What Does it Take to Separate You from Your Money for a Laptop?
January 25th, 2008 (6:00am) Judi Sohn 10 Comments
Weeks later, The MacBook Air debate is still going strong. Fans compare it to other high-end laptops and argue that the price is more than comparable for a laptop that is thinner than thin. Detractors lament the loss of hard drive space and optical drive, among other complaints. Bottom line question: “Is it worth it?” The answer depends on your definition of “it.”
As a web working Mac-loving road warrior, if you don’t care how thin your notebook is, then $1,800 seems like a ridiculous price to pay. If you need to squeeze every ounce of heft out of your portable’s profile and you can’t handle a cramped keyboard and undersized display, then $1,800 is nuthin’.
But fear not Apple, the tech-loving web worker can be bought. If it’s not for a notebook that can fit in a manila envelope, what would get you to race for the credit card?
Here’s what might make me rationalize underfeeding my children for a while to purchase:
Cutting-edge power: Not speed or performance, I’m talking the AC/DC kind of power. When I was a smoker 15 years ago, I measured time by how long until the next cigarette. Now I measure time by how many minutes my MacBook Pro has between charges. Even with Wifi off, virtualization software safely stowed, and brightness all the way down it’s never enough. A battery that can do 5 hours is great until you need it for 5.5 hours.
With remote disk and cloud computing becoming reality, can we finally cut the last cord to the power adapter and the battery that drains at just the wrong time? Aren’t we tired of scoping the room for outlets? It’s time for Apple to put their engineers to the test and design a laptop that makes a non-replaceable battery a non-issue.
Spill-proof, smudge-proof & crumb-proof: How about the style of Apple combined with the durability of the Panasonic Toughbook line?
Think of the Southpaw: As a lefty, I mouse and trackpad with my left hand. I want control and option keys on the right side of the spacebar so I don’t have to perform finger gymnastics to use modifier keys.
If you’re a fan of mobile computing and the MacBook Air left you feeling underwhelmed, what would get you reaching for the wallet?
10 Comments Post your own comment
x_o says: January 25th, 2008 6:34am
for 1,800 i can get a bleeding edge tablet laptop that’s probably as good if not better than my desktop. Why would I spend it on a glorified thin client/status symbol?
Reuven Cohen, CTO Enomaly says: January 25th, 2008 7:07am
OS x is the only reason I can see to get this lappy. Seems kind of over priced and under spec’d
Mike Panic says: January 25th, 2008 8:39am
How about a non-porous plastic so that my now 4 month old white macbook doesn’t look like I peed on it where the palms of my hand sit? Even on the black ones the hand rests turn to gray fairly fast. How about a case surface that doesn’t scratch when it comes in contact with a sheet of paper or anything else? Seriously, I take pretty good care of my Macbook but the bottom and top of the case already look like they’ve been scratched to death and through a war.
ben says: January 25th, 2008 9:06am
All of my thoughts about the Mac, I’ve already put down: Reflections on a month of MacBook experience.
I’m thinking about going all-notebook if I can keep my revenue on track. The particulars of my workspace make that an attractive route to travel. However, if I was to stick with keeping a desktop rig at hand, my purchasing criteria would be ranked in the following order:
…Low cost sticker price, or affordable service plan that activates for spills, etc. Sorry, boys and girls, but computers are commodity items. This is no less true for notebooks.
..Weighs 5# or less. It’s designed to be portable, not just small.
…Give me the resources I need to do my job - and don’t stick a huge price premium on better specs than that. (This is why the Eee isn’t even on my radar.) The good news here is that because I’m a Web guy, the most demanding application I’ll run will be Photoshop.
rick says: January 25th, 2008 11:46am
Sigh. People just do NOT get the Air.
The $1800 is for the thinness and the very light weight. If you value those things highly, then you have to be willing to trade off some things - it’s not reasonable at the current state of the art to demand a sub 3lb weight but insist on an optical drive or desktop performance. That would be nice, but we can’t do it given current technology.
So, *for people who value very light weight above all else* the Air is a great machine. Its specs will be fine for business/personal use that doesn’t include CPU intensive tasks or in some other way push the computer. Light web development, office suite apps, browsing mail etc. should be just fine. Heavy video editing? Probably not.
For people who need the ultimate in speed in a laptop should look at the Pro line.
People who are in the middle, wanting a smaller, lighter machine than the Pros but who still want an optical drive can get t he regular Macbooks - they’re not discontinued or anything.
In short - the Air is fine if it hits your hot buttons. If not, pick another Mac laptop.
Whew. Anyway, on topic. I’ll replace my macbook when I can get Pro power in the same 5lb 4-5hour battery life package. And I want full connectivity built-in - the Macbook has no card slot so there’s no way I can use EVDO or other cellular connections unless I use Bluetooth to connect to my cell phone as a modem. If it’s supported by my providers I want to be able to flip open the laptop and be online from anywhere without hassle.
Rich says: January 25th, 2008 12:09pm
Weight and a small footprint are good design goals for a laptop. Thickness is not. Trying to make a laptop thin, at the expence on everything else makes the Air a nice looking but rather pointless laptop.
Dan Oblak - MacBigot.com says: January 25th, 2008 12:18pm
Still mad that Steve didn’t consult me first, before the ‘five years of development’ that went into the MacBook Air. Personally, I don’t care about ‘thin’ as much as ’smaller’.
I want 10″ or LESS, at least 1024×768 pixels, EASIER TO PACK/TOTE/WHIP OUT, not just ‘easier to hide in an envelope’ [a la the MacBook (hot)Air...]. See subnotebooks by Fujitsu, and see how far behind Apple has fallen.
Now am carrying the smallest machine they make, and it’s a bit of a step rearward in evolution from the 12″ PowerBook — and am seriously considering switching from MacOS to Linux to get a usable subnotebook.
Jacques Snyman for SEO Results says: January 26th, 2008 10:33am
The debate will continue ad nauseum, but the bottom line is that the macbook is a high end accessory that is pricey indeed. With intel innards it somehow seems less aspirational and I personally will always go for an HP laptop and pocket change.
Leonid Mamchenkov says: January 26th, 2008 2:56pm
I am pretty satisfied with my HP nx6110. It’s fast enough for my web work and does whatever I need it too in less than reasonable time. It doesn’t have too long of a battery life, but I don’t mind it since I am moving from one civilized place to another (I live in a small country)…
But, if there was one thing that I wish I had more of on this laptop, it’d be screen resolution. Yes. I get the maximum of 1024×768 which is somewhat less than I want. Virtual desktops help, but I’d like to have my browser window 1024 pixels wide with some space on the side of it for other stuff (sidebars, widgets, IM chats, etc).
iphone man says: January 29th, 2008 9:39pm
I ordered a MacBook Air, I think I’m going to love it. I understand its slower than a MacBook Pro. And I understand that the battery could (in some cases) take like 8 hours to charge. But all in all, I think the thinness is going to do the trick for me.