“The Apple Blog’s Charles Jade thinks the MacBook Air is on the bubble, citing as precedent the demise of the erstwhile and much-loved 12” PowerBook G4 that Steve Jobs unveiled in 2003’s Macworld Expo Keynote, touting it as ‘the smallest full-featured notebook in the world,”‘ Charles W. Moore writes for PowerBook Central.
“The 13” MacBook/MacBook Pro is a much closer analog to the 12” PowerBook than the MacBook Air is — much more so than the heavier, bulkier black (original polycarbonate) MacBook that initially superseded the 12” PowerBook G4’s price slot in Apple’s laptop lineup,” Moore writes
“The 13” MacBook Pro has a faster Core 2 Duo processor, a faster 5400 ROM full-sized 2.5” hard drive with 40 GB greater standard capacity and upgrade potential to a whopping 8GB, longer battery life, a multitouch buttonless trackpad, and is $300 cheaper to boot. That few millimeters thinner dimension and pound-and-a-half less weight begin to look awfully expensive and crippling by comparison,” Moore writes.
Moore writes, “I would say that if the MacBook Air’s days are numbered (and remember the demise of the Mac mini has been rumored imminent for more than two years now, and it’s still with us and even had a recent refresh), it’s because it pales in raw value and performance to the not-much-bigger 13” MacBook Pro.”
Much more in the full article here.
I travel with a Mac Pro just for all the connectivity. The 19″ CRT sometimes is a bother to carry around, but the contrast ratio is so killer!
Apple has its concept products, just as car companies have concept cars. The difference is that Apple markets its concept products, like the MBA and the Cube. Eventually they turn into something completely unforeseen.
The Cube was an experiment in form factor and cooling design. The MBA is an experiment also. I believe that it and the ATV are the precursors to Apple’s rumored tablet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were blended and morphed into something entirely off the wall, and wildly popular.
What the Air needs more than anything is an App Store. WHY THE H&## HASN”T APPLE BUILT AN APP STORE FOR THEIR COMPUTERS INTO ITUNES?!
That step seems so obvious to me…
@ MikeK
Um, the stats you cite lump all MBPs into one group. Predrag is likely right about the MBA selling better than the MBP 17″.
When Apple releases products that don’t catch on, they’re hobbies and concepts and experiments. Mere works in progress.
When any other company does it, we call them flops and failures.
I guess Microsoft would’ve saved themselves a lot of trouble by labeling the Zune a conceptual hobby experiment in progress. Then you guys wouldn’t be able laugh at it, right?
I would agree, I know it doesn’t make sense to me why someone wouldn’t pick a MBP for the reasons he mentioned. If Apple comes out with a fully functioned tablet then the Air days are numbered. Otherwise, it will probably die a slow death.
Folks that have the MB Air love the product. It’s weight and size are nice and the slid state drive in unbeatable. Why do so many consumers think that every machine has to do everything ? Products are designed, manufactured, marketed and priced with specific markets / usage in mind. IE: Consumers that buy a 13″ MacBook are not going to choose between that and a Mac Pro !
The MacBook Air fits into it’s anticipated market well.
@Z
I second your position – I got my MBA about 4 weeks after they came out because I needed to replace a 12″ PB G4 and wanted something reasonably light. At that time, the MacBook Pros were substantially heavier. Now, I’m sick and tired of dealing with the Ethernet dongle and single USB port. I thought I could live without Ethernet, but recently I’ve gotten involved with a project using a bunch of industrial Ethernet switches and embedded systems so I’m always having to jack in via that damn dongle. The new 13″ MBP is the product I need now. Unfortunately, as a single owner business, I have to wait 3 years before I can expense another computer, so I’ll be using the MBA until Jan 2011. I only use it while traveling. It’s great on airplanes and in meetings, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone over the 13″ MBP.
One other complaint, because I have the version with the anemic Intel graphics, I have to have Click-to-Flash installed to keep it usable. All it takes is a couple animated ad banners to run one core at 60%, overheat the GMA graphics and suck the battery dead in an hour.
On the other hand, it’s interesting to see that the entire product line, including iMacs and monitors, has adopted the styling of the MBA, so in a way it was trend setting.
It’s a very cool niche product. I don’t think they ever expected huge numbers; and I doubt they will drop it. For many it is perfect. Others miss the superdrive, etc. Like most concept products, you are paying for the cool factor. If I could justify it I would love one, but for now I will continue to use my 12″ PB for the limited amount of traveling I do. If I traveled more, though, I would seriously consider it.
I’ve owned every Apple laptop form factor since the PowerBook 170. The MacBook Air is without a doubt my favorite.
Not having a built-in optical drive is only a downside for me when it comes to watching movies on DVD. The single USB port is not a problem. A FW port would be nice, but I’ll take thiner and lighter as a fair tradeoff. The Air is like a great 2-seat roadster: everything you need, nothing you don’t, and a blast to drive. It’s not for everybody — but that’s why there’s more than one laptop in the lineup.
All that being said, the MBA is due for a real refresh. My ideal third-generation model would include a speed-bump to the processor, the no-button glass trackpad, 4GB of memory, and a SSD option larger than 128GB. But the current 2G model is a more than sufficient daily driver for work and home.
MBA – after 20 years on PCs it is the first computer my wife said “…that’s for me.” After using it for 18 months (?) she cannot imagine using anything else. She consults at UPenn and surrounding schools, and with it’s day long batter and light weight, it is a no brainer. 1.5 lbs adds up day in and day out.
@predrag. Dude, you’re spot on. I gave 15″ MBP, my girlfriend has Air. We both want a tablet!!
My next computer will be a MacBook Air; goodbye heavy MacBook Pro.
The first time I saw the MacBook Air, I thought that a computer a lot like that but much cheaper (and perhaps a little smaller) would someday find a home in the backpacks of students everywhere. I still believe that.
Re: “concepts & experiments” …
The MacBook Air team created this little concept called the single-slab unibody enclosure… Gee, wouldn’t it be cool if they could refine it to use for their entire MBP lineup!
Oh, wait….
You ignorant slut.
I bought an Air for my wife. She loves it.
I thought I’d use it once in a while too (and I do, when I just need to throw a full fledged laptop into my backpack without the weight) but mostly she uses it at home.
I said I’d get her an iMac. She said no thanks, I’ll keep the Air.
I said I’d get her the new 13″ MBP, she said she’ll keep the Air.
One day I might get the 13″ MBP, but for myself, as I don’t want to lug around my 17″ MBP.
But our next computer will probably be the largest screen iMac we can find.
And I will upgrade the Air’s hard disk to whatever maximum size there is, next year, because the iPhoto library is just getting super massive.
Having said all this, the Air is a hot product. And not just for women. I check email on the iPhone and if I need to work on a document, I will have the Air with me.
Its underfeatured, underperforms and is expensive. Really a waste of money and not really not worth the price to be ‘thin’. There’s something wrong with people that can’t ‘lug’ around a 13″ Macbook, which is a far better bet.
Jade is a complete moron: he thinks sitting in front of the computer gives him “insight into technology” – much the way driving to and from work might give him “insight” into internal-combustion mechanics….
His Insight into the computer industry roughly equals a Birther’s “insight” into genetics and the law – or, as Will Rogers said about Herbert Hoover: “It ain’t what he don’t know that scares me, it’s what he knows for certain that just ain’t true.”
Let him have his little circle-jerk w/ Moore, Dvorak & Enderle. Maybe Alice & the Cheshire Cat will drop by.
I think it’s far more likely that we’ll see a price cut on the MBA than a cancellation. It’s a very popular model.
-jcr
I have an Air with the SSD. I never carry my 15″ MBP anymore. But I carry the Air to every meeting. Slow blogging day for a not so thoughtful blogger, now if there were a tablet and if it…. Oh, that’s write, I forgot, it will be a trainwreck
I want a MBA as my 2nd laptop really, really bad. But I’ve already bought 3 new Macs this year and people are starting to look at me like I may have a problem…
The 13″ Pro gave me pause, but I think I still want an Air.
@lonestar,
Just because the MBA doesn’t fit your needs doesn’t mean it isn’t good for someone else. I usually carry several textbooks and my 4.8lb 12 inch PowerBook. To go from that to a larger footprint mbp that only weighs .5lb less is not worth it to me. However, to go to the MBA and save 2.5 lbs is a far better exchange except for the annoyance if the larger footprint. Given my example, which would you choose?
Wife hated her vaio after 3 years (obviously, Windows had a part in that). She loved the kitchen iMac.
Now refurb Air is her true love. $999. All the ladies love it at her office. It is one sexy beast, regardless of the OS. But, with Leopard instead of Windows, I don’t think there is a more appealing laptop out there. I love to use it when she brings it home. So beaudacious!
Still a piece of shit engineering.