meh. :(

No CD-DVD drive so you either need to purchase the external superdrive, or use “remote disk” which requires you to have a computer with an optical drive already. Wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t so pricey. But it’s still kinda, well, meh.

You can really tell it was built for those on the move. Im still in the air about the no CD-Rom, perhaps if the HDD was a tad bigger it wouldnt be too bad because you could store all the movies on the drive. Im not sure how i feel yet, i will have to go to an apple store and play with one.

Makes my 12 inch Powerbook still feel very very useful in it’s age. =) Man, that thing looks like it can snap in half.

I’d really like to know if you’ll be able to use the multi-touch gestures on a “normal” MacBook Pro.

I’m in the market for a new computer after 22 years in the PC camp. Was thinking of getting an iMac, but I might buy this. For someone with no Mac experience since Elementary school, anybody have advice?

Dear god that’s thin! I feel like if I had one I might accidentaly break it!

I would have been happier if they reduced the screen size and increased the battery life. The device looks to be tailored to those on the go, yet other than the thickness and the weight, it’s the same size as the macbook with less functionality at a greater price. The claimed battery life is also 1 hour less than the macbook. *shrug* color me unimpressed.

I’d have to agree with the “meh.” I mean it’s cool that you can get it with an SSD, however that bumps the price from $1,799 to $3,098. For less you could get something only 2lbs heavier and more powerful that also has a cd drive built in. (especially with a pc as well, but that kind of talk seems unwelcome here :)

my MacBook Pro could eat 5 of those for lunch. and only one usb port, it is sexy, but unless it has more connectivity, it’ll crash and burn with anyone looking for a general use computer. But it is pretty!

I would get one if I had a Mac Pro to do my final cut and what not on (only have a MBP right now). Hopefully I will be able to buy a Mac Pro soon :D.

I want! Of course this is going to set back my saving for a cintiq… but it looks so sexy! Now if they only made a tablet version, I could stop carrying my sharpies around…

And Apple continues to suck hardcore

I think it’s snazzy.

It’s definitely geared more towards the tech literate and/or execs…who have been chomping at the bit for the 12″ Powerbook replacement. If I wasn’t a mac gamer and didn’t have this burning desire to have a laptop that goes Mach 10 with my hair on fire, I would totally get one.

I fear what temperature the casing will end up at, with that size ;/

But really, it seems too stripped down for my uses. Pretty as all hell, but no CD/DVD drive and one USB port hurts. The rest… it’s just too pricey. Put that multi-touch trackpad into a “bulky” model, and I’m sold.

Also, where are the Blu-Ray drives?

I would honestly loose the thing. Looks cool and all but really I would set it down and forget where it is.

Again, Apple does a great design, but I’m afraid it’ll end up like Apple TV. It’s a tad too expensive for the average person in my opinion. A bit more and you can get the MacBook Pro, a bit less and you can get the MacBook. But if I had the money I’d get one.

i wonder if Key will let them make an Air skin for it

while not only would I feel like I’d break it just by picking it up, I’d worry about it breaking if I threw it in a backpack and it was pushed up against two books too hard

It looks nice, but still the price, if it had SSD on the lower end I buy one

The scary thing is that these will probably get thinner soon enough and Mac Air is just at the cramps of a large fart.

I was excited about the new Macbook before but now I’m a bit disappointed. The external Super drive isn’t a big deal to me, in fact I like their wireless solution for it but then it requires you to have another computer on hand. I was expecting flash memory for the HDD as standard instead of optional, and I think it’s a bit too pricey for that option.

Multi touch for the track pad I was interested in but just as I figured its use for a laptop is pretty limited. The power offered by the Macbook air is less than what I was expecting too but I guess that’s because the rumors were really hyping it up so I shouldn’t have expected as much really. Over all though I’d have to say the only thing I really like is the design, it’s nice and sleek looking.

I have to say that I am unimpressed. No Firewire, slow processors, nasty Intel GPU, only .3 inches thinner than the MacBook, a couple of pounds lighter than the MacBook, but quite a bit more expensive. Personally I would have rather seen Apple take on the 10 inch screen ultra-portables instead of just making a super thin and light one that is still half the size of a pizza box.

It’s a very cool design, but I think it will end up being a niche product.

I bought my sister a black MacBook for Christmas, and the lack of an optical drive on the MBAir would be a killer. I have the only other Mac in the family, and since I’m away at college 2/3rds of the year installing software could be a problem.

The single USB port is also a confusing choice, as is the lack of Firewire.

Still, props to Apple’s design team.

This is definitely in the same range than iPod Mini when it went out. Why pay higher price for something that got less features? Because it’s “cute as a button” (to quote PS3 vs Wii fan-ad), smaller, has a totally different feature sets and ideology than the other laptops.

I was curious about the video card. I am glad it’s not a stupid 950; not top of the line but not a dud either. Everything else, you can get through Bluetooth or Wifi. The lone USB can be used for one of the features. The 2GB memory minimum/maximum is adequate for most people.

I would say it’s a decent beast, I wouldn’t mind giving one to my GF, so that I can get back my Mac Book Pro, and I’m sure she would be happy with this computer. Heck, if I wasn’t doing pro audio recording, I would be happy with that beast :)

It’s not that functional. I am going to get a USB hub for my Macbook because two isn’t enough. One is crazed!
The innovative new thing is the thinness. The sharing of the optical drive is sketchy because data transfer depends on how fast your network is.
If you want a laptop that will last forever and will have no trouble doing anything, get a 15.5″ Macbook Pro. ‘Nuff said.

Useless to me, but very awesome. The lack of CD specifically bothers me because there’s no way in hell you can load a CD in good speed wirelessly. Otherwise, it’s pretty neat.

One usb port wasn’t enough in 1997, and it aint enough now. It is nice, but my tablet pc only weighs like a pound more, has more battery life, and more functionality. it seems like an anorexic macbook to me.

Now, if it was cheaper (like, say, $1300 for the bottom end one) and had a tablet display, i could see myself getting one. but to me i just can’t see any advantages over the macbook. the size/weight difference is not a big enough issue for me. Beautiful product, but i think overall this is going to fall by the wayside.

The design is nice and all. I like the shape and the size. It probably has a good feel to it too. But wtf? What’s the point of multitouch other than to scroll through pictures and surf the web.

Plus, the MacBook Air is pathetic spec wise. It doesn’t have a CD drive, only 1 USB 2.0 port. The battery life is meh with 5-6 hours of use max. And on top of the battery life, you can’t even remove the battery, so you’re stuck in wherever you are without an outlet. No ethernet port, the storage is pathetic at best, and putting an extra 64 GB brings the total cost of the Air to $3000. The base price is already outrageous at $1700.

I can see where apple is trying to put style over function in this laptop, but paying $1700 is overkill. The design of the laptop overall is good, but the functions are lackluster at best.

I’d rather get the linux Asus eee for 299 for portability than an apple for 1800 that looks like it’d snap in half if I typed too hard.

I dunno. The 2″ profile of the Apple PowerBook makes me feel more secure….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9ipt957irQ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Powerbook_150.jpg

…For instance, I can use it as radiation shielding. XD

Well, I really doubt it will snap in half, because that’s what people said about the ipod nano when that came out, too.

And I have the feeling that Apple is making a gamble by taking out the CD Drive, but it’s a gamble they just might win, seeing the direction in which all media is going.

That said, wow.

Not sure. The solid state drive and thinness definitely has a high coolnessfactor, but my Nikon D200 would eat those tiny drives alive, and I don’t think it would run Photoshop any better than my 12″ Powerbook
And with SSD, no superdrive and a rather puny CPU, would it run hot enough for my cat to be attracted to it? I wouldn’t want to have to search all over the house for the little furball.

I… I think that Apple should make a tablet like the PC companies have!!! I half way detest PCs because, well, my Banana (My Mac) is just so much better with things! LOL And, I would hate to have to lug around a gay PC just so that I could use it at school instead of having to waste all that paper (TREE HUGGER 4EVAR!!!!!!) just so that I can take notes, or do some stinky homework… LET THE TREES LIVE!!! STOP CORRUPTING OUR SOCIETY WITH ALL THESE DANG BUILDINGS!!!! MAKE OUR “COUNTRY” BETTER WITH MORE EFFING TREEEEEEESSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -pant pant pant- :-D I am a crazy arse mofo!

Hmmm. A machine for ‘execs’ indeed–the execs who think ‘prettier means it must be better!’.
One thing does stick in my mind looking at the info on it–’slimmer hard drive’. In other words, it uses a proprietary, non-standard storage device that allows Apple to hold users by whatever sensitive part of the anatomy they choose when wanting more space, rather than said user being able to drop in a standard laptop drive from one of a number of affordable vendors?

It’s good for coders I think. It’s supermobile!

I’m not understanding the price. I know someone will come out with the “cost of components” soon, and I’ll compare. I had a laptop that had the CD drive die (and one USB) so I know I could live with it if need be, but I’d be (as others said) much much more attracted if it was touch (not even multitouch) screen capable and NO keyboard. Because then I would mount it inside a book cover portrait wise and use it for ebooks that my college offers.

Honestly, only thing going for it is the solid-state drive. With the versatility of the solid state, I think people are going to buy it purely for that reason. No optical drive, and what seems like only 4 ports (power, mini-dvi, usb and headphones). Seriously. 4 ports? I think they could have sacrificed for an actual dvi port, and a firewire port. The ultra portability is impressive, however i feel like this computer is nothing more than a simple terminal for a much larger system like a 35 story corporation. or even better, a school-laptop. however that price i think it might only appeal to the private sector. Add a blu-ray drive, one more usb on the other side, a firewire somewhere, and even i’d be happy paying $3,098 for it. Although. I think at this exact moment in time, if a 1tb, 2.5ghz, 2500x(whatever) laptop with the above exist…… I’d pay anything approaching 25k :-p

I concur, Solid State tablet. Please?

(for cybertimber)

Solid-State drives are flashed based hard drives that basically make the computer start up ‘instantly’ and saves pretty much everything until you delete it. Its quite awesome. its like RAM, only you get more of it and you can run an OS on it.

I like the look but the price and the lack of a removable battery put me in the “I’ll wait for Air 2.0 camp”.

Now if they’d get around to beefing up the MacBook Pro, I’d sell my current one and buy the new version ASAP. Love my MBP.

I was really hoping for the Mac version of the Asus Eee sub-notebook for under $500. My need is for a glorified word processor that can travel.

If I need a replacement for my MacBook (which shouldn’t be anytime soon), I might consider the Air.

As per the usual, Apple has made another very handsome offering. However the lack of connectivity, especially when it comes to the lack of optical drive really makes me skeptical. Thin is great, but I’m a power whore. I need more power, regardless of how powerful my computer is already.

Despite the price tag, it does scream sexy, and the finger gestures are slick!

~N

I was crossing my fingers that there would be something like this product released soon by apple as i’m scheduled to be getting a laptop on the first week on February. Unfortunately all hopes diminished when I heard the price, even w/my 100 dollar student discount a 700 dollar difference between this and what I consider a more upgradable and higher spec. macbook, I’m sticking with the macbook. Especially since for 168 dollars additionally i can make it a 4gb 160gb hdd macbook. So for me 700 dollars does not justify two pounds lighter let alone the spec differences. :(

So, my current (PC) laptop is somewhat more powerful, has 6x the ports, a dvd burner, 3x the hard drive space, and a better graphics card. It’s also less than half the price. In exchange, I have to carry around more weight in my backpack. Oh, the choices…

Huge meh for me. One USB port, no CD ROM, and $1800+ makes it rather unappealing to me. I have a PC laptop half that price that can trump that. Also, I’m a guy whose always on the go and running around so a laptop that fragile looking simply would not work out for me. If I was going to get a Mac laptop, I’d still stick with the MBP than this thing.

look its a clamshell ibook even with the single usb port(i had a blueberry model)looks incredebelly sexy, but this mac is for fashion statement only or someone in need of a ultralight mac for some reson or another.ill keep y MPB 17 thank you very much

The ability to read other CD drives wirelessly (as seen and demonstrated in the introduction video) impressed me really more than its size (lack’ thereof) and outer streamline shape. Like others have probably said, only one USB port is a turn off, along with the price tag (although probably proportional to the hardware inside).

All and all I’m not going to buy one. But for investment’s sake I hope others do.

wheres the blueray?

I have a MacBook Pro 15-inch, and I still don’t feel like shelling out ~$3100 for a Solid State drive, when a hard drive is fast enough for me. Besides, my MacBook pro is aluminum, and quite sturdy, so I can bludgeon people to death with it, without inflicting any damage on it. So far, not a single scratch.

It’s clearly designed to be some kind of companion computer. You do your real stuff on your imac and use this thing when you want to lye on the couch and read emails or whatever.

The problem is, at that price, it’s no one’s companion.

I don’t get why people are comparing it to a full size laptop, its an ultra portable, apples with apples …

As a high fashion notebook and one which has greater functionality than similar products on the market it will sell well, and Apple will then develop more mainstream laptops with some of the tech goodies passed on.

Remember it’s in a different family to the Macbooks and the Pros, its another market segment in Apples quest to conquer them all …. not really … but it would be cool :P

Actually, this computer is probably ahead of it’s time. I think it opens up a LOT of future possibilities. It’s probably just ahead of it’s time. Apple is looking towards the future, and they’re testing the waters now. The reason for the price is because of the new technology. Give the new technology time and like anything else, it will go down in price because it will be cheaper to make. The production of a processor the size of a dime and the thickness of a nickel, along with making the FIRST MacBook to run completely off of flash based memory are what jacked up prices.

I myself have no use for it because and don’t care about it because I need my MBP for what I do. Typical college students though in the future will just use MacBook Air. This item COULD quite possibly in the future replace the current MacBook. Knew OSs and programs someday will be downloadable without ever having to buy a disk. They’ve made this for the Wireless Generation that they foresee coming. They’re paving the way.

I think another reason why it was possibly announced early was because the Mac Tablet everyone has been talking about wasn’t ready for release. Notice the lack of “One more thing.” Also notice how Steve Jobs tried to build up everything he could and even talked about the Rentals WAY more than what was necessary. You could tell they were missing something.

I think the Mac Tablet would’ve been released if it wasn’t for the wonderful iPhone. Job’s did have the tablet team essentially shrink down a computer to phone size. So that delayed the tablet, and I’m sure the iPod Touch didn’t help too much either. I wouldn’t be surprised if the tablet released this summer as a “SURPRISE!” I also wouldn’t be surprised if Macworld ‘09 blows this one out of the water.

Anywho, there’s my several cents,
Ragz

It’s cool and all, but I’d be scared of breaking it. =\
Seriously, that can’t be very strong.

I was impressed by it both on a personal/aesthetic level, as well as on the engineering level, up until the moment that the price was announced. The optical drive thing is a bit of a put off, but I can understand why they did it and am okay with it. But still…that price…

I’m sure quite a few of you guys remember the G4 Cube (heck, we might even have some people here that modded theirs and are still using them). I kinda see the Air as being the next Cube: excellent design, no market. The subnotebook market I know about is the one that’s priced cheaper than the MacBook and strips out most of the features. Glorified portable DVD players with an OS, basically.

The Air is coming in lesser-featured than either of its siblings, with its only significant benefit being the form factor. “Cool” can only take you so far, and frankly put, both the MacBook and MacBook Pro are already cool enough for the vast majority of people. I can understand people stomaching the $100 to buy the black MacBook back in the day, but you’re talking about a major premium here for a reduced form factor and reduced features. I doubt there will be many takers.

On the other hand, the revamped AppleTV has me salivating (cutting out the computer was great) and I rather like the concept of Time Capsule, as well as the lower one’s price point (not sold on the upper one, honestly, even though I know it’s not a bad price). That they put out Time Capsule now might also explain why they cut the announced AirDisk feature from the last base station model they released a few months back. They were going to allow us to hook up drives to the base station, but then they cut the feature before the units actually shipped…this might be why.

I currently own a Macbook Pro, and I am much happier with it now that I see what Apple has been developing. Yes, it is an attractive look, but with weak processing powers, I am willing to deal with my heavier computer.

Looks like pure sex. But..

No ethernet, 1 usb port, no disc drive, no removable battery. Fail.
Practicality/would I buy this is not amazing even if the design is.

Okay, unlike probably 90% of the people posting on this thread, I was actually holding this computer in my hands a mere hour or two after it was announced. My impression? Really light yet solid. My ONLY beef with the form factor is that it’s back heavy and I’d be worried that it would easily fall off a coffee table or something because it feels like it wants to roll backwards. 3lbs is a lot lighter than you might think, and the metal casing feels like it could take a bit of a beating.

Honestly, the lack of an optical drive is fine by me if it weren’t for the fact that there is no firewire port. One less-known fact is that firewire is bootable, while USB is not. This means that you can plug a firewire hard drive in, and if it has an OS, you can boot from it. This saved my butt when I upgraded to Leopard on my 12″ Powerbook. I was able to boot from the external drive to retrieve all my files so I could do a clean re-install. Honestly, if the Macbook Air fried, you’d have to take it in to a repair shop or send it to Apple because there’s no way wifi will work when you’re stripped down to just the kernel and bios because your hard drive is messed up. Not to mention, firewire just works better. I’ve owned many external hard drives because my powerbook can’t handle a large internal drive, and every firewire one has been fast and responsive, while one USB drive got corrupted and the other sometimes waits as long as a minute before kicking on and searching for the file I need.

One more question to apple though: Why does one of the iPods, a $350 device, have twice the storage capacity of the Macbook Air?

On the subject of “multi-touch”. I like the idea, but not the execution. I saw it working with leopard and let me tell you, I wasn’t impressed. Multi-touch works well on the iPhone because the entire OS and all software is built to use it. Multi-touch on the Macbook seems like a gimmick. I saw it demoed in iPhoto and it was sluggish, when it worked at all. Basically it only seems to work to change how big you’re viewing your thumbnails. Good idea, but what about zooming in and out of a single photo? No support. What about an ability to dig through open windows with two fingers just like if you were doing it physically? No support. The fact is, until Apple completely rethinks their OS and software using the multi-touch paradigm, much as they did with the iPhone, the technology will be a gimmick rather than a truly useable tool.

Bottom line though, better weight distribution, bigger hard drive, firewire. Give me these three things, and I’ll give a macbook serious consideration. Until then, I’ll file this under the iPod Touch and iPhone as really good ideas that still have some major design flaws.

I think something a little more radical would have been nice; I tend to agree with the folks who are throwing the “tablet” word around.

I can see why people are upset about not having a CD drive, but now that you can buy a 4GB Flash Drive for as little as $20 what’s the big deal? I download almost all the software I use on my Mac anyway. I think the only things I ever install off of a CD anymore are the occasional game and Mac OS X.

Needless to say I’m sticking with my 12″ Powerbook G4 for a while. At least until I can’t stand coding on a 12″ screen anymore.

I want a laptop but with so many designs by apple i have real difficulty trying to choose. By the time i afford one a new one comes out it’s all…well more flashy than the last and it drives me nut’s! how do you lot keep up????.

So I have a question. If I understand the whole external super drive thing correct (which I doubt at this moment) is that it lets you connect to a drive or partition on another computer. Which would simply mean it works the same as a wireless LAN and a shared network drive? How is that ‘new and innovative’ as the website points it out? =/ Please correct me if I’m wrong at this.

Also, I have a ‘pc’ laptop (read: non-mac), which has roughly the same specs as the Air, only that it has a faster wireless and isn’t as thin (of course). It’s a year and a half old by now. The thing is, I checked the pricing for an Air in Europe, which is roughly 1700eu.. That’s $2450. Minimum. Now, my current laptop has a pretty big wide screen. It might have a bit less good graphic capabilities, but it still does what I want it to do. It can’t run WoW, but apart from that it’s the same as the Air.
What did it cost me, a 1.5 year back? 670eu. Let’s put that in dollars: $960.
I’m done.

Imagine if u sit on it… ouch

[...] veux un, c’est certain. Aussi, comme je vais me répéter, je le sais, je radote, n’empêche que c’est une propriété des commentaires de carnets, personne ne prend la peine de [...]

The general consensus seems to be that it’s not that great, and I agree. Then again, I’m biased against laptops in general (I don’t think of them as “real” computers), and the only reason I’m using one right now is because I can’t use my regular PC (I’m in Japan, and it’s still in the States). I loathe touchpads in general, and I wonder about the need for a 3-finger “swoosh” or whatever for going back and forward through webpages when I can just click the side-buttons on my mouse.

Enough of my prejudice against the faults of all laptops, though. The main thing that bothered me, other than the lack of an optical drive and lack of general connectivity (the subject has been beaten to a bloody stump) (On that note, what’s “Firewire”? I’ve never heard of it before, and I don’t feel like using Wikipedia.), was that in the video tour, the man talked about a full keyboard, which was complete and utter bull. Do you see a numpad? I don’t see a numpad. Real keyboards have numpads; they’re the best control scheme for using ROMs. I haven’t played a ROM in months because because this silly laptop doesn’t have a full keyboard either. I can’t think of any laptop that does.

In closing, I still don’t like Macs, Apple, or Steve Jobs. At least Bill has a charity.