MacBook Air rant
January 16, 2008In response to Apple’s big circle jerk yesterday, as covered by Damien and Cimota, I present some of my thoughts on the Macbook Air.
The Macbook Air, as far as I am concerned, is a vanity machine aimed at a particular market segment (the Vaio demographic) who, I’m guessing, would not be the majority of Apple users. It seems like a funny move for them, and to be honest, it’s not really innovative. At all. It compromises on basic features for the sake of thinness. It’s like the heroin chic of computing.
It’s really thin and light, granted, but seriously, is it that much hassle to carry around a small laptop? I have a Macbook Pro that stays on my desk, and an IBM Thinkpad X30 sub notebook that I take on the road.
The Thinkpad weighs 3.5lb, has a 1.2ghz Pentium M processor, 1gb ram (upgraded) and a 60gb hard drive (also upgraded). It has a 12 inch screen, ethernet, built in wifi, internal speakers and 2 USB ports. It’s also made from titanium composite, so it’s tough as old boots. I throw it in my rucksack whenever I’m going abroad, with complete confidence that it will still be in one piece when I use it later on. Could the same be said for the new Macbook?
You can pick up an X30 on eBay for about €350.
Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree here, but I know what I’d spend my money on. For me, buying a computer means getting the right tools for the job and bang for your buck. I get this with my Thinkpad and even moreso with my Macbook Pro, which is, hand on heart, the best computer I’ve ever owned.
The Air means less bang for a lot more buck, ie. it’s a bit of a rip-off. If you’re stupid enough and rich enough to buy one, then please do. It’s made especially for you.
Filed under: apple, geek, technology by Paul McClean
Which is, of course, why they currently ship 3 different types of Mac laptop and 3 different types of Mac desktop. One size does not fit all.
Is it aimed at me? Nope. I have a 17″ MacBook Pro which is perfectly aimed at me. Would I have liked a 11″ model? Hell yes. I have a eee PC too which I seldom use because, sometimes, small is simply too small.
How much did your tiny Thinkpad cost brand new?
The 12 inch Powerbook was a thing of beauty.
According to the internets, the X30 cost $2499 brand new when it was released in 2002. I picked it up on eBay in 2006 for about €400. These days, you could get one on eBay for the price of an eee. Possibly cheaper.
For example.
The one I bought also came with a spare battery and Ultrabase docking station.
See, I don’t want a 6 year old laptop. I want a new one, with all that entails.
And yeah, running Mac OS X is pretty high on that list.
Yeah mj, but how much more are you seriously getting? Yes, OS X is the kicker, but how much “real work” are you going to be doing on a ultra-portable anyway? It’s clearly subjective, I guess though. We could argue all night. Let’s just say that I’m right and you’re wrong and have a cup of tea ;p
I have a PowerBook G4 and a mac pro, I was holding out to see what was on the way as my G4 is getting tired, the battery is shot, and anyway I like shiny new things. Even though the Air is shiny new, I just can’t see it working for me or anyone I know. The wireless thing is a big problem here in Ireland for one thing, I know it’s more and more available but the thing doesn’t have an ethernet slot so if there is no wireless available……? Plus I don’t think I’m ready to let go of the optical drive, there are too many reasons I need it. And it’s not that small, my 12″ is smaller, albeit heavier. I think I’m just going to buy a new battery!!
Yeah Sarah, I don’t think it’s clearly not aimed at the ‘creative professional’ market, which I presume you are. I can’t see many studios or software companies rushing out the door to buy them either.
I thought they were going to come out with a touchscreen macbook/tablet type of jape, or a *cheap* sub-notebook in the style of the Asus eee, but it wasn’t to be.
That was the first time I watched Macworld… probably my last! Very disappointing.
I think Macworld seemed like a thing to watch cos of all the iPhone hype last year, I was all excited, but really it was kind of lame in the end, (and we still don’t have the iPhone anyway) it’s not like we’ll be renting movies from iTunes here anytime soon (now I know how the Russians felt looking at Levi ads in the Eighties!!)
*shakes fist at apple*