When Steve Jobs unveiled the Macbook Air at his keynote, Dave Legg (our coder here at Neowin) immediately contacted me and showed me the link to the demo of this wonderful product, my jaw dropped. How was this thing so thin? How does it stay cool despite sporting an Intel Core 2 Duo? I was on my merry way to find specs, needless to say I was disappointed when all the facts became clear.
Apple have seemed to master the way of selling hardware at inflated prices and touting it as the next best thing to sliced bread, and lets face it.. consumers lap it up but I have a feeling you'll be ripped off at the price they are asking!
We have yet to see the effects of heat and will we be ok with taking the "Air" on an plane and then having the battery run out less than half way across the Atlantic? Usually we'd be able to swap out the empty for a second battery, but not in this case. it's not upgradeable or even removable!
Apple have seemed to master the way of selling hardware at inflated prices and touting it as the next best thing to sliced bread, and lets face it.. consumers lap it up but I have a feeling you'll be ripped off at the price they are asking!
We have yet to see the effects of heat and will we be ok with taking the "Air" on an plane and then having the battery run out less than half way across the Atlantic? Usually we'd be able to swap out the empty for a second battery, but not in this case. it's not upgradeable or even removable!
I doubt I will educate any person that swears by Apple hardware, but at the very least lets draw a comparison to a relatively cheap Sony VAIO with Mr Jobs latest offering.
Macbook air @ $1799*:
- 13.3" 1280x800 Screen
- 2GB RAM nonupgradeable
- 1.6 ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
- No optical drive
- 80GB HDD (4800 RPM P-ATA Drive)
- Wifi: a/b/g/n
- Bluetooth: Yes
- Camera: Yes
- Fingerprint scanner: Yes
- Card reader: None
- Battery: 5 hours, non removable
- Graphics: Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
- Ports: Headphones, Micro DVI Out, 1 USB
- Weight: 3 lbs
- Thickness: 0.75"
- Dimensions: 12.8" x 9"
Sony VAIO @ $1400*:
- 13.3" 1280x800 Screen
- 2GB RAM max 4gb
- 2.0 ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
- DVD±R DL / DVD±RW / DVD-RAM
- 120GB HDD (5400 RPM)
- Wifi: a/b/g/n
- Bluetooth: Yes
- Camera: $30 extra
- Fingerprint scanner: Yes
- Card reader: Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, SD, xD, MMC
- Battery: 4-6 hours depending on battery size, removable
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8400M and Intel GMA X3100
- Ports: USB /10/100 Ethernet/Firewire/Micro SD Port (*up to 8GB)
- Weight: 4.2 lbs
- Thickness: 1.5"
- Dimensions: 12.5" x 9.3"
So I ask, are you paying $399 extra for the fact that it's so much thinner, a little lighter and has a lot less features? Is thin really that in, and more to the point that costly?
You decide!
*Prices mentioned are US dollars and the Sony VAIO had the custom option of a $30 camera added
Reference: Sony VAIO SZ740
You use the Airline power adaptor. The battery is replaceable, just not user-replaceable. Apple sells batteries for the MBA and can install it for free.
You use the Airline power adaptor. The battery is replaceable, just not user-replaceable. Apple sells batteries for the MBA and can install it for free.
Well, unless you plan on calling Apple, setting up an appointment, then visiting their store when your 3 hours of battery life is almost up for a fresh battery... Yes, it's replaceable. However, most people that work in a truly mobile environment like to keep a spare battery handy so if they're unable to mount up to AC, they can continue working.
It's not up the the manufacturer, rather the airline. For example, Air Canada has upgraded some planes to offer power in economy class, but others do not have it...even if the planes are the same model/year.
Edit: Ha ok so the revision of this news item is better :p
Last edited by Rob on 16 Jan 2008 - 11:57
As far as I am concerned, there's no battle there - if I want to get work done, I won't have any Microsoft products anywhere near my mission critical platform.
Well I guess you guys who don't really work and have your parents pay for your living don't have to worry about these things - the rest of us do.
I work for a living; I develop mission critical software on Windows that; if it fails, could KILL someone. It's never failed yet.
Oh, and that Vaio CAN run OSX... It's just not legal! :p
Last edited by FloatingFatMan on 16 Jan 2008 - 11:54
As far as I am concerned, there's no battle there - if I want to get work done, I won't have any Microsoft products anywhere near my mission critical platform.
Well I guess you guys who don't really work and have your parents pay for your living don't have to worry about these things - the rest of us do.
Are you trying to be ironic or something? The world runs on Windows...deal with it.
seeing as the windows laptop in this case is more powerful it would be a more effective work machine.
As for what work you do on a plane, well i's prtty muh down to graphics or Office stuff.
if it's graphics stuff, Adobe works as well on both systems, and if it's office, the best tol for the job i stil Microsoft Office, no matter what platform you're on.
And since I know you're going to throw the stability card, I'll just tell me that when I ran XP my computer didn't crash, and with Vista my computers don't crash either.
As far as I am concerned, there's no battle there - if I want to get work done, I won't have any Microsoft products anywhere near my mission critical platform.
A hell of a lot of people get a hell of a lot of work done using Microsoft products, including mission critical work. Trying to imply they can't is just stupid fanboisim.
Last edited by neufuse on 16 Jan 2008 - 19:51
As far as I am concerned, there's no battle there - if I want to get work done, I won't have any Microsoft products anywhere near my mission critical platform.
Well I guess you guys who don't really work and have your parents pay for your living don't have to worry about these things - the rest of us do.
Are you trying to be ironic or something? The world runs on Windows...deal with it.
really? pssss - no it doesn't
As far as I am concerned, there's no battle there - if I want to get work done, I won't have any Microsoft products anywhere near my mission critical platform.
Well I guess you guys who don't really work and have your parents pay for your living don't have to worry about these things - the rest of us do.
Are you trying to be ironic or something? The world runs on Windows...deal with it.
really? pssss - no it doesn't
yeah it runs on UNIX - banks, healthcare... in fact all oracle mid-tier machines run on linux boxes.
As far as I am concerned, there's no battle there - if I want to get work done, I won't have any Microsoft products anywhere near my mission critical platform.
Well I guess you guys who don't really work and have your parents pay for your living don't have to worry about these things - the rest of us do.
Are you trying to be ironic or something? The world runs on Windows...deal with it.
really? pssss - no it doesn't
yeah it runs on UNIX - banks, healthcare... in fact all oracle mid-tier machines run on linux boxes.
They may have *nix servers (But Windows Server certainly has a very sizable portion of the world's server market share), but almost all of their clients are Windows, and that means that they probably have a Windows AD server.
As far as I am concerned, there's no battle there - if I want to get work done, I won't have any Microsoft products anywhere near my mission critical platform.
Well I guess you guys who don't really work and have your parents pay for your living don't have to worry about these things - the rest of us do.
Oh dear oh dear I almost saw your line of thinking until your last line buddy.
You dont process mission critical stuff within windows eh, I take it your happy with a single figure % market share for your apps then.
FYI I design and support mission critical systems within the Pharmaceutical industry and due to this we are bound to comply with FDA regulations which are validated on Windows systems.
We aint all spotty youngsters staying with mummy and daddy you know, despite your generalist and trollish post my friend
Well done Apple for this "innovative" laptop (/sarcasm) IMHO I wouldnt touch either laptop with a bargepole both over priced and overhyped by both companies...Ill stick to my XPS-M1330 backported to XP thanks
As far as I am concerned, there's no battle there - if I want to get work done, I won't have any Microsoft products anywhere near my mission critical platform.
Well I guess you guys who don't really work and have your parents pay for your living don't have to worry about these things - the rest of us do.
Interesting....
From psychological point of view, people often "judge/assume" other people in the same situation/same past experience as themselvees.
So you are implying you are the kiddy staying with your parents?
As far as I am concerned, there's no battle there - if I want to get work done, I won't have any Microsoft products anywhere near my mission critical platform.
Well I guess you guys who don't really work and have your parents pay for your living don't have to worry about these things - the rest of us do.
Interesting....
From psychological point of view, people often "judge/assume" other people in the same situation/same past experience as themselvees.
So you are implying you are the kiddy staying with your parents?
So you are saying it was bad to stay with your parents when you were a child? Past experience perhaps?
I don't know where you got the "psychological" point of view, but that argument would get you -100% on a university paper.
Where Do You Have Your Apple Tattoo?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F9gdx_LIAc
but if anyone gets incited by the tone of the article then they will get banned.
Sorry, its not on, you can't have it both ways. If you want a nice clean happy, war free site then you can't incite.
LOL, then they can ban me. Life goes on.
Once again, Apple leads the way with progressive, innovative products, making the rest of the industry look like also-rans. People who consistently back the wrong horse can't stand it.
Can't even compare the Air to the Vaio. The Air is 0.75" thin and runs OS X. That's the point.
I hardly call the Air progressive and innovative. Sure, it looks great, but other than that, it's really nothing new. Now if they could give me a 0.75" thin laptop with an optical drive, Ethernet port, 4 USB ports, a user replacable battery, THAT would be progressive and innovative and worth the $1,800 base price.
Hence why all the Mac and *nix zealots hate Microsoft...
Last edited by Fanon on 16 Jan 2008 - 14:25
Looks like it.
Looks like it.
I liked original article more. It was not very "politically correct", but it had "soul".
Then when you look at it, it's a "real" ultra-portable, not just a small laptop with a bunch of things crammed in just because you can. It's about the purpose, about being really light and portable, not about the usual "I've got more things in here than you, muahahah".
It's definitely a sign of things to come I guess, i rarely use my optical drive, only need it when installing software. The over-the-air drive access seem really nice, not something new, but nice.
It may be expensive but it definitely kicks ass. Just my opinion...
Students (albeit wealthy ones) will also find this a godsend. I carry my macbook in my backpack all day, it was a bliss when i switched from a 15" Dell.. now imagine doing that jump all over again!
A base Apple Mac Book Air with superdrive is £1264.01 and that's with the full 13.3" screen, full backlit keyboard, 80GB 4200rpm drive and Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, Wireless N, 1.6GHZ CPU with a FSB of 800MHZ. So if yo compare the Mc Book Air to the competition it doesn't look like bad value at all if all you want is a small light portable workhorse. That you can run OS10.5 and Vista and Linux on! The non-removable battery may be an issue for some but Apple will replace it for free and charge the same for it as the rest of it's laptop battery's. And it's 5 hours life is when your using all the wireless features of it.
I very much doubt THAT is achievable. Battery lifetimes are usually given in the best case scenario, with minimal feature usage.
I very much doubt THAT is achievable. Battery lifetimes are usually given in the best case scenario, with minimal feature usage.
Looks like that 5 hour battery life was rated with the wireless features on. Now imagine if you turned them off.
But what's new?
they offer a product, if you want to buy it, then do so. they arent forcing you to buy it.
HA - LOL
HA - LOL
X2
Oh wait.....
It's really about diverging philosophies:
MS comes up with a table that isn't for home use. Apple comes up with something equally desirable, but that you can hold in your hand and take with you and actually use.
your money, spend it how ever you see fit.
You mean the same price as the other windows ultra portables like the Sony? They're priced more
so you going to stick to them?
Last edited by FusionOpz on 16 Jan 2008 - 13:03
I use ALL MS stuff, don't have a problem, but when I do, hell, as an IT professional it keeps me in a job. I'm sure Mac has it's pros and cons (never used it sorry)....why do people still maintain one is BETTER than the other.
This is coming from a Microsoft man, through and through (for my sins).
For my mind...they are both equally adept at performing the majority of day to day tasks.
Increase the peace! This article is dire....just because it's more expensive doesn't make the product less than satisfactory, it makes the product margin over-inflated that's all!
You are allowed to like something, and not want to use it you know - have an open mind people
You buy the DVD accessory or use the new Remote Disc feature.
I use ALL MS stuff, don't have a problem, but when I do, hell, as an IT professional it keeps me in a job. I'm sure Mac has it's pros and cons (never used it sorry)....why do people still maintain one is BETTER than the other.
This is coming from a Microsoft man, through and through (for my sins).
For my mind...they are both equally adept at performing the majority of day to day tasks.
Increase the peace! This article is dire....just because it's more expensive doesn't make the product less than satisfactory, it makes the product margin over-inflated that's all!
You are allowed to like something, and not want to use it you know - have an open mind people
I agree, I use both, but prefer a mac, probs due to being a designer and using it at college (not a single windows machine in the design dept)
As much as i love Apple, I find Windows more work-inciting: Office for Mac is nice, but if i had to write a whole essay, I'd rather use Windows... the windows version is so "plain" that you get into robot-mode and just start pressing those keys.
On the other hand, I would hate to use the media center to replace frontrow. The apple media experience is just so much better in terms of looks and simplicity that i seriously suffer a little everytime I play with my brother's laptop.
I'm a strong supporter of the Apple for home, windows for work philosophy, I think most people would benefit from that.
You buy the DVD accessory or use the new Remote Disc feature.
So you will splash even MORE money just to end up with same size and weight of equipment as Sony VAIO.
How did you like being taught that you're too stupid to use a PC or a mouse with more than one button?
How did you like being taught that you're too stupid to use a PC or a mouse with more than one button?
dunno, you tell me what its like being stupid?
The macs were used in Design departments due to have Mac only programs of Illustrator, Photoshop Freehand, Quark, Ready Set Go and Laser Print technology and Postscript.
These only came to the PC much later. Hows it feel that you need to buttons to do somehting when the talented can get by with one?
It seems strange even when Mac users say they use both and only have a personal preference to use a Mac due upbringing, they still a need to make unwarranted attacks.
How did you like being taught that you're too stupid to use a PC or a mouse with more than one button?
dunno, you tell me what its like being stupid?
The macs were used in Design departments due to have Mac only programs of Illustrator, Photoshop Freehand, Quark, Ready Set Go and Laser Print technology and Postscript.
These only came to the PC much later. Hows it feel that you need to buttons to do somehting when the talented can get by with one?
It seems strange even when Mac users say they use both and only have a personal preference to use a Mac due upbringing, they still a need to make unwarranted attacks.
a lot better than needing two hands, having to hold the apple button and click your mouse to right click, is a lot harder than right clicking.. at least i can right click with one hand
Except the alternative Sony sub-notebook costs more.
Why not just use Boot Camp if you have games that aren't available on Mac.
I find the concept of turning a 1k (or more) computer into a toy seriously offensive. I'm all for the occasional java-game break but why spend so much time and money in hardware upgrades and drivers and such when you can just buy a Wii, or a 360 or even a PS3 and be set for the next 4-5 years?
I find the concept of turning a 1k (or more) computer into a toy seriously offensive. I'm all for the occasional java-game break but why spend so much time and money in hardware upgrades and drivers and such when you can just buy a Wii, or a 360 or even a PS3 and be set for the next 4-5 years?
Simply put, too many great games are either PC only or not near as good on a console. For instance, TF2. Online play using a PC destroys using Live.
I find the concept of turning a 1k (or more) computer into a toy seriously offensive. I'm all for the occasional java-game break but why spend so much time and money in hardware upgrades and drivers and such when you can just buy a Wii, or a 360 or even a PS3 and be set for the next 4-5 years?
Consoles are inferior to PC's with latest GPU's. 360 or PS3 have GPU similar to "nVidia 6800". PC with 8800GT GPU is 4 times more powerful than console. PC with with nVidia 8800GT can run latest games at native 1920x1200 resolutions without any problems. Consoles run games on 1280x720 resolution and up scale it if output resolution is higher.
PC games cost 25% less. It means that if you are a gamer then you can save money for better PC equipment. PC's also have more powerful GPU, means that PC runs strategic games better. You can turn older PCI-E PC to very powerful gaming "console" just by adding fast GPU (~£170). Console/FPS games usually doesn't require powerful CPU. You can play Crysis with Intel P4 + 8800GT with 1920x1200 resolution perfectly with medium + some high settings. Note that on high resolutions anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering is less needed because higher resolution (1920x1200) means smaller pixels, means object borders are much less jagged than on smaller resolutions (1280x720)
Last edited by EJocys on 16 Jan 2008 - 16:03
Why not just use Boot Camp if you have games that aren't available on Mac.
becasue a MAC running bootcamp is more expensiv to buy than any PC