Apple MacBook Air first hands-on
By Paul Miller 
posted Jan 15th 2008 2:13PM
posted Jan 15th 2008 2:13PM
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I've just read the press release. Can you really...;
Not connect to the internet over ethernet without using your one USB port?
Not perform any computing (for example installing software or establishing a music collection) involving a CD drive?
Have to buy a (rather over enthusiastically named) SuperDrive CD drive which will not work on any other machine?
Not simultaneously download iTunes songs from the (ethernet) internet with an iPod plugged in?
Pay £2,028.00, plus the cost of the SuperDrive? That the price of a reasonable hatchback car (which, incidentally, would have a CD drive for free).
Can you imagine what would happen to any other company that released this? These days we thrown upon manufactures that don't include a blu ray or HDDVD drive, yet a lone a standard DVD drive and re-writer. They would be laughed out of business. Yeah, this is thin, but it sure as hell isn't a computer.
So what'll be the Nike tie-in with this one?
Shoe horn?
What the point of making things so thin if they're going to look like this? Vaio stuff has always looked better than Macbooks, even with this. It reminds me of when the soap has dissolved down to a sliver and you just give up.
Wouldn't it have been nicer to add a touchscreen and a swivel hinge? It would probably make it a little bulkier/heavier, but all the slimming effort would have given them a really nice tablet, wich are more weight-sensitive than a latop since you are supposed to use them while holding them.
Just watched the guided tour video. That thing is freakishly small. And light. And easily lost! Imagine THAT horror :O
How would you easily lose a 13 inch laptop? It's thin, is all. If you'd have trouble keeping track of this thing, I'd hate to see you with smaller footprint devices like mp3 players.
Yeah I lose things easily. It might be carelessness but I know I've never lost the MacBook Pro. Now where did I put it..?
its under your hands silly! :P
Oh snap! Thanks riggs. Now where did I leave those damn spectacles...
who cares about losing it? What I want to know is... Does it Blend?
That guy might need a bigger blender...
(Typing in a cold sweat), I just had a nightmare, that I was the first person to lose my Macbook Air.... Thank God it was just a dream, I just woke up to find my nice fat Black Macbook nice and charged.
Just watched the guided tour video. That thing is freakishly small. And light. And easily lost! Imagine THAT horror :O
All i can say is, i learned my lesson with pre-ordering the iPod touch, DONT!! hahaha but i wish i had the $2000 dollars to spend on this, but i'll just wait until it gets better, with apple it always does.......
too bad, no ethernet jack. they're still useful sometimes.
Seems likely you'll be able to buy a USB ethernet dongle.
Seems likely you'll be able to buy a USB ethernet dongle.
I expected it to cost a little less. It is lighter and doesn't have the optical drive or ethernet, but somehow they priced it well above what I think it should be. It's an amazing device but shouldn't cost more than the macbook. Hopefully the price will go down, then I would get one.
My guess (and I'd like to emphasize guess) is the cost of the processor is driving up the cost of the unit, along with the freakishly (and disturbingly) small motherboard.
Not really. It's because it's uverthin and small, and it's a mac so people will buy it anyways.
It's pretty thin!
Would love to get that 64GB SSD Macbook Air for college. But $3000?! C'mon!
Wait until the third generation. Most of the bugs will be gone, it will be cheaper, and the SSD will be cheaper.
@max andrews
... And college will be/almost be over. haha
Would love to get that 64GB SSD Macbook Air for college. But $3000?! C'mon!
SSDs are pricey.
Wow that laptop is so thin I can't even see it in engadget's gallery! :)
Seriously though, bring on the pics! That thing is impressive!
It looks great. some of the feature are way to awesome.. but it lack the Stereo Speakers.. it suck man..
On the positive side, most speakers in ultralight notebooks suck anyways! So this doesn't suck quite as much as initial impressions indicate...
Erm, this is why you use earbuds?
I consider anyone in a public space (you don't use that as a desktop replacement, so you're mostly going to use it in public areas) with his speakers turned on to be a jackass, and I doubt I'm not the only person that thinks like that.
Hmm, I'll give it a year until the "take 2".
Eww
haha, why, because you CAN'T afford one? Haha.
Now before you reply again telling me that you'll have me know you're the President of the USA or some big wig corporate head honcho and you can afford to buy the whole Apple company... I don't care and I don't believe you. I still think you're jealous you can't afford it!
:D
Nah, i just dont want one it looks pretty ugly!
If i did have the money, i would get a nicer looking laptop with double the specs for half the price.
Gooel,
Price aside, I think it's funny that you think it's ugly. I thought it was quite universally beautiful.
Gooel,
Price aside, I think it's funny that you think it's ugly. I thought it was quite universally beautiful.
Did you turn it over and see the replaceable battery?
Oh wait, the MBA's battery is "integrated"...
Don't jizz on it. the force might crack the screen.
What do you do if there is no WIRELESS internet and only ethernet plug in? I dont see a ethernet plug in on it?
everyone carries around a wireless router these days.
Yeah and only one USB port...? And a mono speaker?
There is wireless internet.
Very Good Point. I do not see a ethernet jack either.
You can buy an USB Ethernet adapter at the apple store.
ive been to hotels where there is no wireless only plug in, is there something u can buy, like a adapter?
yes, you can buy a USB ethernet adaptor for $30
I Love it, I just do but danm it's pricey. And it's only slight improvements from a normal BlackBook. But it's just PRETTY! It's the Aston of electronics
Someone bring a Sony Vaio X505 in and compare it--the Vaio beats it on paper; let's see a real life comparison.
Preach brother!
I'm real pissed off at ridiculously high UK prices!
I agree with Jevanzz. I wasn't expecting it to cost more than my desktop. There's no way I'll buy this as a "second" computer when it costs more and isn't as powerful. I guess I'll just buy a normal Macbook instead. Cheaper, even if it is slightly heavier and bulkier. No problem with that if I save £600 and actually get more in the end...
Thats porn for Bender! :)
I don't see the point in buying this product. Apple are beginning to rip UK consumers off and should be investigated for price fixing and unfair charging by the trading standards and/or the EU.
They expect us to pay £1200 for a MacBook Air, only marginally less than a MacBook Pro, yet they sell it for $1800 in the USA? £1200 does not equal $1800. £1200 is nearly $2400!
The MacBook Air, and all related products are exactly that - nothing but hot air. Avoid like the plague if you value your finances.
Preach brother!
I'm real pissed off at ridiculously high UK prices!
Preach brother!
I'm real pissed off at ridiculously high UK prices!
Preach brother!
I'm real pissed off at ridiculously high UK prices!
No one's forcing the people of England to buy Apple products, do your own research and stop complaining you damn Brits.
True, but the UK price includes tax so it's not as big a difference.
For example to buy one here in the Province of Ontario, Canada, I'd pay $1900 CAD, plus 13% tax = 2147, which works out to 1085.34 British Pounds. Still not 1200, but not so far off...Just remember, we may pay more tax in the UK and Canada, but we get more for it (i.e. medical care).
Is that with or without VAT?
You don't have to buy it. Its called consumer choice.
It's called tax.
Does it have 10.5.2 installed? I was hoping that would be released today, but no mention thus far. Maybe when the Air ships.
DAMN! Posts 4 goddamn comments and doesn't even get the right reply!!
To actually answer the comment:
I hope so! When 10.5.2 first came out, the iMacs shipped with 10.5.1 installed and an upgrade disc. Not so much use here...
I'm not sure about the design, yeaah it's very thin, and beautiful when it's closed. But I just don't like the new aluminium design (same thing with the iMac)
But maybe when I see it in action, I'll be impressed? I hope :D
No.
No :|
As cool as this is it isn't very "revolutionary" for Apple. They should have concentrated efforts and made a tablet/slate pc with touch screen. People would have ate that up. Honestly most people plant their MacBooks on their desks and never move it anyway. And if they do move/carry it around the size/weight difference is not that big of a difference. You still gotta put it in a bad for protection and it still takes up the same area.
As far as a traditional laptop goes though it's very nice and the projected battery life is great.
I agree with juice... this keynote was crap. To think i waited all winter for this. They could have come out with a bluetooth ipod or something a bit more useful.
I saw the guided tour...crap. One thing they didn;t consider is that it's a hassle to find free wifi (let along a fast connection) and who in there right mind would sign up and pay for every different wifi service out there to just be somewhat always wifi.
I got a powerbook...does the job. If I need an intell machine I'll buy a black macbook. More of everything for the same money, plus i don;t have to carry extra stuff around so I can do my job.
Am glad Apple's stock is going down. I hope that knocks some sense in Jobs and start making useful stuff that last for a while.
I own two Macs, and I have yet to see a laptop that can match my ex-girlfriend's laptop's 10 hours of battery life at full usage (brightness maxed and constant tasks being done on it, 100% CPU usage for 10 hours isn't exactly possible nowadays).
(13.3" HP Special edition notebook with a 12 cell battery, feels as light as my Macbook Pro and is the only computer I've been able to enjoy Vista on (and by that I mean that it was a pleasant experience, not that I haven't been able to run it on other computers, it just happened to run poorly.)
It's the same all over Europe, but I feel your pain :)
Before the massive drop of the American dollar, I got the right price, example with the iPod touch:
$299x6=1800DKKx1,25% VAT = 2240 DKK (real price 2299 DKK)
Why is there an eject button?
For the external drive, duh.
er, so you can eject disks in the usb drive
maybe to control the add-on optical drive?
its for the USB and such....go to Apple.com...it explains it all...
Erm, see comment below, I replied to the wrong one.
Hah... what's the target audience for this toy?
Fanboys...
meh...
Prepare for the onslaught of ultra-thin clone notebooks!!
What the hell, it won't reply correctly
Ultra Thin Notebook are not new... look at 2004 for the Sony Vaio X505! 0.75" at it's thickest with impressive specs for the time! But then again since it's apple comming out with an old idea and calling it new, maybe it's gonna work better than it did back then!
i have a MBP 2.16ghz
i think i'll buy an EEE AND a dell M1330 now, thank you.
I probably shouldn't be complaining (and I'm not usually one to do so) but c'mon, can't you guys take nicer pics? As in, no hand-shaking blur or out-of-focus shots. Thanks.
I like the black keys.. harks back to the titanium PowerBook
Designed to be sexy, eh? Then what is the deal with the thiiick bezel around the screen??
I agree, that's the worst part of the design. Should have made a smaller footprint and a tiny bezel. I bet it has something to do with the rigidity (or lack thereof) of such a thin screen.
I imagine thats how screens work.
It's thin, but no optical drive, no ethernet port, no replaceable battery...
They should just take away all the features and it will be really thin.
or a foleo
Whats the graphics on this thing anyways?
Typical Apple - they want you to pay more for less becasue it is sexy and small. BUT - the hard drive capacity is too small, has no replaceable battery (the one in my laptop died after a year), no ethernet for when wireless is acting up, and no dvd writer. For that they want you to pay MORE?? No thanks. I rather have a eee running OSX.
Why is your wireless "acting up" in the first place? Learn to setup your router properly, then we'll talk.
If you want smaller it will cost more, I thought that's been common knowledge for the last 10 years?
Look at how pricey and underpowered UMPCs are! Jesus Christ.
I don't know how big the default hard drive is, but I can assume it's not a 2.5" drive. Hell, it's probably the drive they're using in the iPod - another thing that drives the cost up and the size down. Again, nobody's forcing you to buy this - if it doesn't meet your needs, focus on something else.
Oh, by the way:
Ethernet Adapter
Easily connect your MacBook Air computer to an Ethernet network with the Apple USB Ethernet Adapter. Small and light, it connects to the USB 2.0 port of your MacBook Air and provides an RJ-45 connector that supports 10/100BASE-T performance.
Whoa - Alex must be a apple fan!
Sometimes there are wireless issues that can't be helped - interference, etc. Besides when I am on a customer site and their wireless goes up and down there is nothing I can do - except maybe plug into the ethernet jack. And on this air book its a optional feature (that is common on all other notebooks). And yeah I can pay extra for a usb adapter, hoping I am not using the usb superdrive (that I also paid extra for) at the same time. Or I'll have to buy a extra usb hub. And I'll have to buy the dvi/vga display adapters. Why am I buying all this extra stuff for what was a really expensive notebook in the first place? Oh yeah casue its small and thin. Whoopie. And it uses the 1.8 inch ipod hard drives which will limit the upgradeability. Except the hard drive isn't user upgradeable. Along with the battery. Or memory. Yuck. With all the extra stuff I'll have to buy and carry around it's not looking so thin. The other Mac laptops are better.
I hope I don't sound stupid but... where do I insert the sprint/at&t/verizon wireless card for mobile internet viewing?
Every carrier has a USB dongle for 3G.
Yeah, use USB. Here in the UK all the networks have moved to USB dongles.
Why does the iCal icon in the dock say the 14thm when today is the 15?
How hot does it run?
Sooooo...
apple make laptop thin and light by remove thick and heavy components and make you carry a thick and heavy components round separately. charge extra for laptop, charge more for necessary component removed from said laptop
me fanboy. me think is good idea.
You pay for size. You are't paying for the removed components obviously. If you look at the keynote images you can see how squashed in everything is inside.