How would you change Apple's MacBook Air?
By Darren Murph 
posted February 8th 2008 11:26PM
posted February 8th 2008 11:26PM
Make no mistake, the MBA has quite a bit going for it. Three pounds, ultrathin, oodles of attractiveness, a LED-backlit display and a trackpad worth drooling over. But for all the things this device is, it seems that folks are honing in on everything it isn't. During our time with the unit, we found plenty of reasons to love and hate it, but folks looking for an impressive showing at the benchmark marathon won't find it here. We already heard quite a bit of ranting when we polled you dear readers and asked if you were plunking down the $1,799+ that Cupertino was demanding, but now that the MacBook Air has shipped to early adopters and has landed in Apple stores everywhere, how would you owners go about changing this hot hot hunk of aluminum? Integrate a user-serviceable battery? How about the ability to upgrade your RAM? Would you toss in an option for built-in 3G? Beyond the typical hopes and dreams, we're also curious as to how you actually will change your MacBook Air. Got an eye on a specific USB hub? Springing for a Bluetooth mouse to keep that sole USB port open for more critical tasks? We're absolutely positive the choices are endless, so don't be shy -- here's your chance to tell Apple how you really feel about its tiniest laptop ever.
Hey, opinions are like...well we all know the quote, Apple will not make it user serviceable. Why? Because it generates additional revenue, the ipod is sealed and is still selling like mad. The battery wears out or breaks, you buy a new one. Welcome to the world of disposable electronics :-) I personally wouldn't change a thing about the MBA, it's an Apple...so I wouldn't bother having one in the first place.
I would add wireless USB like what the Dell M1330 has, and just a storage update maybe a 100Gb 5400 rpm ?
Weeeaaaak....picture concept stolen from:
http://www.beamecho.com/bytes/entry/is_the_macbook_air_right_for_you/
I like that one better, because the Apple resembles a ball.
I'd like a higher-resolution, higher DPI display.
am i the only person who thought the MacBook AirCraft was a good idea?
Listen, the buyers of ultraportable computers are business users. With that in mind the obvious greatest flaw in the MBA is that it is not dockable such that it can access full ports and drives easily and serve as a road warrior's main computer. Secondly, what do such people do most often? Give presentations. Thus, video out in a standard dongle-less format is also essential. Lastly, 3G connectivity of some sort. A PCMCIA slot would be nice and flexible but built-in 3G would do fine. So, in order of importance:
1) docking ability
2) dongle-less video out
3) on-board 3G
These three features would make the MBA the ultraportable of choice for business users. Everything else people have mentioned is nitpicking for this audience.
I would say the number one thing it needs is 3G capabilities built it. I see posts that say say Apple doesn't want another iPhone problem with carrier choice but Dell seems to do fine with multiple 3G options (BTO).
3G is a minimum when talking about a true accurate wireless 360 device. This version is an example of pushing products out for the sake of profits and wall street as it is only 85% finished in terms of '08 capabilities. The Macbook Air is just an over priced machine as Engadget and others have been noted but there are a few thing that could be changed
Make it thinner.
I was really disappointed when Apple released this unit. I was hoping, as many here were, that Apple would address the holes in their notebook lines with something that would compete with something like the ASUS eee. Small form factor, WIFI built-in, running on the barest essentials, slot-loading card port, usb ports, and actual use of the touch screen technology they've done so well with in units like the iPhone and iTouch. That, coupled with an Intel processor that would allow users to dual boot would be fantastic. Unfortunately, Apple can't "Think Different" enough to give us anything less than a vanilla laptop that happens to be thin. Big deal. Big disappointment.
I would say add a firewire port. That's it though. Not many people travel around with 2 usb devices. So many things use wireless communications that I don't think that a second USB port is necessary.
If you are hung up on the performance of the laptop then get a bigger one. What I am confused by is the people who are recommending things to be added. Some people are suggesting things that line up almost completely with the Macbook.
Remember the Macbook has:
2 USB ports
DVD drive
User replaceable: Ram, Battery, and hard drive
Ethernet port
Firewire port
Thats pretty much everything that people are looking to add to the Macbook Air. Eventually Apple will end up adding some of the Macbook Air features to the Macbook...just wait and see. I don't know why you guys are all complaining about nothing.
this mac is on the weak side.Apple was more interested on getting the thinnest notebook then deliver something worth the apple logo.No optical drive which is stupid.crap speed,crap hard drive especially the speed of the drive. small screen, no access to replace the battery.the list keeps going and going so ill stop it there.
-make it only a 12.1", so it can fit on a small school desk or better in a lap. Dont worry so much about screen real estate, spaces helps with that.
-make it a little thicker so it can play dvds. ill sacrifice bragging rights for (dvd) viewing rights.
-even if this involves a top some sort of top loading dvd player under the keyboard. just throwing out an idea.
-dont forget that batteries dont need to be rectangular. If you arent going to make it user replaceable, you might as well get creative with your left over space- wrap it around the edges for more oomph.
-allow for a more ram. in the world of adobe and design, ram is everything.
-use the macbook pro keyboard. it makes me feel like im accomplishing something with every stroke.
oh wait, i think this is just a 12" macbook pro. why dont you go ahead and make that for me instead? and while im dreaming, how about a mini dvi blu-tooth dongle that will screen mirror to my tv or other monitor wirelessly? thanks!
One thing: a keyboard that matches, not clashes with, the rest of the machine.
If that is not an option, then:
Smaller screen for more ultra-portability-ness, and/or a thinner frame around the screen.
Extra USB port.
Otherwise I reckon it fits its target audience quite well. (Warning: YOU may not be its target audience - get over it!)
I'm not the target audience. I just want a 13.3" MBP with HDMI, a docking station, anda keboard hat actualy regisers m keypesses!
How about this...?
1) Add one more USB port.
2) Add a docking station (via the USB) that would handle an external (or internal?) hard drive, a built-in USB hub, stereo audio speakers, a firewire port, DVI out, DVD/CD drive, & power supply. Need to expand? In the past, that is what docking stations provide for portables. The swiss army knife add-on.
3) Make the display open up with a 180 degree hinge. This would allow the MBA to be used as a tablet-type computer. Use character stroke recognition to capture and translate text to the currently open application (anybody up to creating this software for the Mac?) Oh, I guess we could call the software..."iNewt-On".
4) This should be already doable...Use your bluetooth headset to enter voice commands when in tablet mode. And to "Skype" or iChat.
5) We need a bluetooth numeric keypad...anybody listening?
6) 3 to 4 Gb RAM (it always seems that within a year or two, programs require more and more RAM. So why not start up front with the ability to add more.
7) A bigger SSD, but everyone seems to have figured that out a no-brainer. But drop the internal 80gb PATA drive and use mirrored SSD drives (250Gb to 500gb). Use the docking station's hard drive to sync and backup all data files. (Oh maybe THAT's what "Time Capsule" is for...)
The above items could be done, if not now, within a few months. These are items that are available now on Macs or WinPCs.
Dellxps has all I need in a light laptop and cheaper...and it doesn't have a bite out my pocket and an apple afixed to it
I agree with most of you (Bigger HDD, more USB, maybe even 3.0), but making a thin notebook doesnt make you awesome. Give it a bluetooth mouse, some nice graphics(A card and on the casing). I mean, thin is nice, but make it unique and stylish. Apple needs to work on making things DIFFERENT not SIMPLE, because I would go for it if it had a nice shell like some HP laptops. What about you?
I would sacrifice an optical drive in preference to a larger, faster hard drive.
Then I would add a 10/100/1000 Ethernet port to allow for faster time machine backups when at home base.
reduce the price, two more usb ports and and a dvd drive, of not then at least give a bigger HDD. But the price drop is still needed. For £1500 I could get a nice alienware desktop with an Nvidia 8800
I would add more USB ports and a replaceable battery. Then the MBA would be perfect compared to other ultraportables. Low Price + Good Looks + Great Keyboard = Perfect Laptop.
@robpenny
I think we'll see exactly that within 2 years, tops. 10-12" touchscreen tablet and optional wireless keyboard. It'll be a hybrid of the iPhone and Mac Book Air. And I will buy one.
you lot are all thinking about the airs problems
but if wireless internet were faster-maybe about 500-1024 mbps then the air would've been the next best thing but since the fastest we have so far is "n"(300mbps) we wouldn't need a disk drive or ethernet because we could just get software downloads off the net which apple has probably already planned for itunes(BTW yh a faster cpu would be nice)
Make it bigger, and more useful.
ok, looking through this I'm seeing the majority of people who want the air to have the same features as a macbook.
I have a solution. here it is, are you ready for it?
GET A FREAKIN MACBOOK. seriously.
The air is meant to appeal to an ENTIRELY different market. Primarily, the air is meant to appeal to people who have a desktop at home (or at least a very large backup device) and want to take something portable on BUSINESS. Are you a gamer on your laptop? get a macbook pro. Do you require a lot of storage on your laptop? Get a macbook pro. Do you video edit on your laptop? Get a macbook pro. Want a laptop that can pretty much take bullets? Get a panasonic toughbook. Think about it.
Do you want to lug around a bunch of disc media just for a plane flight, or down time? No. That's why the iTunes music store offers downloads or rentals (of course iTunes isn't the only way. Look up this awesome as hell open source program called Handbrake, let's you rip your own dvd movies to the hard drive).
Do you really want firewire? think about what firewire is primarily used for: massive data transfer, especially for digital camcorders. Yes hard drives too, but do you really need firewire? no, because you still have USB or you can just transfer data over the wireless network. Hello? anyone heard of the Time Capsule apple just released? It's a wireless router with a 500 gb or 1 terabyte hard drive built in.
And speaking of over a wireless network: hello, remote disc? This further reinforces the market the air is truly intended for: people with more than one computer at their home. That's what ultraportables are meant for!
I mean really, how easy is it to find a car that's as fast as a dodge viper, but has the price of a honda civic? and then what you want it to be is some rugged truck that's unstoppable. that's what the majority of these posters want.
it's absolutely unreasonable (at time of this writing of course, give it 3 months tops) to expect a drastically faster processor to fit into the form factor of a Macbook Air. You think the battery life sucks as it is? Go ahead and imagine what a 2.6 core 2 extreme will do to it. It'll fry the damn board after 10 minutes of use.
Remember when apple eliminated the floppy drives and ps/2 ports on their colored iMacs WAAAY back in the day? people went completely freaking insane, saying that it was the most ridiculous business move apple ever made.
Now how many new computers do you see have floppy drives?
But with all that said, I agree there are SOME things that could be improved. I think that it was kind of lame that the speakers aren't stereo, and one more USB port wouldn't be too bad. But then again, hubs are freaking dirt cheap anyway. And despite my argument above, a firewire port wouldn't be too bad either. But still, apple's design philosophy has always revolved around extreme simplicity. So I guess I'd only want stereo speakers and 3G capability like the iPhone. The battery IS FREAKING REPLACEABLE. You do NOT pay extra for an apple guy to do it either! you just pay for the battery itself! (which is like $130).
oh my goodness its a really thin piece of crap, everybody is a little pussy about carrying stuff. I much rather carry something a little heavier if it has everything i need and they should definitely have a dvd drive, what if i want to watch a movie oh no i have to buy it from gay apple or somewhere else. the air is nothing but show and sucks. And oh my goodness is it overpriced, if it was like 500 it would be acceptable.
I would have said go all the way with an ultra portable.
It's thin, but it is as "cumbersome" as the MB. So it sums up to a powered down with no optical drive.
I know some people say their is no reason to have an optical drive, and you can just get an external. For a full sized laptop, it is convenient to have one.
I would have made a EEE like laptop instead of a gimmicky Macbook
The Air is the best thing since sliced bread imo. I am a photographer who in just one month went from a 15 pound 4x5 camera shooting film (Film Back, Film Holders, heavy stuff!!) to a new 3 pound carbon fiber 4x5 with a dgital back. Throw in the new MacBook Air and I can now shoot as many pictures as I want for days on end by only having around 10 pounds of equipment with me give or take a few pounds depending on how many lenses and filterrs I want to bring along. My old system was well over 65-70 pounds. Hell I used to use a dolly to get around msost of the time and now I can use a backpack that is 1/4 the weight of the backpack I use to go camping with.
Can the MacBook Air be better? Absolutely and it will get better over the next couple generations just like every other Mac product does. By the time MacBook Air ver 3 comes out it will have addressed 90% of the complaints being waged against it and most of the cmplaints being waged are pretty petty. This machine is dowright amazing and it just made my life that much easier. The difference between the tools I had at my disposal just last month and the tools I have at my disposal right now is nothing short of amazing. Technology is just not slowing down at all and 5 years ago I would have never dreamed of being able to do photographically what I am able to do today. Its been expensive, especially the 4x5 digital back, but its so worth it.
I love Apple!!
I would skin it .....just like everyone I know who owns an Iphone they skin it ...thin in electronics is out ,that is ultra thin ....I know someone who already has the AIR and he says it is to thin and he handles it with care ,he said it is a bother to use because he feels if he mishandles it it will break..he said it is to delicate
Yeah, personally I'm not gonna be getting one any time soon. My MBP is perfect. I have to have an optical drive. I'm a college student and there's no way I could do without one. My room mate has some super small notebook (not Apple) that he has to plug an external optical drive into and all he does is play World of Warcraft on it (I can hear him playing right now). I feel bad that he has to suffer with a small screen and awkward external CD drive. After using a 15" for so long, 13" screens are unacceptable. One USB drive is probably not a big deal although how much of a problem would it be to have a second one? I too can't wait for at least a 128Gig 2.5" SSD. You can buy them on newegg already but they cost over $3,100. Bitmicro has created a 862 gig 2.5" SSD if you can believe that but it's expected to rival the cost of a new sports car. They also have a 3.5" 1.6TB SSD.
The only thing that I would change is the color of the keyboard and the button on the trackpad.
I personally would rather go with a silver, totally blank keyboard without any letters on it.
That means, for me they could even take the Ambient Light Sensor (for the keyboard) out as I consider the backlight unnecessary.
The button on the trackpad became also more and more unnecessary for me, so that one could go, too.
"People who invest in the MBA aren't necessarily after the same things as those who invest in a Think Pad or a Vaio, or a Dell. In fact, that's why they buy the Mac Book Air."
Are you presuming that because someone has the taste for these 3 brands that someone who owns a MBA is not interested in the same things? Lets say you sat next to me with your MBA and I was on lets say... an HP, whould we have the same interest? How about if I was on a Gateway... Vaio... Our interest are different? Maybe we both were reading this article about how "YOU" would make a laptop different. Same interest.
I do not own a MBA but have seen them, not really impressed, would stay with my laptop only due to it cost me $799.00. It has a 17" widescreen, 160GB HD, 4 USB ports, remote for the media center, dvd +-R/RW/LS drive and 2gigs of memory. its a 64 bit AMD@2ghz running windows vista 64 ultimate. I have no need to change..
I would give the MBA another usb port or 3... wireless is nice, wired connection would be cool for maybe office usage if you did not have a wireless system there. as for the screen size, its fine, and.. the price.. apple has been known to screw their customers with high prices, its 2008, get with the program! all features on this should put this thing in the sub $1000-$1400 range, most prices i see for this is $1700-$2400 range, thats rediculous!
I bought a MacBook Air (typing this comment on it now) because I travel a lot and I work in Design, so the weight and aesthetics are both important to me.
Processing grunt is also important and I have had no issues here working with design software in both the Mac OS and Windows XP. I have both BootCamp Win XP and Parallels installed with great results.
One feature that was a decider for me is the high resolution screen. This screen is better than any of the other Mac laptops and on a par with the iMac screens - a pleasure to work on.
Improvements I recommend:
- a larger hard drive, so that it can be partitioned into 3 meaningful drives - for Win OS, Mac OS and Data. I recommend 200 to 300 gig range.
- upgradeable RAM, or a 4 gig RAM shipping option
- I have bought all of the accessories including the remote, usb Ethernet, and external Superdrive, and one thing I think was a bad decision is that the Superdrive will not run through an external powered usb hub. It will only run if it is the only usb device connected to the machine :(. With the 80 Gig HD being so small I have all my data on an external drive, so being able to use only 1 usb device at a time does not work for me. Happily the machine will recognise any other external powered drive, so in the office I use an external DVD-RW drive through the usb hub (too big to travel with though)
- I have bought a Bluetooth mouse - and I recommend it to keep the usb port free, plus bluetooth headset for Skype
I have been running design studios for over 20 years and switching between OS's and machines depending on what was delivering value. Interesting times ahead - because the Mac is truly back.
Best regards, Marc
Oh come on!
The MBA may seriously need work in some areas,
but take a look at a first gen. ipod! those things stunk but I don't see anyone complaining.
Who needs a huge HD?
I can live with the "Miniscule"... drum roll please...
5 GB in my ibook.
Deal with it.
I think it needs many more options for 1900 bucks never mind apple care and all the extra fees for usb cables, dongles etc.
BRG2.0
1) A keyboard with adjacent keys, like that on the Powerbook G4.
2) Wireless USB. No need for the port. It will probably even make it cheaper.
3) A lower price. Price parity with the MacBook would be great! (choice would be optical drive>MacBook. ultra-thin>MacBook Air)
I have the 1.8ghz Air, I would of liked; A 4 Pin Firewire socket, A better Graphics card (not Cutting Edge but can handle multiple tasks, movies and 3D graphics, at once), a leather slip case supplied as standard as with other premium notebooks/laptops, a bigger screen in the same form factor (making the screen appear 'frameless'), built in 3G modem for wireless internet on the go and the wireless N to work at the claimed 250Mbps not the 130Mbps max that is available at the moment (Apple claim this is the Real world speed, despite XP Pro tablets (I have 3) hitting 300Mbps on the same router). Proper compatibility with WPA2 (I have reported this to apple, they confirmed this is a bug). The SIZE IS PERFECT if you use a briefcase and not a laptop bag, I have two 10" tablets as well as one 14.1" the thickness really does matter. Time Machine to be compatible with Windows Server's (this one really sucks big time). USB works ok with my pen drive but I think Apple should bring one out with a follow through socket/a card reader with the follow through USB socket, here's a thought built in Micro SD card reader.
Yeah like many others said, it needs a larger hard drive.