New Macbook Air released - Thinnest, Lightest, most affordable Macbook ever
226 replies, posted
[QUOTE=advil0;26102607]Why the hell are people actually buying these things?[/QUOTE]
Because it's an incredible machine.
[QUOTE=ifaux;26113129]An expensive paperweight? No, an ultraportable incredibly thin computer. The Macbook Air (both of them) have SSDs, not HDDs; which your Asus EEE PC 1201N (why does every PC have to have such complicated names?!) does. After doing a little bit of research; The Air's Core 2 Duo outperforms by quite a bit and and a 320m is somewhat more powerful than an Ion. On the specifications page for the Asus; it says it has a 5-hour battery life. That's how much the 11" Macbook Air has; and the 13" has 7 hours, both with 30 hours standby. The RAM of the Asus is 2/3GB of DDR2; whereas both of the Air's 4GB DDR3 maximum. The resolution on the 12" Asus is the same as the 11". Combine the SSD, processor, portability, design, build quality, battery life, and that fancy logo on the front of it and you'll get a semi-fair price. The BOM for the Macbook Air is $700+, and adding a bit to the price to make something called profit isn't an unusual practice; Microsoft did so recently with Kinect.[/QUOTE]
Because there's alot of models, different brands and many variations of them. If you go to any 1337 gaymen-machine configuring site, the computers has got a name, like Intergalactic sperminator mark II and Galaxy-neptune extreme gaymz.
[QUOTE=ifaux;26113129]An expensive paperweight? No, an ultraportable incredibly thin computer. The Macbook Air (both of them) have SSDs, not HDDs; which your Asus EEE PC 1201N[B] (why does every PC have to have such complicated names?!)[/B] does. After doing a little bit of research; The Air's Core 2 Duo outperforms by quite a bit and and a 320m is somewhat more powerful than an Ion. On the specifications page for the Asus; it says it has a 5-hour battery life. That's how much the 11" Macbook Air has; and the 13" has 7 hours, both with 30 hours standby. The RAM of the Asus is 2/3GB of DDR2; whereas both of the Air's 4GB DDR3 maximum. The resolution on the 12" Asus is the same as the 11". Combine the SSD, processor, portability, design, build quality, battery life, and that fancy logo on the front of it and you'll get a semi-fair price. The BOM for the Macbook Air is $700+, and adding a bit to the price to make something called profit isn't an unusual practice; Microsoft did so recently with Kinect.[/QUOTE]
Because they aren't being sold to morons who can barely remember a 4 syllable word, let alone a model number, like Apple products are. With Apple their old generation becomes entirely obsolete as soon as a new model is released, support is normally dropped fairly quickly and it usually stops being sold. So they don't have to go through various model numbers when advertising. With say, ASUS or Sony, they can have up to 6 versions of the same generation of laptop out at one time. You need something to differentiate between them, and giving them individual names is a bad idea.
[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;26121583]Intergalactic sperminator mark II[/QUOTE]
I'd definitely get a computer called that.
[QUOTE=hexpunK;26124840]Because they aren't being sold to morons who can barely remember a 4 syllable word, let alone a model number, like Apple products are. With Apple their old generation becomes entirely obsolete as soon as a new model is released, support is normally dropped fairly quickly and it usually stops being sold. So they don't have to go through various model numbers when advertising. With say, ASUS or Sony, they can have up to 6 versions of the same generation of laptop out at one time. You need something to differentiate between them, and giving them individual names is a bad idea.[/QUOTE]
Old generations of Apple products (especially macs) aren't obsolete with the release of a new model; they're far from it. The last Powerbook (released in 2001) still had support until the latest OS release.
mine just cleared customs in anchorage, i'm hoping to have it friday, but it will probably be next week.
[QUOTE=hexpunK;26124840]Because they aren't being sold to morons who can barely remember a 4 syllable word, let alone a model number, like Apple products are. With Apple their old generation becomes entirely obsolete as soon as a new model is released, support is normally dropped fairly quickly and it usually stops being sold. So they don't have to go through various model numbers when advertising. With say, ASUS or Sony, they can have up to 6 versions of the same generation of laptop out at one time. You need something to differentiate between them, and giving them individual names is a bad idea.[/QUOTE]
You're pulling this out of your ass, they don't become obsolete when new models come out anymore than PCs do. They may not be seen as the latest and greatest, but that doesn't mean they're obsolete.
I've seen legitimate arguments against macs that I often agree with and this isn't one of them. Just a lot of blind hate over nothing.
internally, macs have model numbers that actually make sense (the generation indicators like 2,1 3,1) there's just no reason to advertise that when it makes a million times more sense that the latest consumer mac laptop is called a macbook.
[QUOTE=demonguard;26132562]internally, macs have model numbers that actually make sense (the generation indicators like 2,1 3,1) there's just no reason to advertise that when it makes a million times more sense that the latest consumer mac laptop is called a macbook.[/QUOTE]
There are also more unofficial way of classifying them as well, like how the MacBook Pro line is often divided between Unibody/non-unibody and within the unibody one there is the ones that still had the expansion slot, then the ones that had the SD card slot, then the core i5/7 ones. There's no need for model numbers, since Apple doesn't make more than 6 different systems at once, usually. Consumer Laptop, Professional Laptop, iMac, Professional Desktop, Server, and Consumer Desktop(Mac Mini).
Speaking of servers, isn't the XServe long overdue for an upgrade?
classify the macbook air in your 6 categories. a consumer-and-some-professionals-secondary-machine laptop?
also the xserve is being phased out, which seems like corporate suicide to me but who knows. they recommend getting a mac pro or mac mini server (lol) instead, but you can't rack mount a mac pro.
speaking of servers, XServe just recently died.
[url]http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/05/apple-xserve-sales-end-january-31-support-will-continue-indefin/[/url]
[editline]17th November 2010[/editline]
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;26075338]How are you going to fold a screen that you can't fold?[/QUOTE]
no one said fold, but it would just pivot is all. a lot of tablet PCs and notebooks already do this.
[QUOTE=demonguard;26133504]classify the macbook air in your 6 categories. a consumer-and-some-professionals-secondary-machine laptop?
also the xserve is being phased out, which seems like corporate suicide to me but who knows. they recommend getting a mac pro or mac mini server (lol) instead, but you can't rack mount a mac pro.[/QUOTE]
Umm... Add seventh category. I'm not sure how I forgot to put the Air in it's category. I guess the first gen air's category would be "insanely thin somewhat weak and overly expensive laptop" and the new one would be "Insanely powerful insanely tiny large netbook."
Also WTF, Apple!? Why is the XServe dying? I remember my dad used to have a pair of G5 XServes, they were amazing. Cool, quiet, and easy to use. Well the Mini makes a pretty decent media/ftp server, actually, but it's not for heavy duty use.
[editline]17th November 2010[/editline]
[QUOTE=M_B;26133606]no one said fold, but it would just pivot is all. a lot of tablet PCs and notebooks already do this.[/QUOTE]
I'd think this would make the screen hinge somewhat more fragile, wouldn't it?
yes and no, it depends on the quality of hinge(s) used. There are many well-built tablet PCs and notebooks that already do this, and if you pay enough you get one that's quite solid. of course, it doesn't come in the cold, brushed aluminum variety, but they don't break.
[QUOTE=MacTrekkie;26134062]Umm... Add seventh category. I'm not sure how I forgot to put the Air in it's category. I guess the first gen air's category would be "insanely thin somewhat weak and overly expensive laptop" and the new one would be "Insanely powerful insanely tiny large netbook."
Also WTF, Apple!? Why is the XServe dying? I remember my dad used to have a pair of G5 XServes, they were amazing. Cool, [b]quiet[/b], and easy to use. Well the Mini makes a pretty decent media/ftp server, actually, but it's not for heavy duty use.
[editline]17th November 2010[/editline]
I'd think this would make the screen hinge somewhat more fragile, wouldn't it?[/QUOTE]
most xserves are anything but quiet (theyre insanely loud)
if i understand Apple's maneuvers clearly enough, and i do, they're most likely going to reintroduce it in a year or two. Pixar would utilize whatever they introduce as new, as they switched from XServe to an Intel based system, Dell i believe, about 5 years ago. so what i'm imagining is Apple is working on something that can succeed and exceed the needs of film production companies such as Pixar and Industrial Light & Magic, as I can't actually see plain businesses really take much more use than a regular serverfarm.
[editline]18th November 2010[/editline]
short and sweet: i think they're pulling the plug on XServe just so they can come out with something better.
you know like what happened with Apple TV -> iTV, except this time actually better.
Wait, what's an iTV?
oh right i forgot that it was still named the Apple TV and that iTV was just the speculation name
[editline]18th November 2010[/editline]
but still they didn't come out with a new one for 2 or 3 years and then WHAM a new one. though they did still sell it in that stretch of time, but that might be what's going down with XServe but being discontinued
Well if that's true, you know Apple is going to have something pretty damned good when they release it if they are going to pull the entire product line off when they revamp it.
aside for the newton, i don't think Apple's ever totally axed a series for good, before.
and even with the newton you can argue that the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad are doing what it couldn't do.
makes you wonder what they're using in their massive new data centre in north carolina
[QUOTE=toxicpiano;26160464]makes you wonder what they're using in their massive new data centre in north carolina[/QUOTE]
They're hosting porn sites.
Just got the new Air.
It's fucking sweet, runs like an actual dream.
Got my 11" 1.4/4gb/64gb yesterday. This thing is awesome. It feels extremely snappy thanks to the SSD, and doesn't miss a beat playing Minecraft (full view distance) or World of Goo. I haven't been able to get any more substantial games on here yet because I'm currently traveling for extended family thanksgiving, but my primary intent for this (browsing, light gaming) seems to be pretty much what it excels at. At any rate, the next full size laptop I pick up is going to feel a little ridiculous.
[editline]21st November 2010[/editline]
It's silent 90% of the time and barely audible while playing minecraft (which literally pushes the CPU to 105%, :argh: notch) yet it's a solid 25 degrees cooler under load than my 2007 white macbook, which sounded like a jet engine (and felt like one on my lap.)
so jealous. anyone want to buy me one? :buddy:
[QUOTE=demonguard;26193698]Got my 11" 1.4/4gb/64gb yesterday. This thing is awesome. It feels extremely snappy thanks to the SSD, and doesn't miss a beat playing Minecraft (full view distance) or World of Goo. I haven't been able to get any more substantial games on here yet because I'm currently traveling for extended family thanksgiving, but my primary intent for this (browsing, light gaming) seems to be pretty much what it excels at. At any rate, the next full size laptop I pick up is going to feel a little ridiculous.
[editline]21st November 2010[/editline]
It's silent 90% of the time and barely audible while playing minecraft [b](which literally pushes the CPU to 105%, :argh: notch)[/b] yet it's a solid 25 degrees cooler under load than my 2007 white macbook, which sounded like a jet engine (and felt like one on my lap.)[/QUOTE]
What what has notch done wrong
[img]http://f.cl.ly/items/1I10390N46033g0H2B44/larryhotdog.jpg[/img]
[editline]21st November 2010[/editline]
Well maybe Apple and OpenJDK will help but whatever
[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;26174370]They're hosting porn sites.[/QUOTE]
i was talking about the hardware they're using to host the porn sites
I will be buying my 15" i7 MBP when they upgrade them, and will be more than happy to pay that much, not spending $1k on a overpowered netbook :P
[QUOTE=advil0;26209800]I will be buying my 15" i7 MBP when they upgrade them, and will be more than happy to pay that much, not spending $1k on a overpowered netbook :P[/QUOTE]
ultraportable
snip
[QUOTE=advil0;26209800]I will be buying my 15" i7 MBP when they upgrade them, and will be more than happy to pay that much, not spending $1k on a overpowered netbook :P[/QUOTE]
You can't really compare them, one is built to be a light, portable surfing/document/web-dev (in my case) machine while the other is a heavy, larger machine designed for most things you can throw at it. My housemate has a 15" MBP, and it's sick, but on things like browsing/etc, my little MBA still runs circles around it's old mechanical hard disk.
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