Macbook Air: Weighing the Pros and Cons
Apple's subnotebook wunder-machine is nigh. I've been waiting for an ultralight Web and writing machine for a long time now. So, should I run out and pant outside my local Apple store until the first units arrive? Based on the information available right now, let's weigh the pros and cons ... Pros: The Macbook Air is slim and light. The unit's multitouch-equipped touch pad looks interesting, but I'd have to try it out for myself to gauge its worth. The Macbook Air offers up to 5 hours of battery life. Cons: Limited connectivity. There's only one USB port, and USB hubs never seem to work as well as built-in ports do. There's no Ethernet adapter, either. Disposable? The battery is apparently not user-replaceable, nor is RAM, nor is the hard drive. It's one thing to sell a disposable $300 mobile device, it's quite another to sell a disposable $1,800 to $3,000 notebook. Who among us has never swapped a notebook battery, or upgraded our RAM? Five hours of battery life sounds great, but I assume that's for a Macbook Air outfitted with a solid-state drive, which adds $1,000 to the cost of the unit. I'd rather pay less for a device with much less storage. I can keep more data up in the AIR, right? My Snap Judgment (subject to change): If my checkbook were fat enough, I'd probably preorder the Macbook Air immediately. Of course, in the land of "ifs," I'd probably also buy myself a whole branch of Fry's Electronics to use as a personal playground of gadgetry and wires. However, as things currently stand, I'll probably wait for a few generations of Macbook Air notebooks to pass by (along with several friendly price drops) before I'd pick up one of these very slick-looking machines. How does the Macbook Air strike you?
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Comments (5)
There is an ethernet adapter check Apple's website. They also offer a modem and a DVD Superdrive.
Posted by jorge Sanchez | January 15, 2008 10:27 PM
No one in their right mind would buy a machine at this price that had to be tossed in the trash when the battery died. I don't have details on this unit but I seriously doubt there will be no way to replace the battery. It may not be easily field replaceable, but there will be some way to do this.
Apple has learned a lesson from the iPod - but even the first generation iPods had replaceable batteries. Apple had to be led to support this market by third party vendors, but they currently do offer a battery replacement service for these much less expensive devices.
I don't see these machines appealing to the typical user today, but there is a definite market for a machine in this class. This market will grow as services come on line to support a totally wireless environment.
Posted by J Kessler | January 17, 2008 10:37 AM
Only a dedicated Appler would buy this machine, and then only because they had another machine that filled in the missing blanks. Since I have all of the above but don't need a 4th laptop, I think I'll pass until cost comes down and usefulness comes up.
Posted by B Hinnant | February 5, 2008 10:53 AM
I believe the Air is very well priced for an ultra portable. I purchased a Sony Vaio TZ 195 N/XC with the 48GB SSD for $4000 for my boss. Though the Vaio has a DVD drive and an internal Sprint Card. I can add those features as external options (a $170 sprint USB broadband card and the Apple DVD drive for $100) bring my Air's price to $3400. Which is still $600 cheaper that the Vaio. Plus, the Air has 16GB more storage on SSD and a much larger screen and a regular size keyboard. Also, the Vaio is the worst computer I have ever had the mis pleasure of having to support. It crashes all the time and even after downgrading to XP it still stinks.
So will, I buy myself one? Probably not. I really have my heart set on a tablet PC. I love my Thinkpad T43 and I am looking seriously at the Thinkpad X61, only downside, no optical drive. :)
Posted by J Martinez | February 10, 2008 4:30 AM
here's a nice rewiew on the Apple's Macbook Air pros and cons: http://www.maconair.com/the_pros_and_cons
Posted by Littlefairy | April 16, 2008 7:32 AM