MacBook Air- You’re Darned Castrated!
One thing I wondered about MacBooks was that they liked omitting standard fare. The average PC comes with second mouse buttons, 1.44 drives and 28.8 modems. But with a Mac…? You get a single mouse button, no floppy and no modem. You want those, you pay extra.
Now, Steve Jobs releases the latest product in his arsenal, and woah… is it missing a grand deal. Check out what’s castrated from the MacBook Air:
Deprived RAM slots
Okay, so it’s got 2GB of RAM. That’s enough for half the population. But what about for graphic and sound manipulators like myself? I want… no, I need at least 4GB so I can edit 512MB sound clips while watching the latest episode of Battle Star at youtube. Since the MacBook Air can’t accommodate new chips, I doubt CAD, Audio and Video mavens would make it their toy of choice.
Wimpy Hard Drive
Okay, so the MacBook Air is the only unit to offer a 1.8″ hard disc- this keeps it nice and trim. But just 80GB??? Goodness, all my photos, videos and sound clips take 120GB! That’s not a whole lot of space to install apps or dual boot to Windoze Vista. Don’t you folks find it odd that the iPod Classic hefts around a 160GB disc while the $2000 MacBook Air doesn’t??
Invisible CD-Rom Drive
I like installing stuff. I also relish watching DVDs on my laptop on those longhaul trip. But the MacBook Air deprives me of this by leaving out the CD Rom drive. What where they thinking? That I’d download my tunes and videos solely from iTunes? Or perhaps they presume I prefer lugging around thumbdrives for all my digital knicknacks. Wait.Maybe they just want me to shell out $99 for an external Superdrive.
Monogamous
My core2duo PC has 4 USB ports. It flirts around with numerous USB devices simultaneously. Mouse? Check. Printer? Connected. Scanner? Humming away. Yep, ole PC likes to dance with lotsa ladies.
The Macbook took the Ten Commandments more seriously. It offers just one USB port. So that means it tangos with not more than one partner at a time. I never knew monogamy can be this infuriating.
So…. who’s got beef with the MacBook Air?
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Comment by Phil Benwell on 4 March 2008:
Hmmmm - I like the look of it and the advert but now I guess I’ll stick to my Toshiba.
Comment by James on 4 March 2008:
I think it is great for the right person who does very little of anything other than using microsoft office and searching the Internet. That’s just me though
Comment by Pete on 4 March 2008:
MacBook Air is a light-weight ultra-portable laptop. It’s not meant to be a desktop replacement. You seemed to have named a few things that’s really more so applicable for desktops, not ultra-portable machines. If you’re looking for all those things in the Mac line up, you’re looking for the wrong product — buy a MacBook or MacBook Pro instead
Comment by Forest Parks on 4 March 2008:
I think Apple are jumping the gun a little but are on to something.
Hopefully when the internet has developed enough we will be able to download movies, legally and cheaply in an instant so DVD’s will be reserved for home use mainly. Maybe we will be able to keep our DVDs in a juke box style computer and stream then to a macbook air any time anywhere.
Comment by Zath on 4 March 2008:
I think that Apple are focusing in on a very small niche market in terms of who actually needs a computer like this who will then buy it.
But I’m sure they will also sell many to those people who think it looks cool, but I wonder if deep down they will feel different once they actually start using it?
Comment by PS3 on 5 March 2008:
I agree with you to a point but what is the benefit of an ultra portable machine that lacks some key elements - it’s no good just looking the part.
80gb sounds a lot for a hard drive but soon gets swallowed up.
Not everyone has a laptop and desktop, some of us use on for both purposes.
Comment by keikun17 on 5 March 2008:
it even fails at being a paperweight
Comment by Anonymous on 5 March 2008:
It makes me absolutely sick to see people “want” to use Macbook Air for video editing and encoding, and then say it doesn’t have the power to do it.
Get this straight - MBA is for guys who want to use it as an ultraportable supplement to a desktop. It isn’t an Macbook Pro/iMac/Mac Pro replacement at any rate.
“I can’t store my vids and music” Oh my god….as if you’d hear all 120 gigs of it on the move (and the battery would last)
“I can’t edit vids of 512 MB” As if MBA was built for that. You have Mac Pro for that.
“No RAM slot” Gosh, criminal, isn’t it? FYI, 2GB is decent for the people who use MBA. We don’t run Final Cut Pro or whatever.
“It offers only 1 USB port” As if you plug 4 accessories (printer, scanner etc.) and lug all of them around when travelling with an MBA.
I could go on and on, but I guess you get the point.
Comment by Simon on 3 April 2008:
You can still buy a macbook or macbookpro. No FDD or 28Kmodem? Do your knuckles scrape on the floor when you walk?
I won’t be buying one, personally I’ll go for a slightly cheaper Macbook but I can see the appeal of the air and will admire them with my jaw dropping below my umbilicus.
Cheers!