Filed under: Macworld, Podcasts, MacBook Air
Macbook Air: The downside
The Macbook Air is only a couple of hours old (to you and me, at least), and only a handful of people have even seen one, so let's pick apart its flaws! Just kidding. This post is meant to point out certain aspects of the little machine that may not be immediately obvious.- No user-replacable battery. Not the end of the world, for sure, but a nuisance, especially as your battery's life drops to four hours, then three, then ... (but that's a few years away, right?). Shades of the user-inaccessible iPhone battery commotion here.
- Recessed USB slot will hinder certain peripherals. Prepare for a cottage industry of adapters to appear (much like those for the iPhone's headphone jack). Plus, there's only one -- expect small, streamlined & white USB hubs to appear soon.
- No Firewire port. Forget uploading digital video from a camera, or using those spiffy Firewire external hard drives.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Ben McGann said 3:19PM on 1-15-2008
MacBook Air is the Cube for 2008. An overpriced niche device.
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Travis Bell said 3:34PM on 1-15-2008
I actually disagree. I know 4 people who have already pre-ordered one. You know why? Because they have a full sized desktop at home but want something that small and easy to travel with but that is still powerful enough to get them through 80% of their computing needs. The MacBook Air is perfect for that.
My 4 friends can't be that unique...
Tony said 7:27PM on 1-15-2008
I agree with Travis.
Too many people are looking at this from the wrong perspective. This isn't really *designed* to be a primary machine. If you want a notebook as a primary machine, then look at the Macbook or Macbook Pro. But don't bitch and moan about the Air just because it's not what *you* want.
I have a MBP, and I would *love* to go smaller and lighter. I don't need any of the so-called "missing" features. I have a full sized 20" iMac as my primary computer. (Well, unless you count work, where I have a Mac Pro...)
The Air fits a niche quite nicely.
dashiel said 3:46PM on 1-15-2008
i disagree as well. the cube was hugely overpriced, offered very little beyond aesthetics and was not price competitive with the powermac g4.
the air services a very specific market segment and that's the business traveler. i used to do a lot of traveling for presentations and conferences - i'd never use this as my day-to-day machine, but were i still crossing the country every month i'd buy one in a heart-beat.
Grog said 4:09PM on 1-15-2008
OK, the Macbook Air could be handy for the on-the-move business traveler. But is it that much more desirable than the more powerful, more versatile Macbook that costs $600 less and is only slightly thicker/heavier? It's a beautiful system and makes me excited for the future of subnotebooks, but it's still far from the best choice.
Simon Arch said 6:20PM on 1-15-2008
It's pretty obvious this machine isn't "for" everyone. And that's FINE. It's not the Cube though. And really, the Cube only failed because Apple didn't have a specific target market. It would have made a brilliant office computer. At any rate, the MBA will be a great asset to anyone who travels a lot. And you know, just because you don't NEED a particular product doesn't mean you can't BUY it.
I'll be taking a pass on the MBA, but only because it doesn't suit my needs. It's slow, lacks a firewire port (which I require) and oh yeah, there's no NIC. Plus it's much more expensive than I could ever justify. If I'm spending that much money, I'll spend a few hundred more and get a MacBook Pro with a DVD burner AND a real video card. But that's ME.
ianlive said 7:45PM on 1-15-2008
Agreed, this is product serves a very specific market. Although it doesn't meet my needs, I like that Apple is once again doing things that PC manufacturer's just can't pull off. I was worried that the move to Intel meant that the Mac would just become a nicer, more aesthetic version of a PC (talking hardware only, nothing can touch OS X).
This represents Apple doing what other can't, yet..
I think it is a really slick looking laptop... on the outside. The keyboard looks horrid though. It's like meeting the best looking person you have ever seen and they open their mouth to a set of horrendous teeth! What is up with the black keys? It looks like they borrowed them from a Dell. Ouch!
Am I the only one on the keys?
Mysterius said 3:20PM on 1-15-2008
What about the lack of an optical drive?
Though I suppose that might be too obvious for TUAW, not everyone may think of that at first, being too engrossed in other features... ;)
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Kurt said 3:21PM on 1-15-2008
How hard would it have been to include builtin stereo speakers? I mean, come on. Monaural audio just won't cut it, especially if this is supposed to be a portable replacement to MB/MBPs.
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limpy said 3:25PM on 1-15-2008
wow, mono audio? maybe thats acceptable for the speaker... but for the audio out?! seriously?! i just lost wood.
Kurt said 3:28PM on 1-15-2008
It's stereo out, but only one builtin speaker.
limpy said 3:39PM on 1-15-2008
http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html
Audio
* Analog audio output/headphone out (minijack)
* Built-in mono speaker
* Built-in omnidirectional microphone
limpy said 3:42PM on 1-15-2008
oh. dang, im stupid. disregard. i somehow read 'analog' to mean 'mono'
crap, now i'm 'that guy'
russellh said 3:21PM on 1-15-2008
No express card slot
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Travis Bell said 3:31PM on 1-15-2008
No express slot? I've had a laptop for ~4 years and never used it even once. I didn't even realize they were still making laptops with them...
Kurt said 3:44PM on 1-15-2008
Express slots are nice when you've got a cellular modem.
James W said 9:19PM on 1-15-2008
Bingo. I use mine everytime I walk out of the house on the road. Tired of paying for hot spot access, and wanting access where hotspots simply don't exist, Express is the only way to use the new WAN cards.
This to me seriously cuts into it as a road warrior option.
benjikim said 3:21PM on 1-15-2008
the lack of an optical drive is a feature, not a drawback
most ultraportables have WLAN as an option, this does not.
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Fred said 3:24PM on 1-15-2008
No user-replaceable anything, folks. It is very nice looking, but I don't thin you can upgrade RAM either. The photos shown of the board looked like the RAM was soldered on to the board. It's very nice for what it is. If there is an upgrade path for RAM I might bite a little later down the road.
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required said 3:28PM on 1-15-2008
What about the name?
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