MacBook Air: Thin, Overpriced, and Full Of Hot Air
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As soon as I saw Steve Jobs pull the MacBook Air out of that envelope I started drooling and thinking about which credit card I should use. But somehow I resisted my initial temptation to pull up Amazon.com and place an order immediately. I’m so glad I hesitated because if I did order it, I’d be regretting it now and trying to cancel my order!
No, I don’t mind it doesn’t have or even come with a combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW). I’ve maybe used the one on my MacBook twice.
I also don’t find it too disappointing that it doesn’t have a removable battery even though I’d much prefer it be at least user replaceable.
But as soon as I noticed what a puny processor and slow hard drive it sports I first started to wonder why it costs so much. It was then I mentioned this to my friend Mandy and she quickly pointed out the full specs side by side with a base MacBook. I was shocked how little one gets for their money!
The base Apple MacBook Air for $1799 comes with only a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 80GB Parallel ATA; 4200 rpm hard drive, one USB port, and a mono speaker. A non-replacable battery, no ethernet port, no FireWire port, and no audio inputs. Hell, I guess we should be grateful they’re at least giving 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM? No, wait, the RAM is not even expandable.
The base Apple MacBook for $1,099.99 has a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 6 hour replaceable battery, 80GB Serial ATA; 5400 rpm hard drive, combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW), one FireWire 400 port (8 watts), two USB 2.0 ports, built-in stereo speakers, combined optical digital audio output/headphone out, built-in omnidirectional microphone, combined optical digital audio input/audio line in, and built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) Ethernet.
Once you’ve compared the specifications do you think it is still worth another $700 for a thinner, 2 pound lighter, but much much much slower notebook? I sure don’t. This thing is going to be slower than the Mac Mini and there is no reason they couldn’t have squeezed in a larger hard drive. Don’t forget about the tiny/thin 160GB drive in the iPod Classic.
I’m glad I have the Apple MacBook Black and if I was buying another notebook today I’d end up choosing it again!
The MacBook Air is full of hot air!
5 Comments
the oracle
January 16th, 2008
at 5:11pm
Notebook computers tend to be a rip off in general. If everyone would quit whining about wieght just a little some great things could be accomplished. Lighter is nicer, but after all, no one is saying that the thing must be held with one hand above your head all day.
woolf2k
January 24th, 2008
at 3:05pm
niche market, dude.
A business man will be delighted to have 2lbs less on his shoulders.
And still be able to open read his email and Word documents or run his powerpoint presentation at the remote location he’s given at.
Same can be said about an artist or publisist or whoever… is on the move and doesn’t need the horse power a normal notebook would give them.
so yes, I’ll spend the extra 700 for less to carry and still have my power house pc at the office or home that runs 10 times faster to do my real work.
Snarg2000
January 24th, 2008
at 5:45pm
If they could make it small AND powerful, why didn’t they? So you can upgrade later, of course–and later means as soon as possible. Just keep the money flowing their direction. It’s called planned “planned obsolescence.” Heck, there’s always more room in the landfill. Why would we want something to work and work and work? That’s just downright communist.
jay shultz
January 25th, 2008
at 8:15am
I AGREE THE AMK BOOK AIR IS A BIT HOT AIR FOR ME. i TOO OWN MAC BOOK BLACK AND AM VERY HAPPY WITH IT. i OWN A 24 INCH i MAC AND VERY HAPPY WITH IT TOO. DOES WHAT I NEED TO DO AND THAT IS GREAT. A BIT SLOWER THEN THE PC i HAVE BUT MAKES UP IN NOT CAUSING AS MANY PROBLEMS. OS 10.5 IN THE i MAC IS OK BUT NOR READY TO PUT IT INTO THE MAC BOOK AFRAID SINCE I HAVE PROBLEMS WITH IT IN THE BIG ONE.
A HAPPY CAMPER ALL AROUND
PS I AM WRITING THIS IN PC FROM PARALELES AND LOVE THAT TOO
Scott
February 6th, 2008
at 7:10am
Personally I’m a PC user and probably always will be just because of system cost. Apple laptops on a whole are overpriced. Take the BestBuy ad from this Sunday’s news paper. It had side to side comparison of a Black MacBook and a HP DV6780SE costing $1499 for the Mac and only $999 for the HP. Whats the difference you say? Well, they both have Core 2 Duo processors, but the HP has 3gigs of RAM, 250gig HDD, and a 15.4in HD screen vs. the Macs 1gig RAM, 160gig HDD, and 13.3in screen. I don’t know, I guess I’ve just never been a Mac person. I love Linux don’t get me wrong, but IMO Windows XP or even Vista can be just as “fast” and user friendly as OS X if you actually know how to use Windows and are more than just a internet surfer. And the iPod Touch/iPhone? Give me a break. Back in the day Apple was a true competitor to Windows and the Apple IIs was the first PC I ever owned but nowadays it just seems like Apple is just out for cash.