Apple Announces MacBook Air

Apple made four announcements at MacWorld Expo: the new MacBook Air, new features for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and movie rentals via iTunes from a TV without a computer involved. The new portable gets most of the attention. It is 0.76" thick at the thickest part, tapering to 0.16". It weighs 3 pounds and has a 13.3" screen and full-size, backlit keyboard. Its Intel chip is the diameter of a dime and the thickness of a nickel. The MacBook Air will cost $1799 and up. Its storage is either 80 GB disk or 64 GB solid-state drive. 2 GB of memory. It has no optical drive (an external one is available for $99) and features a way to wirelessly use the optical drive of any nearby Mac or PC with the proper software installed.

But....

[bherman]

does it blend?

Wot no optical drive?

[Bertie]

But how am I going to watch movies?

What's that? I can rent them from Apple, you say? What a coincidence!

Remember, kids, it's not lock-in, it's Steve Jobs holding you nice and safe in his loving arms...

Hot Air

[Philotic]

While the Macbook Air does not come with an optical drive, it does come with a canister of compressed breath of Steve.

Re:Wot no optical drive?

[MoneyT]

Your movies aren't already ripped into 20 different formats and stored on your in home wireless server? Then what the hell are you doing playing on slashdot, get moving man!

Re:But....

[flitty]

Buy me one, Mail it to me in a Manilla envelope, and i'll "find out" for you.

Re:A grand for a 64G SSD drive?

[Otter Escaping North]

64GB Solid State Drive [Add $999]

You think that's bad? Wait till you see the price difference when they offer it in black.

Apple releases MacBook Air

[Anonymous Coward]

No optical drive. Smaller hard drive than a VAIO. Lame.

Re:Expensive

[tuxic]

Good things cost money. Deal with it ;-)
(+3 Funny anyone?)

Sweet.

[Rob T Firefly]

and features a way to wirelessly use the optical drive of any nearby Mac or PC with the proper software installed.

And here I was thinking wardriving, bluejacking, and so on was just starting to get boring. Off to the coffee shop to watch some DVDs! I hope someone's got "The Simpsons" loaded in...

Re:I'm underwhelmed

[oahazmatt]

I just don't share Steve's obsession with thin.

Thin? I'm just happy he appears to be over that whole "cube" fetish. I was worried we were two years away from an iBook the size of a milk crate.

For That Price

[N8F8]

It better include a iHandjob!

Re:But....

[worryrock07]

Air smoke. Don't breathe this.

apple why the lack of updates for you other hardwa

[Joe The Dragon]

apple why the lack of updates for you other hardware?

like the lack of a macbook pro update, macbook, imca, adc, and mini updates?

The mini is 161 days old and that was just a core 2 cpu drop in update it still has the real old gma 950 video and only 1gb of ram at the same price point.

The imacs are 161 days old as well and they have a weaker video card then the older a bigger imac before them.

The macbook pro is 224 days old.

also where is the xmac?

the mac pro starts at $2700 now but you can cut $500 by going down to 1 cpu.

$2200 for 1 quad core with 2gb of ram and ati 2600xt is better then the older mac pro but what about people who need a good desktop at $600+ and $1000 - $2000?

The Imac screen is not good for pro work and the mini is over priced and underpowered for it as well.

are you waiting for 10.5.2 with amd chipset drivers?
http://www.mac4ever.com/news/34085/amd_dans_leopard_10_5_2/ [mac4ever.com]
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.mac4ever.com/news/34085/amd_dans_leopard_10_5_2/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D10.5.2%2Bapple%2Bamd%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DzNW%26sa%3DN [google.com]

Re:"Integrated Battery"

[MightyYar]

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

Re:"Integrated Battery"

[dmccarty]

No way to take it out at security check points (or if it catches fire)?
.

As opposed to those videos you saw where someone walked up and pulled out their exploding battery after it caught fire?

Re:But....

[LetterRip]

does it blend?

Yeah Blender works just fine on OS X Leopard, thanks for asking though :)

LetterRip

Re:But....

[bherman]

If I had not commented, you sir would get +1 funny from me.

Re:"Integrated Battery"

[kanweg]

It is 5 hours with wireless on. The stewardess won't smile at you when you leave that on. You, however, will have more time to waste your time looking at the screen instead of the stewardess.

Bert

Re:Expensive

[EastCoastSurfer]

Apple removed many of the parts from a normal laptop computer and are now going to charge more for it. Genius I tell you!

Re:Laugh

[flitty]

Wait, we ARE talking about Macs, right?

Re:Expensive

[blowdart]

Apple is using the lingerie model : pay more for a lot less, but it looks sexier.

Re:For That Price

[jollyreaper]

It better include a iHandjob!

We don't have time for Starbucks right now.

Re:"Integrated Battery"

[real gumby]

Dude, stop thinking of the battery as a consumable and start thinking of the whole the mac book air is a disposable item, like a disposable razor. When the battery is fried, just toss the MBA in the trash at the airport and buy another one from the vending machine just past gate 5 next to the first class lounge.

Look, you heard it from the guy from Fox: "we always wanted rental movies online and consumers did too." You aren't a user any more, you're a "consumer" so start consuming!

Replacable battery jeez. Get with the modern world! Next you'll want to install your own apps!

-g

(I love that it's called an "MBA" -- that's the target market!)

Re:Expensive

[Mister Whirly]

"IMHO I don't fully understand the hype that's behind the Air. It's not nearly as revolutionary as people are suggesting."

Maybe Apple should have named it the Macbook HotAir?

Re:WTF?

[BlueStraggler]

My grandma, for example, has an all-in-one iMac... with an external modem, an external floppy disk drive, and a hub...

I guess the hub must be for her dot-matrix printer.

Re:WTF?

[hawks5999]

No ethernet port, only ONE usb2 port, no microphone jack?

AND WHERE'S MY ISA SLOT????

Re:WTF?

[justkeeper]

No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.

Re:Expensive

[Smackheid]

The performance difference was negligible, but the Adaptec controller was £48, the 'generic' was £12.

Yeah, but the £48 one probably had one of the following in addition to the part:

• -Several 'home editions' or otherwise crippled versions of good software AND an AOL CD or
• -Several CDs full of useless and outdated manuals, drivers, etc. which also happens to include a copy of Acrobat reader 5 or
• -A shitty game, even by the standards of 5 years ago AND a Netzero CD

All in all, no matter which, well worth the extra £36 IMO

Re:WTF?

[Toonol]

Hmmm... I think you're the worst person I've encountered on the internet in several days.

I wonder when the MacBook Vapor is coming out...

[turing_m]

It's 0.1 inches thick, can be folded up to fit in a standard envelope, sports a 2 terabyte SSD and 8 cores, all while sipping only 3.5 Watts of juice. As a nod to Greenpeace, it is not only biodegradable, it is also edible. Early beta testers describe it as having a "cool mint" flavor, and there are reports of a "zesty orange" version in the works.

To enhance morale, at Apple there are gigantic posters of Steve Jobs fixing employees with what can only be described as a "level stare".

Re:A grand for a 64G SSD drive?

[dtfarmer]

Or buy two 32GB drives from the same store for $400 each. Plus you lose the hard drive.

Nice, you can even duct tape the second one to the macbook air and pretend you have a 64GB SSD inside... pure genius!

Re:WTF?

[bhtooefr]

It's not a real Apple if it doesn't have eight slots. :P