“Earlier this summer, Apple eliminated its entry-level plastic-clad MacBook to make the just-updated MacBook Air line, once a pricey niche laptop, its mainstream computer,” John Boudreau reports for The Mercury News.
“In making the move, Apple signaled its view that the future of laptops will be lightweight machines that increasingly rely on cloud services provided through remote servers,” Boudreau reports. “It comes as the company gears up to push its iCloud service and vision of a highly synchronized world in which music and other material can be accessed across a number of highly mobile devices.”
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Boudreau reports, “Apple’s strategy envisions a modern world that relies on computers on the go — Internet-connected smartphones, tablets and paper-thin laptops that are light and easy to carry… The MacBook Air uses flash memory that limits how much can be stored on the machine. By losing some computing capabilities, the MacBook Air gains longer battery life and lightness, making it the ultimate mobile device in an era in which more content will be stored in the cloud.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
CHROMEBOOKS
then Apple should offer their own internet service.
No shit Sherlock. Why don’t you just get a Samsung Chromebook instead if you want to strip everything to the cloud. Me? I prefer my hard drive large and capacious with gobs of memory. That’s why I’ll always go for the MBP over the MBA any day of the week. You should go to the gym and pump up like Colonel Quadditch (in Avatar) if you find carrying around a MBP such an inconvenience.
Quarritch.
I don’t like this concept as much as I don’t like Chromebook concept… For god’s sake, up the RAM, not our reliance to the internet.
EDIT: there is no god.
But, there is Flash…
LOL! +1
(damn flash hag)
LOL… I hope you are well… I had to do it…
Evidence please.
I doubt this article. From my own armchair analysis, it seems that many college students are at least buying 13″ MBP or MBA. They are willing to pay more for a premium laptop. Same with the iPad. Most people want the more powerful iPad.
The MBP/MBA + iPad is all Apple needs for the time. Apple isn’t going to sell a cheap netbook.
Seems to me that the performance of our computing device components (memory, storage, cpu, digital imaging, etc.) is rising much faster than our data processing needs (probably exponentially vs linearly). How far are we from a supercomputer in every doorknob?
Thus, I think that the concept of “everything in the cloud + dumb terminals”, is fundamentally flawed – there will be no need for such centralisation. Actually, Apple is not adopting the classical cloud approach in iCloud – it is much less about streaming and web services than it is about synchronising multiple redundant copies of the same data across devices.
1
FTFA: “You will see Apple put more emphasis on the MacBook Air,” Bajarin said. “The MacBook Air will become the lion’s share of (sales) of its laptop line. But this does not mean they will do away with the MacBook Pro.”
This.
For a lot of people the MBA is just fine with very little storage. They do email and web browsing. This is just like the iPad or even the iPhone in being complete enough for a lot of casual usage.
Likewise, the MBA, like the iPad or iPhone, makes for a really good travel computer for those who have another computer. For example, I have 2TB of internal storage and an external portable Blu-Ray burner on a quad-core MBP, but I don’t always need all that. Sometimes, I’ll just take my iPad or just my iPhone.
Apple, by way of new technology, is going to continue to put more power in more portable packages. This has been going on for a long time now. The cloud just enables more of this during the storage capacity setback transition from HDD to SSD.
RE: “Apple, by way of new technology, is going to continue to put more power in more portable packages. This has been going on for a long time now. The cloud just enables more of this during the storage capacity setback transition from HDD to SSD.”
I hope so… seems to me that there has been a long time since we’ve seen an improvement in storage capacities when it comes to the iPhone, iPod touch & iPads. Would love to see 128GB option. Apple can kill the iPod classic at that point with no qualms I believe.
I don’t use the optical drive on my current MBP. However, I will buy a new MBP in December and save $400 over a MBA.
Yeah, maybe I’m in the minority but I don’t see the cloud as something I want to depend on for everything. This suits AAPL and it’s plans and profits going forward. As a shareholder (up today thank you) I like it. But as a user mmmmmmm not so much. I don’t want to be dependent on AAPL or anyone for my storage and accessibility. I like the idea of the cloud as long as it’s not big brother. It will be big brother. Make mo mistake about that. And I love me some AAPL and have used everything they make for over 25 years but ya gotta open your eyes. Apple : it’s the biggest ,richest money making company out there. Yup, they make great stuff. Yup. Steve was the best. But they’re in business to make money not buddies. They have their best interests at heart. Stay awake! Never be a sheep. Never follow blindly.
I think Apple’s vision of the cloud is different then other’s in that, as Steve Job’s said, Apple’s cloud is NOT a hard disk in the sky. Instead, while it does store files, it’s primary function is a transfer engine. The files are stored on your device (Mac, iPhone, iPad), but the cloud ensures that your data is seamlessly transferred and synced. Add in the disk-less app store for apps, and the optical drive is virtually unnecessary. (Perhaps with the exception of movies on DVDs or Blue Ray disks – which they seek to avoid with itunes anyways.) Add in Lion’s airdrop, needing removable media to transfer files is nearly obsolete. It all makes sense, and is mostly welcome.
My one hesitation, however, is what this will mean for data plans, including home data plans. I see ISPs testing the data cap/tiered plan waters. I would like to see Apple present a solution that bypasses the current data providers — all of them: Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, et al. I don’t know if it’s in the works, but as long as providers could possibly limit the bandwidth, Apple’s cloud service will be somewhat at their mercy. A prospect I don’t like at all…
Yes. Well said.