Laptop Lite
A computer made for Starbucks? -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia
by blogSpotter
I'm going way off course today to do a product review. I know it's the election season, but we all need a breather. Today's blog will discuss Apple's new MacBook Air from a fairly non-technical consumer point of view.
I'd like to venture into car history for a moment. When Ford Motor Company replaced their aging (but affordable) Thunderbird model with a super jazzy retro convertible in 2002, everyone was "pumped". The new model was a convertible with rounded headlamps and a hood scoop -- looked like a reinterpretation of the 1955 model. Only one problem, and a fairly big problem -- the price nearly doubled. It went from base price of 16K to base price of 32K in one year. Ford was hoping to pick up a new market, and what they actually did was give fatal sticker shock to the old market. The car won rave reviews but sold so poorly that it was withdrawn from the market after a few years. When I look at Apple's $1800 MacBook Air, I can't help but have Thunderbird flashbacks.
The MacBook Air is extremely lightweight, thin and beautiful. Many sacrifices were made for the sake of thinness -- no CD drive, 80 GB hard drive and a paltry 3 interfaces for headphones, USB and micro-DVI. I'm figuring that this notebook would be ideal for an SMU sorority pledge who does email and light web surfing. It would be the perfect accessory for Starbucks, where you're there more to visit and look good than to do serious computer work. You would never fit your iTunes repository on it, and you probably wouldn't want to go too far with an Office Suite either.
The MacBook Air has a sealed, nonreplaceable battery that pretty much forces you to take it in for factory service if you need a new battery. If you want a CD you need to buy a USB accessory or "network" to a desktop computer (implicitly your "real" or "regular" computer). These impracticalities fairly ensure that looks-oriented people will carry the Air as more a fashion accessory or a toy -- never for serious number crunching.
The price of $1800 puts MacBook Air in the province of MacBook Pro, and I don't have to say which is more for the money. If MacBook Air would roughly cut its price in half, I'd find it appealing for all its superficial cuteness. At $1800, it's a toy that I can't well afford. I'll qualify all this to say that I've been wrong on this before, even with an Apple product. I couldn't imagine that people would pay almost as much for a color iPod mini as they would for a black model with twice the memory. Dumb, silly, pretty Apple customers! They flocked to the color iPod mini. I'm an overall Apple fan (silly & pretty at that), so more power to them if they find a willing market for this pricy toy.
© 2008 blogSpotter
Labels: Technology
posted by blogspotter @ 10:40 AM
4 Comments:
> The MacBook Air has a sealed,
> nonreplaceable battery that pretty much
> forces you to take it in for factory
> service if you need a new battery.
SOP for today's Apple. Sacrifice usability for the superficial.
Sounds like the Air's main competetion isn't a dell laptop (has DVD, big HDs, etc...) but may be the CloudBook or the EEE PC. At $300-$400, either of these should be way more affordable. But never underestimate the mindless dedication of the MacFanBoyz.
iwanttokeepanon -- you have your picture on the post. Now I know who it is! :-) (already did)
I'd get something that's purely a groovy looking toy if they'd sell it for a groovy $600.
One can only hope they do as they did w/ iPhone and drastically cut the price.
blogSpotter
Apple used to be a great company.
Sadly, they lost their way in 1984.
The Apple ][+ had a case that opened up easily, sealed only with 2 velcro-like strips. It's manuals included a full electronic schematic, full electrical specs on the various interfaces and a source-level ROM listing.
The original Macs had sealed cases with warnings that opening them voided your warranty, minimal documentation and the only programmer documentation an expensive set of add-on, disorganized "Programmer's Notes." Even a reset button, excuse me, "Programmer's Switch," was an add-on option.
Is anyone *really* surprised flash over substance to the point of soldered-in batteries was where this was eventually leading??
Apple died when Woz left.
Gee, blogspotter, didn't know you were such a big fan of thunderbirds. was there a computer in this article? ;-)
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