10 Years of the MacBook Air (theverge.com) 152
Ten years ago today, Steve Jobs introduced the MacBook Air. "Apple's Macworld 2008 was a special one, taking place just days after the annual Consumer Electronics Show had ended and Bill Gates bid farewell to Microsoft," The Verge recalls. "Jobs introduced the MacBook Air by removing it from a tiny paper office envelope, and the crowd was audibly shocked at just how small and thin it was..." From the report: At the time, rivals had thin and light laptops on the market, but they were all around an inch thick, weighed 3 pounds, and had 8- or 11-inch displays. Most didn't even have full-size keyboards, but Apple managed to create a MacBook Air with a wedge shape so that the thickest part was still thinner than the thinnest part of the Sony TZ Series -- one of the thinnest laptops back in 2008. It was a remarkable feat of engineering, and it signaled a new era for laptops. Apple ditched the CD drive and a range of ports on the thin MacBook Air, and the company introduced a multi-touch trackpad and SSD storage. There was a single USB 2.0 port, alongside a micro-DVI port and a headphone jack. It was minimal, but the price was not. Apple's base MacBook Air cost $1,799 at the time, an expensive laptop even by today's standards.
Best *laptop* I've ever owned (Score:5, Informative)
When I say *laptop* I use it for email, presentations, business operations and demonstrations. I don't use it for software development or any kind of network or processor intensive tasks.
It's thin, light, rugged with a good screen. Works well with projectors with 6+ hours of battery life (after four years). Microsoft Office's operation is fair (but I think that's more of Microsoft's issue than Apple's OS X).
I'm not an Apple guy (although I am a vehement Win 10 hater), just that this laptop has done what I've needed of it for years for my business, in a variety of different locations (and countries) without a glitch or problem of any kind.
Re:Best *laptop* I've ever owned (Score:5, Informative)
When I say *laptop* I use it for email, presentations, business operations and demonstrations. I don't use it for software development or any kind of network or processor intensive tasks.
It's thin, light, rugged with a good screen. Works well with projectors with 6+ hours of battery life (after four years). Microsoft Office's operation is fair (but I think that's more of Microsoft's issue than Apple's OS X).
I'm not an Apple guy (although I am a vehement Win 10 hater), just that this laptop has done what I've needed of it for years for my business, in a variety of different locations (and countries) without a glitch or problem of any kind.
There are plenty of people who do use the MacBook Air for development and it does well. Maybe this is more amongst web developers?
Back in 2014 I bought my MacBook Air because I needed to replace my ageing MacBook Pro that had suffered a coffee spill and I was on a tight budget, but still wanted to stay with an Apple branded computer. We are now in 2018 and it is still doing a good enough job. Certainly if graphics processing matters then it isn't a great choice, but otherwise it is a good general use computer. I am a developer and I use mine mainly for NodeJS and Java development.
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We get a choice of Macbook Pro or Macbook Air at work. Generally only people who travel a lot prefer the Air, because the screen is so tiny, the keyboard is cramped, it's not nearly as powerful.
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The Air hasn't seen a major upgrade since 2015. The Macbook Pro is a way better machine, and since MBPs no longer have HDDs, it is almost as thin.
Max thickness of Macbook Air: 0.68 inches
Max thickness of Macbook Pro: 0.71 inches
So you save 0.03 inches (less than a mm), and get a far inferior computer.
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So you save 0.03 inches (less than a mm), and get a far inferior computer.
for a far lesser price.
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Well, a cheaper one. The macbook air is now their cheapest offering, but no their lightest.
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The Macbook Airs used a decent TN screen (colors don't shift as badly as the worst ones), but it's dim and the color saturation sucks (about 60% sRGB, though some of the earlier models were closer to 50%). I've had to steer numerous artists and photographers away from the MBA because of this. If you do color work and want a Mac, you're pretty much stuck with the Macbook Pros. Apple knows which industries butter their bread, and always gimped the MBA with a poor
I wish they were still trying (Score:5, Interesting)
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I wish Apple would quit trying to come out with new stuff all the time and get the bugs and quirks in their products ironed out. Take two years and don't release any wildly new hardware or software features and just refine the hell out of what's out there now.
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Apple *did* innovate in the netbook space. With a touchscreen, pencil and detachable keyboard - the iPad Pro.
Something running OS X, you say? Dunno, ask Tim.
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Well, they tried anyway. I don't think that Apple has sold nearly as many iPad Pro's as they wanted to, mostly because you can get a much more functional and powerful Ultrabook for around the same price once you add all of the iPad Pro accessories.
Or maybe they sold more than you think (Score:2)
I don't think that Apple has sold nearly as many iPad Pro's as they wanted to,
Signs point the opposite way, since they may a slightly smaller model of Pro and also been pretty good about updating the larger Pro with some decent speed and display increases.
I have really liked mine; my next trip I plan to travel with just an iPad Pro for working with photos, no laptop. Much lighter.
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Innovation? I was using a device that looked and worked remarkably like the iPad while Jobs was still at NeXT. Ran Midori Linux, IIRC.
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Apple *did* innovate in the netbook space. With a touchscreen, pencil and detachable keyboard - the iPad Pro.
Something running OS X, you say? Dunno, ask Tim.
He'll probably tell you about the ModBook that has been available for 11 years now.
OSX hardware has seen good updates (Score:3)
They really don't give a damn about anything that runs OS X these days and it's a shame.
What makes you say that? They've redone the MacBook Pro line with USB-C, the Touch Bar, super fast SSD storage, and still continue with excellent displays. On the desktop they just released the iMac Pro which is really powerful and actually has a decent cooling design, and we know they are working on an totally revised Mac Pro desktop.
You may not like some of the changes they made, but I don't see where anyone could re
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The biggest complain is that the MBP hasn't seen a bump beyond 16GB of RAM. I have a 4-year-old MBP that has 16GB of RAM and, for my use, RAM is the single largest bottleneck. I'm sitting on equipment budget to replace it with one with 32GB (or even more, if available) as soon as it's available.
Part of the blame for this is Intel, who doesn't provide any chips that have memory controllers supporting LPDDR4 out (in spite of the fact the LPDDR4 spec is from 2014 and most phones have used it for the past fe
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That's slightly misleading when you realise that they do support DDR4L, which isn't quite as low power as LPDDR4, but is a lot lower power than DDR4, and other manufacturers have made machines with 32GB of DDR4L and reasonable battery life.
I agree with you about the lack of a 32GB model being frustrating (I am pretty much in the same boat there, not going to update my older laptop until I can get 32GB), but I can see where Apple is not willing to compromise battery life as much to offer one higher end confi
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They really don't give a damn about anything that runs OS X these days and it's a shame. You'd think with all the money they have they'd be willing to take some risks and innovate.
Innovate? Uh, hello....? Apple has definitely been innovating!
Non-user removable laptop batteries? Soldered in RAM? Non-user removable hard drives?
No headphone jack!!!??
COURAGE!
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They really don't give a damn about anything that runs OS X these days and it's a shame. You'd think with all the money they have they'd be willing to take some risks and innovate.
You mean like they did with the current Mac Pro?
Re: I wish they were still trying (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually cutting costs is a game to prolong failure.
Gateway 2000 back in the early to mid 1990s were well known for its quality. Sure they cost a bit more but it was worth the extra price. Then they started to cust costs and make cheaper products which made people to hate the product.
Dell in the mid 1990s to mid 00. Play the same story.
Mid 00 - mid teens Apple has the spot.
Now the question what is the quality computer line up that is coming up next?
Lenovo the think pad line has consistently kept its quality. HP? Acer? Microsoft?
In general while the tech crowd is more or less happy with getting a lot of cheap hardware. Most consumers want a good piece of hardware even if it costs extra money and even if it has a higher total cost of ownership.
Because we can get a computer at half the cost and during its lifetime we just need to replace half of its components. We still save money. But that is for the people who likes to fix these things. For average person such issues stress them out and having to fix their box is scary and resent having bought the product in the first place.
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Dell and HP enterprise lines are really well built.
I'm typing this on a Dell M6700 that is built like a tank. My new work laptop is a HP ZBook G3.
However neither of them are anywhere near the 'cheap' side of the spectrum.
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My XPS 13 seems quite well built. There is a slightly bent corner after a fall from 4 feet onto concrete (ow!), but other than that it's held up to very heavy use for two years. The aluminum seems sturdier than Macs.
There've been no problems with the hardware and it runs (L/K)ubuntu just fine.
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NEC make great laptops. Quality as good as any, thin, light, good performance... And a reasonable number of USB ports.
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ASUS, in my experience, kicks ass. They are always my top recommendation for laptops.
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HP has been garbage since the Vectra. A couple of Kayaks were OK but most would slice your fingers off as soon as look at you. It's all been downhill for HP since they gave up having their own architecture :)
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> Lenovo the think pad line has consistently kept its quality.
Oh... ho... You've obviously forgotten how good ThinkPads were back when they were IBM branded and Armonk's QC people kept the factory people at Lenovo under their gaze and thumbs. Once IBM sold the brand and Lenovo was left to its own devices, ThinkPads have deteriorated big time. Want a decent windows pc lappy? Go with Toshiba. They've remained solid and reliable machines for nearly a quarter-century now. ThinkPads are crap since IBM ab
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"Go with Toshiba. They've remained solid and reliable machines for nearly a quarter-century now."
Except for the keyboards. In order for me to type on a Toshiba keyboard laptop I will need to have at least a mild concussion.
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Sometimes, the best or only way to increase profits is just to keep cutting costs.
That only works if the cost of what is being cut exceeds the profits it generates.
I doubt if this is true for Macs. They are some of the best selling laptops made by any company, and they sell at a significant premium compared to Windows laptops. The only extra cost is maintaining OSX, but I have heard there are only a few dozen employees working on it full time, and there is a lot of source duplication with iOS.
Macs should be a cash cow for Apple.
Disclaimer: I have a newish 15" Macbook Pro and I am very
Re: I wish they were still trying (Score:4, Insightful)
Macs should be a cash cow for Apple.
They are. Apple now makes more money with Macs alone than they made all together 11 years ago. You know, back when many experts where claiming that since the iPod made them more money than the Mac, they'd stop making Macs in a few years and focus on iPods (even the ones that expected an Apple phone predicted that). Pretty much what the same experts say today.
Re: I wish they were still trying (Score:4, Informative)
The only extra cost is maintaining OSX, but I have heard there are only a few dozen employees working on it full time, and there is a lot of source duplication with iOS.
That's quite misleading. Apple's CoreOS team, which is responsible for the XNU kernel, libc, and a few other bits is very small (and 95% of what they do is applicable to both macOS and iOS). On top of that, there are a lot of frameworks that are shared between iOS and macOS, and a quite large compiler / tools team that develops XCode, contributes a lot to LLVM/Clang/LLDB, maintains Swift, and so on, which is also shared between all operating systems (XCode is Mac only, but it is primarily used for iOS development these days). I think AppKit is about the only framework that is macOS only. There are also a lot of Mac-only Apple apps, and that's where the real costs come from.
My best laptop. (Score:3)
VNC, SSH w/X, or RDP to connect to beefier desktop or workstation machines completes it.
Neat device. Got meself one back in Q1 2011. (Score:4, Informative)
I remember all the stupid jokes from my fellow nerd buddies. They didn't get it.
The MB Air was the first full powered portable work PC that you could carry around without breaking your back. 1.5 kg, 6 hours of battery time, sometimes more if you dimed the backlight and turned off wifi. I still have mine and it still is usable and useful. Although it does boot rather sluggish with macOS Sierra.
I hope they continue the line and make cheaper mac laptops again. 1500 Euros for a regular MB pro is just too much,
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I remember all the stupid jokes from my fellow nerd buddies. They didn't get it. The MB Air was the first full powered portable work PC that you could carry around without breaking your back. 1.5 kg, 6 hours of battery time, sometimes more if you dimed the backlight and turned off wifi. I still have mine and it still is usable and useful. Although it does boot rather sluggish with macOS Sierra.
I hope they continue the line and make cheaper mac laptops again. 1500 Euros for a regular MB pro is just too much,
Bought the 12 inch MacBook instead of the MacBook Pro, I can't say I miss the Pro model's processing power all that often and I don't miss the extra weight either. The really fun part is discussing my preference for super compact laptops (even at the expense of CPU power) with some of my co-workers who still have a PC gray-box standing in a little shrine in their apartment, Nvidia display card, 32 GB of RAM Latest Intel processor, Windows, ... 'How can you live with only 8 GB of RAM?!?!?' ... It's like a de
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People forget what a brick the first Macbook Air was. At a hefty 1.5kg it wasn't exactly light.
A couple of years later there were dozens of models that were a similar size but weighed half as much, and let you replace various components. Apple deserve credit for starting the trend, but it was definitely a first generation product.
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6 hours? What are you doing with your MBA? I get mine to 11 hours doing standard office tasks.
It is an amazing machine, and you are perfectly right that they were the first company to make notebooks truly portable.
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The first person I saw with one was Cameron Diaz in the airport security line. (I bought more Apple stock.)
Released by Steve Jobs (Score:2)
Has Apple released anything since Steve Jobs died that hasn't been a total flop?
Re:Released by Steve Jobs (Score:4, Interesting)
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The entire smart watch market is a flop.
Re:Released by Steve Jobs (Score:4, Interesting)
Seven million units according to Forbes. [forbes.com]
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Re:Released by Steve Jobs (Score:4, Interesting)
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They were expected to sell over 34 million units in the first year.
Last figures I found were 33 million units after 2.5 years. That includes the launch of the new series that you can wear in the rain without worrying about water damage.
Turns out people don't want a watch that won't last 24 hours on a charge (18 hour claim, with a disclaimer than it was measured on pre-production hardware and software - they couldn't be bothered or didn't want to release real tests on real products). You can't even go away f
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They were expected to sell over 34 million units in the first year. Last figures I found were 33 million units after 2.5 years.
IOW they sold more Watches than "phablets" were sold in that time, something that supposedly is the hot shit to have which everybody buys. Typical flop.
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Considering a phablet is a phone with a screen between 5.1" and 7", Apple only sell one phone, the iPhone 8. The 8 Plus and X are both phablets with 5.5 and 5.8" screens.
The 6 Plus, 6S Plus and 7 were all phablets too. All 5.5" screens.
Phablets weren't a flop, the term is just used less because every flagship smartphone is one. So are most mid-range phones now
The iPhone 8 is the slowest selling model, with the 8 Plus and X both outselling it.
There have been more iPhone X sales in the last quarter than iWatc
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FIFY (Score:2)
The entire *remaining* smart watch market is a flop.
Fixed it for you.
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The entire smart watch market is a flop.
Compared to what exactly? Fidget spinners?
Re: Released by Steve Jobs (Score:2)
Rolexes of course being just as affordable as the iWatch...
Re: Released by Steve Jobs (Score:2)
Selling more watches than Rolex is an idiotic metric. More people can afford an iWatch than a Rolex. Oh, and turn off smart punctuation in your keyboard settings if you want to make your posts more legible.
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Says who? Apple won't release their sales numbers for the watch, they don't break out that product category. The valuation is high because of phones, not watches.
Ahh. Let's say you owned the Apple Watch business - would you shut it down to stop the losses? Or be happy that you had one of the most profitable companies in the world? Don't compare it to the iPhone, compare it to everything else.
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Has Apple released anything since Steve Jobs died that hasn't been a total flop?
Funny how you declared everything Apple released when Jobs was still alive a flop too.
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When did I do that?
The iPod and iPhone were definitely not flops.
For the right user, perfect (Score:3)
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How did you get malware on a Windows 10 machine if you only run 'Open Save Print'??
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was disappointed to see I was buying basically the same machine with a bigger screen and a touch more memory......but it was a bit cheaper, and for open-save-print, still great.
So it was a bit cheaper, and had more memory and likely the same weight, does exactly what you want and was still available... failing to see the problem here.
I mean if the machine worked that well for you and they still make it, great!
The alternative in Windows is half the price
Really? I've never seen a windows machine half the pr
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Huh OK, I stand corrected.
Interestingly, on the upper end, the difference is less dramatic. Presumably that's because such a big margin would make the laptops simply too expensive and seriously hurt sales.
Though the ideapad is a bit heavier. I have a bad back and value light weight very highly. The bottom end Carbon X1 at 2.5lb and 180G flash is CAD 2200.
This is a fluff piece (Score:1)
So an article talking about something that happened ten years ago? Where's the news?
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The news is that ten years later, the MacBook Air still exists and is only slightly different than the first model. It went from a Core 2 Duo to a dual-core i5/i7, the RAM from 2GB, to 4GB and finally to 8GB. The USB 2 port was upgraded to two USB3 ports, the TN display increased in resolution but is still a TN display which is a shame in 2018 for the price Apple are asking.
Apple should upgrade the CPU to the latest generation, swap the display for a regular TFT with a 1080p resolution and drop the price in
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Retina requires a GPU that's four times faster which in turn requires four times as much more power. They'd be wise to stick to a lower resolution display for the battery life alone. Going from 1440×900 TN to 1680×1050 IPS would increase the battery requirement by a bit, but not as much as retina.
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"expensive laptop even by today's standards" (Score:1)
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I believe TurboStar was just referring to inflation, where $1795US in 2007 would be something like $2100US in 2018 dollars.
I loved my MacBook Air (Score:3)
I bought the refreshed version with the original curvy form factor (and the port access flap). It was the first laptop I ever had with a solid-state drive... and taught me never to buy a laptop without one, ever again.
But much as I loved that one, I prefer this 2015 13" MacBook Pro - it's probably the best laptop Apple's ever made (and, unfortunately, will ever make). It's only 1/2 pound heavier than my Air was, and it's got lots of ports, a better screen, and a much better processor.
The ThinkPad X40 was lighter and generally smaller (Score:2)
MacBook Air (2008):
1280 x 800 display, 802.11 a/b/g (draft N), 12.8" x 8.94" x 0.76", 3.0 lbs
ThinkPad X40 (2004):
1024 x 768 display, 802.11 a/b/g, 10.5" x 8.3" x 1.0", 2.7 lbs
Considering they had four years, it's a pretty modest improvement over IBM's lightweight notebook.
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I think the Pentium M, spinning HD, and shorter battery life kept it from being as much of a love affair as the MacBook Air (at least the rev I got). You're right that there wasn't any huge technology advancement, but sometimes you have to hit a certain sweet spot. I just remember this thing felt faster than any laptop I'd used before (primarily from the SSD subsystem), and the battery lasted so long I literally never had to think about it any more. I fell in love. It still feels like fast modern laptop all
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Sure. I'm not saying it wasn't *any* better. Just that it wasn't the revolution that some people make it out to be. This article calls it a "remarkable feat of engineering," which I think is a stretch. Reading it, you'd think there had never been a laptop of that size.
As far as battery life goes: the X40 had two available, and you could swap it out whenever you wanted. You could choose to take on a little extra weight for more battery life. Or you could carry several batteries. Go nuts. Whatever you
pricie but worth it ... (Score:1)
for the following reasons:
i worked hp notebook and compaq notebook support for 18 months, the horror stories i'm privi to are phenominal! can you say moses called?
my first daughter went off to the university of alberta - billingual nursing, we gave her a mb air ... had absolutely ZERO problem. she's an alum now and it still works fine!
my second daughter went off to the thompson rivers university - nursing, we gave her a mb air ... had one problem. she's four months from being an alum now. the one problem, s
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If I as kid #4, I'd sell the Macbook Air and get a AMD Ryzen based gaming PC with the proceeds. You can build a gaming PC with a pretty kick ass video card in it for around $1,000.
Hell, he'd probably have enough left over for a cheap Dell or HP Windows 10 laptop along with some cash for games.
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If I as kid #4, I'd sell the Macbook Air and get a AMD Ryzen based gaming PC with the proceeds. You can build a gaming PC with a pretty kick ass video card in it for around $1,000.
Hell, he'd probably have enough left over for a cheap Dell or HP Windows 10 laptop along with some cash for games.
won't you be special (obilatory dilbert) showing up to class lugging you gaming PC!
totally funny cuz he already has a gaming PC! funnier still, i still have all the office suite and photoshop etc for the mac...
come to think about it, for windblows as well!
so yeah, he'll need to spend money on software and i can lock the ownership of a macbook air!
as for a kick ass gaming machine for a grand, NOT! nominally decent vid card $750, processor $250 ish, ram - gaming qual. $250 ish for a full load of dimms, powe
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You're not giving your forth child a forth machine/a?? [google.com]
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Dangerous machine (Score:2, Funny)
My son just bought one and that thing is a tiny dangerous wedge.
Stick a bat to it's spine and you could chop down a tree.
It's also faster than my office MacBook Pro 2014. Jelly.
Pity it's all they sell these days (Score:2)
Back then, there were clear differences between their 3 laptop lines. These days, MacBook and MacBook Pro use almost the same body design and have almost the same limitations (no ports, no user-replaceable RAM and disk) as the Air.
When it's time to replace my 2012 MBP, I may have to get me a Hackintosh.
Stil the best laptop/notebook I've had (Score:3)
Toshiba R-100 was thinner (Score:2)
The Toshiba R-100 was thinner and more powerful.
The laptop even a vegan can carry (Score:2)
"Thin and light" marches on. (Score:1)
1.36kg seemed pretty light back then, and the 2010 version came in a hair lighter at 1.35kg. Of course, the 13-inch MacBook Pro was a whopping 2.04kg. But then the 13-inch MacBook Pro (Retina) came out at only 1.48kg, and now the second generation (sans Menu Bar) is down to 1.37kg - only 10 grams more than the original MacBook Air.
my personal fave computer (Score:2)
Because it is so portable I didn't mind bringing it along on my business trips next to my work computer - though my iPad Pro 10.5" has now taken that role. I splashed out a bit when I bought it in january 2014 - an i7 processor with 8gb ram and 512gb add was top o
frustrated by Air (Score:1)
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My laptop has Ethernet, HDMI, Thunderbolt, USB2, USB3, SD slot, head phones and microphone jacks.
The only thing ever really plugged in to it is a USB wireless mouse transceiver. I used to use a bluetooth mouse, but the dodgy Intel bluetooth kept randomly dropping out.
Sometimes I plug an SD card in to it, but that's via a micro to standard SD adapter.
Lots of people don't ever plug anything but the power cord in to their laptop.
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I work as an IT integrator and am constantly visiting customer sites. Last time work refreshed my laptop (~3 years ago) I requested and received a Mac Air. There's been one refresh since, but the Air is still working fine and I kept it, the ultrabooks everyone else got have been swapped out.
The only thing I usually need to carry is a USB to serial cable just in case I need to work on a router. I have a thunderbolt to ethernet adaptor, but don't use it that often - amongst other things, I'm the guy who usual
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Last time work refreshed my laptop
I misread that as "retrashed" for some reason...
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The only thing I usually need to carry is a USB to serial cable just in case I need to work on a router.
And of course you'd have to do that with just about every modern PC notebook too.
Re:Ah yes, the beginning of the dongle era (Score:4, Interesting)
This "dongle madness" is spreading. I'm looking for a new laptop and it seems that most anything that's even close to the size of an Apple will have only USB-C, headphones, and a power port (if it doesn't use USB-C for power), and maybe a SD card slot.
I'm not complaining. I like it really. I don't have to look for the video port to plug in a monitor, the Ethernet port to connect to the network, the serial port to the router (or whatever I need to program at the time), and the mouse port for a mouse. It's just one port does it all and the adapter circuitry is so small it's part of the plug or cord. The MacBook Pro with it's two or four ports means I'm not likely to need a hub or dock in most cases. With just one port then I'll need a dongle of some sort but with the power bricks and adapters so much smaller now I'm still ahead on space in my bag. For most things I expect I'll need just a cheap USB 2.0 A to C adapter which can be had in three packs for $10 or so.
I've had people complain about not knowing what kind of port or cable to use since one USB-C port can be for power, video, Thunderbolt devices, and USB devices. After some research in this I see that the specifications require iconography on the cable end to indicate the capability of the cable. Sometimes the icon might be hard to read or otherwise a bit ambiguous but I'm not sure I still see a problem. Maybe I'll change my tune once I get my new computer.
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Beware the small power bricks. They are small because they are not very powerful, and can't supply enough current under heavy load so the laptop has to draw power from the battery. That not only discharges the battery, but it also wears it out faster. And of course, the battery is not user-replacable.
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The problem is the transition era. We saw the same thing when computers started coming out with only USB for peripherals (original iMac and then a load of PCs). First you need USB to PS/2 adaptors and so on, then all of your new peripherals start using USB and you wonder why you ever needed PS/2, serial and parallel ports. In a few years, everything will be using USB-C (already almost everything is USB and USB 3 is fast enough for pretty much everything else, and the few other things can still use a USB-
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But they are stretching out the transition era by not going USB-C for the phones as well.
I have travel dongles for HDMI, VGA, DVI, Ethernet, and serial for different needs; at least my Air doesn't need an SD adapter too...
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Apple isn't, but most non-Apple phones have USB-C at the high end and it's gradually propagating to the low end. Apple is in a bit of a difficult position, because Lightning is very similar to USB-C (similar size, reversible, carries USB 3 signal). It's not a huge improvement for consumers (there aren't many peripherals that you plug into both a phone and a computer, so you need a USB to Lightning cable anyway, and there's little difference between carrying a USB-A to Lightning or a USB-C to Lightning one
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Not to mention that, for some bizarre reason, Apple chose to go with Lightning connectors for charging the latest versions of its wireless keyboard, mouse, and trackpad!
Seriously, Apple - WTF?
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there where several notebooks thinner than a MacBook Air long before it came out. Sony Vaio had a few in 2004
There probably were, but I don't see them on the market anymore. Sony Vaio become history in 2014. The MacBook Air still fills a certain niche, though the specs could do with a little tweaking.
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there where several notebooks thinner than a MacBook Air long before it came out. Sony Vaio had a few in 2004
Ohh? They made another one but the X505 in 2004? Because that was .38-.83 inches thick while the the MacBook Air from 2008 was 0.16 in to 0.76 in thick.
Re:How many of them still boot and run on battery? (Score:5, Insightful)
Glued in batteries, soldered down RAM and flash storage are all complicit in the prime example of planned obsolescence.
Or a recognition that the need to constantly upgrade CPU/RAM/storage has slowed to the point where a decently specced laptop can remain useful for years without needing anything upgraded.
Most people do not open their laptops to upgrade anything. Of those that do, most will only do so to add RAM and even then will not do it themselves. Those who want or need a machine that they can maintain themselves are a small niche that's growing smaller, even if we've been around longer than what is now the majority - people who want a laptop as an appliance.
The Air is not aimed at you. Or me. Or a bunch of folk on this site. But there's a large chunk of people for whom it's ideal and very well designed for _their_ needs. Serviceability is not a priority to that market segment and that has nothing to do with planned obsolescence.
Re: (Score:2)