MacBook Air

[theelk]

Alright, Apple dropped the big bomb. They've announce their new MacBook Air, the thinnest laptop ever, ever. I think it looks pretty cool, but I can't wait to hear what the haters say. So, uh, discuss, I guess!

[bicostp]

Wow. The last ultraportable they had was the Powerbook 2400 back in '96. Thin and light laptops are great, I wish I had the cash to get one. (My HP Pavillion dv-something is pretty bulky, it's more "portable" than "laptop".) Smart move on their part, offering a 64 gig solid state hard drive as an option.

But why only one USB port? And how come when you bump up to the 1.8 gig processor and solid state hard drive does the price shoot up by almost a grand?

I still like the new Toshiba Portege R500 better, since only $300 more than the base Air gets you a DVD+-RW drive built in, more hard drive space, a PC card slot, an SD card slot, and potentially more battery life.

[dudex77]

And how come when you bump up to the 1.8 gig processor and solid state hard drive does the price shoot up by almost a grand?

Come on a 64 gig solid state drive costs close to a grand alone these days. Well I have to say my first reaction was that this was awesome but then I remembered this is the reason I hate nanos. I really can't deal with things that thing. Small is cool but when it's that thing I would feel like at any moment I'll end up snapping it on accident.

[theelk]

But why only one USB port? And how come when you bump up to the 1.8 gig processor and solid state hard drive does the price shoot up by almost a grand?

It's weird, but they have those two versions and yet you can select the cheaper one and add those features on in the customization screen. And yeah, SSDs cost a buttload of cash.

[Harshboy]

My God...Just when I thought my Macbook was small!

That Remote Drive Feature is pretty cool, is it in all Installs of Leopard? I'm still on Tiger...

That is an awesome laptop, I might just sell my Macbook and get a job to get one.

[Dr. KillGood]

[Naysayer]

Hey that is going to be fun as hell to carry around and play games on...

oh wait.
[/naysayer]

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

I like it. The 1.8" HDD is only 4200 rpm, so I'd want the solid state drive, yet there's only a 64GB one, which adds a grand to the price. I wish they had an option for a 32GB SSD, as that should only up the price by about $300 (I think). Only one USB port could be annoying, but I basically only have one now (my Lifebook's 2 USB ports are to close together to have two fat flash drives in at once).

Good for Apple to finally support ultraportables; to me, anything 15"+ is like a tank. 13.3" widescreen is the biggest I'd ever want in a laptop (My lifebook is 10").

[Triton]

its nice but probably cost a fortune and its not THAT small, sure its sleek but its probably about the same size as a sharp MM20 albeit more powerful
(actius mm20 = 9.9"x 8.2"x 0.62" at the thickest point)
(macbook air = 12.74" x 8.9" x 0.76" at the thickest point)
so yeah, its shiney new and will be a huge hit but i wouldnt buy it. plenty happy with my lifebook and ketchups before that!

our lifebooks are 8.51" x 9.92" x 1.26" i think

[Skyone]

Like John said, the Sharp MM20 is much thinner (which makes me distressed that Apple says "LOL WORLD THINNEST LAPTOP"), but it's pretty sleek.

Drop the bomb, $1799 - no thanks!

[jperryss]

But why only one USB port? And how come when you bump up to the 1.8 gig processor and solid state hard drive does the price shoot up by almost a grand?

$1300, actually, according to apple.com.

And how do they get away with calling it an 'ultraportable'? There's nothing ultraportable about it. It's thin. That's it. It's not compact, it's not handheld, just thin.

And, in typical Apple fashion, the battery isn't user-replaceable. That may be (barely) tolerable with an iPod, but they were pushing it with the iPhone. Now they're doing it with a $1700 (up to $3K) laptop? Come on!

It is a slick-looking unit though.

[geekbait111]

that's wayyyy too thin...and not that portable

I like the macbook pro more...but I don't like any macbooks that much anyways so I wouldn't buy any of them

[Bibin]

It's cool, but it is chock full of flaws.

1 USB port?
No ethernet?
FIREWIRE?
boot-camp will be terrible (USB CD is slow, and Wi-Fi Cd will not work during the windows installer, I gaurentee)
The screen will no doubt crack easily.
The keys may be full sized, but it lacks a few keys that I believe denote it as a non-full keyboard.
Other than microphones, there is NO audio input, which is a must for me.
Non-user servicable HDD, battery, RAM, etc.

I'll stick with my BlackBook, thank you very much.

[vskid]

I don't see how being that thin with a screen that big can be a good thing. When will you have 13" of diagonal space, but not a couple inches of thickness? Even a black Macbook with the at least the same specs costs less than the base Air. Its a nice idea, but would be far more useful if it had a 10" screen.

Off topic: Macbooks look pretty nice. If I had to buy a new laptop, I think a Macbook would be my first choice (along with a copy of XP). I'd have to go for a Toshiba laptop/tablet for a used one, though.

[Kurt_]

What is apple's obsession with making their products as thin as possible? It's costly to do, and every time I see one of those new ultra-thin iPods I think that, keeping that in my pocket, I risk snapping it in two. (I have never kept one in my pocket, for the record).

I'd rather have something bulky and solid than thin and breakable.

[Valium]

It looks like it'll snap in half if you look at it the wrong way, laptops don't need to be that thin.