At Macworld Conference & Expo 2008, Wired’s Jose Fermoso checks out Apple’s new, ultra-thin, ultra-light MacBook Ai:
Direct link via YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTcTQsKyrdU
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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First impression, no one is using it on the table!
They are all holding them on one hand whilst operating it with the other!!
A new way of using a Macbook?
Not your laps, not on your table, not on your nelly, but just on one hand!!!
What’s a nelly?
not sure what’s hotter, the laptop or jose fermosa. i’ll take one of each.
Looks way wide.
I think nelly is a british word for ass.
So are the ones people are handling going to end up in the refurbished section of the Apple store?
I love the design and form factor for the MacBook Air, but it not something I’ll be buying at this time. For what I do, I need firewire ports, and the MacBook Pro is the future machine for me. I do understand the Air’s advantages for a certain segment of the computer using public. I just don’t think everyone out there is going to grab them up willy-nilly. That wasn’t it’s intent, I believe. I do have to agree with PC Mag’s quote about it selling very well.
Whats a Nelly?
Not on your Nelly!!
Could it be a Belly??
Sonds a bit Helly!!
What of a Deli???
Only if it is Jelly!!!
And if it is Jelly….
Could it be a Jelly Belly???
If ass be a Nelly…
That could be Smelly!!!
But if it be Welly,
It could be Kelly!!!
All I know is that it is not on your Nelly…
For that could be Telling!!!!!
Bow left…..Bow right……Bow to the center soaking up the applause!!!!
Re Nelly — Dame Nelly Melba was an early C20 power diva. “I am Melba” explained any demand she made. One singer tried to share applause on stage, but… “No one takes a bow with Melba.”
In other words, MDNers, it means “No way Jose!”
ps. Just luuuurve MBA — trying to think of an excuse to buy. Any excuse…
Wonder if it is possible to mod an existing MacBook/MacBookPro to use that new pad thing.
Otherwise, hopefully Apple will make it standard on all laptops ASAP.
What did it mean when he said – “It’s super thing … that’s why it’s good for the environment?” or did I hear it wrong.
That guy must be a munchkin, because as I sit here with my MacBook, my hands can cover it completely side by side, while with him it looks like a 17″ or 20″ MBP.
@Polgas
I think he said “Its super thin, so its good for any environment.”
I’m pretty sure I heard the same thing you did though.
I wonder why they gave it a black keyboard?
It’s like the original PowerBook G4 (titanium)
No Firewire? How do I get the video from my 2 year old Sony HDV camcorder onto this thing to edit with iMovie? Love the design but no firewire eliminates an important feature for millions of potential customers.
Holding it with one hand and keying it with another is also the first thing I noticed when I saw this. How…..effortless.
it’s small so it’s good for the environment?
You have got to be kidding me.
Sanity, reason, & and logic have lost.
OK, here I go, dipping my toe into boiling water.
Personally, I don’t entirely get the MacBook Air. I acknowledge its good looks and technological underpinnings, but to me it’s taste of the future, rather than an overwhelmingly useful device for the present. It’s expensive, and I can’t really see why thin is such an advantage.
I’m undoubtedly in a minority of Mac users (or at least MDN readers), and that’s probably just as well. If Apple sells lots of them, they’ll be able to further develop the concept, and one day I’ll get its descendent, literally and metaphorically.
MacBook Air. I get it. I want it. I will.
No, FRISBY, Jose’s no munchkin. You must be a jolly giant.
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Micro Me,
It’s just a celebration of design and a status symbol. I agree with you. I won’t be buying one anytime soon, but I still think it is a great new product for Apple.
Listen again. He was referring to its use of *aluminum*, which is easily recyclable, in its casing – thus, “good for the environment”.
Why isn’t it called the “AirBook”?
Last comment:
“It’s perfect.”
That’s saying a lot.
@Cubert. Yeah, “a celebration of design” describes it well. In retrospect, the 20 th Century Mac was a foretaste of the latest iteration of the iMac. I wonder what the MacBook Air portends?
And thanks for the edit MDN. Any progress with user editing?
During the keynote when Steve was introducing it he reviewed why it was better for the environment. Bunch of stuff inside is being made without many of the bad chemicals that the Greenpeace type complain about.
It’s thin, and light, tasty and crispy…
How many calories is it?
“Nelly” is not British for arse, silly! It’s just part of an expression.
Would I switch to Windows? “NOT ON YOUR NELLY!”
This is designed for raod warriors – people who travel a lot. They don’t need a lot of power just a light notebook that works. Plus they have money to spend on it.
I don’t think most people get what is so revolutionary about the macbook air and other Apple products such as the imac and iphone…
The innards of these devices are getting so small that the form factor will soon be almost completely up to artistic design. The limitations in form are no longer the innards as they were several years ago, but the I/O hardware (eg screens and keyboards). But as soon as foldable screens, holographic projection, hand gesturing, lip reading and the like go mainstream then Apple will be ready with the software and internal computing to go with them.
The smaller these devices, ultimately the cheaper they can be produced and the more sturdy they will be. Apple is paving the way to the future tech dreamed of by many for the last 50 years, where there will be cheap ubiquitouslife improving computer techology for all.
I’ve heard complaints about the non-removable battery from tech writers. But if the average battery life is 2 hours, and the MBA lasts for 5 hours, why can’t these writers figure out that this is a non-issue? It’s exactly like having 2 batteries with you.
i believe the reasoning for having dark keys is to provide better contrast for the character illumination. – its a seriously cool and useful feature imho.
I have yet to see anyone really point out what I believe the MBAir is about: a test bed for new gadgets. It is intentionally targeted at a niche market who are used to being on the edge. Primarily, they are using it to work the kinks out of multi-touch interface, gauge the demand and real-world functionality of the SSDs. I’m sure there are an assortment of other goodies they’re looking at as well.
Once they can gather feedback on the Air and beat the kinks out of it, they will start to incorporate its features into the other portables.
A good plan if you ask me. Why risk your base portable users by tossing new, untried features into their mainstream products? Instead, make a hot looking niche product and limit the exposure to user’s more accustomed to living on the edge.
not on your nelly, as in nelly duff/puff/breathe of life/life
so not on your nelly = not on your life
da da da
trumpet fanfair etc etc
@Maclover
The speculation I’ve read is that the MBA’s with the 5 hours of battery life will probably be only the more expensive MBA’s with the 64 GB solid state drive. The battery life in the inexpensive model is not expected to last as long.
As much as I really enjoy Apple products, the MBA is not that thrilling of a product to me. I was extremely disappointed to recently learn that the battery couldn’t be replaced by the user. That’s fine for relatively inexpensive products like the iPod, iPhone, etc but for a three thousand dollar laptop (or even for $1800) the lack of a user removable battery is inexcusable. There is no way I could ever recommend the MBA be purchased by anyone. People are much better off with the Macbook or Macbook Pro lines. The specs and performance do not justify the price of the MBA. I don’t think the MBA is going to sell all that well IMHO.
As an AAPL stockholder, I hope that I am wrong. Regardless AAPL seems to be very strong everywhere else and AAPL is worth holding.
Peace.
@ razor
“i believe the reasoning for having dark keys is to provide better contrast for the character illumination. – its a seriously cool and useful feature imho.”
I have the MBP with silver keys and find it very hard to see the letters on the keys, so I think you are probably dead on about the contrast.
I was just looking at the hands-on photos at maccrazy ( http://www.maccrazy.net/2008/01/17/macbook-air-hands-on ), and I’m impressed to see how much thought has gone into the MacBook design, especially the fact the ports aren’t behind a cover as such, but the whole piece of plastic they are on looks as though it folds down so you don’t have to worry about it snapping off. Can’t wait to see it myself!!! Anyone know if they have demo models in retail stores yet???
Thinking of getting a 80 GB SSD machine. 64 GB + 16 GB thumbdrive for $100.
And as those babies come down…..
Robert Heinlein, the grandfather of Sci-fi once said, “Man is not a rational being, he is a rationalizing being.”
Why don’t they offer the iPod classic 160GB drive as a BTO option.? With no DVD slot its memory that is required to hold the info that would otherwise be left on the disk ( films etc.)
The 160GB iPod hard drive is too thick to fit.
“How do I get the video from my 2 year old Sony HDV camcorder onto this thing to edit with iMovie? “
Through the USB port silly!
Chris … you are a moron…
he said VIDEO not still from the memory stick.
I dont know of ANY DV cams that give you DV over USB… gotta have firewire.