MacBook Air Sucks? Puuulease!
After its initial shine in the spotlight, the MacBook Air bashing began. It has been attacked from every angle. It’s expensive. The battery isn’t user-replaceable. It doesn’t have firewire. It doesn’t have ethernet. It doesn’t have an optical drive!
What everyone is missing in all this however, is that the people this notebook is targeted towards couldn’t care less about any of that stuff. Let me break it down for you right after the jump.
It’s expensive and the battery isn’t removable. Are we talking about the iPod and the iPhone again? Because those products are the same way, and they were complete disasters, right? And as for the people who like to bring an extra battery with them on trips, isn’t that defeating the exact purpose of an ultraportable computer?
It doesn’t have firewire. Firewire is now only common with video cameras and hard drives. The people with MacBook Airs aren’t buying them for video editing. And the consumer-level cheaper hard drives are nearly all USB.
It doesn’t have ethernet. WiFi is nearly ubiquitous. In the 5-6 years I’ve owned a Mac, I have never once accessed the internet via ethernet. Maybe some of you have, but the few people that need it can buy the dongle.
But seriously, optical drive?! This seems crazy at first. The true downside here is using discs on-the-go. All other burning and installing can be done on the reasonably priced external drive. The only real sacrifice is DVDs. People will have to think ahead and rip them with Handbrake. But in the grand scheme of things, think back. When was the last time you used your optical drive? When was the last time you used it away from home?
Overall the reason this product is getting bashed online is because it’s not meant for the intense Mac followers (read: fanboys). It’s slimmed down and streamlined for people who just want a computer to go online, write papers, and listen to music. It is also aimed squarely at business professionals. Today I heard a group of high school seniors talking about how perfect it would be for college next year.
It may not have all the features that everyone wants, and it may be a little expensive, but it’s damn slick and enough for most people. Sound familiar? Apple is shooting for another iPod star with this notebook.
TY
This was a great article..finally someone could speak up about it and put it in perspective. My initial thoughts were also HUH…no optical, no replaceble batteries, but then i thught about how many times i have used the drive + ethernet port. Almost never.
While I agree with this article to an extent…There is also this to consider
Couldn’t agree more, the bashers are completely missing the point. It’s an awesome ultra portable machine and the missing firewire, optical drive and ethernet? Really don’t use them enough, well done to Apple for having the guts to remove them.
But it is still pretty expensive… I need more money!
1. Slow hard drive (it’s only 4,500RPM)
2. The SSD is ridiculously expensive (which isn’t entirely Apple’s fault)
3. The battery not being replaceable is a huge mistake. Road warriors will burn through the “5 hour” battery life in a flash, and then what? …go find a power outlet for your “ultra portable” laptop? What a joke.
4. Shiny screen? enough said.
5. Limited to 2GB of RAM…that’s not enough RAM these days.
6. The processor is not that fast. Other ultra portables have faster processors in most cases.
7. 1 USB port …that’s ridiculous these days.
8. No optical? Yeah ok, we can live…but what if you need to install something “on the go” …you’re screwed.
All the MBA is is an overpriced piece of pretty looking metal. The Macbook Pro is a MUCH better deal for the price, and it’s not even that much larger. Apple messed up on this one big time. There is such a thing as functionality over form…Apple missed that memo.
exactly the points i’ve been making myself–i’m taking the MBA for what it is, not what it isn’t. couldn’t care less about what it’s lacking–i have all those on my main machine(s), which i can’t lug around as easily.
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@xxdesmus
1. Benchmarks have shown not much difference between 4,500, 5,400. You could always replace it.
2. Right.
3. Why not? Car adapter? 5 hours isn’t too bad considering the size.
4. The screen is said to be amazing by everyone who sees it.
5. It’s an ultra portable man! Since when is 2GB not enough?
6. This was a specially designed proc by Intel to reduce power usage and I would say it’s plenty fast for an ultra portable.
7. Okay I agree with you here. 2 would be the smart move.
8. There is an app that let’s you share an optical drive and it comes stock with the Air. You can buy an external drive from Apple! The drive is NOT an issue!
What about the enhancements guys!? A multi function trackpad is destined to be included in all notebooks from now on. That’s exciting. SSD hard disks! That is exciting too as we know the price will come down. Imagine no moving parts, ultra fast, and no more bad sectors and similar errors.
IT’S NOT AN ULTRA PORTABLE. An ultra portable is a Vaio X505. The MBAs footprint is BIGGER than a MB and close to a MBP. It is an ultra-flattened MB with half the components removed. I think the fat bezel around the screen is ugly and the swoopy design brings up disturbing associations with the 1st gen ibook…
More innovative for what it doesn’t have, it will be good to see some of the design elements be adopted in the next MBs and MBPs. when you consider you can have a MBP for $200 more, I think this will mostly fall into the “corporate toy” or “hipster bait” market segment.
WiFi is not ubiquitous. If you happen to be going into somebody else’s office alot, the chances of getting wifi there are often pretty slim.
Because of stronger security concerns, visitors are almost always limited to wires. Few offices will bother having a separate guest wireless access.
I am still wondering the exact target of the new MacBook air.
Sure, people might want it to use for college work, but surely the price puts it out of the reach of most students (in the UK it does).
I was expecting something more along the lines of the Asus EeePC from Apple this time. Macbook meets iPhone type of thing.
It’s a little gimmicky IMO.
While I’m likely to get a MBA, I don’t think that it’s perfect.
The lack of firewire bothers me because I have a pile of firewire external hard drives sitting at home, currently 1.5 TB of space. Having fast plug-in access to them would really be nice, instead of having to download over wifi on my home network.
I’m currently sitting in the W hotel in downtown San Francisco. There’s no wifi here, so I’m plugged in. It’s not uncommon for a hotel of this calibre to only have wired access, so it means that I’ve got yet another dongle to add to my bag of dongles. I’m also going to need to carry a small USB hub with me now, since it’s pretty common that I have my iPhone and a USB stick plugged into my laptop at the same time.
You just got it right. There will always be people questioning or bashing new developments. But in fact Apple clearly response to the market requirement and the electronical environment/life-style we are in. This is ideal as a 2nd computer for heavy travellers or as a first for fashion-followers that mainly do Internet/eMail.
Remember: To create something new, you need to destroy what exists. The market and not the bloggers will prove if this is top or flop.
i’ve never seen a company so scrutinized as apple is, especially considering it’s just a gadget company. hell, we don’t scrutinize defense companies, oil companies as much as we watch and criticize every apple move.
look back on macrumors.com at the old announcement when Apple converted to Intel processors. an overwhelming majority of apple fanboys and critics panned the move. i think i remember like 2000 or so people voted negative and like only 10% voted positive. just goes to show that fanboys on forums and blogs sometimes aren’t experts.
i don’t claim to be an expert and i don’t know if the MB Air will succeed or not. all i know is it’s nice looking and seems quite the feat of engineering. am i going to buy one? no. my macbook works fine. but i’m going to bet some people will buy it. not as many as the macbook, but still…
i’m also excited that technology (LED, miniaturization) from the MB Air will eventually trickle down into the rest of Apple products.
Some valid points, but you may want to re-think a bit in an “options” mindset. For example, it may be true that you don’t use your optical drive that often, but you still value the option of having it there, in case you want to watch something, no? Take that option away, and the value of the computer should drop.
Anyway, who cares who bitches and who doesn’t, the product is there, if you like it buy it if you don’t then don’t!
Here’s the thing. It’s too expensive for such a compromised machine. For $1800 you want a machine you can use as your primary system, but the MBA isn’t nearly as capable as a full-fledged MacBook, which is only slightly less portable but costs $600 less. And for a few hundred MORE, you get the 15″ MacBook Pro, complete with a larger screen, faster CPU and a slew of ports.
None of which is to say the MBA isn’t a useful system, or a worthy addition to the MacBook lineup. Just that it’s way overpriced for what you get. If nothing else, you now know what the next generation of MacBook Pros will look like.
So you’re saying it’s good, because it’s aimed at the same basic market as the Eee but at a vastly increased price (3-4x I think)?
For that to still be useful, it would need to do some pretty fancy syncing with my desktop. Otherwise I’ll just get an Eee (linux version), which will happily do web browsing, email and office type stuff.
Ubiquitous Wi-Fi? Wow, can I come and live on your planet?
I totally agree with you.
I think the MacBook Air is amazing, and does exactly what it should. So what if it doesn’t have EVERYTHING the MacBook or MacBook Pro have. It wasn’t designed to. It wasn’t made to do EVERYTHING, it was made for portability. And in that aspect, it is perfect.
And the 13.3″ screen is the perfect size. ANy smaller would annoy me. I have a 13.3″ MacBook now, and I think the screen size is perfect for just about everything I need to do.
It’s a very nice ultralight, full-function laptop for folks who travel business/first class (and thus don’t care too much about battery life). It was probably designed specifically for Steve Jobs
The way I look at it is that it’s targeted at folks who buy or are married to people who buy Louis Vuitton handbags. It’s an important chunk of Apple’s demographic, but not me.
That said, the vast majority of users will think hard about it, and either buy a MacBook (getting more functionality for less money) or a MacBook Pro (getting WAY more functionality for slightly more money).
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I don’t really see why everyone is so mad about the MacBook Air it isn’t really that bad! I’m not going to rewrite all of my thoughts so here: http://leon.freyermuth.com/2008/01/16/macbook-air-thoughts/
Or maybe you’re a Mac fanboy and can’t accept that they created a crap product.
It’s form over function. Well of course, that’s what you think when a computer is designed for mobility. We are talking about form here. But function is, almost, part of the form.
The screen is too big. Stevie claims that other companies compromising screen size is shit, but really, the only way to create a smaller computer is to slim the screen down. Sure, the MBA is thin. Sure, it’s more “mobile”. But does it make that much of a difference? No. For way less, you could get a full featured MacBook, that would only be a bit thicker and a tad heavier.
I have a feeling the MBA will be discontinued very shortly. I’ve seen ultra-mobile computers, but this thing is just thin. It’s hefty price and underfeatured specs just don’t cut it.
Lame product.
Everyone seems to bemoan the fact that it is less capable than the Macbook (and of course the MacBookPro) and miss the point that Apple are masters at extending their product lines without cannibalising them. They dont want customers for MacBookPro to choose Air – they want to grow their total market share by attracting new customers and reselling to existing customers of their desktop computers. If they make another MacBook equivalent then they are just consolidating existing market share – no net gain.
These are the target markets:
- Users of iMac and MacPro desktop systems who need to take a system on the road from time to time.
- ‘RoadWarrior’ types who mainly do email and web and value portability over raw power.
- Wealthy students.
Why is there no firewire? I suspect on purpose, do discourage the serious professional market from choosing this over a MacBookPro. They have extremely carefully positioned this to avoid overlap.
However if you are a MacPro using professional and you stop in Starbucks daily, or visit clients from time to time then “who ya going to call?”
I think it is an inspired (and yes brave) move by Apple into new markets, and as always there are a million less inspired voices out there saying it will fail because “I wont buy this”. Like we should care?
The Air is an expensive executive toy, full stop, and even then it has a problem — mono sound! What? I’m 66 and I can hardly remember mono! Anyone who is going to play with one of these things is going to regard stereo as the most basic of specifications.
But the fact is, that if the Air was a little smaller, perhaps with a 9″ wide screen it mioght be more useful.
The non-replaceable battery (and this goes for iPhones and iPods too) is an environmental disaster. It’s time Apple (and we) started thinking about these things. This is the kind of built-in obsolescence that the car industry went through in the 1950s and 1960s.
I wouldn’t buy any of these products.
cheers
geoff
I disagree with your overall assessment. While sleekness and the form factor may hint towards an iPod-like strategy, I believe that the two products cannot be compared because ultimately, MBA will be compared against its “junior” and “senior” siblings – the MB and the MBP.
Personally, I cannot really see whats the vision for this product. Who is it ultimately for? Not the students, not the pros for sure. Why should people on the road prefer a MBA to a MB when all that MBA functionally provides- and more- is available on the MB ? Will just the form factor of the MBA suffice to convince people that the $700 price diff is worth it?
Time will have the final say on the fate of the MBA but I for sure will not be lining up to buy the MBA (as I did for the iPod Mini/Nano/Touch and the iPhone
)
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why your article sucks:
you are leaving out other obvious flaws such as fixed ram and mono speakers. It also has a 1.8″ HD which spins about 4200 rpm which is crazy slow for such an overpriced piece of crap. Once over it had a very slow processor.
Another problem … the door to the usb causes problem for bigger devices to fit
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/24/adding-insult-to-injury-usb-3g-modems-wont-fit-in-the-macbo/
True, you could get an extension usb cable – but like you said Will Holmes, “isn't that defeating the exact purpose of an ultraportable computer?”
Wi-fi isn’t guaranteed because of secure spots, and when you tap into other network without intended permission, isn’t that illegal?
Great article! Here’s my two cents on the comments:
If you don’t travel on a daily or weekly basis, the mba is not for you. Get a mbpro or straight mb.
The mba, like all sub-notebooks, is not meant to be a primary machine. They’re convenience items for travelers. Get over it.
Is it expensive? Hardly. If you think it costs too much, then again you are not the target customer. Get over it.
Sorry if that makes me sound like a jerk. Get over it.
I happen to have a mbpro and I’m adding a mba to my stack. It’s not that the mbpro is heavy or anything, but it is an extra bag I’ve got to take along. On most business trips, I don’t need the full power (or the distraction) that comes with having my main machine on hand. That said, I still might have some time for a bit of writing, email, and of course surfing the net. Why load myself down with all that other garbage? Especially when I go overseas.
Again, if that kind of comment bothers you, you are not the target consumer of the mba. Get over it.
My only complaint about the design is the power adapter. I _love_ that it’s smaller (wish it were even smaller) but the location is probably going to be a real frustration at times. Guess I’ll have to get over it.
Engadget has a solid out of the box review with lots of pics.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/macbook-air-review/
“…is that the people this notebook is targeted towards couldn't care less about any of that stuff.”
Exactly. I’m sure all the semi-retarded, fashion-accessory electronics buying hipsters and fanboys will be very satisfied with it.
The MacBook Air sucks. They slimmed the laptop down qhich is cool but sacrificed important features in the process.
No ExpressCard slot, no easy way to use EVDO = FAIL. I would’ve bought one in a second if it had ExpressCard. I can’t believe Apple messed this one up so bad. After prematurely switching to ExpressCard and forcing me to update my 3G cell hardware to work with my MBP’s – they drop it on the ultra portable, absolutely inexcusable.
my god all of you who are in favor of the air you’re all retarded and obviously know nothing whatsoever about what a quality computer is. I hope your stupid little macbook airs break when you accidentally step on them 3 hours after you get them.
Anyone who believes this is a GOOD computer needs to break the mac addiction. the Li-poly battery will on last like 2 years which doesnt matter because all the points you made in this post are AGAINST the macbook
There is no recording input so musicians arent the demographic
There is no firewire so moviemakers arent in this slot
There is no optical drive so people who like to play games r anything are not the demographic
There is no replaceable battery so road warriors wont use it
There is no minidvi out so presentations are impossible
THERS NO ETHERNET? is THAT REALLY OBSOLETE? wifi is NOT faster or “ubiquitous”
the processor is outdated, the SSD is 1000 dollars its expensive.
Dont be a brainless fanboy, buy an Asus EEE-pc and use that, hell you guys all on the macbook anyway why downgrade?
If you’re having problems “lugging” around a 5lb laptop, and need to opt for one that’s 2lbs less, you have serious health issues.
“You’d think it uses so little material it would cost less…” LOL
…Quotation from the best review of the MacBook Air yet:
Unboxing of the Stupid MacBook Air
$1000.00 of the price of any Mac is for shipping it out of China. Cult leader Steve Jobs outsources the building of Mac laptops to the Chinese in Shanghai, thus taking jobs away from Americans, and making us pay the freight. I worked for Apple for a year and 3 months, and quit. I could not stand the arrogance
The most in-depth and intelligent review of the MacBook Air I've come across so far:
http://www.macworld.com/article/131864/2008/01/macbookair.html
Why now just get a macbook pro
I agree with Bruce A the price outweighs what you get, if you want portability close to this you might as well get a fujitsu 8″ laptop with a 60gig SSD or a macbook you get more out of it, for less money and it does the same things, are that many people really willing to just throw 1900$+ to get a super slim laptop that doesn’t do more than basic functions like word processing and internet? Maybe. Some people find it cool, as a university student myself its a waste of money, but even for a business man it would be a waste of money i mean seriously whats the use of it? Its like going to an ivy league school the reason they’re so “good” is cause they turn a lot of people down and charge incredible amounts of money for tuition to make themselves look good and give themselves an inflated view of themselves lol (not all ivy league universities but most).
its not that ultra portable
if you are looking for that get a netbook for 1000 dollars cheeper
its just a fad, and yes it does suck
You actually nailed the reason why this laptop isn’t worth the aluminum its unibody chassis is milled from, though you didn’t realize it.
Here it is: “It's slimmed down and streamlined for people who just want a computer to go online, write papers, and listen to music.”
This is all well and good, but there’s something you didn’t realize. This is the definition of a NETBOOK. Like the Air, netbooks have limited power, limited ports, and happen to be slim and light. Unlike the Air, they generally cost a whole lot less than full featured laptops.
Apple made a netbook, but they charge $1400 for it. Don’t buy the Air. Instead of buying air, just buy wind. The MSI Wind. It’ll get you online, let you watch movies, listen to music, everything the Air will do, but it costs $3500$450 instead of $1400. Plus, for you mac fanboys, you can install and run OSX on it just fine. Oh, and it’s got ports. VGA out, three USB ports, mic, headphones, and ethernet, though it’s true I’ve never used the ethernet port. But I can plug in my wireless logitech and leave the tiny transmitter there and not lose all available USB ports. (In case, you know, I might want to use a wireless mouse and, say, an external drive or USB thumbdrive, all very common peripherals.)
Just saying, this one’s a fail. If you need a mac, there are other macbooks that cost less, are more powerful, have all the ports you need, and are almost as thin. And they look better, too. Plus, they’re nice and flat, so when they’re obsolete, you can use them to make sandwiches on, or as a cutting board or something.
Oops, that was $350-$450, on the price of the MSI Wind. Also, I would say to look to newer models, as they have greatly improved battery life than the version I have.
And the stupid hinge breaks off, for NO reason! The plastic casing just cracks as the metal hinge breaks through. Dumb, dumb design and Apple won’t own it!
um…..if you want a laptop to do what you say the macbook is designed for, grab an eee (i like the 900 ha personally) its like 2 or 3 hundred dollars, and it doesnt suck….i mean it is better than the macbook crap…i mean air
it has multiple usb ports, ethernet, vga out, 160GB hdd, wireless internet, replacable battery, smaller form facter for portability, and more
this simply means that apple created another trash.. (doh)
I’ve got to admit this, the MACBOOK AIR F****** SUCKS.
And I know, because I own one.
>.<
Just get a netbook for a fraction of the price. You must be crazy to purchase this.
So I’m going to buy something which costs six netbooks (@300), then have to buy additional hardware which costs another netbook just to gain the functionality of a normal laptop which has the same dimensions as Mac Air.
And then have it frequently break from overhearing and such without any way to fix it myself, so I have to take it into a repair shop to have it fixed for the price of another two netbooks
News flash: The only advantage this laptop has is being thin, it’s still pretty large diagonally so you can’t store it anywhere compared to an Asus EEE
Why don’t I just buy NINE Asus EEE netbooks and spare myself the trouble?
(Seriously, NINE, I’ve done the math)
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[...] told that if you don’t like it, you’re obviously missing something: “It’s aimed at a different market!” Which market is that.. more money than [...]
I completely agree with this article macbook air sucks
no ethernet,1 usb port,non removable battery–What the F**k yaar?