“It has the oomph to handle just about every general-purpose task you can throw at it while weighing in at less than three pounds. I’m not going to use my Air for heavy video editing with Final Cut Pro or to mix down 32 audio tracks in Pro Tools, but I’ll reach for it when it comes to all of my other daily tasks, wherever I happen to be,” Venezia reports. “One thing’s for sure: This Air is easily the best one yet.”
Read the full review here.
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Best one yet? For a redesigned model 18 months after the original, pimped out with max RAM and storage? What a brave, out-on-a-limb conclusion to arrive at, let alone post.
I loves me some bold journalism, I does.
Best one yet? For a redesigned model 18 months after the original, pimped out with max RAM and storage? What a brave, out-on-a-limb conclusion to arrive at, let alone post.
I loves me some bold journalism, I does.
The best ever lol
The best ever lol
Sarcasm isn’t dead, thank goodness.
Sarcasm isn’t dead, thank goodness.
Apple still has some glaring gaps in it’s product line. They still need something between the top of the line iMac and a Mac Pro. The OWC mod adding a SATA port helps but REALLY a mini-tower would be nice with the power (or a little bit more) of a quad core iMac but with more interface options, USB 3 and maybe a couple PCI slots (NO internal RAID).
12 processors are great (go for it if you can) but a lot of jobs can be handled easily with something a little less expensive but optimized for video and graphics.
Apple still has some glaring gaps in it’s product line. They still need something between the top of the line iMac and a Mac Pro. The OWC mod adding a SATA port helps but REALLY a mini-tower would be nice with the power (or a little bit more) of a quad core iMac but with more interface options, USB 3 and maybe a couple PCI slots (NO internal RAID).
12 processors are great (go for it if you can) but a lot of jobs can be handled easily with something a little less expensive but optimized for video and graphics.
The gap is in your head. Apple is poised almost perfectly… have you seen what a 27″ iMac with 16 gigs of ram can do?
There isn’t enough of a gap there to make a difference.
now a desktop replacement 20″ laptop with multi-core, dual SD HD’s raided… even if battery sucks, a lot of 17″ laptop users plug in 90% of the time anyway… The portability, that’s where it is…
Pi
The gap is in your head. Apple is poised almost perfectly… have you seen what a 27″ iMac with 16 gigs of ram can do?
There isn’t enough of a gap there to make a difference.
now a desktop replacement 20″ laptop with multi-core, dual SD HD’s raided… even if battery sucks, a lot of 17″ laptop users plug in 90% of the time anyway… The portability, that’s where it is…
Pi
@Peter Blood
Yep, I agree. There are many of us who have been howling at Apple for years to deliver a Half-MacPro… halfway between a Mac mini and MacPro.
Every Pro Mac user I know buys a MacBook Pro and an external monitor with an anti-glare screen from anyone but Apple. Some have one MacPro in their office for heavy lifting, rendering, etc..
Apple simply does not care about this market segment.
@Peter Blood
Yep, I agree. There are many of us who have been howling at Apple for years to deliver a Half-MacPro… halfway between a Mac mini and MacPro.
Every Pro Mac user I know buys a MacBook Pro and an external monitor with an anti-glare screen from anyone but Apple. Some have one MacPro in their office for heavy lifting, rendering, etc..
Apple simply does not care about this market segment.
People easily get caught up chasing the numbers (Megaherz, Gigabyte), and they tend to equate those exclusively with performance and value.
I can’t think of any one person who would masochistically edit 3D video, or 32-track audio on a 15″ portable computer, let alone smaller, regardless of the available muscle. Same thing for serious photoshoping and indesigning (not yet a verb, but might become one some day…).
The value of portable computer is NOT directly proportional to its CPU speed, RAM and HD sizes. Those obviously affect the value (hence, price), but other features and qualities tend to have much greater significance in defining their value. Apple clearly knows it, and MacBook Air is clearly THE best portable computer out there. The performance muscle of the 13″ model is plentiful enough to run ANY Mac software out there today. It will surely be able to run any Mac software that may come in the next 3 or 4 years as well. It is powerful and fast enough to comfortably run MULTIPLE applications at the same time. While you COULD use it to render a 110-minute HD feature with 12 layers of special effects, you would be an idiot (or in a most terrible predicament) to actually do it on any laptop.
The point is, MacBook Air is a powerful laptop that can do EVERYTHING anyone needs of a laptop computer on a daily basis. And it weighs barely 1.6 kg, which makes it the best laptop out there today.
People easily get caught up chasing the numbers (Megaherz, Gigabyte), and they tend to equate those exclusively with performance and value.
I can’t think of any one person who would masochistically edit 3D video, or 32-track audio on a 15″ portable computer, let alone smaller, regardless of the available muscle. Same thing for serious photoshoping and indesigning (not yet a verb, but might become one some day…).
The value of portable computer is NOT directly proportional to its CPU speed, RAM and HD sizes. Those obviously affect the value (hence, price), but other features and qualities tend to have much greater significance in defining their value. Apple clearly knows it, and MacBook Air is clearly THE best portable computer out there. The performance muscle of the 13″ model is plentiful enough to run ANY Mac software out there today. It will surely be able to run any Mac software that may come in the next 3 or 4 years as well. It is powerful and fast enough to comfortably run MULTIPLE applications at the same time. While you COULD use it to render a 110-minute HD feature with 12 layers of special effects, you would be an idiot (or in a most terrible predicament) to actually do it on any laptop.
The point is, MacBook Air is a powerful laptop that can do EVERYTHING anyone needs of a laptop computer on a daily basis. And it weighs barely 1.6 kg, which makes it the best laptop out there today.
@ Apple Pi
Well thanks “Mr. Market Expert” for your uninformed opinion. Fact is there is a big gap between the iMac and Mac Pro for those who only need a 4 or 6 processor machine and just a little more in the way of fast connections. The price goes double or more for a Mac Pro. I own 2007 8 processor Mac Pro which is still great but I also know there is a niche in the market that exists in between. I work in the film and television business so I do know that of which I speak, not to be snobbish about it.
I have a friend, a pro editor, who’s also now in a quandary about buying a 8 or 12 processor Mac Pro (overkill and expensive but nice) or a modded iMac 27″ (underkill in terms of fast I/O connections but usuable). Apple should address this market and btw no one loves Apple products more than I. What do you care anyway if Apple did address this need anyway? The more Apple products the better.
@ Apple Pi
Well thanks “Mr. Market Expert” for your uninformed opinion. Fact is there is a big gap between the iMac and Mac Pro for those who only need a 4 or 6 processor machine and just a little more in the way of fast connections. The price goes double or more for a Mac Pro. I own 2007 8 processor Mac Pro which is still great but I also know there is a niche in the market that exists in between. I work in the film and television business so I do know that of which I speak, not to be snobbish about it.
I have a friend, a pro editor, who’s also now in a quandary about buying a 8 or 12 processor Mac Pro (overkill and expensive but nice) or a modded iMac 27″ (underkill in terms of fast I/O connections but usuable). Apple should address this market and btw no one loves Apple products more than I. What do you care anyway if Apple did address this need anyway? The more Apple products the better.
I checked out the new MacBook Air and it’s pretty awesome. I’m getting a second Mac notebook for my wife to use and I’m debating between the Air and the 13″ Pro. The one thing that scares me is this thing about the flash memory storage slowing down after a period of time. I mean if it’s like after 3 or 4 years of service we see this, I’m okay with that. If it’s like after 6 -18 months. Then I’m sticking with the MBP and a traditional HD. Anyone else concerned about that?
I checked out the new MacBook Air and it’s pretty awesome. I’m getting a second Mac notebook for my wife to use and I’m debating between the Air and the 13″ Pro. The one thing that scares me is this thing about the flash memory storage slowing down after a period of time. I mean if it’s like after 3 or 4 years of service we see this, I’m okay with that. If it’s like after 6 -18 months. Then I’m sticking with the MBP and a traditional HD. Anyone else concerned about that?
@ Mr. Reeee
Thanks Mr. Reeee! At last, a response of quality!
@ Mr. Reeee
Thanks Mr. Reeee! At last, a response of quality!
Yes, by all means, let’s start going on about the mini-tower that Apple should make but chooses not to. Because that horse isn’t dead enough.
Yes, by all means, let’s start going on about the mini-tower that Apple should make but chooses not to. Because that horse isn’t dead enough.
…”The more Apple products the better.”
This is precisely against Apple’s core philosophy (for better or worse). Ever since Jobs returned, Apple has been relentlessly slashing their product line to the bare minimums. In an effort to avoid overlap, in some places, they left gaps, and for Apple, this is OK. Rather than having 12 different products with numerous variations, they have 6; 3 desktops (Mini, iMac, Pro) and 3 notebooks (MBA, MB, MBP). It seems that they have settled on this configuration many years ago, and there’s no indication they want to change the balance by inserting a ‘Mac’ (without the ‘Pro’) between an iMac and Mac Pro. For all those professionals caught in that gap between the two, there don’t seem to be any Mac solutions without a compromise (sacrificing performance/connectivity, or sacrificing money). Apparently, Apple has calculated that the number of such people is insufficient to warrant another product model.
…”The more Apple products the better.”
This is precisely against Apple’s core philosophy (for better or worse). Ever since Jobs returned, Apple has been relentlessly slashing their product line to the bare minimums. In an effort to avoid overlap, in some places, they left gaps, and for Apple, this is OK. Rather than having 12 different products with numerous variations, they have 6; 3 desktops (Mini, iMac, Pro) and 3 notebooks (MBA, MB, MBP). It seems that they have settled on this configuration many years ago, and there’s no indication they want to change the balance by inserting a ‘Mac’ (without the ‘Pro’) between an iMac and Mac Pro. For all those professionals caught in that gap between the two, there don’t seem to be any Mac solutions without a compromise (sacrificing performance/connectivity, or sacrificing money). Apparently, Apple has calculated that the number of such people is insufficient to warrant another product model.
No one can ever satisfy u damn nerds…