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Apple releases 11.6" Instant-On MacBook Air for $999
- bambax 16y agoOn the target page it says $1499...?
- jncraton 16y agoThe $999 model seems to come equipped with a 1.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo. Any ideas why they didn't use the newer i series CPUs? Don't they have better performance per watt?
- brownleej 16y agoI'm guessing it's to keep costs low.
- wmf 16y agoThe Core i3/i5/i7 are too hot to fit in the Air and have a sucky GPU. Note that it's possible to haver higher performance per watt and higher power at the same time.
- adolph 16y agoThis is kind of interesting to me as an owner of a couple older Minis: is Apple signalling that 10.7 will run fine on a lower end Core 2 Duo?
- wtallis 16y agoI would be shocked if 10.7's CPU requirements were anything more stringent than a 64-bit capable CPU (ie. Core 2 or later). There's a chance that they might drop support for low-end GPUs like then Intel GMA950, but it seems too soon for them to require an OpenCL-capable GPU, so they'll probably keep Intel graphics support around until they're ready to make that jump.
- adolph 16y agoYeah, 64bit and the graphics card will probably become more important. I was wondering why they went with the Nvidia card (which probably precluded using a Core i-series processor instead of the Core 2 Duo), but given the OpenCL emphasis, it makes sense. Hopefully Apple will allow some performance optimizations, like how they disabled the water-ripple effect of Dashboard on non-OpenGL video card computers when that came out.
- zyb09 16y agoAlso, 2GB Ram and 64GB storage isn't something I could work with. Would need at least 4GB Ram and 256GB, but then I'd pay something like $1600 for a 13" notebook? I think the main problem about the MacBook Air and the previous one is that the MacBook Pro is a much more attractive deal.
- DougBTX 16y agoThe Air comes in at $1800 with 4GB ram and 2.13GHz cpu. Apple are charging $750 just for the 256 GB SSD upgrade on the 13 inch MacBook Pro, that's a crazy price for an SSD.
- malandrew 16y agoThat's about a 33% premium. Unfortunately you can't go elsewhere because the SSD industry is packing SSDs in a ridiculous 2.5" form factor. The industry needs to develop a standard size SSD for ultra-portables, especially one that Apple is likely to use in future devices.
- wtallis 16y agoThe i3/5/7 laptop chips these days come with on-chip integrated graphics that is way below Apple's standards, and doesn't support OpenCL. Apple really wants all of their machines to support OpenCL on the graphics chip. In order to get this, they need to use an NVidia graphics chip. For the Core 2 generation CPUs, NVidia produces a chipset with one of their GPUs integrated. For the i3/5/7 generation, Intel refused to let NVidia make chipsets. In order for Apple to get NVidia graphics in a laptop with an i3/5/7, they have to have the i3/5/7 CPU, an Intel chipset, and an NVidia graphics chip. The necessity of using 3 big, hot chips instead of two increases the parts costs, slightly increases the power consumption, makes cooling and motherboard design more complicated, and, in the case of the MacBook Air, they pretty much don't fit unless you make the machine thicker or use a smaller battery. Until Intel can produce a decent graphics core or they decide to play nice with NVidia, ultraportables have to decide whether to have good graphics or the latest CPUs. (If, however, AMD's upcoming mobile Fusion parts end up being as fast or faster than the Core 2, this will change significantly.)
- whalesalad 16y agoI love the little dongle that it comes with as a "software reinstall" -- http://i.imgur.com/Hj8zt.png http://i.imgur.com/Hj8zt.png
- jcromartie 16y agoLooks like USB without the box around the contacts.
- seldo 16y agoBut with rounded contacts! You know somewhere they had a meeting about how rectangular contacts would be off-brand.
- drats 16y agoWhich have been available for years I would add. I had a white plastic one (without the hole in the back) in 2006. Just saying, as with most things Apple, it's not a massive innovation.
- malandrew 16y agoIt's about time they sold something like that. I haven't used my optical drive for anything except the OS X installation and recovery disk. I'm assuming that this means that target disk mode now works with USB again.
- ugh 16y agoDid the target disk mode ever work with USB? I’m also not sure whether that means anything, I think you have been able to boot from a plethora of devices including USB sticks for ages. Target disk mode for USB sure would be nice, though.
- malandrew 16y agoI may be remembering incorrectly, but I thought booting worked from USB, then Apple removed that option for some reason, probably technical, and now it looks like it came back.
- malandrew 16y agoNo 3G sim card support means instant fail. Seriously, this is a no-brainer feature.
- raganwald 16y agoWould you care to back your prognostication by short-selling AAPL?
- malandrew 16y agoNo. Just because I think this is fail doesn't mean I'm bearish on the stock. I'm as much of an Apple fanboy as anyone else (I use a MacBook Pro, Cinema Display, iPhone, etc. I've been using a MacBook Pro since 2003), but I'm not going to give them a free pass on a necessary feature in an ultra-portable laptop.
- zyb09 16y agoWell your fault for using an iPhone, just get a Froyo device and make your own WiFi around you!
- slantyyz 16y agoOr, your fault for being an American! You can tether your iPhone in other countries. Well, at least you can get a MyFi.
- mechanical_fish 16y agoYou can tether the iPhone in the USA as well. You just have to pay AT&T for the privilege. We'll see how expensive the tethering is after we have carrier-vs-carrier competition for the iPhone in the USA.
- thenduks 16y agoThey probably couldn't get carriers to agree to a iPad-like 3g plan for a laptop.
- gamble 16y agoMy MBP is already 'instant-on'. Open the case and one second later it's awake and ready to go. I'll never understand why people feel the need to shut down their computer after every use.
- lsb 16y agoLots of people are newcomers to the Mac. Windows uptimes (edit: especially in the workplace) are usually measured in hours. Unix uptimes are usually measured in months. Also: you see the screen go dark, versus wait for the throbber after you close your machine, and people choose the finality.
- riffraff 16y agono, they are not (uptimes measured in hours), on windows laptops hibernation has been working fine in windows for a few years. I don't know of any unix different from osx for which the same applies. Servers and desktop are not really the point of discussion here.
- mechanical_fish 16y agoIf I remember correctly, Jobs said this thing had thirty days of standby time. My MBP does not feature instant-on after twenty days.
- brk 16y agoAn honest question... How many people go days without using their computer these days? I'm one who never turns my MBP off. There are a few times I can think of when it hasn't been used at least once/day, even on vacation. It seems like if you are the kind of person who needs/appreciates instant on, it's because you make regular use of your machine. This would seem to counter the need to have it sleep for a month. If you can go that long between regular uses, you can probably wait an extra 3 minutes for bootup.
- nuclear_eclipse 16y ago
- achompas 16y agoToo many people are calling this thing overpriced, but remember that a 64GB iPad is $699. Then, in addition, you're getting a full OS, a stronger processor, a dedicated graphics chip, and this last one's dumb, but you're getting a keyboard too. So I think pricing is spot-on for the 11" specs. If I replace my primary machine (a first-gen Macbook) with this, though, it would need to be the 13". The 11" seems like a secondary machine. One question, though: isn't instant start-up trivial for a laptop?
- slantyyz 16y agoOverpriced compared to what? A plastic netbook with a cheap screen? The one thing you can't overlook is the onboard flash storage. That stuff still isn't as cheap as most of us would like.
- steveklabnik 16y ago> One question, though: isn't instant start-up trivial for a laptop? Only when it's sleeping, not when it's hibernating. This would be "shut my Mac for two days, come back to instant-on."
- adolph 16y agoWow, an official Mac OS X reinstall USB key: http://images.apple.com/macbookair/images/specs_flashdrive_20101020.jpg http://images.apple.com/macbookair/images/specs_flashdrive_2...
- iamelgringo 16y agoSo, the apple version of my netbook costs $1k. Wow. Apple makes gorgeous, intuitive products, but... Wow. I bought an Asus Aspire 1. I put in 2GB of RAM($40), Installed a OCZ SSD ($160), and bought a 9 cell battery for it($55), and put Windows 7 Ultimate on it (TRIM support for SSD's and free with a BizSpark subscription). I now have a machine a bit thicker than an iPad that runs a full version of Windows 7 Ultimate, has a 14 hour battery life, and an extra battery with 10 hours on it. It's "Instant On" because I never turn it off, it just hibernates, and the SSD I'm using is crazy fast and sips battery juice through a cocktail straw. All for a bit more than $500. Oh, did I mention that I can replace the memory, battery and Hard Drive without voiding my warranty? I understand the appeal of a MacBook Air. I do. But the appeal of beautiful design, a glowing logo rules telling me to keep my hands off my own hardware... It's just not work the extra $500 for me.
- rimantas 16y agoWhy the price of Windows was not in calculation? Did you also get aluminum unibody, full-size backlit keyboard, camera, multitouch trackpad? By the way, I am curious is Windows wake from sleep as instant as it is on OS X?
- richbradshaw 16y agoWhen you go back to using non Apple hardware the keyboard and touchpads are generally very bad. Bearing in mind the time spent using the keyboard and mouse having a good one makes the difference.
- slantyyz 16y agoEven more important, the screens. Apples have historically had very good screens. I look back at one of my older Windows laptops, which had exquisite res (1680x1050) and maybe cost me $1600. When I compare it to any of my Apple devices (even the low end ones), the screen is so horrible that I don't even know how I was able to work on it day in, day out.
- slantyyz 16y ago
- milkshakes 16y agointeresting.. they renamed the iSight -> "FaceTime camera"
- mian2zi3 16y agoAnd it only weights 2.3lbs. Wow.
- unexpected 16y agoArg! Apple, when are you going to add the i5 to your 13" MacBook Pro for me?
- wmf 16y agoWhen the i5 has a decent GPU.
- moron4hire 16y agowait, I thought Jobs said that netbooks sucked and he refused to make one?
- malandrew 16y agoIt's not really a netbook. It a full-fledged laptop, but minified. It has a good CPU, good GPU and plenty of disk space.
- rimantas 16y ago$500 netbooks.
- loganlinn 16y agoOne thing is for sure... he hates 7" tablets
- moron4hire 16y agoSo I guess we should wait a year and expect to see a 7.9" tablet?
- drats 16y agoUntil Apple releases one, but it's not just a 7" tablet, it's a the full-fledged 9" ipad, but minified.
- yatsyk 16y agohdd versions discontinued... future is here
- mrchess 16y agoone of the first things i noticed too. 2 years ago it was $1600 for an 80gb macbook air. time flies.
- sama 16y agoI've had a MacBook Air since the day it originally came out, and it's been my favorite computer ever. This addresses all of my issues with it. As long as you don't need extreme computing power, you should get one. It's one of those cases where being twice as portable makes it ten times as useful.
- slantyyz 16y agoThe things that I always weigh first in hardware are screen res and disk i/o. For the type of work I do, I always rank CPU third (I used to evaluate hardware based on my ability to run VMs, but these days I find myself renting on-demand EC2 instances instead). I've been mighty disappointed by Apple laptop screen res prior to the latest generation of MBP's, but I have to admit, these new models impress me, and I've generally been quite dismissive of the Air line. I was recently entertaining the thought of replacing my 13" Macbook with a 15" MBP, but as it is, my full briefcase including a Macbook is already a shoulder killer. Given the evolution of my own use cases, I think I'd actually consider one of these guys as my next notebook.
- katovatzschyn 16y agoI tried MacBook Air and Envy 133 earlier, but I change to Thinkpad X301 and must say that other than very great OSX (use Linux so does not matter so much) I prefer Thinkpad now.
- slantyyz 16y agoThe one thing that I dislike about the latest small form factor ThinkPads is the USB docking stations. The older Thinkpads had one of those bottom mount docking stations. Mac users might dismiss docking stations, but they are --so-- handy if you're constantly moving around.
- drats 16y agoMy x200 12" appears to have the docking port on the bottom.
- ghurlman 16y agoBut will it support more than one user account/profile? That's easily the biggest complaint I have about the iPad.
- jonhendry 16y agoWhy wouldn't it? It's OS X.
- gbrindisi 16y agoI'd like a little notebook like this new Macbook Air, it would fits my needs for a thin portable client to replace my actual macbook (I ssh a lot to remote workstation when I need horsepower, coding and so on). Still something puzzles me: * No Ethernet. I really can't trust Airport, i have a 13" Macbook and sometimes Airport fails hard (without mentioning the speed transfer). * No upgradable. I understand the design choices behind this nice netbook (or whatever), but what if the ssd breaks? Or the ram? I'd need to buy a new one. Maybe my needs would be better fitted by a standard netbook. The truth I am ashamed to confess is that I am too confortable with OSX.
- slantyyz 16y agoI think people should definitely invest a few extra bucks on Applecare with this model.
- gbrindisi 16y agoAbsolutely but... hell it's +250 bucks!
- slantyyz 16y agoSpread that cost over 3 years, and it's not that expensive. If you're buying a notebook that you intend to use for work or move around constantly, you have to budget that cost in. Even if I was buying a Thinkpad X series for work, I'd invest in the extended warranty.
- pshapiro 16y ago"Remember when I said that netbooks aren't good at anything and they're just cheap laptops?" http://i.imgur.com/51f9p.jpg http://i.imgur.com/51f9p.jpg
- ivanzhao 16y agoI have owned 3 Macbook Airs. Two first-gen ones broke down too often, the second-gen one Apple gave to me for free. Most people complained it's pricey. It puzzles me. Think of how many hours a day you spent touching it. A $2000 price-tag divided by 2 years, 10 hours a day, that's cheaper than your daily beer habit. It is absolutely worth it to buy the best machine you can afford.
- slantyyz 16y agoEspecially if you are using that machine for work. I always buy the laptop with the nicest screen I can afford. That alone makes Macs price competitive with non-Macs.
- jbarham 16y agoI have to concur that MacBook screens are very nice (modulo your take on the glossiness). I bought a Thinkpad T410 w/ a high-res screen and I must say that I'm disappointed w/ the poor viewing angles compared to the MacBook screens. Longer term I'm planning on buying a Dell IPS "Ultrasharp" LCD to hook up to the Thinkpad, but it wouldn't be as necessary w/ the MacBooks.
- slantyyz 16y agoThe weakness up until recently with Mac screens has been the res. I actually didn't buy a 15" Macbook Pro because it didn't have 1680x1050 when I was in the market. I figured if I was going to be annoyed by 1440x900 at 15", I may as well be annoyed and save a bundle by going with a lowly Macbook. 1440x900 on a 13", however, makes things interesting. My next purchase was going to be a 15" Macbook with the 1680 screen. Now, I'm not so sure. I think my shoulder prefers that I carry a lighter load in my bag.
- pyre 16y ago> It is absolutely worth it to buy the best machine > you can afford. I'm assuming that most people that are complaining about price don't have huge wallets.
- malandrew 16y agoThe only concern I see is pixel density. This is great for people like me with great eyesight, but I know my dad hates using my MacBook Pro 17" because I have the higher resolution screen option with greater pixel density. OS X needs to support pixel density independency for these screens to be usable for those with less than perfect eyesight.
- ojbyrne 16y agoKind of pissed that if I want the 2.13 ghz processor, I have to buy the 256 gb storage version. Otherwise I'd have already ordered.
- slantyyz 16y agoI'm kinda curious. Does anyone know if that extra .27 ghz translate to a big difference in real world use?
- david_p 16y agoHmm. So that's the price of an iPad with a keyboard and USB port.
- derefr 16y agoNow they need to just un-taper it, and fill the resulting space completely with battery. 40hr battery life MacBook.
- malandrew 16y agoInteresting idea. They certainly could stick a lot more battery in there if they un-tapered it.
- sigzero 16y agoThe taper gets your typing angle right (I am guessing).
- malandrew 16y agoGood point. However, I don't recall Steve or any text on the Apple website that outright says that it is tapered for economics reasons. In this Stevenote and the previous Stevenotes where the MacBook Air was discussed it came across as if the the taper was there so they have another number to brag about when talking about thinness. That was my impression at least.
- Sindisil 16y agoLooks very nice, but two things keep it from being a contender for my next portable purchase: 1. Glossy screen. That's a show-stopper. The whole point of a portable for me is that it is usable wherever I am, not that I can take it to where it might be usable. 2. Price. $999 is not that bad for what you get, but it pales in absolute terms to current netbook prices. And said netbooks are available with matte screens. They also usually have 3 USB ports (though I seldom use more than 2). Still and all, very nice.
- icegreentea 16y agoSub 13" != netbook Remember, we had sub 13" laptops (we called them sub notebooks or ultraportables or something) before netbooks came out. Recall the confusion when netbooks first came out. In fact, the original netbooks weren't even close to 11.6" large. 11.6/12" was solely the domain of subnotebooks until the ~3rd generation of netbooks (amazing how quickly they pumped those out). So stop comparing this to netbooks. Compare them to Thinkpad X series and other non-Atom powered sub 13" laptops. Hell, compare it to the Alienware M11z if you want. Even that's a more accurate comparison than netbooks.