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Apple announces MacBook Air - The thinnest ever notebook - with Multi Touch | |
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| Time: 12:10 EST/17:10 GMT | News Source: ActiveWin.com | Posted By: Byron Hinson | ||
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No surprise here either - but Apple has just told everyone what we already knew - their new extremly thin Notebook has been called "Macbook Air". More of a surprise was that is does come with Multi Touch. It retails at $1799. Here is what Steve Jobs had to say: "Most people think of Sony TZ series when they think of thin notebooks. Competition specs: 3 lbs, .8-1.2 inches, 11 or 12" display, miniature keyboard, and slower processor. We thought 3 lbs is a good target weight, but there was too much compromise with the other features. MacBook Air is 0.16" to 0.76". The thickest part of the MacBook Air is thinner than the thinnest part of the Sony. It fits inside a envelope." Magnetic latch, 13.3" widescreen display. The display is LED backlit. iSight is built-in. MacBook-like keyboard, but with an ambient light sensor. Multi-touch trackpad. Move a window by double-tap and move. Rotate a photo by pivoting your index finger around your thumb. Of course, pinch-zoom. 80 GB Drive with a 64 GB SSD as an option though it is expensive. 1.6 ghz standard Core Duo 2 with a 1.8 option. Intel shrunk the processor for the MacBook Air by 60%. 802.11n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR. 5 Hrs Battery Life and 2gb Ram |
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Read Only Comments Return to News |
Displaying Comments 1 through 35 of 35 |
This is an archived static copy of ActiveWin.com. |
| #1 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 12:17:59 PM |
| Shouldn't this be in ActiveMac??? |
| #2 By 89153 (128.189.236.1) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 12:39:51 PM |
| Yea, why's all the Apple news in the Microsoft/Windows section? |
| #3 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 12:43:28 PM |
| I like the magnetic latch, personally. The multi-touch sounds neat. |
| #4 By 92283 (64.180.196.143) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 12:51:22 PM |
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.16" of trim around the edge would not be counted by normal people as being part of the notebook thickness.
But the Macheads are idiots. This post was edited by NotParkerToo on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 12:53. |
| #5 By 79274 (66.203.73.242) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 01:24:16 PM |
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does it run crysis?
its not worth anything if it can't. |
| #6 By 3 (86.1.38.147) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 01:25:05 PM |
| #5 you mean not worth anything like most PC's if Crysis is the case! |
| #7 By 3746 (72.12.161.38) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 02:08:40 PM |
| Just not impressed at all and normally I like Apple's stuff. I know it is thin and all but it seems awfully expensive for so so specs. I was going to wait to see what Apple was going to do with the new laptops but now I am glad i got the XPS 1330 instead. Saving 1 pound would have been nice but to lose an ethernet port, optical drive, poor on board graphics is just not worth it. The apple fans will probably eat this thing up though. |
| #8 By 9589 (68.17.52.2) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 02:19:12 PM |
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I just bought a HP laptop for about $600 bucks that is bigger, faster, and runs Windows Vista Business (15.4" LCD screen, Intel Core2Duo 1.8MHz CPU, Lightscribe DVD DL R/W, 2GB RAM, and Nvdia video card). It is superior in every way to this, the latest Apple offering, with the possible exception that it is not thin and it weigh a bit more. A 13" screen and the tiny keyboard are impossible. I have big hands and poor eyesight. A combination that augurs for at least a 15" screen and "normal" sized notebook keyboard. Additionally, I can buy two more HP's and have money left over.
One thing that I thought was significant in viewing the on line video at Apple's web site was the total absence of firewire anything. It appears, with USB 3.0 about to be released, eSata, and Infiniband available, Apple will finally let firewire die . . . |
| #9 By 3746 (72.12.161.38) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 02:24:02 PM |
| I just don't get what market Apple is going after with this Air. It seems to sacrifice a whole lot to get it into a small form factor but the size is not that far off from other stuff out there that have way better specs. |
| #10 By 3 (86.1.38.147) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 02:26:36 PM |
| #8 - can't see them dropping firewire with the next version coming out...to me it seems to be simply because of the form factor of the Air - Ethernet is avalaible with USB atachment...but I agree with #9 - while it looks and feels fantastic, i don't understand who they are aiming it at with such a high price. |
| #11 By 3746 (72.12.161.38) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 02:34:11 PM |
| To me the ultra portable market is all about business but this kind of device is worthless to them. No docking option, no ethernet port, etc. But this seems to be geared at someone sitting in a coffee shop surfing. Seems like an awful lot of money to spend to surf the internet. But then again the trendsters will probably eat this thing up. |
| #12 By 7754 (206.169.247.2) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 02:36:24 PM |
| Looks like nice gear, but I guess Apple still feels truth is relative... or simply not important. They claim the MacBook Air is "the World's Thinnest Laptop" at .76". Forget about the .62" Sharp from a couple years ago... forget about Intel's upcoming .7" laptop... forget about Toshiba's .77" laptop (only .01" thicker, yet does not sacrifice the optical drive, 2.5" hard drives rather than the horrible-performing 1.8" models, is nearly half the weight at 1.72 lbs. in the SSD flavor, and better battery life). I'll trade that .01" for an optical drive any day. |
| #13 By 2960 (72.196.195.185) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 02:42:15 PM |
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Have you guys priced an IBM X series, or other sub-compact?
$1800 is CHEAP. However, overall, I will say i found this years goodies kinda lackluster. I wanted subscription music iTunes. If I'm going to BUY downloaded music, I'll use AmazonMP3 which is cheaper and has no DRM. Much of iTunes is still DRM controlled. TL |
| #14 By 655 (128.249.200.4) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 02:49:02 PM |
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#11 - good point on the lack of an ethernet port (Apple will probably come out with a USB adapter...for a price). Ditto on the fact that ultraportable is geared towards business.
#13 - agreed that this years stuff is lackluster - it just didn't blow my skirt up. #7 - Have you had any issues with your Dell XPS 1330? I'm hearing from a lot of IT friends that they're having major issues with Dell products. Just curious as I'm in the market for a laptop. |
| #15 By 3746 (72.12.161.38) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 02:51:52 PM |
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http://gizmodo.com/345177/macbook-airs-fatal-flaw-battery-ram-hd-sealed-like-an-ipod
The one comment sums it all up - The Air is a device not a computer. #13 At 3 pounds the air is not even that light. I mean for less then 1 pound more you can have a XPS 1330 with optical drive, Nvidia graphics, LED screen, fast processors, fast hard drive or SSD, user upgradeable RAM and Battery, for the same price or cheaper. The Air just doesn't make much sense. There are plenty of other options out there too the the other poster mentioned. |
| #16 By 3746 (72.12.161.38) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 02:55:24 PM |
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#14
The XPS 1330 has been rock solid for me and it was early one. I got it less then 2 months after release. I have quite a few customers using Dell stuff both old and new and the failure rate hasn't been any different then any of the other product I deal with. I think a lot of businesses buy and batches and if you get unlucky with a batch then you can see a large numbers of faliures. But if you see a large number of hard drive dying that isn't really Dell's fault though. |
| #17 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 03:03:16 PM |
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#16: OK, we get it. You don't like it.
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| #18 By 3746 (72.12.161.38) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 03:11:57 PM |
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#17
If I stop posting about the air will you stop you incessant whining about Vista. I think we all get that you don't like it. So why keep posting? If you didn't notice someone asked me a question about my experience with the XPS 1330. The other posts were in line with the discussion. Learn to keep your own trap shut before you make comments about what other people are writing. |
| #19 By 12071 (203.210.79.192) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 08:46:45 PM |
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Wow... it's nice isn't it :) Sure it's underspec'ed, overpriced and has no optical drive which to me makes it almost utterly useless... but it's slick! I'm really glad that Apple make stuff like this, really glad, as it means that us pc (pc in terms of the pc vs mac definition) owners will be able to have some knockoff copy soon. iPod, iPhone, this.... keep them coming Apple!
#8 They better not let FireWire die... it's the best connection method they've come up with. Excellent design in just about every regard. |
| #20 By 7754 (75.72.153.112) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 11:17:37 PM |
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#19: we already have them... maybe it's Apple doing the knock-offs. ;)
The upcoming Intel model (announced last year) looks mighty slick, plus it's thinner, lighter, and it has wireless charging: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/notebook-supermodel/intel-unveils-worlds-thinnest-laptop-almost-skinny-as-a-razr-263359.php The Toshiba Portege R500 beats the MBA in just about every spec (see #12--you don't have to lose the built-in optical drive): http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?coid=-33781 |
| #21 By 12071 (203.210.79.192) at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 11:56:03 PM |
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#20 I don't think you understood... i meant knockoff's in terms of appearance as well as functionality/interface.
In any case, we don't need to get into a who copied who first because I'm sure there's plenty of examples on both sides of the fence and ultimately it all comes down to personal preference. As an example, i love the appearance and interfaces of the iPod (which is why I own one) and iPhone (which is why I want one but not at the current price and other limitations). The Windows Mobile from O2 (and fundamentally HTC) that I currently use, whilst useful for the things I use it for, ... is... well... bloody ugly! It's a phone that only a mother could love to be honest. And ever since the iPhone (and similar phones like the LG Prada), or at least around the time that those phones were introduced or showed off to some extent we're finally getting some nice looking phones out there (except the HTC touch is still bloody ugly). The BlackBerry I have for work is equally as ugly, except it now comes with an additional 8 or so buttons to make usage "easier"... ha! Once the appearance is resolved the next thing to work on is the Windows Mobile OS which still has a lot of work to be done which is why there has been a lot of interest in v7 and v8 in recent times. So I guess that's what I was trying to say in only a few words. I love what Apple does in terms of appearance and interface and I know that once Apple do it, it'll be copied/improved upon etc by everyone else, then those things will be copied by Apple and done better once again and we'll go through the whole cycle over and over ending up with functional as well as slick gadgets. "The upcoming Intel model (announced last year) looks mighty slick, plus it's thinner, lighter, and it has wireless charging:" That is slick! Very nice - I'd just get rid of the gold bit in the middle. Not one for gold when it comes to electronics - it's a good thing Onkyo make their stuff in black! Is there a release date for this thing? Q3-Q4? "The Toshiba Portege R500 beats the MBA in just about every spec" Almost... It beats it in terms of cost, hdd space... But it's got a slower cpu, smaller screen... And it's ugly. |
| #22 By 37 (192.251.125.85) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 06:51:02 AM |
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The Protege doesn't beat the MBA in just about every spec. It's actually more expensive. Also, in order to get the 1.72 lb Portege, you have to buy the $3000 version, because you need the 64gb SSD in order to get that.
The $1999 portege has less RAM, slower CPU as mentioned by Chris, smaller screen, smaller keyboard, comes with Windows (yikes), and it costs more than the Air. The air is also thinner overall, starting at .16" and ending at .76", average thickness of about .40". Yeah..just about every spec the Toshiba actually LOSES. This post was edited by AWBrian on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 07:12. |
| #23 By 3746 (72.12.161.38) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 07:48:48 AM |
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#22
I don't get the excitement on how thin it is. Yeah sure it is cool looking but who cares how thin something is. The physical dimensions are defined by the screen size. You will still need the same size bag to carry it in as any 13.3" screened laptop. Weight is the more important factor in an ultaportable. At 3 pounds it is nothing spectacular. If this had been 2-2.5 pounds it would have been way more impressive. I have always wondered why it seems Apple has a problem losing weight in their laptops. Their Macbook is 5.1 pounds or so which is heavy for a laptop in it's class. |
| #24 By 37 (192.251.125.85) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 09:50:02 AM |
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Obviously 4 million people cared about the THIN iPhone, and thinner iPods, and there is a reason that manufacturers year in and year out attempt to create the THINNEST must have notebook (that everyone runs out and buys).
So the excitement is there. Why? Who knows. It's the same excitement that many feel they need to have the latest and greatest, the smallest, thinnest, lightest, fastest, newest. Apple prays on those users, and it appears that it's working. |
| #25 By 7754 (206.169.247.2) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 10:03:37 AM |
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#21: well, it does appear that many parts of the industry (and even other industries) are paying more and more attention to appearance... Dell's new "Crystal" LCD, is a good example (http://www.dell.com/crystal). I think it all goes back to the original iMac. With the MBA, though, I think they've made too many sacrifices for sake of looks.
Have to agree on most of the Windows Mobile phones--very homely, most of them. It would be very tough to give up my BlackBerry, though, and I think the Pearl is a pretty sweet device. The Windows Mobile OS... I haven't played with it in awhile now, but I just don't like it that much. Sure, it can do everything under the sun, but the whole "it's Windows on your phone!" approach just seems flawed to me. Plus, SureType is a thing of beauty (IMO). Not sure on the Intel laptop... sounds like 2nd half of the year, but who knows. I'm kind of amazed they're making a laptop at all. Wonder what the price will be.... |
| #26 By 7754 (206.169.247.2) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 10:21:52 AM |
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#22: it does have the slower CPU, although that also means lower power consumption and lower heat output. Given that neither of these are really performance-oriented laptops, that may not be a huge tradeoff, though I agree that it would be nice if they offered the higher-performance CPUs. Keep in mind that this laptop is about a full year older than the MBA, though, too. It also has the 12.1" screen, of course.
However, considering that it's only 0.01" thicker ("average thickness" of .4"? The MBA is thinner at the edges--that doesn't make it .4" thick on average), significantly lighter, uses normal 2.5" hard drives, the battery is replaceable (!), includes 3 USB ports, includes a FireWire port, has dedicated mic and headphone jacks, has a fingerprint reader, includes a docking port, includes a PCMCIA slot, includes an SD slot, and still includes the optical drive, plus it's already a year old... it makes the engineering of the MBA seem quite a bit less impressive. Apple is known for pushing the envelope and keeping at the front edge of trends with their hardware engineering, but the MBA just doesn't do that. It sacrifices function for form (again). One USB port? C'mon. |
| #27 By 7754 (206.169.247.2) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 10:27:44 AM |
| #22... also, who pays list price on a Toshiba laptop? |
| #28 By 7754 (206.169.247.2) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 10:29:25 AM |
| #22... I almost forgot... the Toshiba includes a Gb Ethernet port. |
| #29 By 7754 (206.169.247.2) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 10:31:39 AM |
| #22... and no dongle necessary if you want to hook it up to, say, just about any projector. |
| #30 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 10:33:01 AM |
| #18: You love it when I complain about Vista. |
| #31 By 3746 (24.213.82.35) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 10:59:32 AM |
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#30
Actually I don't really care that you complain abbout Vista. That is what the forums are for. I was pointing out that you should be the last person to put someone down for posting when the majority of your posts are same crap over and over. |
| #32 By 37 (192.251.125.85) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 11:08:09 AM |
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Funny how you say it's not thinner and that the EDGE is only .16". That isn't true. The entire laptop starts thin, and EVENLY works it's way to thicker, making it THINNER than any of the existing notebooks on the market. It also makes it so that it is unable to support an optical drive, due to it's thin nature.
It has a headphone jack, micro-DVI slot, has a replaceable battery (unlike what you state. The battery is replaceable for $129, which is the same price as the replaceable battery in the Macbook Pro), which Apple will replace for you. It also has a built in mic and camera, and a better, all LED display. Every product, especially small, sacrifices form for function. Not everyone apparently cares for function over form. Heck, look at the iPhone. You can't dial a phone number on that phone without looking at the iPhone, as you can't feel the button placement. With a normal phone, it has better function and form because one can type a phone number and text message without having to take there eyes off the road, or whatever position they are in. Obviously, 4 million iPhones later, those people don't care. Even the iMac are more form over function, but their sales are increasing dramatically, and even Gateway and Dell came out with the ONE all in one pc competitor due to the popularity. Again, there is form over function as well. I personally cannot show any reason for ME to buy the Air. I personally would like the ability to be able to rip CD's/DVD's without buying a super drive add-on. However, there is the elite out there that want wireless only, slim/low profile devices as small as this, that don't have a need for anything you mentioned that is advantageous on the Toshiba. I will assume that the most people that buy this new Air will be Apple fanatics, movie studios for props, celebrities, and select traveling business men. The battery life and inability to replace the battery mid flight is less and less of a concern, as more and more airlines are supplying power outlets at each chair. I think more traveling business people might pick this up. |
| #33 By 7754 (206.169.247.2) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 11:49:20 AM |
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#33: I guess what I'm getting at is that this machine isn't really that spectacular in terms of engineering, especially considering what else is out there. It makes sacrifices that really shouldn't be made... I mean, defending the decision of a single USB port seems ridiculous to me. Wireless is great and all, but very few places are putting in 802.11n gear (and according to several whitepapers, for good reason), and average throughput on g is just not that fast. The lack of an Ethernet jack... the lack of so many things... it severely limits the potential of this machine. And for what?
To me, this starts to suggest something about what our culture itself is becoming... flash, shock value, the sensational/fads conquer all. I'd better go entertain myself so I don't have to think about it. :P |
| #34 By 37 (192.251.125.85) at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 12:48:30 PM |
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I agree with your comments. Then again, there are better sites out there than AWIN, yet we are all still here :-)
Well, maybe not all :-) |
| #35 By 2960 (72.196.195.185) at Thursday, January 17, 2008 03:17:32 PM |
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I just realilzed where Apple blew it with the MacBook Air...
No EVDO Card. If this thing had an EVDO card (which would negate the need for Ethernet or even standard wireless), partners, exectutives and every other high-flying geek on the planet would be scarfing these up faster than Apple could build them. What a shame. Maybe in MacBook Air V2.0 TL |
