Morning-After Reaction to MacBook Air: G4 Cube Again?
January 16th, 2008 (7:21am) Judi Sohn 24 Comments
You remember the G4 Cube, right? Introduced to initial “oohs” and “aahs” in 2000, it was discontinued a year later. Why did it fail? Not because of its cutting edge design. While the faithful were impressed with its innovative footprint and technological advances that were way ahead of its time, few were willing to put their money on the table for it. It’s one thing to admire a product, it’s another to actually use it.
Ultimately, launched soon after Apple went through the trouble of paring down their product line into distinct home and professional product lines, the G4 Cube didn’t fit. It was too expensive for the home user, yet underpowered for the power user.
Sadly, it appears that the new MacBook Air may be destined for the same fate.
Initial reaction has been harsh. How much are we willing to give up for knock-your-socks-off design? Apple wants to find out. Yes, we all wanted a lighter portable from Apple. But the super thin design, multi-touch trackpad and too-cool-for-words remote CD feature do not make up for the exteme price (starting at $1,800), large footprint (even an ultra-thin, light one), no user upgradeable parts (including the battery), small & slow hard drive, 2 GB RAM ceiling and one measly USB port.
Is it for the casual user? Not at that price point. Is it for the power user? Not with those specs. Devoted Apple fans with a lot of disposable income and patience? Maybe.
What do you think? Are you with the nay-sayers or have you hit the pre-order button already?
24 Comments Post your own comment
Matt says: January 16th, 2008 7:56am
I think your logic is flawed. First, compared to other machines in the same profile, the MacBook Air is priced appropriately. Regarding the user upgradable parts, when was the last time your had to change your battery? Seriously? For the small and slow hard drive, what are the other systems using? Pretty much the same thing. Ram, 2 gigs is the sweet spot right now and they hit it.
The ultra-portability of this machine will make it attractive to those who want a slim, sexy machine that IS capable of handling all of their needs including what we do for a living (Design, etc.)
RIch says: January 16th, 2008 8:04am
I was hoping for a powerful replacement for my old beloved 12″ PowerBook, but after using a 15″ MacBook Pro I can’t see downgrading to this. The only good thing is the SSD option, which starts at $3100.
I will, however, be getting an iPhone now that the Air isn’t what I hoped for. And a Time Capsule.
Rik Catlow says: January 16th, 2008 8:09am
I totally agree. It’s like a concept car, but car manufacturers usually don’t build and sell their concepts
Hans says: January 16th, 2008 8:10am
I’d have to agree with Matt. The ultra-portable market was never very big and people pay to get that amount of portability, even with all of the trade-offs.
I see Apple using this product as a means of testing out some new features (gestures, integrated battery are examples) while pushing the boundary of what people expect in a laptop. Remember that products are usually built with a specific type of use in mind.
In this case, I think Apple is also pushing the industry to forego physical media in favour of getting things off of the network/Internet and wireless.
For me, while I’d love one of these, it just doesn’t fit my budget at the moment. If it came with a larger HD/storage, I’d probably go for it. My problem is that my music/video collection is approaching 60GB and I plan to have only one computer. If I had a desktop, I’d probably go for the Air as a 2nd/portable option. Looks like I’ll be settling for the Macbook.
Judi Sohn says: January 16th, 2008 8:13am
@Matt, when was the last time I changed the battery on my Apple laptop? Two weeks ago. My MacBook Pro is 14 months old and the battery died (not under recall, it just gave up the ghost and couldn’t hold a charge) and was replaced by Apple under warranty. I didn’t have to send my computer back or wait for an install while Apple shipped me the replacement.
I’m also not sure I agree that for design and serious daily use (especially if it includes Windows virtualization) 2 GB is enough RAM.
Darren Meyer says: January 16th, 2008 8:21am
I don’t think the $1800 price point is unreasonable for an EDC (Every-day carry) item to be that much thinner and lighter.
The deal-breaker for me is the non-replaceable battery. I don’t mind this in an iPod — primarily because I can live without my iPod for a few days if the battery is recalled or needs replacing.
But, in a notebook? I can’t live without my notebook for a week while Apple swaps the battery. Besides, non-replaceable batteries also means no spare batteries. Unless you want to fork over for an external battery, which is so cumbersome that it defeats the purpose of the Air to begin with…
Adam says: January 16th, 2008 8:24am
First off, the cube was cool. I know a guy who has one.
The AIR doesn’t appeal to anyone I’ve talked to, except, maybe my step-mom who needs a small, light computer to schlep with her when she’s traveling for business. (She’s got an old Sony ultra-portable right now that she’s using)
I wouldn’t want one because the specs suck and I’ve talked to a guy in radio/new media who doesn’t want one for lack of a firewire port (IOW: No plugging in a camcorder)
Mike K. says: January 16th, 2008 8:26am
Not to sound like an Apple fanboy, but have you looked at the price of a Sony subnotebook lately? Here in the great northern reaches of Canada, a Sony TZ-class subnotebook starts around $2200 CDN. Apple is selling the MacBook Air here for $1899. Seems like a win to me.
As for the battery - yeah, it sucks that it’s not user-replaceable … not because I expect them to fail and have to be replaced frequently, but because some people on the go want to carry a spare. If your battery actually needs to be replaced, most people (not us geeks, but the business execs that Apple is targeting) are going to go to their local store to buy a new one. Well, if that happens to be an Apple store, you can get it replaced there for no extra charge. I don’t see that as being a horrible problem.
Not to mention that if Apple replaces the batteries, Apple can control what happens to them - much greener that way and fewer batteries end up in the landfill.
About the onboard RAM: @Judi is right. 2 GB isn’t enough for design (but it’s definitely enough for virtualization use - I know, I have a 2 GB MBP and use Windows for 8 hours a day on it in VMware due to work). Again, Apple isn’t targeting these notebooks at their traditional audiences. These are designed to appeal to the road warrior business exec types. Let me tell you, the CTO at the university I work for is definitely going to pick one up, and he’s far from a MacHead.
These people run Office, email, calendaring and a few other apps. Apple’s recent popularity means that new markets are opening up to it, and the MacBook Air is an attempt to appeal to an entirely new group of customers. For a first try, it’s pretty good.
Logical Extremes says: January 16th, 2008 8:41am
Time will tell. The iMac wasn’t all that popular when it first came out, but look how that turned out. People have to realize that not every product is targeted at every user. And, as always, a year from now there will be a newer, faster, better version that will increase its appeal over whatever this one gets.
I have little use for any laptop at this point, needing instead a tower with lots of power, expandability, and a big monitor. An iPhone (or iPod Touch) suits my mobile needs. But in a prior life, this would have been great for getting stuff done on the road with a minimum of fuss and bulk.
Robert says: January 16th, 2008 10:23am
I keep hearing the excuse that this is meant for the “casual user” who just wants to browse the web and send e-mails, not people who edit photos.
I’m sorry, but for $1800, it BETTER be able to edit my photos and fetch my coffee. Especially given that that my main workhorse for photo editing and whatnot is a Dell Inspiron (you know, bottom of the line) that I just performed a RAM upgrade on.
The casual user can make do with a $299 Asus EeePc, which rather than fitting in a manilla envelope can be crammed into a coat pocket.
Coolest thing about the AIR: When all the downsides finally drive you insane, you can snap it over your knee.
Cathy Moore says: January 16th, 2008 11:31am
I currently use a Mac desktop and a Windows ultraportable, the discontinued Sharp MC4000. The Sharp is comparable in many ways to the MacBook Air, and I probably use it the way the Air is intended to be used: I take it to town so I can work in cafes, and I take it on business trips.
I mostly use my Sharp for word processing, blogging, and building a wiki–all pretty simple. If it were a Mac I’d use it to develop Flash in Keynote and might want PhotoShop as well, especially for trips that last weeks.
I think I connected the Sharp to Ethernet once. I use the optical drive occasionally to watch movies when I don’t feel like getting the TV out of the closet. I use one USB port occasionally, for my thumb drive. So by far the most important considerations in my laptop are weight, wifi reception, battery life, weight, sturdiness, and weight.
The MacBook Air is half a pound lighter than the Sharp and costs roughly the same. And it’s a Mac. I could do my Keynote development work away from home, and, very importantly, I could use Keynote for my on-the-road presentations.
I’m anticipating a three-week trip later this year and dread being stuck with Windows the whole time. While one of the cheap Linux-based sub-notebooks would be handy, I’ve already got an iPhone for basic email and surfing. Plus my need for Keynote is unlikely to go away soon. So a Mac ultra-portable has a niche.
I understand how techies would sneer at the Air, because it *is* feeble as computers go. However, as an ultraportable it really doesn’t seem that bad. I’ll be keeping an eye on it as my Sharp ages. I’ll be especially interested in its battery life.
Chris Browder says: January 16th, 2008 12:21pm
Hey now, 2GB is PLENTY of memory for Windows XP and OS X. How do I know? I’ve got 6 different folks with MacBooks and MacBook Pros with 2GB using 1GB for each OS. They’re not just using IE, either, they’re running expensive and resource hungry scientific apps. The irony is that under VM they’re doing more with “less” hardware than a dedicated 2GB Dell system with the same processor. I think the memory is on the money, honey.
It really is the design. Furthermore, it’s the world’s first usable solid-state laptop. Ive shown this thing to users and they all want one. It’s an IDEAL PowerPoint machine. One cord, thats all. It weighs 3 pounds (when you lug around scientific texts all day along with your laptop, pad and paper, etc — any weight savings is an important one).
I also agree on the battery. I’ve had my MacBook 2 years and I leave it plugged in more often than I should. No battery problems. If there is a problem, I am sure that Apple Retail Genius folk can replace it on-site while you wait like an iPhone battery (or thats how it should work…)
This is like owning a german car. You’re either going to hack it (self repair DIY) or take it back for maintenance (what apple expects /// arguably, the whole Macintosh line is/was designed around this concept).
So, really, I think after the Solid State model outsells the Hard Disk model (that’ll take over a year), then we’ll see what happens. Perhaps a 12″ all flash model is in the wings; they have to start somewhere. It took how many nanos to get flash ram this cheap for a laptop?
schellerscreen » Super Slim Me says: January 16th, 2008 12:34pm
[...] Edit 2: Regarding my Cube guess: wwd has got the same thought. [...]
rick gregory says: January 16th, 2008 12:44pm
Actually, the specs are fine for general use. No, you don’t want to do heavy video editing on it, but for web coding, general office/IM/web browsing and other similar functions it will be fine. After all, my Macbook Core Duo with 1gb is fine. Let’s get beyond the ‘everyone must have the hottest machine in the world’ stage, OK?
The failing of the Air is more obvious. Anyone who needed a reasonably light machine with good power but not cutting edge specs could have bought a Macbook (not the Pro, the regular ones). I’m typing this on one and it’s about 5 lbs and the battery has always lasted about 4 or 5 hours for me. Same size screen…. same basic specs. For several hundred dollars less. Now, I get that the Air is 2.5 lbs lighter… but really, how many people can carry 2.5lbs… but buckle under 5?
The issue for the Air is that anyone who has wanted a small, medium powered Macbook of reasonable weight has been able to get one for awhile. A few people who just have to have the ultracool design will ante up for this as might people who are thinking about the black Macbook ($1499 with 1G RAM) since the price difference is minimal at that point. And, really, that’s all the Air is… the new top of the Macbook line.
Dan Oblak - MacBigot.com says: January 16th, 2008 1:17pm
OK, first Apple got the world to ignore the handful of really well-implemented UMPC products out there (did you even KNOW that there are full-blown Windows PCs to be had for under $1000 that are nearly the size of the iPhone?)… not long after convincing users on the cheap that their 12″ Powerbooks and iBooks just weren’t, well, LARGE enough…
Enter the Apple MacBook (hot)Air. I was hoping for a return to smaller (not thinner). Smaller would have meant more portability, more computing availability (how many users NOW have their MacBooks or MacBook Pros with them ALL THE TIME?), more customers, more face-time with potential Mac fans among the unwashen Windows heathen, and perhaps trading in only a few pixels in screen real-estate to pull it off. Instead, we got an overpriced ‘concept car’ with the safety glass traded in for non-functional style.
Yes, I said it, non-functional style. What about it is ‘non-functional’, you ask? Let me turn that around to you with another question: What do you get for your ‘Air’ money that you don’t get for much less cash in the form of a current MacBook? That’s right — NOTHING.
If Apple wanted something truly marketable to their real audience (not the 6-figure executives who will be toting this ‘Queer Eye for a Straight OS’ Wilma-Deering-wanna-be), they would have rolled us a 10-inch diagonal screen with 1024×768 pixels, longer battery life than the ’standard’ MacBooks, an external ‘Air’-like optical drive, and a full complement of ports that don’t make me have to search around to figure out which Mag-Safe cord goes to which Mag-Safe computer.
I want something halfway between the current MacBook and the now-infamous OQO. If Apple isn’t going to be the one to deliver it to us, then I may end up tired enough to go try seeing what the Linspire folks have in the way of an Adobe Illustrator clone in their C-N-R (Click-N-Run) library.
Alex Martelli says: January 16th, 2008 1:45pm
I’ve ordered my MBA yesterday (entry-level: I decided I wouldn’t get sufficient benefits from faster CPU or SSD to justify their prices), mostly because it’s the _lightest_ machine I can buy to use Keynote on (other local apps are nice but I could get roughly equivalent ones for a Linux ultralight, but Keynote is the killer app for me, as IMHO it is for anybody whose career may live or die based on their presentations). My Asus eee serves me decently well (though 7″ is really too little screen — somewhere around 11″ might be the best compromise), but Impress and other presentation apps for it just can’t cut the mustard.
schwuk.com says: January 16th, 2008 1:54pm
Letting the air out of Air
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 24-odd hours, you will have heard about the new Macbook Air ultra-slim laptop from Apple. Since everyone else is talking about it, I thought I would join in the fun.
Cathy Moore says: January 16th, 2008 1:59pm
In response to people who say that the 5-pound MacBooks should be light enough: When I bought my 3.8-pound Sharp, I passed up the MacBooks precisely because of their weight. I had a 6-pound laptop at the time and after several hours of walking with that thing I hated it.
Here’s how it goes: You walk a mile or so to the metro. You stand on the platform waiting, then stand on the train for 20 minutes, then climb the stairs and walk another half mile or more. Then your next destination for the day is another walk, metro ride (hey, maybe you’ll get a seat this time!), more stairs, and another walk. And then there’s the trip home. Of course, you’re carrying a book and maybe other stuff as well, and you’re doing this every day. A 2-pound difference in laptop weight is a big difference.
TechTips says: January 16th, 2008 3:48pm
Apple’s new motto: Making already extremely expensive technology even easier to break. I’d be afraid I would lose it in between the ream of paper in my printer and end up printing out a beef stroganoff recipe on it. Seriously, I love small, thin, and light gagets, but only those I can afford to break if I look at it wrong.
Heavily Caffeinated – The Cube says: January 18th, 2008 10:10pm
[...] Prediction of sales numbers - when all is said and done, the MacBook Air will sell in numbers FAR closer to the 17-inch MacBook Pro than it will to the 15-incher or to the 13-inch MacBook. Such is the fate of niche products. [...]
dH says: January 19th, 2008 8:51am
Does anybody has noticed the MONO speaker? Yes, Macbook Air has only ONE, MONO speaker. Very sad. :/
Web Worker Daily » Archive The Shrinking Computer and the Web Worker « says: January 28th, 2008 11:02am
[...] just don’t cut the mustard for me (I’m on the side of those who find the Air to be too much of a compromise). This opens the question, though: what am I waiting for? If I think about my dream portable [...]
Caroline says: March 20th, 2008 11:03am
Does it Levitate?
Does it cause a craving for mustard?
Web Worker Daily » Archive SSDs Save Power - Right? « says: July 2nd, 2008 11:03am
[...] 2008 (11:00am) Mike Gunderloy No Comments One of the eye-catching things about the MacBook Air announcement was the availability of a solid-state drive (SSD) as a standard option, replacing the mechanical [...]