripherals. You kow the guy with the useless portable printer that he carries around and fights with in his hotel room, and the huge bag with fifty miles of cables and power adapters.
The Air is NOT meant for “roadwarriors” it’s a consumer portable like the MacBook. It’s not a Pro machine, it’s not a “travel the world” machine. It’s not for the geeked out “roadwarriors” that are writing these reviews. It’s made for regular folks.
@ LorD1776
Fat bottom girls make my rockin’ world go round.
Yeah, I am really irritated about the Air, too.
In the same way that my car won’t fly, my truck won’t float, my cat does not bark, and if my mother had wheels, she would be a shopping cart.
Time for a class action lawsuit, I say.
macaholic: Pardon, s’il vous plaît! Her name is Mlle. Main Droite.
kenh: Forget the cat. The barking spiders are the real problem.
Ampar…
Especially the lethal Rocky Mountain Barking Spider!
They tend to hide in the pack of the guy hiking ahead of you.
As for the MB Air, I’ll defer judgement until I get to see, hold and actually USE one…. with BOTH hands, Old Mac Man.
I still think there should be a FireWire port in the thing. USB2 is too limited.
Fat bottom girls make my rockin’ world go round.
They may, but don’t qualify for the “laptop” status.
Cuts off the blood supply to the legs.
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I had a dentist a long time ago whose watch I couldn’t take my eyes off of… literally; his wrist was 2 inches from by eyeballs as he worked. His watch was thin as a dime. Seriously, I’ve never since seen a watch so thin. It had only two hands and told basic time; but I’m sure did that well. It made every other watch I had ever seen seem crude by comparison. The point is that thin and sleek are as much a achievement as faster processors when it comes to high tech products. I’ve never seen a watch like I saw on that dentist some 40 years ago, yet I can still see it clearly in my mind. Unforgettable for one attribute: its sleek, featherweight design.
@Spark
Thin watches die fast. The normal abuse gets them.
Big stainless steel with saphirre crystal and heavy wristband/clasp. Battery operated.
Works for tens of years though all sorts of activity.
…somewhere I read that science, philosophy and religion are moving toward an intersection.
Like a head on collision?
Because religion depends upon ignorance, blind faith, a lack of comon sense and basic reasoning to progrma it’s followers.
A healthy dose of evangilism is also in order.
“Go out and convert the world my sheep! Bring me MORE MONEY!! Praise Jesus, Allah or Ywahe, Besebub (chose whomever)”
You can have your French, Italian and Finnish girls. I’ve been carrying on a very romantic chat on my Dell for the past month with a girl named Harry P. Ness. It sounds so exotic! The only strange thing is she hasn’t sent me a picture yet but the way she describes herself… oh la la!
Her interests are Windows, saving money, FPS video games and Japanese restraining techniques. Her favorite music is 80’s power ballads, just like me. This could be the one.
Oh, and nice puff-piece, Engadget. We all know the MAC Book Air sucks.
Your potential. Our passion.™
“Cuts off the blood supply to the legs.”
Well I won’t be using my legs…