Video: MacBook Air hands-on
By Paul Miller 
posted Jan 15th 2008 3:38PM
posted Jan 15th 2008 3:38PM
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
Can anyone say useless?
Useless. There, I said it.
I like how its being held in the picture, like its the Holy Grail or something..
I wonder if this is hardware specific, or if this can be implanted on other hardware. Such as my MBP...
I was wondering the same thing, would be nice if it could...
Yup ive got the same question here.
Yup ive got the same question here.
No reason why it couldn't, apart from 'oh but it has a special large trackpad'.
$20 for the software upgrade np
OMG you have to watch the MBA walkthru on apple.com, halfway thru the middle the guy say's "the macbook was build for wireless, so instead of watching a DVD thru the optical drive, you can rent it thur itunes"... wow what a selling pitch
what the heck is playing in the back ground?!?!!?!?!?
TRANSFORMERS!
Steve forgot to mention that the All Spark comes with 1.1.3...
No replaceable battery = paperweight
I don't even think it can pull of being a paper weight.
Gotta love the background noise, sounds like you guys were in the middle of a battle gingerly playing with your new toy.
I was listening to the latest Psychic TV album when I started watching the clip and had to check iTunes to see that I had paused it
so, how hot is it?? i mean, temperature wise..
ZOMG so hot it will esplode.....well the macbook had heating problems and im sure there is very little space for a fan in there so.......
I bet my ass the mouse only has one button. Because there's no one more stubborn than Jobs.
You take two fingers and tap the trackpad. Apple solved the "OMG NO RIGHT CLICK BUTTON!!1!" problem a couple of years ago now.
And you'd think I didn't know that. But I have to use Windows for work, so Boot Camp would come handy. But I heavily use the right button in Windows, and as I said, due to the stubbornness (or arrogance) of Apple, they refuse to put a second button in the trackpad. So I will keep refusing to buy Mac laptops. Simple as that.
Or you could buy a $5 usb mouse from walmart...
You should read the comment above. It does do 2 buttons. Not traditionally, but once you get used to it, I think it's better because you can hit it anywhere and it does what you want it. And you know what's better, it installs the drivers to do that in windows through boot camp.
Um, Pepin? The right mouse button problem is solved in Boot Camp as well. Same method SUPER DESU just described.
I use a Macbook as my primary development machine for both web apps (OS X) and .NET projects (XP). Just drop a second finger on that trackpad and clicky-wicky, context menus!
I use Windows XP in BootCamp and two-fingers and click work fine as a second button. Oh what's the point. If you want an effin Windows machine with two buttons then that's it. However, a two button mouse definitely works. Talk about stubborn.
If Apple came out with a two-button machine you wouldn't buy it anyway, since it would be too overpriced for you. Stick with your $699 Acer and live it up.
Still, I think he has a point. I get the feeling Apple and microsoft just wants you to do it their way, even if it costs them Windows switchers. That sounds kind of stubborn to me.
Or buy a mighty mouse. An apple mouse with 4 buttons.
It's great looking yeah, but the price is just startling.. Even for Apple... :/
im pretty sure that thing playing in the background is the transformers movie...sounds about right.
Yeah, I was going to say the same.
I already have a MBP...but i Still find myself craving one of these little buggers..
sounds like you were recording this in a kitchen of a busy restaurant!
Wow... I don't hear a lot of love for something so incredible. What, are you people jaded?
Battery isn't swappable. SO WHAT? It is 5.5 hours between charges (how long was your battery that is swapable?), instant on, Great Wi-Fi / Blue Tooth and the first of it's kind. So new technology will mean a higher price and be more of a nitch market at first. The prices will come down over time. Plus imagine the not having an actual moving hard drive if you go for the Electronic HD.
Remember when computers and laptops first came out...this was a standard price. If you look at the current Apple Laptops you are paying about $800 more for a brand new technology just out of the box that is thin, light and no compramise on keyboard or screen.
STOP BEING SO CYNICAL PEOPLE.
You are I thinking missing half the reason why everyones upset about the battery, I'll give you a sec to take the fanboy glasses off before continuing....
Done? Good. Batteries don't last as long as one would expect a laptop to last, hence, being able to replace the battery when you've used it to a point where it only lasts an hour would be an advantage. Paying Apple a small fortune to do it isn't quite so attractive and I'm sure it wouldnt be included in the $249 apple care. There isnt that much special technology in it, they've compromised on a lot of things to achieve the weight.
Batteries go to shit after time, when this things battery starts to fade you basically have to get a new one or get apple to replace it... or pop it open yourself and start messing around with things
And also to add to your post, 5 hours is rated with wireless on. So it's more then that with wireless off.
You've got to be kidding me. Thinkpad X61...look it up. I bought mine in May 2007. 3 pounds, 5 hours of battery life, REPLACEABLE battery, swivel screen with full Tablet PC capability, 7200RPM hard drive (no slow-ass 4200RPM crap), replaceable RAM, and Lenovo even managed to figure out how to fit an Ethernet port in there! Amazing! "So incredible!" :P
BASboy, if you live and breath Apple then you will think anyone questioning Steve's products are jaded. But we just open our eyes to all products available and compare the specs. That's realistic, not jaded.
Replaceable batteries are good for two reasons. One is replacing when the useful life deteriorates. Which is fast for laptops. The other reason is for extended batteries. When you need additional power you can install a larger battery. I reached a point where I leave my extended battery in my TZ so I get 11 hours instead of 5 hours.
The specs, other than size, aren't all that impressive for the price. The 64GB SSD adds $1300 to the price; that's a lot of $$$. I saw retrofits at CES that aren't much more & will be out soon. So most PC laptops will soon be able to have an SSD for the sub $1500 price.
One USB port. No firewire. No Ethernet (without a USB dongle adapter $). No optical burner (without an external USB device $$). Slow RPM 80GB HDD (smaller than current competition offerings). All of these features that one can buy in other laptops was left out just to get a thinner laptop. A couple centimeters thicker & the competition has this laptop beat on specs. That includes the new processor as other manufacturers will be using these Intel chips in their lineup in the next few months.
This laptop isn't that revolutionary. That's not jaded or cynical, its realistic.
where's this instant-on feature you refer to?
BA Sboy, wake up!!! Apple is the king of proprietary. From locked down iTunes music to iPod approval for third party products and Apple only replaceable batteries (Airbook, iPod, iPhone).
Apple knows most users dont know how to crack open a device. And they dont want to risk voiding a warranty or breaking their expensive devices. So they send them to Apple to get all their batteries replaced.
100% of almost all customers battery replacements means more money for Apple. Compare that to the possible 50% of battery sales Apple would make if the batteries were easily replaceable. Apples high prices would drive many to buy from other manufacturers for their replacement battery needs. Apple knows this and protects their revenue streams under the guise of design.
Apple's success will continue as long as fanboys look past these restrictive practices.
They didn't release the update for the Macbook Pro because they wanted all the attention to this little air thing. Oh well, i guess we have to wait several months more.
My Sony X505 is still the World's Thinnest notebook ever! It has user-replaceable battery, memory and hdd upgradeable, CARBON FIBER body, weighs just 1.73 lbs, 2 usb ports. Plus, it was made in 2003!
word
What kind of chip you got in there, a dorito?
;-)
CNET has the x505 listed at .8 inches, but other sites have it at .83 or .6 inches. What is the actual thickness?
Alot of people just like to complain because the rumors build things up way to much and then they are disappointed. I remember last year everyone yelled and screamed about the iphone not having a replaceable battery but they still sold over 4 million of them. I think this will sell once people get their hands on it. As far as not having a DVD drive, I think the market is going to move away from this, and it takes a product like this to push that forward even more. Dont be surprised when in 6-8 months other companies build devices without them as well. In the end, this wont be for everyone, but it gives apple another product to help build market share, and thats whats important to them in the end. Also, if this does take off it could end up making laptops cheaper because there are less parts involved. Just my thoughts.
Also, the specs on tis are nothing to write home about. I think the price is a joke.
They should have called this the 'Macbook Lite' that would have reflected the size, weight and features.
But not it's price
GR
I'll stick w/ my 2.4 Ghz C2D MBP that can play COD4 and Crysis and have the entire CS3 master collection open at once.
Yep. I think you would... Running Crysis on the Macbook Air? Oh, I'd love to see that happen.
You obviously don't need one.
amen to that
That video sure as hell convinced me!
The only problem is, should I purchase the blender before or after?
Decisions, decisions...
Like the Air (don't kill me)...but how would all those glorious games (Spore for Mac!) work without having to buy the "Superdrive" or whatever it is?
Simple...
Just slide not three but FOUR fingers across the trackpad!
I suspect that is why you buy the Superdrive. Or maybe do the Direct 2 Drive service. (whoops, not for mac, maybe see this in future iTunes)
Now, if that multitouch track pad would do something useful.. . like be user configurable, cut and paste, etc.
And no, the touch surface is controlled differently so I strongly suspect it cannot be readily hacked into existing macbooks. The "multitouch" features in them are basically detecting size, "big thumb, little thumb". Not as hard as detecting direction/etc... Albeit, you could, theoretically, write software to do that that detected the changing size of the finger, etc... and swipe direction is easy enough to program.
So, yah, a good amount of that could be on a normal touchpad, I guess :\... Except one would be software the other hardware...
About the guys Sony X505 that was made so long ago. True it is thin (but no longer being made) and lighter than the AIR. Though the battery hump did make it thicker. So that is why Apple can call it the worlds lightest notebook.
YET...you fail to mention the screen is a mere 10.5 inches and the keyboard is is really small and that the batter life is 1.5 hours and that speed is 1.1gh. or that it cost double the AIR.
Not to take away, just to balance out your statement and put some reality check behind it.
Proof that americans cant build labtops.
True, especially when compared to the many amazing laptops they make in Britain.
Honestly the lack of a CD drive isn't that big of a deal. I have been using several thinkpads for years without CD drives. All you do is rip the movies to your hard drive. The lack of a replaceable battery limits it usefulness to me on long flights, where as with my thinkpad, I can take 2 spares with me. I wish Apple had just made a tablet to truly take advantage of all their multitouch technology, because the multitouch on the trackpad looks pretty stupid.
Considering how well Tablet PCs sell, I don't think Apple is very interested in that market.
I think BASboy works for Apple...he couldn't have tried to sell that thing any harder than he already did...
And it's not that great. It's that simple. They need to be producing Eee PC type computers for the masses to ease them into the comfortability of a Mac with a coupling of affordability.
Are you listening, Apple? Can you hear me from all the way down here?
Most people replace their laptop every couple of years anyway. This is to encourage people to upgrade, it's not like they would implement a battery meter that says "your battery is not retaining charge like it used to - consider upgrading". No, instead the ever decreasing battery life itself can be a reminder to upgrade.
Incidentally i would download/install it if someone made a battery meter software that did show me a graph that compares original battery life and degradation over the time been using it. maybe it will even turn the battery icon red when it's time to swap out the battery with a new one.
Some devices, like my Nikon D200, show you battery life.... so you can see when it's near death/end of life....
They should have made this thing a tablet instead of a notebook. Full size multi-touch screen with onscreen keyboard. Now it's just a slightly thinner notebook.
They had engineering problems so they ran out of time to get it done by MacWorld. Given that, my guess is that it will come by WWDC.
I do hope its a Tablet PC like we think of Tablet PC's though and not a slate like a smaller, portable MS Surface or a Newton successor.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/01/11/sources_apple_newton_tablet_not_ripe_for_macworld.html
I think thumbdrives really make it a hard sell that you "need" a cd drive, but ... just my opinion. For the life of me, I still don't get the multi-touch craze. Give me my keyboard and my mouse movements ... I'm good to go. I have greater control and I'm a control freak. All this multi-touch is great for show and tell ... but from a work aspect? I'm sure someone will enlighten me.
Have to close with kudos to Apple for an absolutely killer design. This notebook is seriously styling.
Since getting a MacBook Pro and learning both the two-finger scroll and two-finger-click (for right mouse button) gestures, I think they're definitely faster that previous methods.
When I use my PC laptop, having two buttons to click is actually slower (not to mention I end up hitting the wrong one more often than not since I'm "right-thumbed" and it naturally rests on the right button). I'm sure I could eventually correct that habit, but touching two fingers to the trackpad and clicking certainly seems faster and less error-prone to me.
Scrolling is the big one, though... I've gotten to where I have momentary irritation when working on a PC or an older Mac laptop that doesn't have the two-finger scroll thing, especially when the need to scroll both up/down and left/right comes into play. While I don't do any serious photo editing on the MBP without a mouse, for those times when I need to make a quick tweak, a two-finger scroll is much faster than spacebar-click-drag. I imagine a pinch zoom out would be similarly helpful.
Since getting an iPhone, the pinch/squeeze and swipe gestures have made it into my muscle memory to the point where I occasionally forget and try to do them on my MBP (along with a similar moment of irritation when it doesn't work =-). I can easily see a three-finger swipe becoming second nature.
So for me, at least, I think the multitouch functionality is very helpful. And that's coming from someone who loves keyboard shortcuts and uses a 5 button scroll-wheel mouse.
and there goes proof that brits cant spell..
No user replacable battery? Well if it's as thick as a nickel I can sort of see why. Be a bit of a liability if someone snapped the thing and ended up bleeding acid all over their R&R Jeans.
But seriously...
http://www.google.com/products?q=external+laptop+battery+&show=dd
I've been using external batteries on airplanes for years. Always keep one on hand - just in case. Nothing changes, I just get extra hours on the primary.
Somehow reminds me of the old Clamshell iBook.
I think it'll sell, but I'm gonna stick with my MBP.
I don't think I've ever seen so many out of focus photos in one place.
Its one of those things you would love to smash over someones head xD
I got to say that I think Wired's mockup (http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/01/breaking-macboo.html) looks better than the actual product. Does anyone else feel the same?
You fail so hard
Insufficiently manly.
I haven't seen anyone else comment on the apparent lack of speakers? Is this a concern for others ir is it just me?