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MacBook Air - Page 9

post #121 of 414
1/18/08 at 12:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Edwood View Post
Pretty much the Macbook Air is for anyone that is willing to sacrifice all other functionalities for the sake of having the thinnest laptop in town, so they can look extra hip at Starbucks.

The non-removeable battery is going to be the Achilles heel of the Macbook Air. If it had a removeable battery it would be a much better product that would sell a lot more, but Apple seems to like to stick to having a small market share in the computer market. They'll carve out a nice niche within a niche here.

The Macbook Air is pretty much full of Hot Air for the rest of the world.

-Ed
The battery is $129 to replace. The inconvenience is having to send to Apple to do the replacement. We brought my daughters macbook to an Apple store for repair. It went out Monday and was back Wed. My Vaio SZ series battery is around $100 to $120. It will get here in 2 or 3 days. Not much of a difference. I'm an attorney and have to carry a lot of paper when I travel. Fitting in the computer (the sz is pretty thin) can be an issue. I rarely need to use a cd drive. The MBA would be a great computer for my situation. If I need an optical drive I spend $100 or just use another computers drive wirelessly. Not a big deal. For me a 13" screen is perfect for all around use. One usb not a problem. That is used for the Pico and if I want to use a mouse I go with a bluetooth one like I use with my mac mini. So you may think it's hot air but there are plenty of others, like me who would disagree.
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post #122 of 414
1/18/08 at 12:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tyrion View Post
It went out Monday and was back Wed. My Vaio SZ series battery is around $100 to $120. It will get here in 2 or 3 days. Not much of a difference.
Except you can swap the battery at will
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post #123 of 414
1/18/08 at 1:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tyrion View Post
The battery is $129 to replace. The inconvenience is having to send to Apple to do the replacement. We brought my daughters macbook to an Apple store for repair. It went out Monday and was back Wed. My Vaio SZ series battery is around $100 to $120. It will get here in 2 or 3 days. Not much of a difference. I'm an attorney and have to carry a lot of paper when I travel. Fitting in the computer (the sz is pretty thin) can be an issue. I rarely need to use a cd drive. The MBA would be a great computer for my situation. If I need an optical drive I spend $100 or just use another computers drive wirelessly. Not a big deal. For me a 13" screen is perfect for all around use. One usb not a problem. That is used for the Pico and if I want to use a mouse I go with a bluetooth one like I use with my mac mini. So you may think it's hot air but there are plenty of others, like me who would disagree.
I'm talking about having to option to carry a spare battery. There will be plenty of people that aren't willing to deal with running out of battery power when travelling and not having any option to swap the battery on the spot. Of course hipsters will only be travelling by first class only, or a private jet, and be able to plug in their AC adapter, right?

-Ed
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post #124 of 414
1/18/08 at 1:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Edwood View Post
I'm talking about having to option to carry a spare battery. There will be plenty of people that aren't willing to deal with running out of battery power when travelling and not having any option to swap the battery on the spot. Of course hipsters will only be travelling by first class only, or a private jet, and be able to plug in their AC adapter, right?

-Ed
First class, private jet? Not this hipster. I can see where that could be an issue. It hasn't been for me but I can see where it could be for others.
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post #125 of 414
1/18/08 at 1:15am
5 hrs is a pretty good reserve. More than 5 hrs, take a nap on the flight. I'm the only person I know who has multiple laptop batteries.
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post #126 of 414
1/18/08 at 1:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by grawk View Post
5 hrs is a pretty good reserve. More than 5 hrs, take a nap on the flight. I'm the only person I know who has multiple laptop batteries.
If it truly has 5 hours then it beats any notebook I've use by 2 or 3 hours. If I can get my daughters macbook to run my office software, then the MBA may be my next comp. I just need one of the associates notebooks to die or hire another one so I can pass mine vaio down.
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post #127 of 414
1/18/08 at 2:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by grawk View Post
Here's the thing:

You want a cheap laptop: Apple MacBook
You want a thin laptop: MacBook Air
You want a desktop replacement: Macbook Pro
You want a remote video editing monster: MacBook Pro 17"
You want a laptop with no moving parts: MacBook Air w/ SSD Drive

Very true. Except you forgot one thing:

You want a good laptop: IBM Thinkpad

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post #128 of 414
1/18/08 at 2:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Computerpro3 View Post
Very true. Except you forgot one thing:

You want a good laptop: IBM Thinkpad
I work for ibm. I get huge discounts on thinkpads. I buy macbooks.
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post #129 of 414
1/18/08 at 2:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by grawk View Post
I work for ibm. I get huge discounts on thinkpads. I buy macbooks.
No wonder you dislike Windows Mobile - it's made by microsoft

I do admit though, I think the design of the MacBook Air is stunning. I really admire what Apple has done with nearly everything in terms of design.
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post #130 of 414
1/18/08 at 2:13am
I dislike windows mobile for how it works. I could care less who makes it. I like macos for how it works, I could care less who makes it. I started using apple when I bought one for my wife, because she didn't want to have to worry about details. I used it for a week helping her get started, and couldn't go back.
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post #131 of 414
1/18/08 at 2:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chu View Post
I've heard this so many times, and it's complete revisionist history. A lot of the success of Firewire can be laid at the feet of apple, but USB was well on its way to full adoption at the time Apple embraced it.
Never did I say that Apple was responsible for USB adoption. What I did say is that when they did adopt it, they were an early adopter, and it was hailed as too radical a move. (Particularly by Apple fans who freaked out about all the ADB devices from circa 1995 that they would no longer be able to connect.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Edwood View Post
The non-removeable battery is going to be the Achilles heel of the Macbook Air. If it had a removeable battery it would be a much better product that would sell a lot more, but Apple seems to like to stick to having a small market share in the computer market. They'll carve out a nice niche within a niche here.
People were saying the same exact thing about the iPhone exactly one year ago. "No replaceable battery! It will FAIL as a product!" Look where the iPhone is today. I think Apple is smarter about what really matters to the greatest number of people than you give them credit for.

And let's be honest, NewerTech and others (whether they say so or not) are probably already well on their way towards higher-capacity replacement batteries for the Air. One of the other great things about Apple products is the religious devotion by third-party suppliers to provide upgrade options even when Apple says "no upgrades!"

--Chris
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post #132 of 414
1/18/08 at 2:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by grawk View Post
I work for ibm. I get huge discounts on thinkpads. I buy macbooks.
huge discounts? my dad works for ibm and i always buy my thinkpads through online deals rather than employee discount, it's usually not great

let's put it this way

want a great linux or windows laptop: thinkpad
want a great mac : you buy a ****ing mac
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post #133 of 414
1/18/08 at 2:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tyrion View Post
If it truly has 5 hours then it beats any notebook I've use by 2 or 3 hours. If I can get my daughters macbook to run my office software, then the MBA may be my next comp. I just need one of the associates notebooks to die or hire another one so I can pass mine vaio down.

LOL.

"Oops. Something happened to the paralegal's laptop. Here! You can have my Mac!"

-Ed
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post #134 of 414
1/18/08 at 2:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by uzziah View Post
huge discounts? my dad works for ibm and i always buy my thinkpads through online deals rather than employee discount, it's usually not great

let's put it this way

want a great linux or windows laptop: thinkpad
want a great mac : you buy a ****ing mac

I've occasionally found better deals thank lenovo cpp for thinkpads, but they were for specific (old) configurations. Savings is typically around $400. I call that pretty darn good. I could get a pretty good configuration significantly cheaper than my macs. I'm not interested. I use a thinkpad for work, and rather than use it, I imaged it to use in parallels, because I prefer the mac. The hardware is better, the software is better. Lenovo is good, but no one does it better than apple, in my opinion. And since I'm spending my own money instead of using the thinkpad I got for free, I think I'm putting my money where my mouth is. The macbook is a better deal than the thinkpad, even if you were just going to run windows.
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post #135 of 414
1/18/08 at 2:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by hempcamp View Post
Never did I say that Apple was responsible for USB adoption. What I did say is that when they did adopt it, they were an early adopter, and it was hailed as too radical a move. (Particularly by Apple fans who freaked out about all the ADB devices from circa 1995 that they would no longer be able to connect.)
Yeah, I find it strange that the Macbook Air does not have a Firewire port at all.


Quote:
People were saying the same exact thing about the iPhone exactly one year ago. "No replaceable battery! It will FAIL as a product!" Look where the iPhone is today. I think Apple is smarter about what really matters to the greatest number of people than you give them credit for.
The iPhone actually has great battery life. Above most Windows Mobile phones, who's battery lives are quite pathetic.

The Macbook has five hours max battery life, which compared to Ultraportables (yes, I'm going to compare it to Real ultraportables, since Apple insists on calling the Air an Ultraportable even though it's not.) does not have superior battery life.

My Fujitsu ultraportable gets 5 hours of power with one battery. If I carry two, I can get 10 hours of power without ever having to plug in. This came in handy when I was at CES. *Edit. I forgot to mention that this battery life is with using EVDO modem to surf the web and other apps. If I use an ultra low power mode, where the screen is dimmed down all the way (I use this mode only really for pure music listening mode, using Foobar and my Pico), I can get over 9 hours of power with my extended battery.


Quote:
And let's be honest, NewerTech and others (whether they say so or not) are probably already well on their way towards higher-capacity replacement batteries for the Air. One of the other great things about Apple products is the religious devotion by third-party suppliers to provide upgrade options even when Apple says "no upgrades!"

--Chris
Yes, except you'll void your warranty when you replace the battery in the Air.

-Ed
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