MacBook Air Attack
The Macalope knows the MacBook Air isn't perfect, but the amount of silly punditry it's attracting is seriously out of control.
First, did you know that the MacBook Air Lacks Features, Analysts Say (tip o' the antlers to the Rat Boy)?
It's true! And, according to squirrels, it lacks delicious nuts!
Well, pardon the Macalope for saying so, but dur-hey. He'd have to scroll through keynote again, but he's pretty sure that you don't need analysts to tell you that it "lacks features" because Steve Jobs actually said so. That "lack of features" is actually a feature.
The point is that because music, video and software are mostly being received wirelessly from the Internet in the digital wonderland in which we live, you really don't need them. The last time the Macalope used his optical drive was to install Leopard. Yes, you either need a USB optical drive or another Mac, but let's face it, at the MacBook Air's price, another $99 isn't going to bother you.
But PC World isn't the only place where you can chew the FUD.
Direct from the Canadian Ministry of Silly Punditry we learn that the MacBook Air may increase risk of laptop loss (tip o' the antlers to Colin Morton).
Indeed. The only way to ensure your laptop won't get stolen is to buy big fat honkin' ugly ones.
But, clearly, neither of those beats this gem from PC World's Mike Barton:
MacBook Air Amiss: Time to License Mac OS X?
Good question! Like "I Have Stubbed My Toe And Find It Painful: Time to Commit Suicide?"
With its focus on form over function...
Mike, if you knew the slightest thing about Apple or Steve Jobs, you'd know that form and function are inseparable.
But, please, continue.
... it is destined for the niche of early Apple adopters, sure to get burned on price and features when Apple upgrades to at least include a bigger hard drive than 80GB, ethernet, Firewire and a user-replaceable battery.
Predicting a laptop will one day have a bigger hard drive is like predicting death and taxes. But, with the possible exception of Firewire, Barton is wrong about the other three because they affect the size and weight and violate Steve Jobs' vision for shiny gadgets of the future.
Let's face it: Apple's done letting you get a new battery when the stock one won't hold a charge anymore and having you milk your device. Their philosophy is that you should be turning these suckers over every two years or so, partially because that's the rate of significant advancement for components. In two years, it's going to be out of date. You may not like that philosophy, but the Macalope's found it fits his personal buying pattern anyway so no big whoop.
The MacBook Air is not going to burn early adopters on features, but it might burn them on price. The Air is akin to the iPhone, in that it's "crippled" by lacking certain features you might have come to expect, but comes in a form factor not available in any competing product and it's priced at a premium.
The problem is, it's different from the iPhone because while Apple doesn't sell another phone, it does sell other laptops. If you go into an Apple Store to look at the Air, you're going to wonder if it's worth the premium over the MacBook, when the MacBook is faster.
That's why it also reminds the Macalope of another Apple product. What was that? If only he could put his hoof on it.
All that said, if you'd had the chance to lay your hooves on one of these as the Macalope has, you'd know that the MacBook Air is sexier than the cover of Herb Alpert's "Whipped Cream and Other Delights".
Oh, who is the Macalope kidding? There's nothing sexier than the cover of Herb Alpert's "Whipped Cream and Other Delights". But still, the MacBook Air is pretty damned sexy.
If you're a Mac user who travels a lot and/or is driven by style, do not need a lot of power and aren't terribly price sensitive, the Air is probably already singing its siren's song.
Clearly, as Macworld's Dan Frakes said, Apple has set its phasers to "niche".
But there's nothing wrong with that and it certainly doesn't excuse Barton's world-class jackassery.
I say let early adopters get burned. This product begs a bigger question of Apple: When will you stop holding back the Mac OS and start licensing the OS?
Uh, well, let's see. Wednesday's no good because Apple has meetings all day. Thursday it has to take its car in and nothing ever gets done on Friday, so...
How's never?
I like the Mac OS (which is more advanced than Windows)...
What's that even supposed to mean? That's like saying "I like butter (which is more advanced than motor oil)".
Well, no, it's not. While both can provide lubrication, one tastes better and the other works better in engines.
... and I love the idea of being able to have a dual boot Windows machine. I am not in the market for an ultraportable, but Apple doesn't offer one laptop I would buy.
Really? Not one of them? Why?
While the price parity issue has waned, the fact remains: Apple doesn't make a laptop under $1000.
Ohhh. You're cheap! Now the Macalope gets it!
I just bought a new ThinkPad R61i that cost me $600 delivered (just to show you the model I bought).
Aaaaiiii! It's horrible! Put it away! Put it away!
Ha-ha!
Seriously, though, that is one butt-ugly computer you got there. The Macalope is sure you two will be happy together.
But what about the future of personal computing -- will we always be subject to Apple's product whims?
Surely the company's entire product lineup was based on a series of whims.
Apple is missing so much opportunity to grow market share with the Mac OS.
Maybe it's not all that concerned with market share. Maybe it's concerned with profitability.
Nah, that would just be wacky.
Without it, Macs will struggle to warrant developers' time unfairly and remain a niche platform.
Mike Barton, providing the latest analysis from 1995.
Really, is there anyone out there using a Mac who's pining away for some Windows-only app, crying themselves to sleep at night because some vertical market sales force integration module for the dental field isn't on OS X? Doubtful.
And if Apple does not act soon to license the OS, the hacking community will gain critical mass...
Right. Because everyone wants a completely unsupported OS running on their laptops. That's certainly going to be a big hit in the home and in the enterprise.
With Apple on Intel and the genie out of the bottle with "hackintoshes" sprouting up, why doesn't Apple at least offer the Mac OS to business-focused companies...
"Business-focused companies"? As opposed to all those companies focused on what? Badminton?
... especially if it is going to continue to develop niche products like the MacBook Air when there are big holes in its lineup?
Yes, Apple will never have all the various kinds of products that Dell, HP, Lenovo, Sony, etc. can offer. Want to know why? Because they get great margins on hardware. Who wants to give that up? And the Macalope hates to tell his good friends Leo Laporte and Merlin Mann this when they were just pining anew on Thursday afternoon, but the wait for a 12-inch MacBook is going to be awfully long. Like cosmically long. Like forever.
The good news is you're going to love the tablet.
Mythical beast and rumormonger extraordinaire, the Macalope writes about all things Apple for the CNET Blog Network. Read more at The Macalope: An Apple blog. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Half-predicting now: an external MacBook Air power supply that connects to the magsafe connection, in brick-battery form. Call it the Apple JuiceBox.
Where do you find these eejits? It's like there's a whole cadre of morAns out there vying with each other tot be the next Dvorak.
Is the Air for everyone -- no. Is it a new step forward, definitely. Jobs is says folks really don't need to drag around extra hardware that they probably aren't going to use. Jobs did that with the floppy too -- and the pundits called him stupid then as well (I can't recall, but I bet there was a call that Apple should instead license its OS).
And I'd bet anyone a dollar that there'll be a third-party battery replacement for the MBA (just as there is for every iPod); odds are good that it'll be a DIY replacement, but that'll be revealed when we get some take-apart reports.
It is comforting to know that we have our fair share of idiots up here in the Great White North mind you go to any Canadian hockey game and you will get your fill.
Carl Howe (the other voice of Macsanity) has a great piece on the MacBook Air
http://seekingalpha.com/article/60839-defending-apple-s-macbook-air?source=feed
with lots of good feedback.
Something these silly pundits don't seem to get is the Mac and Apples products are not for everyone, the same applies to the MacOS, that is why there are PC's and Windows. It is simple, if you do not like Apples product the DO NOT BUY THEM. There is enough of us who do to keep the company in business for sometime.
Oh and in response to Savagerush: as long as there are people want to spread FUD and bash the Mac you can be assured that there will be Mac Users there to defend their choice. And you might want to have word with your God about that "hate" word? It's only a computer.
A defensive look at the MacBook Air battery
http://blogs.cnet.com/defensive-computing/8301-13554_1-9854399-33.html
Michael Horowitz
Sensitive enough to worry if they got into the hands of some nefarious evil repair man or delivery dude ?
Okay hands up whose a big enough of a knob to have those files unencrypted & not backed up on their machine ?
From your article Mike I'd say that would be a party of one.
Yes you all on your lonesome. Because any one with a whit of sense would separated their user account from their admin account. Then they would have used file vault to encrypt their user account. Finally any user with half a brain would have run time machine to back up these super secret death star plans. At what point is my data exposed to those nefarious underhanded scheming rat bastard service technicians ? All of these steps are available from within OS X & require little skill to put in place.
Now as to the rest of the FUD in your rant. Name me a company that holds stocks of parts for their products SIX years after they have sold it. Sony ? HP ? What if your Viao or thinkpad or echasketch is damage by the courier on the way to or from repair ? Why is apple any different from the other IT companies ? So your saying if UPS breathes heavily on my thinkpad IBM will bend over & give me a new one & apple won't.
When you return a computer for repair to ANY manufacture your data is a risk of being wiped. What makes apple so different ? What about spare parts ? Should a company charge the same for something they no longer manufacture ? Does any company do this ?
So why focus on apple when these are traits across the whole industry ? Because a lope sided hack job on an easy target is the refuge of a hack writer with nothing interesting to say.
Defensively speaking your a knob.
Spot on. Why is Apple criticized for not providing every product and every feature for every use? They have never tried for market domination. Apple develops PREMIUM products for PREMIUM markets. The MBA is not a general purpose laptop for general use. It is a PREMIUM product for a Prestige purpose, and continuing Apple's strategy of introducing some product lines to be drivers for future technology and convergence.
Apple and Apple's products are very successful (and hugely profitable) for their targeted market, and Apple has no desire to compete in the general, low-margin markets with products that are marketed as the cheapest. It's like criticizing Porshe as not competing in price and volume with Toyota.
Interesting observation. The conversation is about a wrong-headed criticism that misses the point of the product. Kinda like slamming a VW Beetle because it doesn't have enough cargo space for a pallet of sheetrock. And what is UP with that round looking body ? form over function.
The only person on the blog who seems to be discussing anything in personal terms is you. The illiterate guy doesn't count. if you really hate Mac people, please, avoid us at all cost. We'll miss you, but we'll soldier on somehow. I'd suggest avoiding blogs and websites that prominently feature the word "Mac" or derivations thereof. Merry Christmas.
[i]As for the removable battery issue on the Air, if you want an adult's opinion on it read my blog
A defensive look at the MacBook Air battery[/i]
Adult? Well, all you have to do is keep your "adult" files backed up on a separate drive. If you have to send your book in for whatever reason, just delete your "sensitive" files and restore them from your backup when it gets back. Or encrypt them, or do both. How hard is that for an adult to figure out, anyway?
Doesn't every reasonable "adult" keep a backup, especially for notebooks these days?
But for me and my usage, and my budget... it's just a MacBook with $600 of man-hours to lighten it up. Or an iMac. What I'd really like as a laptop replacement is a 15.4" Macbook with 1680x1050 resolution and a decent (256 Meg dedicated) ATI or NVidia GPU powering it.
For the record, the album belonged to the Macalope's parents. But he's still old enough.
If you've ever bought anything from a Hammacher-Schlemmer catalog, you'll probably like the MBA.
Concerning the battery, I read that it's actually not that difficult to replace. So there.
And to the pundit that bought the refurb'd Lenovo R61, have fun running Vista on that bad boy. 1998 called; they want their laptop design back.
Kinda made me think that the digital music revolution would be served well by "album" art in multiple resolutions. Full screen album art on my Cinema Display could only improve the listening experience. Heck, I might even go find some Tijuana Brass albums.
Am I supposed tot be the 'illiterate guy' because of my 'Yeehaa' and 'morans'?
/to
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by ripragged
January 23, 2008 6:34 AM PST
- Nonononononono. "Eejits" and "morAns" and "tot." "Yeehaa" is perfectly acceptable.
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See all 39 Comments >>Dammit. Where's my Scrabble® dictionary.