Macbook Air

[emperor]

Yes it's slim...

but, during the Keynote, Jobs compared it's dimensions against the current & thicker Sony Vaio TZ...

but then I remembered seeing something this thin before... in 2004:
the Sony Vaio PCG-X505


another thing to note:
The BATTERY, RAM & HD are sealed up like an iPod!

[Tsuru]

another thing to note:
The BATTERY, RAM & HD are sealed up like an iPod!

Really? How do they seal it? Do they stick a "warranty void" sticker on the items and hide the screws or do they cast the bloody thing in thermohardening resin?

Looks pretty sweet though

[GomiGirl]

Me likey and me want!!!

[emperor]

Do they stick a "warranty void" sticker on the items and hide the screws or do they cast the bloody thing in thermohardening resin?

Yes there's the warranty bit, meaning they'll tell you to go fuck yourself when you need their help following your stint of DIY.

There are visible screws on the base: but they are probably custom and require a ludicrously expensive + hard to get screwdriver to crack em open.

[kamome]

So is this thing worth getting for a first time user who has always had a PC? I've been thinking of following the FG techie herd's advice and buying a mac, but I don't know if it should be this thing, the mac pro or a desktop. What's the better system to learn on and use at home?

[Charles]

So is this thing worth getting for a first time user who has always had a PC? I've been thinking of following the FG techie herd's advice and buying a mac, but I don't know if it should be this thing, the mac pro or a desktop. What's the better system to learn on and use at home?

The MacBook Air looks like it's main design function is as a satellite computer for your main Mac. But it looks like it's just powerful enough to be your primary computer. The SSD option is sure to make this a lust object, ooh I'd love to have this with the 64Gb SSD, but that costs a thousand bucks extra. Maybe it will get cheaper with time.

[Charles]

another thing to note:
The BATTERY, RAM & HD are sealed up like an iPod!

Apple already announced an in-store battery replacement program. You can have them swap out the battery on the spot. $129 for the battery (same price as all their other laptop batteries) and no charge for the swap.

[Tsuru]

Aside from keeping Apple-store employees in a job I don't see the point of this sealed battery nonsense. I'm sure Mr. Jobs can appreciate that some people might be hard-pressed paying somebody to do a job they are perfectly capable of doing themselves or even handing it over to somebody else for the same reason.

I mean, I do the maintenance on my own car myself, I maintain the building's electricity, I program multi-million dollar training devices for commercial and military pilots, I built everything with Windows on it in our home from scratch and need nobody's help to maintain it... But apprarently I do need a punk kid in an Apple store to replace my laptop battery. Is everything I buy with a microprocessor in it going to be like this in 10 years time? Bloody hell.

[Greji]

So is this thing worth getting for a first time user who has always had a PC? I've been thinking of following the FG techie herd's advice and buying a mac, but I don't know if it should be this thing, the mac pro or a desktop. What's the better system to learn on and use at home?

Bird!
No question. MacBook Pro. I am using my 17" for a desk top. I can still pick it up and walk out with it if I need a portable, but the 17" is a bit bulky for that but managable if you need it.

I had a 15" black, which is just what you need for the portable, but one my daughters(I don't remember which one) visited me and my wallet and the black disappeared. I trained her well.

Get the high end processor and don't scimp on the memory and you'll be in love faster that you can get to your favorite porn sites.
JMTCW

[GuyJean]

So is this thing worth getting for a first time user who has always had a PC? I've been thinking of following the FG techie herd's advice and buying a mac, but I don't know if it should be this thing, the mac pro or a desktop. What's the better system to learn on and use at home?

I wouldn't get the Air if I were a first timer.. Shit, I'm not sold on it and I'm an 'old timer']top-end MacBook[/URL], maxed out with RAM, for your 'home learning'.. If you plan on using it for work, get the Office suite.

GJ

[emperor]

S.J. keynote in 60 sec
[yt]Yz1-cPx0cIk[/yt]

_____________________

arstechnica on macbookair

Opening the lid, the screen seems brighter. Touching the keys, they seem firmer, but it's the touchpad that captures your attention. Sure, the iPhone does multi-touch, and Microsoft has that table thing, but this is different. Rotating a photograph is no longer (1) selecting the photo, (2) moving the cursor, (3) pressing a button, but simply turning the photo. It's pinching, swiping, zooming your way by hand into the computer, and, in doing so, uncramping 25 years of muscle memory with the mouse. Everything is new again.

Clearly, Apple has failed to understand the needs and desires of laptop users with the MacBook Air.

_________________
& Gizmodo:Is MacBook Air Worth the Money? Five Slim Laptops Face Off

____________

Do you need a laptop? If not, the Mac Mini is a great way to take your first sip of the Steve Jobs Kool-Aid.

easy now, let's not be too hasty!

[Kuang_Grade]

The mini is a good place to start for a home unit and has the added benefit of being tiny, so it is easy to fit into tight spaces (I'd love to have a 24 inch imac, but my desk hutch can't handle it, so I've been using a mini with a 17 inch stand alone LCD for about 2 years now)...also it is easy to setup with a KVM switch if you still want to use windows on a PC and just switch back and forth when you want to. The high end mac mini is a bit overpriced for what it delivers, given a 20 inch imac with a very good screen and better specs and keyboard and mouse is only a $400 more, while the lower end mini is a bit more reasonable, esp if you don't need a dvd burner. As emperor points out, there will likely be a bump up in specs for the mini the next two to three months, but Apple seems to purposely keeping the mini specs down and prices high to milk those PC switchers and to not crowd the imac market too much, so any bump up is likely going to be pretty minimal, such 100 GB hard drive on the low end instead of the current 80 GB hard drive

[kamome]

Thanks for the recs. ultra recommends the mac mini; GJ recommends the MacBook - are there tradeoffs in performance and price between the 2?

[GuyJean]

[quote="kamome"]Thanks for the recs. ultra recommends the mac mini]Hhhhmmm, I'm not sure about performance; never used a mini. The specs are lower with the mini, but so is the price..

I use FCP 5 Studio on my MacBook from time to time, so it has power for you to 'grow into'. But I usually use it for basic email, surfing, and porn.. some photo editing.

I like the fact it's rugged and portable. I can drop it from my couch without worrying, or use it on the toilet without guilt.. But I wouldn't recommend crapping while porning; bad mix..

GJ

[emperor]

remember when i remembered the x505

...Mike Abary, senior vice president of VAIO product marketing, thought the engineering to get a laptop that thin was extremely impressive. But Sony had a similiar vision for an ultraportable once, a carbon fiber notebook in 2004 called the X505 (above) that eschewed the optical and was 0.3 inches thick (compared to 0.16 of the Air) at its thinnest segment. It wasn't that well received, and research later pointed out that "Thinness is not the holy grail". Making something that thin and sexy cost it too much usability...

http://gizmodo.com/345829/interview-sonys-thoughts-on-the-macbook-air

[Greji]

Vaio week continues: 505 Extreme

Vaio? aaaggh:puke:


Macbook Pro rules!

[GomiGirl]

I use a mini at home with lots of large external harddrives for photo and music storage but for what we need it is a fab machine.

At work I am still on a PowerBook G4 am wanting to upgrade. But with no optical drives on the air am now thinking MacBook.

[Mulboyne]

I had the same thought as Kamome when I heard the announcement: maybe this would be a way into the Mac family. A quick look at the specs showed that it wasn't going to be suitable.

[GuyJean]

.. But with no optical drives on the air am now thinking MacBook.

You could use your mini and G4 as the optical drive through wireless..

The lack of ethernet port is also kind of a buzz-kill; when I traveled in the States recently, most hotels still had wired Internet. I would also download the photos I took during the trip and give out CD copies to friends and family..

If I wanted to do these two things with the Air, I'd need a USB hub since there's only one USB port, a USB ethernet adapter, and a USB cd burner.. Suddenly the Air aint so thin for travel..

Apple has a tendency of releasing technology before it's time. It worked when they omitted the floppy.. Not sure about the Air..

GJ

[GomiGirl]

You could use your mini and G4 as the optical drive through wireless..

Yes but that would be hard as my laptop is at work and my mini is at home.

[quote="GuyJean"]The lack of ethernet port is also kind of a buzz-kill]

Exactly.. no ethernet!! No way!!

[GuyJean]

Yes but that would be hard as my laptop is at work and my mini is at home...:

Use your laptop at work and your mini at home]do[/I] think will become standard in the industry is the advanced trackpad ability on the Air; pinch, squeeze, and swipe.. They're not just for shitting anymore.

The track-pad, along with earlier introduction of the mag-safe power cable, are technologies that make you wonder why no one else thought of them before. They're so fucking simple.. Duh!

GJ