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Netbooks around well before the air were also lacking optical drives, so Im not sure how it was controversial.

by Tiksi 12y ago

jameshart 12y ago
Macbook Air - announced January 2008. Netbook - well, okay, I'll give you that the Eee PC came out in October 2007 (Asus have always been the outlier in experimental PC form factors) - but other manufacturers weren't seriously playing in the netbook space before the Eee sales numbers came in, so I don't think you can say 'everybody' had legacy-free optical-driveless netbooks out before the MBA. But more to the point, a netbook was optical-drive-free because you weren't expected to use it for more than just web browsing; you weren't going to need to load software onto it. The MBA was optical-drive free in spite of it being intended to be a fully-functional notebook computer. You would install software onto it over wi-fi. And you wouldn't need to rip CDs because you would buy all your music from the iTunes store. In 2008 that was still a bold idea.
- mmarx 12y ago
  My old Thinkpad X41 didn't have an optical drive ten years ago, back in 2005, and, unlike a netbook, was very much a fully-functional laptop computer.
  - megablast 12y ago
    The x21 didn't have an optical drive either, nor the x31 before it. Of course, one could argue they were specialist laptops which never had a large market. But maybe the same could be said of the MBA?
- addicted44 12y ago
  The Air came out at a time when optical disks were actually pretty necessary. In fact, Apple released the air with the ability to use the optical drive on a desktop or laptop connected to your network. Apple's abandoning of the optical drive played a huge role in ensuring everyone provided a non optical disk way of getting their software or media content.
anentropic 12y ago
they all sucked though, the Air was a decent laptop
moe 12y ago
I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted, what you say is true. Apple did not invent the 'sub-notebook' form factor. There have been many notebooks without optical drives before it.
ghshephard 12y ago
Netbooks were an evolutionary dead end that failed to get traction. (Speaking as a happy owner of three of them for Lab Purposes)

Netbooks around well before the air were also lacking optical drives, so Im not sure how it was controversial.

by Tiksi 12y ago

Netbooks around well before the air were also lacking optical drives, so Im not sure how it was controversial.

Macbook Air - announced January 2008. Netbook - well, okay, I'll give you that the Eee PC came out in October 2007 (Asus have always been the outlier in experimental PC form factors) - but other manufacturers weren't seriously playing in the netbook space before the Eee sales numbers came in, so I don't think you can say 'everybody' had legacy-free optical-driveless netbooks out before the MBA. But more to the point, a netbook was optical-drive-free because you weren't expected to use it for more than just web browsing; you weren't going to need to load software onto it. The MBA was optical-drive free in spite of it being intended to be a fully-functional notebook computer. You would install software onto it over wi-fi. And you wouldn't need to rip CDs because you would buy all your music from the iTunes store. In 2008 that was still a bold idea.

mmarx 12y ago
My old Thinkpad X41 didn't have an optical drive ten years ago, back in 2005, and, unlike a netbook, was very much a fully-functional laptop computer.
- megablast 12y ago
  The x21 didn't have an optical drive either, nor the x31 before it. Of course, one could argue they were specialist laptops which never had a large market. But maybe the same could be said of the MBA?
addicted44 12y ago
The Air came out at a time when optical disks were actually pretty necessary. In fact, Apple released the air with the ability to use the optical drive on a desktop or laptop connected to your network. Apple's abandoning of the optical drive played a huge role in ensuring everyone provided a non optical disk way of getting their software or media content.

anentropic 12y ago

they all sucked though, the Air was a decent laptop

moe 12y ago

I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted, what you say is true. Apple did not invent the 'sub-notebook' form factor. There have been many notebooks without optical drives before it.

ghshephard 12y ago

Netbooks were an evolutionary dead end that failed to get traction. (Speaking as a happy owner of three of them for Lab Purposes)