MacBook Air - What's the point?

[fryke]

With the SSD harddrive, it's almost my perfect subnote. Its screen and overall footprint is *MUCH* too large, but the weight and thickness are okay. So there _is_ a need. For me. However: It's much too expensive with the SSD. I still want one, but I won't buy one just now. It might become a Cube (or has to go down in price).

[Natobasso]

Originally Posted by Qion

Greg has a good point; myself and most of the people contributing to this forum are not in the target market of the MacBook Air. A traveling airplane-oriented executive type would buy it all day long I suppose; however, it's not something practical for a majority of we artists and IT people.

I'll admit I had my own idea of what the new MacBook would look like, and it was quite a bit more risqué than the Air. Touchscreen instead of a keyboard, what.

The problem is, it doesn't compete with larger laptops for screen real estate, and it doesn't compete with smaller micro-laptops like the Sony Vaio either in it's 13" size. It has other drawbacks already mentioned due to the lack of space and physical hard drive. Seems like it's stuck between two worlds with this iteration. I think they would have been better served making a mini laptop on this go around and at least committing to the business traveller 100%.

As it is, what we have is a nice extension of the keyboard that was released earlier this year (see the similarity?!) that is trying to have a foot in both worlds for mass appeal. This worked for the ipod, but it doesn't work for a laptop in my opinion.

Maybe this is a foot in the door to an entire range of 'flash drive' based laptops?

[fryke]

The business traveller is the one who'll _appreciate_ the 13" goodness 100%. He's mainly worried about the _weight_ and _thickness_ of the device. I guess he won't mind the screen real estate. 13" is okay even when flying coach.

Then again, the thing has an incredibly large _FRAME_ for something that tries to be small and light. _That's_ the thing I don't really get, why they had to keep the MacBook's incredilarge frame around the screen and keyboard.

[Qion]

Originally Posted by fryke

Then again, the thing has an incredibly large _FRAME_ for something that tries to be small and light. _That's_ the thing I don't really get, why they had to keep the MacBook's incredilarge frame around the screen and keyboard.

That's something that escapes me. I don't think the extra space around the screen and keyboard adds any aesthetic value; in fact, it detracts from the overall effect.

[Natobasso]

It's probably required for the wiring to keep the over height flatter for the screen and the entire notebook. I'm sure if they could have made it thinner they would have (just look at the iphone: Pretty thin edges there! Ha ha)

[fryke]

It probably went like this:

1.) We could remove the frames or make them smaller.
2.) We'd need to add a little thickness for the battery, then.
3.) Well then let's _not_ remove the frames or make them smaller, because else Sony is going to release a notebook that's thinner than ours and we won't be able to say ours is the thinnest in the world any longer. I'm sure people will understand that the most important thing here is not to actually deliver a really good subnotebook, but rather to "think different" and to be able to brag. A lot.

Actually, it probably didn't go down like that, but I'm sure the battery life was an issue. While you can have the battery take any form with Li-Polymer, it still needs volume, and if you don't give it volume with any thickness of the notebook, then it needs the larger area instead. (And to that I'd say: Double the battery life by increasing the thickness by a few millimeters.)

[Qion]

I found a blog article that I personally think is brilliant:

http://blackfriarsinc.com/blog/2008/...oduct-in-right

If you're an executive at Ralph Lauren or Prada, the ugliness of carrying around a Dell laptop would give you hives. For these people, style and design isn't a luxury; it's an essential job requirement. And its a category of people whom the computer industry has not served well to date with boxy designs, techie jargon, and a general rejection of the value of fashion. Said another way, how many computers look good with an Armani suit?

[chevy]

Originally Posted by fryke

[...]
Then again, the thing has an incredibly large FRAME for something that tries to be small and light. That's the thing I don't really get, why they had to keep the MacBook's incredilarge frame around the screen and keyboard.

Imagine using it on your seat in a plane... you'll really hate this extra frame. I don't understand neither. But it's clearly a very great device.