Apple Launches Two Crazily Skinny MacBook Airs

[Travis Beane]

Nice to see they're working on the price (slowly).
Not my cup of tea, but it does seem like a well designed laptop.

Though Macintosh certainly has the advantage there, they only have to design a dozen products, not 100.

 

[jacobdrj]

Which SSD are they using? Which controller? Intel? Sandforce? JMicron? Indillix?

 

[molo9000]

[citation][nom]jacobdrj[/nom]Which SSD are they using? Which controller? Intel? Sandforce? JMicron? Indillix?[/citation]

Read the article. It's not using a SSD. The solid state memory is connected directly to the logic board to safe space.

 

[christopherknapp]

I'll stick with my ASUS 1015-PN. Nearly the same specifications, better battery life, HDMI out ... oh, and it costs $429.00.

 

[molo9000]

[citation][nom]Konman[/nom]$999 - without the external DVD/Blu-Ray disk player and without the DVI/Mini-Display port converter.Obviously they released this to help compensate for the failure of the I-Pad and to make investors happy while keeping the Mac drones connected to the I-store (I bet the easiest thing to do on this thing is to charge your credit card while shopping on the I-store).Nevertheless. . . they still deserve the thumbs up and bragging rights for trying to develop a thinner computer.[/citation]
u don't need the external drive. U can share another computers drive over a network. And the mini DP to DVI/HDMI/VGA converters cost less than $20.

And failure of the iPad? wtf? The thing is selling like hotcakes and has sent the apple stock skyrocket 50% in less than a year.

 

[dEAne]

huh? it is like a paper plate.

 

[burnley14]

This > new MacBook Airs

 

[dimar]

 

[chick0n]

[citation][nom]jupiter optimus maximus[/nom]The $999 mac book air seems to be a nice choice for college students who is only focus is word process and web surfing... But i don't know... I don't want other students to think i am "rich-kid who doesn't know anything about computers who may have well spent his money on a cheaper windows." Then again i like clean, sturdy laptops, and apple usually makes good laptops. Five years on my iBook G4 and still going strong to this date, compared to an HP laptop i had two years ago and died in 14 months, and my friend's Dell laptop that died in two weeks...[/citation]

and the Ferrari Laptop I got 5 yrs ago still rocking?

My Cousin's MacBook pro is giving him nothing but problems from day 1.

Just because your buddies have issue with their laptop, don't assume Apple's product are superior.

 

[brianmoz]

how long are the haters going to write comments talking down to apple only to see people snatch up the products and be happy with them year after year? just chill out with the hating. Dont condescend on people who buy a product just because you dont like the specs. It's obnoxious and a bit sad too.

 

[theshonen8899]

People often believe netbooks are simply small laptops due to the recent trend, but they fail to realize that netbooks are not just small but compromise processing power. There have long been small laptops with notebook powered cpus but they are not netbooks. Netbooks are typically 10-12" with an Intel Atom or AMD equivalent processor. Air is there not a netbook, just the same small form factor laptop we've had since Sony VAIO's PCG series more than ten years ago.

 

[luke904]

i would just love to break one of these over my knee...

 

[Milleman]

There's no touch screen as well. I'll guess they wouldn't wanna make Macbook Air to compete with iPad. That is how you dictate the offerings to the Apple-Sect followers.

 

[rantoc]

Apple have really learned to prey on the unaware.

Pack one-two generations old hardware together in a shiny case, set the price high making people think it must be amazing and then market it on the border of false marketing claiming the competition lack in that and that. Provide a closed enviroment to it and tie it to a account making the next purchase more likely to be in the same enviroment and then repeat it a few months later making the iSheeps flock to the stores again.

Amazingly easy money really. Steve is smart - his customers.. not so much!

 

[cookoy]

it's so thin every time you'd open the lid you'd pray you don't break the lcd. i'd be worried about the heat too. but it does set the standard on how thin and light you can go.

 

[ohim]

Not long ago, all wanted the smallest, slimmest , tiniest phone ever, after that everybody came to their senses and now every phone has quite a decent size... should this be the case of these "laptops" ? Too thin is way too thin ? I wonder how it holds if pushed accidentally off the table and it slams into the floor.

 

[Guest]

BTW it's 30 DAYS! of Standby not hours! Please correct article.

 

[kriskl]

@ohim

anything can break, at least there is not HDD so there is a chance, flash storage won't loose your data

I dropped Ipad 2 times on a floor.. and I was worried it would be the end.. but it is still working
so, I guess MBA will be just fine too!

 

[timwireless]

I wouldn't mind owning one, looks very tempting.

 

[mr_tuel]

If it had an i3 and USB 3.0, I'd be really tempted to buy one. I miss my 12" PowerBook, and this seems like it could have been a nice modern version of that.

 

[therealfly]

"While it seems completely short-sighted to have not included them, there's a few likely reasons for their absence."

Umm, yea. Profit.

 

[kawininjazx]

"Why didnt they just get AMD to hook them up with Fusion?"

LOL, that's like putting a Hyundai engine in a BMW.

 

[Guest]

@KawiNinjaZX

erm no, it's more akin to putting a Audi engine into a BMW, i doubt the kind of users who buy this kind of machine is going be needed it to do any real intensive stuff, i think the choice of CPU is irrelevant really as long as it can keep up with the demands of the typical user. Saying that i dont understand why this thing needs a 320M instead of opting for an i3 with integrated graphics, sure Intel IGP sux but really what is this thing going be doing that need better graphics performance

 

[GenKhan2]

Personally not impressed. I see what they did there. Slightly more useful than an iPad but not powerful like a Macbook. Meh, it's not for me.

 

[Yoder54]

[citation][nom]jupiter optimus maximus[/nom]... But i don't know... I don't want other students to think i am "rich-kid who doesn't know anything about computers who may have well spent his money on a cheaper windows." [/citation]

This is the same mentality of those who buy Apple products to look cool. Like everything, research before you buy and if you can afford it go for the highest quality/specs that you can. Who gives a crap about what anyone on either side of the aisle thinks?