I mean, COME ON!!!! No optical drive, ONE usb port, no built in wired ethernet, one headphone jack, all for 1800+ . FAIL!
http://www.apple.com/macbookair/
http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html

************************
You must not know bout me, you must not know bout me, to the left, to the left (C) "Killa" Camron

************************************************************
It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

>I mean, COME ON!!!! No optical drive, ONE usb port, no built
>in wired ethernet, one headphone jack, all for 1800+ . FAIL!

i agree and im a mac guy. but really this line of computer isnt made for me. its for busy people on the go for planes and conference rooms. its not meant to be your main computer. for the people that have that need can afford paying more for what it does. the one usb port seems wack but i think its pushing you to use bluetooth stuff. also lol about complaining about one headphone jack. does any computer have more then one? but to add on i think the battery life is pretty shitty and you cant swap out the batteries easily as far as i understand.

************************
You must not know bout me, you must not know bout me, to the left, to the left (C) "Killa" Camron

and from what i saw somewhere thats 5 hours of idle time. so if you're working its bound to be even less

Edit: Oops, you already said that. Anyway, I was just looking for an excuse to use this line:

Maybe they'll install Apple stores on airplanes.

regardless, the kate moss of laptops is gonna sell.

LOL

i agree with you. I think that this will not sell as much as they thought. But dumb people will eat it up. All those kids who buy Macbooks because they want a mac will be fine with the air. Although it is more expensive but rich people got dough.

RECOGNIZE he Macbook TOUCH...wat ya'll know about that? Im down for that when it comes out.

Might even pre-order it Friday.
I can't remember the last time I used a CD in my laptop.
What do you really need more than one USB port for?
With a 13.3" screen, I doubt anyone would rely on this as their main computer, and if they did, they'd likely have a docking station which would provide more USB ports....it is dockable isn't it?

sig below:
-..Some say the price of holdin heat is often too high, you either be in a coffin or you be the new guy...


-A monkey is chased by a hyena and you cannot tell the laughter from the screams.

-Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there's gas in the

http://www.lenflack.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/steve_koolaid2.jpg

************************
You must not know bout me, you must not know bout me, to the left, to the left (C) "Killa" Camron

is for people with big bank and stop whining that it doesn’t have this or that?

Like I said in GD, the Air isn’t bad because you can’t afford 3k for an extra computer.

If you can’t, don’t feel bad. They still make the Macbook and Macbook Pro for people like you.

http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?ad=fg&pid=19381

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
R.I.P. James Dilla Yancey
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Why the name change?

Anyway, I don't see the point in getting an 80GB hard drive at 4200rpm when you could just go for a 60GB SSD.

lol

that shit cost more than most computers.

64GB for 17-hundo?!

Seriously tho...

Does it save data differently?

I don't get it.

That's a down payment on a new whip.

Hard drive speed tends to be a bottle neck in computers.

less likely to crash if I'm not mistaken.

It's the future of storage, but still very expensive compared to traditional hard drives.

whether we can afford it or not isn't the point. the price and the specs do not make it a good value period.


-------------------------------------

They don’t even get the fuel economy my Cobalt gets. What a ripoff!

>They don’t even get the fuel economy my Cobalt gets. What a
>ripoff!

on the fact that your Cobalt doesn't have half the performance of a Caddy.... That's the beef. It's not that great of a computer, spec-wise.

Are you measuring speed? A stock 350z can outrun most caddies at $26k.

Are you measuring gas millage? My Cobalt has most Caddies beat there.

Are we talking about sound systems? I have XM in my whip.

Interior size? There are less expensive and roomer vehicles.


The Air underperforms in certain aspects compared to other laptops, but if your primary concern is device thickness and aesthetics, it has everything beat.

It's a luxury item for people who can afford it and aren't worrying about comparing price and specs to other things. If you can't afford it, or don't think it's worth the money, that's cool...but when a company makes the "est" anything (fastest, smallest, biggest, thinnest, etc.) you can't call it a FAIL.

Like I said, if it's not for you, get a Macbook. Mine was $1.3k and has an 80GB hard drive, faster processor, replaceable battery, multiple usb ports and a cd/dvd burner. I could see the bitching if Apple stopped selling their other laptops, but they basically just introduced a luxury model and people are mad it costs too much. C'mon.

i spent 1800 on a laptop two years ago. but i wouldn't buy this air shit.

You got your laptop as a primary computer. Somebody buying the air would ideally be a person getting a second or even third computer (and they’d be getting the 3K version).

You don’t need your third computer to do fifty-leven things, especially when it comes in that small of a package.

It doesn't do what it's supposed to. Like if I was a billionaire and didn't want the new lambo cuz it couldn't reverse I'd be an idiot?

It implies the thing is similar to every other computer except it doesn't do a few things, when the reality is that it's made to do something something else.

It would be more akin to being mad at a hover-lambo for not being able to reverse but ignoring the fact that the motherfucker can hover.

Seriously, what doesn't it do that it's "supposed to do" tho?

It's supposed to be a super portable laptop and that's exactly what it is.

What do you want from the thing? An optical drive? Where the fuck are you gonna put the shit? It's not like they said "ok, we're only selling these now, y'all s.o.l. if you use cds or dvds" They have a $100 superdrive option (that is powered form the usb port with no need for additional power cords) AND the shit can remotely use another computer's cd/dvd drive.


Also, being able to purchase something and being able to afford something are two different things. I can go out and buy a Macbook Air right now if I wanted, but I couldn't afford to waste that much money on a computer without certain features. This thing is for people that have tricked out, do everything Macs and want (and can afford) an extra machine for when they don't need all the trickedoutness.

But I'm not buying into the hype and think its outrageously overpriced.

No. It isn't for powerusers. Its for people who want a nice word processor. It's for people like my mom. Something light that she can carry around. Look cute. And, type up whatever she needs to type up.


If there's hell below...we're all gonna go! (c) Curtis Mayfield

************************************************************
It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

you're comparing your current, HD dvd burning, 4 slot, 2 port, 2 USB cable 17" widescreen portable desktop to what the air is: an overblown (and priced, in my opinion) iPod that can run an OS. This shit isn't for folks with one computer, it's for folks that have a home desktop setup that want something hyper-mobile and still capable of base functions. It's not like the iPod replaced your entire CD library and home stereo, did it? Same idea. When you're at the coffee shop working on a paper or surfing the net, how badly do you need an optical drive or more than one corded (keyword) peripheral?
But for the current price point, no, it's a bit silly and yes, people will still buy them.

But in my case my IPOD (80GB) did replace my cd collection--LOL. But you're right, this is essentially a big IPOD...I'm surprised they went with a 13.3" screen instead of the 12".

sig below:
-..Some say the price of holdin heat is often too high, you either be in a coffin or you be the new guy...


-A monkey is chased by a hyena and you cannot tell the laughter from the screams.

-Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there's gas in the

and a toothpick

But to say that a laptop is basically your ipod with a big screen pretty much nullifies any pull that that gravity has upon you..

sig below:
-..Some say the price of holdin heat is often too high, you either be in a coffin or you be the new guy...


-A monkey is chased by a hyena and you cannot tell the laughter from the screams.

-Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there's gas in the

all up in a mac post...

but if you have a zune, fuck having a car.

You should be pleased that i'm even gracing you with my e-presence...


sig below:
-..Some say the price of holdin heat is often too high, you either be in a coffin or you be the new guy...


-A monkey is chased by a hyena and you cannot tell the laughter from the screams.

-Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there's gas in the

sig below:
-..Some say the price of holdin heat is often too high, you either be in a coffin or you be the new guy...


-A monkey is chased by a hyena and you cannot tell the laughter from the screams.

-Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there's gas in the

sig below:
-..Some say the price of holdin heat is often too high, you either be in a coffin or you be the new guy...


-A monkey is chased by a hyena and you cannot tell the laughter from the screams.

-Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there's gas in the

-------------------------------------

you could have 2 usb ports and an ethernet port built in, and I'm *fairly* certain it won't add real estate. Taking out the cd-rom, vga port, enclosing the HD...all moves I understand to make it 1/8 of a mm...or whatever. But with the USB/ethernet, I don't get it. I suppose I'd have to crack one open and look at the MB to figure it out. My $0.02. Like others, I like mac...but I don't understand this product (minus the coolness factor).

EVERY Macworld gets one of these posts:

There's no FLOPPY drive??
G3 computer got rid of ADB and SCSI? Who'd buy that?
iPod is only 5GB, doesn't have wireless and cost how much??
Apple moving to Intel, why not just buy a PC?
I can't replace the battery in my iPod?? No one will ever buy it.
How much more for BLACK??
iPhone is overpriced and no one will buy it!

Time will tell if it's a hit or not. And YOU don't get to define a hit.

It's like every Apple product has to be 100000% revolutionary for folks to even begin to admit that it might sell. And then y'all complain about the price.

Well go back to your AMD computer and listen to your iRiver MP3 player and STFU.

Thank you,
Tom

************************
You must not know bout me, you must not know bout me, to the left, to the left (C) "Killa" Camron

all of what was just said...

Tech people seem to be very narrow-minded and short sighted.

They were saying the Wii would get blown out the water, too.



I learned my lesson to stop thinking the conventional shit will always win after the DS kicked the PSP’s ass.

http://sidewayspony.com/images/trough/production/2007/jul/18/33415_formatted_welldone30f.jpg

-------------------------------------

This thread was not set-up for a discussion , it was set up as a pronouncement.

The same pronouncement idiots on message boards post immediately after each and every Apple announcement.

I've listed quite a few of those (wrong) pronouncements and you've told me to die. I now pronounce you an idiot. Of of discussion.

We predicted AppleTV was trash. A year later Jobs admitted it was doo doo.

We said the iPhone cost too damn much, a few months later they lowered the price.

You win some, you lose some.

It goes on and on. Same shit happens in the Wii/360/PS3/HD-DVD/Bluray/Vista/Linux posts.

I repeat: if you can't deal with it go ahead and body yourself.


-------------------------------------

This was not started as a predictions thread (those threads are historically 90% wrong in here) it was started as a CONCLUSION thread.

Read the title. "Can we say conclusively that Mac Book Air = FAIL" Notice it was not posted as an interrogative sentence either.

And it didn't define what FAIL might mean either.

There's a difference between prediction shit (y'all ain't Carnac (not Carmack)) and just being a dick.

But you'll never understand the difference. EOF.

You really are mad over this shit. I need to give props to the original poster for being able to get you worked up so easily.


-------------------------------------

I'm going to have to gangbang your mother now, you realize that, don't you?

Sign-ups for the gangbang will be sent as eVites to all users tomorrow.

************************************************************
It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

.

and intended to be almost entirely wireless

as stated before, not for power users...but it is a great new toy for someone not depended upon it

I think of it as laptop variation, much like the ipod has its variations all intended for different people for different reasons

take it for what it is and don't try to stretch its intended domain

I was just looking at one and, while even though, I don't see myself spending the money, I see that they are introducing some things that they are definitely trying to make mainstream like the 802.11n and the Solid-State harddrives.

I'm mostly excited to see how all the other companies, in usual mimicking moves, try to incorporate solid-state into their notebooks.

I mean, it would be great if 2008 was the year we finally got rid of the computing bottle-neck that is disk based drives. I'd even settle for a 20GB solid-state drive to run software from and a 100GB drive to store data by the time Christmas rolls around

The industry has been moving in that direction for a while now.

Also, 802.11n isn't the new hotness anymore so it isn't groundbreaking in that regard either.


-------------------------------------

...........

************************************************************
It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

And even the hipsterest of the hipster don't have a Macbook Air.

It's not intended for users like myself, and presumably like you. I'm fine using my iMac and my regular-ass macbook.
But there are people who, for whatever reasons, need sub-notebooks. Macbook Jordan is not for us.

But it is not a failure.

Or that gold-plated mac.

Or the Cube.

There are limits to people's fanboyism.

a lot of new tech in the cube and it sold pretty well. the cube was really an exercise in design to show folks that they were still in the game as far as making stylish computers. I mean, after the bright "flavors" of the ugly iMac, they needed to remind people that they weren't just building computers for children's playrooms.

used.

not many.

the hate is not justified and is rather myopic, imho.

I'm dying to hear what is innovative about this machine.

************************
You must not know bout me, you must not know bout me, to the left, to the left (C) "Killa" Camron

1.a new smaller cpu.... C2D 45nm batch!
2.wireless migration (this is a bigger deal than u realize)
3.no optical drive (optical drives are gonna go the way of floppies, floop,floop...)
4.small powerful logic board (big deal also..this can be used for a real ultraprotable)
5.a badass backlit keyboard
6.environmentally friendly
7.It looks great.

Positive Externalities

1.It's going to push all the other manufacturers = better products overall, consumers win.
2.the wares companies/content providers on optical (DVD/BD)will have to be feature packed since optical is going to die eventually.
3.The bar has been set pretty high design and function wise = consumers win again.

I could go on and on and on...

bottom line we all win.

the myopia in here is tragic.

oh well.

for hates sake.
Maybe they salty bout their light wallets...i cant call it.

sig below:
-..Some say the price of holdin heat is often too high, you either be in a coffin or you be the new guy...


-A monkey is chased by a hyena and you cannot tell the laughter from the screams.

-Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there's gas in the

>
>
> 1.a new smaller cpu.... C2D 45nm batch!

That's an Intel innovation. Everyone's gonna get those.

> 2.wireless migration (this is a bigger deal than u realize)

You're using a buzzword you didn't really say anything here.

> 3.no optical drive (optical drives are gonna go the way of
>floppies, floop,floop...)

Other laptop makers beat them to the punch here. Sorry, Apple.

> 4.small powerful logic board (big deal also..this can be used
>for a real ultraprotable)

Apple hasn't created the first subnotebook, in fact I don't even think it's the smallest. No innovation here.


> 5.a badass backlit keyboard

meh

> 6.environmentally friendly

marketing

> 7.It looks great.

possibly

>
>Positive Externalities
>
>1.It's going to push all the other manufacturers = better
>products overall, consumers win.

That could be said about any product. If they do sell, it'll help push down the SSD prices but that's going to happen regardless.

> 2.the wares companies/content providers on optical
>(DVD/BD)will have to be feature packed since optical is going
>to die eventually.

They realize this already. If anything, MS and Apple are pushing this more through Xbox Live/ITMS than this laptop.


> 3.The bar has been set pretty high design and function wise =
>consumers win again.

nah

>
>I could go on and on and on...

please do!


-------------------------------------

we could argue till the gateway one's come home, duke.
i know i'm right.
:)

-------------------------------------

-------------------------------------

1. The specs I read were that it's using the old 65 Nm mobile processor. Don't know where you got 45Nm.

2. Wireless migration...yeah umm, what does that even mean. My 3 year old Dell has wireless...what makes that special on the MacBook Air?

3. No optical drive is somehow a bonus? WTF? lol.

4. Sony Vaio and Dell XPS say hello from last year...i thought you said this shit was the first of it's kind

5. Enviromentally friendly...lol

6. It looks great...yeah, that it does...how innovative!

Come on fam, try harder. What's innovative about the MacBook Air. So far you got nothin.

************************
You must not know bout me, you must not know bout me, to the left, to the left (C) "Killa" Camron

...you are so pissed, lol ...Apple wins again!

************************
You must not know bout me, you must not know bout me, to the left, to the left (C) "Killa" Camron

...

what can i say i have apple stock and enjoy their products.
i'm a fanboy in every sense of the word.
:)

the list price

Some of the technology is dope tho, the touchpad, remote disk.

http://www.myspace.com/steelysteel
http://www.last.fm/user/steelysteel/
XBL Gamertag:steelysteel

/nm/

Wether it's a iMac or a MacPro... but by no means should anyone by this as their stand alone computer.

When I was in class this morning they had kids who got there parents to pre order it already. That's crazy. It's like an expensive fashion item.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/17/airmail-the-manila-folder-macbook-air-sleeve-gets-real/

LLL
LLL
LLL
LLL
LLL
LLL
LLL
LLL
LLL
LLL
LLLLLLLLLL
LLLLLLLLLL

************************************************************
It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

************************
You must not know bout me, you must not know bout me, to the left, to the left (C) "Killa" Camron

i just prefer to use a system that is open and affords me the opportunity to choose how i want to use my computer rather than being forced into a way of doing things.

don't u need to update your antivirus or something?

*snickers*


************************************************************
It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

i think it looks cool but because it's not truly between a MB and MBP and has the no dedicated graphics card it's not for me BUT i can see why people would want it.

mofos are sounding like they're talking about their ex or something on here.

I like the innovations on the Air. The bad news is they're only on the Air. The good news is they should trickle their way into the other models eventually.

and it doesn't help the argument when the only ones that know what they're talking about in here is jetblack. i see SP is back to his old tricks. not knowing shit about computers.

but whatever.

the air is gonna only do one thing: drive down the costs of flash memory.

it's a waste of money. get a macbook if you wanna spend 1800 dollars on a laptop. fuck that. get a macbook pro if you wanna spend 3k.

------------------------------------------
"I love the pile driver. It kind of opens you up for maximum railing. You just lay there and get the shit pounded out of you and it's fucking great." -roxy
http://irreverentbastard.wordpress.com

Y'all are really looking to deeply at this shit.

If you value the size of the device over the performance, then get the Macbook Air. If not, get a Macbook or a MBP.

>Y'all are really looking to deeply at this shit.
>
>If you value the size of the device over the performance, then
>get the Macbook Air. If not, get a Macbook or a MBP.
>

learn to read. i said nothing about replacing them. that'd be stupid as hell. if you value the size of a device, you need to have more space if you can't save yourself a few inches.

iont see people rushing out banging down doors for it. *shrugs*

------------------------------------------
"I love the pile driver. It kind of opens you up for maximum railing. You just lay there and get the shit pounded out of you and it's fucking great." -roxy
http://irreverentbastard.wordpress.com

If you're going somewhere and need to do something on a laptop that doesn't involve a CD, the Air will work just fine and you'll have a lighter laptop case.

It's a convenience, not a necessity, for sure, but you saying "get a Macbook Pro" to somebody that wants an ultra-portable is kinda dumb.

> if you value the size of a device, you need to
>have more space if you can't save yourself a few inches.

...most u cats complaining about products that you could NEVER afford ...plus u know NOTHING about what people with $$$ would buy in the real world

..the way u guys flock to these apple posts to complain is hilarious ..jealous bastards, lol

and i can afford it. but why overspend?

they resort to the *you can't afford it* tactic because they don't know shit about computers to give a decent retort.

but that's his MO. so i won't paint yall with the same wide brush.

------------------------------------------
"I love the pile driver. It kind of opens you up for maximum railing. You just lay there and get the shit pounded out of you and it's fucking great." -roxy
http://irreverentbastard.wordpress.com

see Deluge, Uchiwa_Sasuke, and company

On one hand I want to explain just how much cash I've dropped on hardware this year, on another it's none of their fucking business and it's irrelevant to the argument.

Very annoying.

-------------------------------------

i've spent the amount of a macbook pro worth of HD and video cards and memory and processors.

but nevermind that.

i mean. i was a split second from getting a quad extreme joint the other day the same amount as they whole computer but i make SOUND DECISIONS WITH MY PURCHASES.

------------------------------------------
"I love the pile driver. It kind of opens you up for maximum railing. You just lay there and get the shit pounded out of you and it's fucking great." -roxy
http://irreverentbastard.wordpress.com

smh.


-------------------------------------

by the time that drops, maybe i'll be sick of my pro and ready for an air...

---
THE FAM:
http://www.marka27.com
http://www.biz20.biz
http://www.myspace.com/blackoutboston
http://www.myspace.com/indigginus

*CLIMATE CRISIS: reduce your impact!*
http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/whatyoucando/index.html

Unless I'm badly missing the touch of sarcasm (what can I say, I'm posting from my blackberry pearl! ;-) )

"sick of" was not a good choice of words. perhaps i should have said maybe i'll be "ready for an even greater mac experience".

---
THE FAM:
http://www.marka27.com
http://www.biz20.biz
http://www.myspace.com/blackoutboston
http://www.myspace.com/indigginus

*CLIMATE CRISIS: reduce your impact!*
http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/whatyoucando/index.html

One is fine for me, and the other 98.73% of the population I think.

the lack of ports and optical drives is what's kill me.

= $CAM

cake up apple.

using this thing...it's going to run hot!!

http://regmedia.co.uk/2008/01/19/macbookcommodorecompare.jpg

-------------------------------------

........

I still want one tho.

************************************************************
It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

catch a swollen heart, from not rollin' smart

/nm/

PC fanboy myself, but Apple have produced something for the future that people will follow. Can't see how this got so many replies, some of the people arguing for the PC are ignorant as f*ck and know nothing about what they are talking about, hate to be in the same crowd as them, especially the ones that think Wireless Migration is just a buzzword and environmentally friendly is marketing. Also Intel was request by Apple to make that processor, therefore it shown how much weight Apple pulls.

At the end of the day, the machine is there to compliment your high powered machine. This is ultra-portability for those who travel a lot and are constantly on the move from location to location. This is not for the fam who are going to be sitting at home, reading emails and surfing the web. This machine has a market and it will cater for those in that niche market however much you hate you have. How many people actually use the missing features on a regular basis? This is especially if you have a base system(s) that cater for this. I run PC’s and Macs at home, desktop’s and laptops (1 of each) and still I can see how this can fit in my set-up. I want one, but not in a rush to get it yet till the SSD drives drop in price.

.. and ultra-portability will always come at a cost !!! If you could shrink a mac book pro into a mac book air, then do you not think it would have been done?

Same with a Super Car vrs Saloon car, either way you go you lose something and gain another.

************************
You must not know bout me, you must not know bout me, to the left, to the left (C) "Killa" Camron

wireless migration another...

And the thing isn't even using Intels newest processor so again...what innovation?

************************
You must not know bout me, you must not know bout me, to the left, to the left (C) "Killa" Camron

therefore the fastest processor out there will not fit into the air. The fastest processor of a size that can fit into a mac book air, is what is in the mac book air! Do you know of a processor of that size that is equal or faster ?

Innovation is the introduction of something new or something different. Is the mac book air not an innovation ?

When the Ipod was released, were there not other MP3 players on the market ?

When the Iphone was released were there not other smart phones?

Why then were the Ipod and Iphone called innovations ?

Son, you can google wireless migration and see hows it's application has been harnessed by Apple to provide in true essence what people have hoped to see as wireless migration

It's called "the nature of technology". By your logic, every new processor that goes into any new laptop first is "innovation". Here's a clue, the processor in the Air is a 60Nm processor. Guess what...thats not the smallest processor Intel makes. I guess when that goes into the next model Toshibas, the Toshiba notebook will be the worlds most innovative notebook. Umm, yeah.

Please.

Secondly, if wireless migration means wirelessly moving your documents and apps from one machine to another, all I can do is laugh at your naivete if you think this hasn't ever been possible on Linux or Windows.

You drank the kool-aid fam.

>Also Intel was request
>by Apple to make that processor, therefore it shown how much
>weight Apple pulls.
>

I would like you to back that up before I address the rest of this post.


-------------------------------------

http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3203

Plus Jobs mentioned this in the keynote speech so if you have not watched it, maybe you should to get key'ed up on what the Mac Book Air is before arguing against it.

That was some shit that was already in the Intel pipeline.

Thanks for playing!

-------------------------------------

The reviewer (Anand) suspected the processor was already in the pipeline, but goes on to note that this was not the case because the footprint of the Mac Book Air processor together with the packaging and voltage disagree with his suspected view, thus confirming apple did specifically create this for the Mac Book Air and contradicting his earlier published article on the mystry of the processor in the mac book air.

http://www.macrumors.com/2008/01/17/intels-custom-processor-for-macbook-air/


It came out of Job's own mouth FFS !!! DO a google search if you have to !!!

The CPU and chipset are both reduced in footprint, we assumed that this might be the case but lacked the visual evidence from Apple to back it up (at least until we can get a MacBook Air in house and take it apart). If you look back at our Montevina SFF diagram from IDF you'll see that the overall platform footprint reduction of 58% comes through reducing both CPU and chipset size, so it makes sense that Intel applied the same technology to the 965 and Merom chips in this case.

The line about lower voltages threw us, we originally assumed that the Core 2 Duos used in the MacBook Air were the L7700 and L7500, both Low Voltage 65nm Meroms running at somewhere between 0.9V and 1.2000V. A little more digging revealed that the chips used in the MacBook Air weren't LV parts after all, but they were lower voltage than the standard mobile Core 2 processors.

The 1.6GHz chip in the MacBook Air runs at 1.0V - 1.25V, while the 1.8GHz part runs at 1.1125V - 1.25V. Note that this is less voltage than a standard mobile Core 2 Duo, but more voltage than the Low Voltage chips. The TDP of these not-quite-low-voltage Core 2s reflects the increased voltage; while the L7700 and L7500 have a 17W TDP, the chips used in the MacBook Air are rated at 20W (standard mobile Core 2 Duo chips are 35W parts).

"The packaging technology used for this CPU is what makes it unique; the CPU comes in a package that was originally reserved for mobile Penryn due out in the second half of 2008 with the Montevina SFF Centrino platform. Intel accelerated the introduction of the packaging technology specifically for Apple it seems."

Even MacRumors has that tidbit in their conclusion. Apple used some shit that Intel already had in the works, they didn't commission new tech at all. Go ahead and pat Intel on the back for this, not Apple.


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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

>
>Even MacRumors has that tidbit in their conclusion. Apple
>used some shit that Intel already had in the works, they
>didn't commission new tech at all. Go ahead and pat Intel on
>the back for this, not Apple.

I'll reserve judgement or else I'll be dubbed le hateur once again.


Remote Disc: no movie playback, no HD support, and everything else you need to know

One of the more more interesting, albeit minor, announcements at Macworld was Remote Disc, Apple's method to undermine the need to bundle an optical drive with the Air. To our chagrin, Apple also undermined the ability to do much fun or useful with the disc sharing system. Here's what you need to know about Remote Disc, top to bottom:

* The Remote Disc installer is 42.3MB for Mac, and claims to take almost 86MB of space. (Apple let us know it shouldn't take anywhere near that, and the installer app overestimated the space required.) Also, expect a restart of the host Mac. (Windows, ironically, does not require a restart to begin sharing media.)
* Although you can disable the "ask before allowing others to use my drive" sharing option, if you have not done so users will be prompted to ask permission to use the drive at each connection. (Also, there's no client whitelist or anything like that, it's all ask permission, or none.) If you've already asked permission on that drive and disc, if you stop using it and come back to it, you have to ask permission again.
* Every time you ask permission as a Remote Disc client, the host gets a popup asking if it's cool to share your drive. You can, of course, accept or decline (but the only way to stop getting prompts is to turn off disc sharing).
* Ejecting the disc on the client side does not eject it on the host side.
* Ejecting it on the host side, however, gives a host-side prompt about the disc being in use. You can override and eject, however.
* To reinstall or boot from CD using Remote Disc, the host must use the installed Remote Install Mac OS X application. It's a fairly simple process, but sharing an install CD over a wireless network is asking for trouble. It took an absurd amount of time (nearly 10 minutes) to boot over 802.11g. You need bandwidth, so be sure to get on 802.11n or, preferably, wired (with the dongle).
* To remote boot from a shared CD, hold the option key while starting up. You'll be presented with a BIOS-level WiFi / network selection that looks surprisingly unpolished for Apple (but works with WPA and advanced WiFi crypto all the same)

Bummer for media:

* You can browse the file contents of DVD discs, but you cannot actually play that media back over the network. Apple let us know that this only applies to commercial DVD media, and you should be able to play back home-burned iDVD movies via Remote Disc.
* You can't rip DVDs over the network using a tool like Handbrake.
* You can't browse a music CD or listen to tracks. Don't even think about burning a disc remotely.
* Remote Disc appears only to be able to share CD / DVD drives and CD / DVD discs, not high capacity / HD optical drives.
* We tested sharing a regular DVD over an HD DVD drive, no luck. Data CDs on DVD drives worked fine though.

We've heard of some client firewalls harshing on Remote Disc, but we didn't see any issues when testing. Despite its shortcomings, it did work exactly as advertised, and with zero fuss. We miss anything?
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http://blogs.computerworld.com/macbook_air_reccomendation_wait

MacBook Air recommendation: 10 reasons to wait
28 comments

* TAGS:Apple, Leopard, Macbook Air, Review, SSD
* IT TOPICS:Macintosh & Apple, Mobile & Wireless, Personal Technology

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As the Macintosh guru in my group of friends and colleagues, the question on everyone's mind over the past week (other than what happened to Apple's stock price!?) is "what do I think of the MacBook Air? - and should I buy one?" Rather than answer everyone separately, let me share my pre-1st hand knowledge/thoughts. Keep in mind, I've been called an Apple Fanboy enough times for me to think it might be true....

The MacBook Air is an amazing piece of machinery. It is ahead of its time on a lot of fronts. However, some details certainly are cause for concern.

1. The processor. Intel is late on their delivery of their ultra-low power 45nm laptop chips. Clearly, the MacBook Air is the exact computer that these types of chips belong in. So Apple and Intel spun it as going out of their way to do something special. That something special was jimmy-ing a 65nm chip onto a board that was made for a 45nm one. The 45 nm chips will be arriving by mid-year and will likely be put in rev 2 of the MacBook Air. They will use less power per CPU cycle and that five hour battery life could easily turn into six - and with the reduced power consumption, they might be able to crank the processor speed up to and beyond 2 Ghz or maybe even fit in some more wireless options..
2. Wireless. I am not talking about Wifi which the Air has the best money can buy, I am talking about 3G/WiMAX here. It isn't built in. For the road warriors that this device is made for, having 3G Internet access is almost a prerequisite. Of course you can get a decidedly unsexy USB 3G "dongle", but Apple is going to eventually have to cave to pressure and start including these things in its products. Dell, HP and others have included this functionality for years! Apple could even partner with their iPhone buddies, AT&T on this and offer a seamless package. Or how about WiMAX with Intel? Intel is building WiMAX into its next round of CPUs. Again. Rev 2
3. As much as I hate to say it about Apple - or any company - Rev 1 parts are glitchy - especially the first ones off of the assembly line. I pre-ordered/picked up one of the first MacBook Pros out of the factory a few years ago. Over the course of that first year, nearly every part on it had to be replaced (Motherboard, HD, battery, etc). It is almost a whole new machine after all of the part swaps. That doesn't mean Apple wasn't quick and happy to replace everything - and it is still a solid machine: I am typing on it now as a matter of fact. However, it was a pain to lose it for a few days at a time and my early impressions of it shot my confidence in its quality. These MacBook Airs are going to be going to the people who don't really have that much patience and desire to send it back to Apple for a few days while they swap defective parts - especially at the price premiums.
4. Option 1: 80Gb Hard Drive. I've booted my MacBook Pro from an iPod before. It isn't fast - I wouldn't want to have to do this on a regular basis - especially on a brand new, expensive machine. Apple may have added a few tricks, but the bottom line is that the 80Gb hard drive is still a 1.8 inch 4200 rpm iPod hard drive - which is not only significantly slower than 2.5 inch drives at 7200RPM but also more prone to damage from shock. Apparently there is not enough room in there for the 160Gb iPod hard drive either - it isn't an option. That is tight! The next round of 1.8 inch drives will be faster, smaller and store more information. Me? I don't want to be using an iPod drive on my laptop - which leads to...
5. Option 2: That $1000 64Gb SSD drive. It is the top of the line, fastest 1.8 inch form factor solid state drive out there. But this is an area that is growing by leaps and bounds. Soon there will be 128Gb (or 96GB - there is a 48Gb SSD drive afterall) sized drives available for this thing. By midyear or earlier they should be hitting the same price points at the current 64Gb SSDs. Meanwhile the 64Gb drives will cost about half of what they do now. Those price points seem a lot more digestable to me.
6. Docks. Right now there isn't much in the way of docking stations for this thing. With the exception of Kensington's USB dock not much comes close. This is definitely a problem in need of a solution. I'd like to see something that plugs into the MicroDVI port as well - and include a superdrive in a sexy package - these laptops aren't going to the aesthetically challenged.
7. Overall speed. The specs of the MacBook Air pretty much line up with a last generation (Rev B) Mac Mini or 1st generation Rev A MacBooks. Some specs are lower, some are higher. So you'd expect a similar experience from this machine. For the high-end target market to which this is obviously aimed, that speed may not sit well.
8. Expandability. Everyone has been talking about the lack of expandability of the MacBook Air - which overall I think is unfair, concessions had to be made. However, some things do stick out. RAM. It doesn't take up much space and I want as much as possible. Apple, make a 4 GB option! Street prices say this should be $300 more (Rev 2?) but Apple charges 2-5 times more than street costs. Realistically, pricing details this small won't matter to high end users. Battery. There have to be more options. I am sure someone will make a MagSafe adaptable external battery/crank/solar charger - but until then, once you use your 4-5 hours, you are SOL until an AC/DC outlet avails itself. Think ten hour overseas flights without power - believe me, they exist.
9. Size. "Thin! thin! thin!" If Apple had its way, that is all you'd hear about. Well that isn't the only dimension that matters. The truth is that this is hardly an utraportable. It has roughly the same footprint as a MacBook - with the same wasted space around the edges of the screen and keyboard. As such, it won't fit in a standard purse like a Sony TZ and won't open as comfortably on a tight airplane ride as a true ultra-portable. Think about it as a MacBook sliced in half. Perhaps Apple will offer a 14 inch screen in Rev 2 that actually goes to the edges of the device or shrink the footprint to the edges of the screen/keyboard. Here is the MacBook Air compared to a full sized MacBook Pro.MacBook Air Compared to aFull sized MacBook Pro
10. Price drops. As this is an Apple/early adopter device, the price will drop significantly for the next round. We saw this in the iPhone and we see it every time Apple astounds us with new products. It isn't just component costs - which will be significant - it's also the ramp up of production numbers which will bring prices way down. This could easily be late 2008 or 2009's MacBook.

But for a lot of people, these things - or anything else - don't matter..You know who I am talking about. The person who:

* saw the machine and said "I have to have it" without needing to hear any of the details
* has virtually unlimited discretionary spending money
* cares much less about the specs and more about aesthetics
* is spending most of his/her time on the web and email - who needs more of something to show off than a real workhorse.

Not to mention that these people will probably be the first ones to get the Rev 2's anyway.

Truthfully, there are a lot of legitimate reasons to snap up one of these beauties - and as they said in the earnings call last week, Apple is getting lots of orders for these things. But they obviously are only for the select few who can justify its unique characteristics.

For the rest of us, it might take some consideration, even if we lust for it like crazy at first glance.


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13.3 inches is big. it's not a subcompact. i don't care how thin it is. my vaio is 10 inches, the size of a notebook and just as light as the "air". that's a subcompact. the air is as big as a regular laptop, but has the power of a subcompact. the worst of both worlds.

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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

if ti si not for you , it's not for you, everyone else will make their own justifications why they need ti or not.

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Stocks went down when the Iphone was launched because analyst believed it was two pricey and the single carrier would not work, no email push and the fact IT administrators would not incorprate them ito their networks because of fears such as security etc... fast forward 4 million sold.

Ipod - No wi-fi capability, linked to single software etc etc ... 10 million sold.

Who would have thought apple would boast 1 billon plus profit out of 5 billion revenue ? None of the stock analysts !!!

Generally most people do not look at stock predictions before they go out and buy stuff.

>Who would have thought apple would boast 1 billon plus profit
>out of 5 billion revenue ? None of the stock analysts !!!

too bad thats not true
http://finance.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AAAPL

more in the range of 14-16%

this is coming form a guy who is considering buying a iphone, 160 gb ipod, and macbook (regular) within the next couple of months. maybe their stock too, since it has been taken a beating, and go long.

jetblack and co is ready to suck Job's dick from the back so they can sniff the wonderfulness of ass and balls at the same time for another overpriced and underspec'd product that looks cool.

everyone and his uncle would be out getting one, regardless of the lack of features.

still lack of dvd-drive, slow ipod hard-drive, and no ethernet port makes me think that its not going to be well-recieved

but im talking about general public

its simply not an attractive (value-wise) product and people already think that they are going to lower the price within 2 months to begin with.

It's going to be recieved and sell like all mac products, loads and then the future revisions will be attractive for all of us to take the dip as well. Half these MBA haters will probably have one in 1 - 2 years when Apple brush it up. I remember when there were only a few mac fans in these threads, now every single day we get the "Brought a new mac, what can i do" threads... late converters

We all know the fanboys are foaming at the mouth to cop ASAP. As for the general public? Time will tell.


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it is not for the home user, it is for the business user with much to spare on gadgets, who has the imac, the iphone, the cinema display etc. Not for the student looking to get his first mac

hasn't that magazine jet puts out been enough to demonstrate that u shouldn't listen to him?


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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

nm

these are the same dudes with like $1500 worth of game consoles in their bedrooms
i don't think being able to "afford" something has anything to do with it
i can technically afford to buy a $50 bag of doritos
don't mean it makes sense to if i don't VALUE it to be worth that much
thats what it comes down to
and u keep talking about "business users" will be the main buyer of this
FOH
most business users don't even buy their laptops and most times have no input on which laptop they will be using for business
i'm typing on a wireless thinkpad T61 right now
and thinkpads are the wireless laptop MOST corporations supply their workers with (for whatever reason)
the average buyer of a MBA will be somebody between 18-30 who only cares about style and having the "new shit" and prolly will be using it for recreational type stuff
which makes the MBA a fucking ripoff (like most mac products)

... someone who spends $3000 on an audio set-up for his house has that as a proirity so will spend that cash in that area, the fact he has $3000 does not mean he will easily spend the same amount on a game console if he has no particular interest in gaming. The people that will but the MBA are people who did not even look at the price to justify thier purchase, these are th guys that spend on gadgets all the time hence have throw away money. Alot of people dont have money to spend on the MBA and then forget about it next month and not even touch it again.

If money was no object i would but the MBA just to play around, it people in that bracket i am talking about.

I know of a well established design agency in the UK that are kitting out thier out-field designers with MBA's. More for the image, but once the designs have been created, you dont need much to show the finished product and what will be the perception of the client when you whip out a MBA ?

and we all are interested in computers (or else we wouldn't be in this thread)
the MBA does not cost THAT much dude
it's not like we're talking about a bentley or something ONLY a rich person could buy
like someone said earlier, the majority of us if not all could go buy a MBA RIGHT NOW. i think u are overvaluing the effect a $3000 purchase has on the avg. person life
many of the ppl in high tech already have multiple computers to, so it's not a case of we can't afford to add another ...just because. because we can
shit i have 4 laptop alone (3 personal 1 work)
and 2 of my personal laptops i NEVER use, just because i don't give a fuck
i'd buy a MBA if it was actually a good product that did more then look nice
but it's not. that's the point
at least when a rich person buys a $400K ferrari , they are getting something that looks nice AND easily outperforms what the broke ass ppl own
i can go get a toshiba satellite that weighs maybe 2-3 pounds more then the MBA and has similiar specs for like $800
most of the MBA mark up is brand awareness and design marketing
not really innovation or superior technology

As I told Deluge way up above somewhere it's inaccurate and insulting. Someone needs to be in the upper tax bracket to evaluate whether a product is worth buying? What kinda logic is that.

Don't worry about my finances, dude. I'm not worried about yours.


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......

>...ready to suck Job's dick from the back so
>they can sniff the wonderfulness of ass and balls at the same
>time for another overpriced and underspec'd product that looks
>cool.

it's a 'floss' machine.

a second or third machine for people in high tax brackets.

please dead this madness. PDTM!

:)

i have read the specs and nowhere does it say that shit dispenses floss. that would make it almost useful.


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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

*insert joke..over THERE*

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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

the RDF demands it.

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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

smh

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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

i wish there was a way to find out how many laptops ppl in a "higher bracket" own

for like a bday present. but an actually computer user.... no.

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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

no one sees this as a stand-alone machine, it a compliment to another system which is usually fixed as a desktop or portable but a bit weighty to carry around.

For me personally, it makes sense because when i travel i have to take both laptops with me (1 Pc + 1 mac) and since airport regulations are a bastard i have to carry both in one bag. A MBA with a SSD would save alot of pain to me as i already have a frozzen shoulder from laptop bag strains.

Checking emails on the plan / in the terminal etc, do some light work etc is something that will nake the mba appeal to me because i never have the need in those situations to use a optical drive or ethernet port. The ultra-portability in this sense, makes sense.

Also when i am on vendor sites, no need to lug my bigger laptops as it probably a presentation here and there, a excel spreadsheet etc. No major processor hungry / graphic card hungry apps, so to me and people in my situation, MBA is a compliment and is appealing.

Would i get one or have i already ordered one? No, but not for the reasons all you haters are calling out

they b rish up thurr.

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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

wtf is a ngga first machine?

http://most-expensive.net/laptop-world

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"I love the pile driver. It kind of opens you up for maximum railing. You just lay there and get the shit pounded out of you and it's fucking great." -roxy
http://irreverentbastard.wordpress.com

but people will buy it


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It was the best of rhymes. It was the worst of rhymes. It was a Nas album.

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hater.

lolz

:P

You're just a mere 19 screws away from doing it yourself! Just buy an extra battery and swap that puppy out on the plane. If a screw ends up rolling off your lap into the oblivion who cares? You have 18 left anway!


http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/01/25/macbook-air-battery-fairly-simple-for-mortals-to-replace

MacBook Air battery fairly simple for mortals to replace

By David Chartier | Published: January 25, 2008 - 11:58AM CT

As it turns out, the official word from Apple on the MacBook Air's battery replacement program may be even more dismal than some feared. While the $129 cost of getting a battery replaced is more or less the cost of the battery itself, owners will reportedly need to send their MacBook Air off to Apple for about a week to actually get the job done. Or will they?

Gizmodo opened up a MacBook Air review unit from Apple (tsk tsk!) and learned that it's pretty sexy on the inside. It also shot a video (which Apple has requested be taken down, for now) of going through the actual process of replacing the battery, and it is apparently pretty simple. AppleInsider recounts that the process involves removing 10 screws underneath the machine to get the bottom plating off, then another nine screws to unleash the battery. Assuming that a third-party offers a battery replacement eventually (or Apple relents and provides the kit for home users to do this themselves), the MacBook Air's battery situation could soon look a little brighter for those planning to keep one for the long haul.


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http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/macbook-air-review/

MacBook Air review

Posted Jan 25th 2008 4:44PM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Features, Laptops

It fits in a manila folder, you can slide it under a door, and if you threw it hard enough you could probably chop someone in half with the thing. It's the thinnest, and if we may say so, sexiest laptop around today: the MacBook Air. But looks aren't everything to everyone, and despite all the rhetoric about being a no-compromises ultraportable, Apple did leave plenty on the cutting-room floor in its quest to make an absurdly thin ultraportable that doesn't skimp on a full size keyboard or roomier 13-inch display. But, as many potential buyers have been asking themselves since last week, is the Air right to be your next machine? Read on, we'll tell you what we think.

Hardware
It's hard to take lightly (har) the purposeful design that went into the Air, it's simply and without a doubt the most beautiful laptop we've seen in a while. Sure, there have been thinner, lighter laptops that take up fewer cubic centimeters -- but that's not really on trial. The goal of the Air was clear: create a Mac that frequent fliers wouldn't be ashamed of, or in physical pain to lug around. But therein lies the rub. The Air simply doesn't have the power to be many users' primary machine, while also lacking many of the features considered necessity by business travelers. More on that in a minute, though.

Gallery: The MacBook Air has landed


There are a lot of things that the Air gets right, and a decent amount of horsepower is one of 'em. Apple didn't take the easy route and go with an etiolated Ultra Low Voltage (read: ultra low performance) chip, they actually pushed Intel to repackage a slower version of its full-on Core 2 Duo processor. We were a little disappointed when Steve announced this wasn't the new power-efficient, lower-heat 45nm Penryn chip design, but in the time we've played with the Air, it's still rarely managed to output enough heat to raise an eyebrow. This is actually a laptop that belongs on your lap -- without any fear of sterility. Of course, as our Mac-on-Mac benchmarks showed, the 1.6GHz chip is still a little on the slow side, but the Air is by no means unusable. It's not really one of Steve's "screamers" -- but ultraportables aren't really intended to be.


The 13-inch LED backlit screen not only sips power where larger CCFL backlit displays guzzle, it also looks amazing: crisp, bright, and vibrant. Where other small laptops use 8-11-inch screens that are nigh-unreadable by many a squinty Engadget editor, for a laptop of this size the Air gives plenty of screen real estate to get things done. Unfortunately, Apple only offers this display with a glossy finish, so if you're fond of the matte or work outside or near a window, be forewarned. The bezel around the display is a little thick for our tastes, and the lid might not tilt back as far as we'd like due to the physical constraints of the joint design, but these are relatively minor complaints.


Also rare for an ultraportable is the Air's full-size keyboard, which adds some (worthy) width to the body. Those fond of the ridgeless, separated key design as found in MacBook and iMac / Mac pro keyboards will feel right at home. We're not too into this design, but unlike almost every ultraportable we've owned, the Air's keyboard feels thoroughly solid and sturdy. The keys are tactile, not at all mushy, and backlit to boot. Typing on the Air is a pleasure, not a chore. The keyboard also happens to be where the MacBook Air emits audio -- beneath right home row keys (k, l, ;, ') is the Air's tinny mono speaker, which seems and sounds more like an afterthought.


The Air's integrated 802.11n worked well with our stock D-Link 802.11n router, and transferred data at about 3-4MBps -- we were certainly satisfied with its wireless performance. The Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR as a standard option is also nice, but it's immediately clear the Air needed some integrated 3G, especially considering its lack of an ExpressCard slot.

Where a lot of other machines might have ports and protrusions along their edges, the Air has none -- it swoops inward from the edge to the base with only two spots for plugs, a new, 90-degree angled MagSafe power connector on the left underside, and a clicky, extremely sturdy-feeling foldable door that is impossible to open while resting on the table, and basically requires picking the entire machine up. This exposes the Air's only three ports: one USB 2.0, one micro-DVI, and one headphone. But here we begin with the design sacrifices, and at the top of the list is the lack of a user replaceable battery.

Gallery: Apple MacBook Air first hands-on


For some this might be an issue, but for others -- especially those on the road for long periods of time without access to a power outlet -- a deal-breaker. The Air uses a 37 Watt/hour lithium polymer (compared to the MacBook Pro's 60WH lithium-ion), and using our normal tests -- full screen brightness, WiFi and Bluetooth on, no attached peripherals -- under medium usage (light browsing and watching a 1:20 h.264 movie) we got a mere 2 hours and 25 minutes. Under lighter usage (browsing, some audio playback, no movies) we got closer to 3 hours and 35 minutes. Not bad, but still nowhere near the 5 hours Apple promises (under ideal conditions, surely).







Thankfully, the Air's power adapter is as impressively proportioned as the laptop, so taking it with you won't be much of an issue. But users of current generation adapters be warned: the Air's MagSafe implementation won't always work with your current MagSafe adapters simply because the angle and location make it physically impossible to accommodate when used on a table. Hardly a huge issue, we know. But things get worse on the connectivity side. The USB port is recessed enough that, while we're sure it meets USB Implementers Forum's design spec, it realistically won't accommodate most 3G modems without a USB extension cable, and some flash drives, as we learned yesterday. Even the headphone port had a difficult time accommodating our Shure E4C phones. We got stereo audio, but a high pitched hissing from not being fully plugged in and grounded. (This went away when we used a better-fitting audio extension cable.)

Gallery: MacBook Air review (misc)


The micro-DVI port is also not physically compatible with the mini-DVI port on your MacBook and previous Apple laptops, so it requires some new connection accessories for VGA and DVI out, which are thankfully included in the box. Since the Air doesn't have a powerful (but space and power-consuming) discrete graphics adapter, you'll only be able to drive a 24-inch display, although for many that should probably be sufficient. (Games and movie watching also suffer because of the integrated graphics, since some of that visual load is taken on by the CPU.) Also integrated is the Air's 2GB of RAM, built directly into its insanely small motherboard; processors rarely need to be swapped in laptops, but are you willing to bank on a couple of years' use without having to upgrade your RAM? Perhaps a lot of people are, but we're not.

The Air also uses a slower 80GB 1.8-inch drive, the same kind that powers many portable media players. While probably sturdy enough to withstand normal use, it's nowhere near as fast as your average 2.5-inch laptop drive, and will always be behind in storage should you chose to upgrade later. If you can afford to spring for the 64GB SSD option, we highly suggest it -- your machine's reliability, performance, and battery life will all get a boost (at the expense of 16GB of space and a ton of cash, naturally). Oddly overlooked for inclusion is the Apple Remote; the Air certainly has the necessary sliver of an IR sensor for making use of one, but the remote isn't included, despite being found in the box of just about every other Apple machine. Oh, and for those wondering, the Air's built-in iSight is the VGA variety.

Despite its shortcomings on the hardware and specs side, though, it's hard to say enough about how well made the Air feels -- a particularly important point when you're taking your machine everywhere. Whereas most smaller laptops try to cut weight with inner metal frames and flimsy plastic bodies, the Air bulks up a bit with an all-metal enclosure that looks and feels like it was carved out of a single piece of aluminum. Only time will tell if metal in the Air's wrist rest area will pit out and blacken like MacBook Pros and PowerBooks of years past, but the machine definitely gets extremely high marks for its the physical engineering. And no, we're not at liberty to drop test Apple's review unit, sorry!

Software



Just like every other Apple machine, the Air runs Leopard -- albeit a slightly different build (9B2324). The only changes made have to do with taking advantage of the machine's oversized touchpad, which now supports multi-finger gestures in system prefs. Apple thoughtfully actually includes in-line instructional videos for learning how the gestures work (and how to make them), like the three-finger sweep for backward and forward in Safari, or using two fingers to rotate an image in iPhoto. This is just the beginning of touchpad-based multi-touch, and while it's not always the most practical way to do things (cmd+R or L seems to us an easier way to rotate a photo), it's intuitive and well-integrated.

Apple also hasn't released any information for third party developers on how to integrated touch gestures into their apps, so until they do, only Apple apps will be able to take advantage of the new input methods. It's obvious that, with time, Apple will be rolling out multi-touch on their other machines, but for now they claim that current hardware cannot support this input, so don't expect to see any (official) software updates to enable multi-touch.

Another feature rolled out is Remote Disc, Apple's new system for sharing the optical drives of networked Macs and PCs with the drive-less Air. As we quickly learned, you should be prepared to have as much bandwidth as possible between the Air and your host machine, -- and don't be disappointed when you can't do everything with Remote Disc that you can do with a regular drive. There's no commercial media playback, no HD support, no ripping, no burning -- it's really only meant for installing apps, downloading data, or reinstalling the OS (more on that in a second). On the upshot, it did work seamlessly when we tried it.


Still, we think the Air's external USB SuperDrive (which only works with the Air, mind you) is a necessity. There simply isn't any way to transparently replace all the functionality of an optical drive yet, so we're kind of bummed Apple didn't just include the thing in box. There's no question that a laptop really doesn't need an optical drive at all times, and we've always been happy to omit them. But having to shell out $99 to buy the drive separately just doesn't sit well with us.

Wrap-up
The Air is a tough call. On the one hand it proposes to be a no-compromises ultraportable, but on the other hand it compromises many (but not all) the things road warriors want. We're all about removing unnecessary frills and drives (we rejoiced the day the original iMac bucked the floppy), but laptops are increasingly becoming many users' primary -- often only -- machines, which is why the Air's price doesn't do it any favors, either. It's hard to justify almost two grand for a second laptop (or a third machine) just for travel needs -- and even then, that's only easily done if all your data lives in the cloud. Given those sacrifices and that higher-end sticker, it's more than likely not going to replace most peoples' current workhorse laptop.

This all might look a bit different if the Air was a little closer to MacBook price range, though. We're thinking $1500 could be a sweet spot, especially if bundled with the wired Ethernet dongle and SuperDrive. But we're not going to kid ourselves, either; the Air isn't supposed to be everything for everyone. For those in need of a machine that masters basics in a super thin, light form-factor, and who have the coin to pay for that ultraportability, the Air absolutely nails it like few others.

Given its stripped down, one-piece design, some are calling the Air the iPod of laptops. The point is debatable as to whether this machine could have the same appeal to computer users, but if there is one clear upshot to the Air, it's that Apple's learned to take the next step in miniaturizing their portable computers. While not all Mac users are going to stand in line to get this latest machine, Apple is doubtless welcomed back into the ultraportable laptop market by the technology world. Perhaps the largest side-effect of the Air won't be ditching optical drives, though; for the rest of Apple's consumer base it's now just a matter of time before other Mac laptop lines benefit from the technical and engineering advances that made this thing so thin and light. Give us the lovechild of the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro, and it's all over.
-------------------------------------

I swear I'm wearing out the 'L' button on my keyboard at this point. Apparently there are few advantages to shelling out the dough for the SSD version. Most of the benefits come from a faster CPU.

smh. People will still buy it though.

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/macbook-air-ssd-review.ars

No spin: Ars reviews the MacBook Air with solid state drive

By Jacqui Cheng | Published: February 05, 2008 - 11:56PM CT
What does $1,300 extra really get you?

The MacBook Air is nice, but as we discovered in our in-depth review, not everything is sunshine and roses—at least with the hard drive model. But there's a higher-end Air as well—1.8GHz with a 64GB solid-state flash drive instead of your traditional ATA hard drive. We picked up an SSD Air so that we could try it out, run some benchmarks, and report back to you on how much (or little) of a difference that extra $1,300 makes.

Tech specs
MacBook Air SSD MacBook Air hard drive
CPU 1.80GHz Core 2 Duo 1.60GHz Core 2 Duo
Memory 2GB 2GB
Video Intel GMA X3100, 144MB Intel GMA X3100, 144MB
FSB 800MHz 800MHz
Weight 3lb 3lb
Hard drive 64GB solid state 80GB 4200rpm PATA
Imaginary battery life
5 hours 5 hours
Benchmarks

No, the SSD Air is not "instant-on." Unfortunately, it took 28.5 seconds to boot. Fortunately, that's still 12 seconds faster than the HDD model and 11.5 seconds faster than the Santa Rosa MacBook. It was still 2.5 seconds slower than the Santa Rosa MacBook Pro, however.

We performed all the same benchmarks on our SSD model as we did on the HDD model, including Xbench, Cinebench, and our three application benchmarks. Take a look at the results below.


As expected, the SSD Air performed better than the HDD Air in most tests, as its clock speed is slightly higher (1.8GHz versus 1.6GHz). But what we're really interested in are the disk tests, as those tell us exactly how well the SSD performs against the 4200rpm drive in the HDD model.

The overall disk test scores aren't much different—29.37 on the HDD and 34.30 on the Air. But the SSD performs a fair amount worse than the HDD model when it comes to sequential read and write tests. The SSD was able to write sequentially between 14.67 and 13.86MB/sec, and sequentially read between 7.29 and 49.59MB/sec (the first and second numbers are differentiated by the size of the blocks being written). Comparatively, the HDD model sequentially writes between 31.35 and 33.33MB/sec, and reads between 6.32 and 32.74MB/sec for the same-sized blocks.

But the random disk test is where the SSD model outpaces the HDD. The SSD's overall random read/write score was more than 40 percent higher than that of the HDD. While the HDD model was writing 256k blocks at 22.95MB/sec, the SSD Air was writing at 19.04MB/sec. But read speeds are significantly faster, and the HDD model read the 256k blocks at 14.37MB/sec while the SSD read at 47.61MB/sec.

For those of you who skimmed that last couple of paragraphs, the summary is: the SSD does worse in sequential disk tests and writing in general, but spanks the HDD in random disk tests and reading from the disk.

The results for Cinebench are considerably less interesting and only put the SSD Air a bit ahead of the HDD Air. Considering the minor difference in clock speed, the fact that the two are neck-and-neck isn't all that surprising.

Given what we learned from the Xbench's disk test scores, it's pretty easy to understand why the application benchmarks turned out like they did. The SSD fared poorly against the HDD model when it came to encoding a 60MB QuickTime movie to iPod format—write speeds aren't high on the SSD.

Unzipping the WebKit archive, on the other hand, was very quick. The WebKit build was comparatively quick as well—it only took 31 minutes compared to the HDD's model 46 minutes, although the SSD model was still noticeably slower than the Santa Rosa MacBook and the MacBook Pro.


Like the Cinebench results, PSBench pits the two MacBook Airs against each other and shows similar results in many of the tests. When there is a difference between the two, the SSD model slightly outperforms the HDD model. Again, most of these results are expected, given the slight advantages that the SSD model has over the HDD in clock speed.

But how does it feel?

I used the SSD model in the same manner I used the HDD model—mostly for writing, surfing, chatting, the occasional photo tweak, and watching a bit of streaming video. For the most part, the SSD model felt exactly the same as the HDD model—the OS can only get so Snappy™ before it all blends together. Going about my daily business, I couldn't tell a noticeable difference between the two machines in terms of everyday speed. Clockspeed-wise, they're only 200MHz apart, after all.

However, one major difference I saw while using the SSD model is that it didn't suffer entire machine slowdowns when there was a lot of disk activity—or at least less so than the HDD model. When reviewing the HDD model, using a high I/O browser like Firefox or transferring files over the network to my hard drive threw me more beachballs than a Girls Gone Wild party and rendered the machine relatively useless. The SSD model exhibited little of this behavior—if I were to take my totally unscientific experience and translate it into a number, I would say that such slowdowns were reduced by 90 percent.

That's not 100 percent, because when combining elements to create the perfect storm of disk activity flurry—using a lot of tabs in Firefox, transferring something to my hard drive, and watching some streaming video on Hulu—things did still manage to get pokey. The video was jerky (but still somewhat watchable, unlike before) and switching between tabs wasn't as quick as it could have been. The level of slowdown had been significantly reduced, but it was still there. Your mileage may vary, of course, depending on your usage.

I must admit—it's nice to be able to consistently use the love/hate of my life, Firefox, once again.
Battery life

In the discussion thread for our MacBook Air review, many readers questioned whether my (average) 2.5 hour battery life was legitimate. I was constantly using the machine during that time as I described above and on lowest brightness (since that's how I actually use a notebook) and with WiFi on but Bluetooth off—here at Ars, we believe in real-world battery tests, not just turning everything off and pretending the thing isn't on just to see how long it will last while looping a song. My times ranged from 2 hours and 19 minutes to 2 hours and 44 minutes, depending on what I was doing during that time span.

Speaking to others about the battery life of the Air, my averages turned out to be, well, pretty average. Based on actual use, users I spoke to were getting between 2:00 and 2:45 depending on screen brightness and levels of disk activity. Taking that into consideration, we are (or were—keep reading) confident that the HDD model's battery life is indeed the real deal.

But what's the battery life on the SSD model actually like? One of the major benefits of an SSD drive, aside from speed in some areas, is its savings on battery life since there are no moving parts. No hard drive head to haul around means one less thing to power constantly, and I had high hopes for the battery life on the SSD model. Unfortunately, I was met with only moderate gains when there were any at all.

When using the SSD Air in exactly the same manner as the HDD Air and running it down twice, I got an average of 2 hours and 31 minutes of battery life. That's... pretty bad, and two minutes lower than the HDD model. But this number is low because of the two extremes I got when running these tests. My first number was 2 hours and 52 minutes, and the second was 2 hours and 10 minutes. Incidentally, I did less during the second rundown than the first, since my cable service was down and I couldn't do anything on the Internet. I wrote a few paragraphs of this review and watched some TV shows stored on my drive.

If I optimistically decide to run with the first number—2 hours and 52 minutes—that's a 29 minute (average) gain over the HDD's battery life. That's still not the massive gain that I had hoped for. Again, battery life turned out to be a disappointment.

It's important to note that some users don't appear to be experiencing this poor level of battery life on their SSD units. For example, David Heinemeier Hansson (creator of Ruby on Rails) told us that he can get between four and five hours on his SSD MacBook Air at half brightness and while working normally. Needless to say, that hasn't been my experience at all, so I attempted to look into the discrepancy.

Both the HDD and SSD models that I have show a full charge capacity of close to 5000mAh—the HDD model tops out at 5046mAh and the SSD model at 5004mAh. We asked around and found out that other Air owners (of both models) were seeing numbers between 4900mAh and 5100mAh. These same people reported similar battery life—between 2 and 2.5 hours on the HDD model, and between 2:45 and 3 hours on the SSD. Hansson said that he was seeing 4934mAh, so our only explanation is that he was either doing work that wasn't as "intensive" as I was (which is odd, considering that I didn't do anything intensive) or something else is wrong with an entire batch of batteries.

We plan to continue looking into this issue in the coming days and weeks. (If you're reading this and you are experiencing something vastly different than we are, please shoot me an e-mail!)
So, is it worth it?

The $1,300 question is whether the SSD is worth the extra cash. The answer seems to be no. I experienced only moderate gains in battery life and not very noticeable speed differences. The one major benefit of the SSD model is that it doesn't cause the same types of slowdowns as the HDD model during times of high disk activity, and that's certainly a huge plus. Speedy read times are great, too, but they are balanced out by pokey write times.

Still, even if it's more usable, it's hard to justify the huge price difference for the SSD model. If you've got an extra $1,300 to blow and, for some reason, haven't just bought a second computer with it, perhaps the SSD model is for you. For anyone else looking to buy an Air, the HDD model appears to provide the most bang for the buck.
(Compared to the HDD model)
The Good:

* No more entire machine slowdowns! (well, most of the time...)
* Speedy boot, disk read, and build times

The Bad:

* The moderate gains in everyday use aren't worth $1,300

The Ugly:

* Battery life. Still.



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????????????

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Amazing how the post is in triple figues about how bad something is as opposed to how good something is. Love or Hate is better than indifference

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=5973418&mesg_id=5973418&page=


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......

......

even with my pc laptop i carry around a leather padded case before i put it into a bag, then into an overhead locker. With the way people pack stuff into those compartments i am not suprised.

First L is thinking it is "as" durable as a normal latop, that was never claimed

Second L was the not having a case and putting it into a overhead baggage locker on a plane !!!

http://www.madmustard.com/images/2006/03/Baghdad%20Bob.th.jpg

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never would I let go of my laptop; it's packed in my laptop bag which is put under the seat in front of me. and it was an Air? it's like putting a fucking saltine in the compartment.

http://www.macworld.com.au/blogs/view/macbook-air-won-t...it-steve-wozniak-286/2/

MacBook Air won't be a hit: Steve Wozniak

Mar 3, 2008

If there’s one good thing Telstra has done for this country, it’s paying to bring Steve Wozniak over to launch a broadband conference being held by the Australian Communication Industry Association.

Woz spoke for an hour in a keynote speech to launch the conference, as well as giving a half hour Q&A session for journalists. Warm and jovial as ever, Woz gave fascinating answers to all sorts of topics. But his most interesting commentary wasn’t on Australia’s broadband situation, but his thoughts on recent Apple product releases.

For example, he is frustrated with the new Apple TV, even though he says it is a tremendous step forward in the delivery of entertainment over the internet.

“The Apple TV is a really good indication of the future of the world. I don’t think it’s taking off yet, though. I don’t think the new technology is going to get recognised in the same way the Macintosh did … now every computer in the world is a Macintosh.

“The AppleTV has problems … once I start watching , I have to finish in 24 hours. My life is way too mobile and unpredictable for that. I don’t want to have to pay again to watch the rest the next night.

"I don’t like to be given control of something by remote control, then have restrictions put up against me about how I can use it. That interferes with my feeling of humanness.”

And while he carries an iPhone in his pocket everywhere, he was surprised when Steve Jobs announced it had 2G support only.

“To tell you the truth, I was really disappointed when the iPhone was introduced. I was in the audience, and half the phones that AT&T sold at that time were all 3G phones. I had 3G phones and non-3G phones and I knew the difference, so I was shocked because Apple was bringing full internet with full web pages, and I was surprised that it would not be 3G, and I knew that that would be a speed detriment.

“I suffice with it in a lot of cases, and whenever it gets to the point where things are loading too slowly, I’ll look at it later on my laptop. So, I can’t give you any clues as to when it’s coming, but it’s sorta been known since day one that it would be here.

"I was surprised, because Apple normally is into the future technologies … looking where the world is going and trying to be one jump ahead. 3G phones still work at the slower speeds, if the network isn’t established enough.”

He says he is not so sure it was solely a battery life issue. “I don’t understand why it would be a battery issue. I get as much life on my 3G phones as I do on my non-3G phones. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m not paying close enough attention. But I don’t think that’s it though.”

Earlier in his keynote speech, he said that he often turned to his Razr as the first choice for internet searching, simply because it was faster.

“I carry multiple phones with me, some for one purpose, some for another purpose. I have normal slower phones, and I have 3G phones. And I find that when it comes to having a question like, 'What year was Jerry-Lee Lewis born', before I hit enter on the Google search on a slower phone, I realise I’ll get the answer quicker on my 3G Razr. Speed of mobile internet is so important to me,” Woz said.

He is also torn over the MacBook Air. He loves the form factor, and thinks he will make do with the feature compromises for the sake of having the coolest, slimmest thing, but doesn’t think it will be a big hit sales-wise.

“Occasionally, I like products when they are smaller, nicer, good styling … it’s sort of like a little way to show something off. Like, you’re a geek, and you can be in the first place … in the top category. The MacBook Air … actually I like it. At first, I thought, it’s so feature-missing, and I use … I burn DVDs a lot to pass files to other people. I watch movies on airplanes. I need one that will go an entire flight and switch batteries, when there’s sometimes no power on the plane.

“So, a lot of its missing features bothered me, but when I got it, for some reason, the way its keyboard is, I can type faster, it’s a more comfortable, positive experience.

“So I’m trying to figure out a way to make the Air part of my life, because I’m a one-laptop-only person. I’ve got to now change my approach and have a desktop tower computer at home, keeping all my big data, which I don’t have enough disk space on the Air for, and I can finally take my Air around with me and use it.

“But I kind of want to. I don’t think it’s a benefit if you have to carry around a DVD player with you, a couple of extra dongles to connect to Ethernet and things, and maybe an extra hard disk to carry your music on … but still, it’s the appearance.

“I really like it. But I don’t think it’s going to be a hit. I know some people love it and it works great, they have a computer at work, and they use their Air to give presentations, but I don’t see a mass swing over to them.”

And since Woz was giving a fairly robust critique of Apple's lineup, we asked him whether his old business partner Steve Jobs ever gets antsy about his comments.

"Very seldom. He calls me and he says he doesn’t like something that I was reputed to have said. But he gets it out of context. A reporter’s seized on a comment and strung along with that. I’m very positive on Apple, but I’ll also point out things that could be better, or aren’t the way I’d like them to be. But we’re very good friends. We’ve never argued over these things … but occasionally he’ll ring me and say 'thanks a lot!'

"But I’ll say, 'Steve, think about it! I’m saying the same thing as you!' I got ganged up on recently at a conference … Apple lowered the price on the iPhone and I got asked what I thought. I said, 'well, it was kinda overpriced, and they dropped the price too much, too fast'. Well, Apple had already said that. They apologised, gave a hundred bucks back, and I was saying the same thing as Apple. I got accused of trashing Apple! All I was doing was plagiarising Apple!"
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak

*
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak
* Giving Apple constructive criticism at a broadband conference this morning

* View larger image
* View larger image

The AppleTV has problems. Once I start watching, I have to finish in 24 hours. My life is way too mobile and unpredictable for that. Steve Wozniak




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get that picture out of your sig

built-in.

I can live w/o FireWire but WTF @ 1 USB port and no Ethernet.

oh and the Woz is teh b3st!

http://www.macrumors.com/2008/03/03/woz-on-macbook-air-3g-iphone-reporters/

On the MacBook Air, while he likes the design, he remains uncertain if it will fit into his lifestyle:
The MacBook Air … actually I like it. At first, I thought, it’s so feature-missing, and I use … I burn DVDs a lot to pass files to other people. I watch movies on airplanes. I need one that will go an entire flight and switch batteries, when there’s sometimes no power on the plane.


Ironically, Woz also relates how his comments on Apple may get taken out of context:
calls me and he says he doesn’t like something that I was reputed to have said. But he gets it out of context. A reporter’s seized on a comment and strung along with that. I’m very positive on Apple, but I’ll also point out things that could be better, or aren’t the way I’d like them to be.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080302-macbook-air-aflutter-demand-stays-strong-sold-out-often.html

It might not be the iPhone, but the MacBook Air is selling much stronger than many of us would have guessed. After a full month of being on the market, the MacBook Air is still a difficult commodity to obtain in some markets (not all), and Apple is still quoting a 5-7 business day minimum shipping time even for the most standard models ordered from its web site.
Meanwhile, Amazon won't be shipping orders until March 16 now, and many customers who run to a Best Buy thinking they'll find one hiding out there will be surprised: there aren't many to go around. One Best Buy source (not a retail floor worker) told me that Apple has kept them pretty thin on stock. Now I can see why.

Related StoriesNext MacBook Pro update rumored to include multi-touch
MacBook Air's multi-touch is all soft (Updated)
Macworld.Ars: MacBook Air spec shootout
Replacing MacBook Air battery, allegedly easy as pie
In and around Boston, the motto this weekend at Apple Stores was "no Air for you." Cambridgeside, North Shore, Burlington, even Natick were out of stock. An employee at the Burlington store told me that demand has been extremely high, admitting that some customers even ponied up for the far more expensive MacBook Air SSD because they stayed in stock longer. North Shore's staff was telling people they had "no idea" when more units would come in.

We heard reports from readers this weekend that the MacBook Air was also out of stock in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Doing some checking of our own, we learned these stores are getting daily refreshes of stock. An employee at the Michigan Avenue Apple Store in Chicago told me when I called, "We have one, but we can't take reservations, as it's first-come, first-served." He then warned me, "Unless you can get here soon, it will probably be gone, so I'd just call back tomorrow morning. We'll definitely have more in the next few days."

The Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan had "just got a refresh" according to a "genius" there, but they didn't expect the stock to last a day. The San Francisco stores are out of non-SSD MacBook Airs, and we heard similar tales at stores in Los Angeles. Even an employee at London's Regent Street Apple Store told us that the machines are selling out the moment they get in. In some markets, however, there's plenty to go around. Calling the Indianapolis location, we were told that they had "more than enough" to meet demand.

Just as with the iPhone launch, Apple is restocking nearly every day, particularly in major markets. So, while you might not be able to get a MacBook Air today in Boston, tomorrow is a new day.

A recurring theme in our discussions with the folks at the Apple Store (who just love to gab, it must be a job requirement) is that the MacBook Air is a switcher device. The perception that this puppy is the leanest, meanest portable there is has road warriors starry-eyed. When we feigned amazement at the product being out of stock in multiple locations, we were told time and time again that demand for the Air is increasing as people see it in action, in person. Of course, these are paid Apple employees telling us this, and they have a sales job to do. At the same time, we've heard plenty of similar anecdotes in the past week.

Apple, of course, remains silent on the early successes of the MacBook Air. There's speculation out there that Apple simply didn't order near enough machines from the manufacturer, and therefore the shortages aren't truly reflective of sales. That may be the case, but according to the Apple Store sales rank widget, the MacBook Air has been the top selling Mac since before the middle of February, outselling the MacBook, the iMac, and the MacBook Pro—this, despite week-long shipping delays.

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get that picture out of your sig

Damn. This lil machine can't catch a break, y'all

http://security.itworld.com/5013/mac-hacked-first-in-contest-080327/page_1.html

Gone in 2 minutes: Mac gets hacked first in contest
IDG News Service 3/27/08

Robert McMillan, IDG News Service, San Francisco Bureau

Bookmark and Share

It may be the quickest $10,000 Charlie Miller ever earned.

He took the first of three laptop computers -- and a $10,000 cash prize -- Thursday after breaking into a MacBook Air at the CanSecWest security conference's PWN 2 OWN hacking contest.

Show organizers offered a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810 and the MacBook as prizes, saying that they could be won by anybody at the show who could find a way to hack into each of them and read the contents of a file on the system, using a previously undisclosed "0day" attack.

Nobody was able to hack into the systems on the first day of the contest when contestants were only allowed to attack the computers over the network, but on Thursday the rules were relaxed so that attackers could direct contest organizers using the computers to do things like visit Web sites or open e-mail messages.

Miller, best known as one of the researchers who first hacked Apple's iPhone last year, didn't take much time. Within 2 minutes, he directed the contest's organizers to visit a Web site that contained his exploit code, which then allowed him to seize control of the computer, as about 20 onlookers cheered him on.

He was the first contestant to attempt an attack on any of the systems.

Miller was quickly given a nondisclosure agreement to sign and he's not allowed to discuss particulars of his bug until the contest's sponsor, TippingPoint, can notify the vendor.

Contest rules state that Miller could only take advantage of software that was preinstalled on the Mac, so the flaw he exploited must have been accessible, or possibly inside, Apple's Safari browser.

Last year's contest winner, Dino Dai Zovi, exploited a vulnerability in QuickTime to take home the prize.

Dai Zovi, who congratulated Miller after his hack, didn't participate in this year's contest, saying it was time for someone else to win.
=====

Yeah yeah I know, it's really an OSX bug but it's been a slow month for McBook Air L's.


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get that picture out of your sig

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/09/09/macbook-air-fix-less-fix-more-problems

MacBook Air fix: less fix, more problems

By Jeff Smykil | Published: September 09, 2008 - 05:23PM CT

The MacBook Air update that was released back in late August isn't working well for all users, as pointed out by Apple Insider. The update was supposed to address excessive heat and choppy performance during video playback by adjusting the voltage and clock speed of the slim portable's two cores. Some users, however, found that the video issue stemmed from the cores shutting actually shutting down.

According to the article, which cites Apple's discussion forums, some users are still suffering from overheating and performance issues despite the fix. Apparently now, instead of shutting down a single core, the machine is ramping clock speed down to 800MHz on both cores, which (as one might imagine) isn't much help.

While some users have been bringing their MacBook Airs into Apple Stores for the Geniuses to examine, the general response has been that repair wont do any good and to wait for another update. Some have apparently found some solace running third-party applications (such as CoolBook) to ramp down the processor's voltage while keeping the CPU speed the same, but users would much prefer a first-party solution.

geez

************************************************************
"If it first you don't succeed, google it." eXactOpposite

Sike! bwahahaha

http://db.tidbits.com/article/9910

Grey Lines Mar MacBook Air Displays

by Doug McLean

Some MacBook Air users have been reporting the appearance of grey horizontal lines across the screens of their late 2008 models. Discussion threads on the issue began in early November 2008 on both Apple's discussion forums and the MacRumors forums. There have been slight variations in the description of the issue, but most accounts agree the lines are grey or white, horizontal or slightly angled, granulated or pixelated in appearance, and are very subtle. Overall the lines are said to give the screen the appearance of a piece of parchment or recycled paper. Also, the lines are said to appear at the initial boot; they do not develop over time. See what the lines look like for yourself in this photo.


All users experiencing the problem say that while the lines are very subtle, they are definitely noticeable and result in a disappointing display, particularly for a premium laptop.

While Apple has issued no official statement on the matter, forum contributors have been receiving a variety of responses from AppleCare, Genius Bars, and even Apple engineers responding on behalf of Steve Jobs. There's general agreement that Apple employees have acknowledged that there is a problem, they've been receiving numerous reports on the issue, and they're looking into the issue. Only one user I found said he received word from Apple saying that his MacBook Air was showing expected behavior. Several other users said they had heard from Apple engineers indicating that an approaching firmware update would resolve the issue. However, there is no confirmation that this is the case, and no official firmware update has been released.

The issue appears to be fairly widespread with the MacRumors discussion thread receiving over 28,000 views, and well over 500 replies; those are high numbers for an issue only a month old. Theories about the lines are scant, but the main ones attribute them to the new anti-glare coating or the new Nvidia graphic chips. Many users seem suspicious, though hopeful, that a firmware update will resolve the problem.

While I've seen no discussion of similar problems with the other 2008 laptop screens, both the MacBook and MacBook Pro share much of the same display technology. However, I imagine that users would already be discussing the problem if the MacBook and MacBook Pro were suffering from similar problems.

Given Apple's attention to aesthetic detail, and the large market for Macs within the art and design markets, any display issue is a serious problem in need of attention. Accord


Fuck your sig.

RDF in there is strong enough for them to stay pristine.

That shit looks like it's going to snap in two like a saltine.

That said, if I've only seen one in SF of all places then that shit is a major flop.

Fuck your sig.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3197/3009087034_364553608f.jpg

Have YOU seen one in the wild? You know, from someone that actually bought one? Celebs/politicians don't count. They don't pay for that shit.


Fuck your sig.

>Have YOU seen one in the wild? You know, from someone that
>actually bought one? Celebs/politicians don't count. They
>don't pay for that shit.

Mad that Mac Airs helped win the election?

How mad?

Why for?

----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

them shits woulda overheated on one plouffe email


FREE CHAI VANG!

YOU'VE READ MY FILE NIGGA (c) Jack 'Mufuckin' Bauer



www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Fuck your sig.

To answer your question more directly, no.

I live alone, I drive to work, and I live near a university. Most of the laptops I see are cheap Windows laptops instead of Macs, like 94.95% to 5%.

Note that that's 0.05% for anything not running Windows or Mac OS X: a friend bought ASUS netbooks for him and his girlfriend.

I'm sure if I was somewhere were people had MBA money (New York, LA, Chicago) I'd see them "in the wild".

But obviously someone's buying the damned things, otherwise they'd've been killed off like the G4 Cube.

I'm pretty sure he even mentioned as such. Him being a celeb and all.

I live in SF. The mecca for appletards and douches with too much money. Apple rolls deep out here. You get on the bus/train and every other person is rocking a mackbook or an iphone. Yet, I've only seen one MBA. That's not a good look at all for your team. It's looking something like a FAIL in my book.

Fuck your sig.

you just got powned
.

Dude also takes a stab at the shitty battery life.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10122574-64.html


December 14, 2008 7:00 AM PST
The MacBook Air's fatal wireless flaw
Posted by Brooke Crothers

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Apple's MacBook Air doesn't live up to its wireless promise.

To quote an Apple tagline, "without wires, you're free to go anywhere." But the wireless part of the "air" double entendre fails to deliver. (The other half its light-as-air weight: here it does deliver.)

As I've written in the past, I like the Air. I got one in February as soon as it was available at retail and have been pleased with the performance, screen, keyboard, build, and, until recently, the battery life (which has dwindled to under an hour). Of course, the head-turning aluminum aesthetics is also a major appeal to many people.

That said, after a spurt of trips including a 10-day stay on the East Coast and a few treks to Los Angeles, the Air's wireless shortcomings have become painfully clear. In a word (or two), no 3G.

Now, before I get slammed, let me say that I fully realize that I'm not the first person to reach this conclusion so I'm not claiming any unique epiphany. There were a number of observers citing this paradox way back in January. Some frustrated users even attempted hacks to shoehorn a 3G modem into the Air. The point is: because of the price and the way it's marketed, 3G should be built in.

But the full brunt of not having 3G hit me on Friday when I made a trip to Qualcomm to get briefed on a new version of the Snapdragon applications processor (more on this in another post). Sitting there in the nerve center of one of greatest wireless companies in the world, I couldn't get a wireless connection. Everyone else in the room had 3G connections of one kind or another. The Air instantly became the proverbial doorstop (or paper weight--choose your simile, or maybe it's more apropos to say it was a dinosaur.)

It didn't take much prodding from me to get the Qualcomm product manager to point out this fatal flaw.

This came after weeks of not being able to use the Air in many situations when I desperately needed a wireless connection. For instance, not all LA airports have reliable Wi-Fi connections. The John Wayne Airport in Orange County being one example. And when I was on the East Coast, one sprawling place I stayed at for several nights had Wi-Fi only in one inconveniently situated area that was inaccessible at night.

In these situations, the Air is nothing more than a slab of beautifully sculpted aluminum.
Hewlett-Packard Compaq 2510p (L) and MacBook Air. The HP comes with a built-in WWAN option, the Air does not.

Hewlett-Packard Compaq 2510p (L) and MacBook Air. The HP comes with a built-in WWAN option, the Air does not.
(Credit: Brooke Crothers)

Which brings me to the cult of Steve Jobs. Apple was brilliant enough to deliver a groundbreaking design like the Air but why wasn't it savvy enough to build in 3G?

Before I get slammed again, let me throw out some reasons (excuses) why Apple didn't build in 3G, based on reports I've read and my own observations. Apple didn't like the fact that 3G modems often made the user commit to one service provider, i.e., Verizon or Sprint or Vodafone. Or, it believed that if users wanted 3G, they could simply plug in a USB 3G modem.

I have serious problems with both of those reasons. Particularly when you're paying typically more than $1,800 (or $2,500, depending on the model) for a notebook billed as a wireless wonder (for Apple ad copy on why the Air is such a wonderful wireless laptop, just cruise over to Apple's MBA page.) And I have even more of a problem when ultrathin Netbooks are coming with 3G at one-third (and potentially a tiny fraction of) the cost of the Air.

For comparison, let's look at another Valley company, Hewlett-Packard. HP has been selling WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network) modems in its business laptops for at least two years (and probably longer). The HP-Compaq NC6400 laptop introduced about two years ago was offered from day one with WWAN built in.

Granted, the choice of carriers at first was limited but look at HP's offerings today. Models (including those in the EliteBook line) are offered with Qualcomm's Gobi modem. Gobi obviates the need to have unique radios for each carrier. Gobi supports Verizon, Sprint, and others in one device.

Where was Gobi when Apple refreshed the MacBooks in October? I'm sure Apple has plenty of excuses (for example, not enough space in the Air's ultrathin design).

But Apple should have had 3G from the beginning and certainly in the October refresh. In today's 3G world, continuing to call it the MacBook Air brings another meaning to the double entendre: lightness of weight with a touch of advertising hot air.

Additional comments::
The point is not that a user can potentially add an external WWAN modem (though even that's not necessarily easy to do), the point is that the Air should come with 3G capability built in considering how the computer is marketed.



Fuck your sig.

this guy is complaining about a feature that he feels should be built in? a feature which, he can easily add to the unit if he wanted to?

isn't that like bitching that your hamburger didn't come with cheese on it?

am i missing something here? can you not use a usb 3G modem on an air?

>Dude also takes a stab at the shitty battery life.

didnt he say he was pleased with battery life until recently? if he's been using the battery extensively every day since February, the battery is not going to hold the same capacity it used to hold. this is no different on pc's.

He should use up his sole USB port on on the 3G modem. I never thought about it that way.

Also, a battery should not go south after < 1 year of use. Less than an hour of charge time is unacceptable.


Fuck your sig.

then he can plug his modem into it. and his external hard drive and...wait.

that can't fit in that envelope can it?

-----------------------------
evil

.

I dont know if thats flopping but it doesnt seem like it.
In DC you cant go to a coffee shop or bookstore/ library without seeing one

better than anyone expected.

</Christopher Walken Voice>

an Air or MBP and an iPad 2.

MBA are selling really well.

WTF ever happened to Zune? OH Right.

M$ shat it out and forgot about it.

RDF.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/20/best-buy-adding-new-apple-laptop-skus-to-its-systems-foreshadow/

Lusting over MBPs right now.

Engagdet sez they got new ones coming soon based on some info from Best Buy.

I'll have one of those.

i'm jumping in.

About to be 2011 MBP in this piece.

i have too much money and nothing to spend it on, lol
i'm thinking of buying a mac to see what the big deal is

Unloading this iMac and coming up shutting Apple MacBook Pros...

Me and you...yo mama and yo cousin too...

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/23/apples-light-peak-implementation-called-thunderbolt-coming-in/

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/23/macbook-pro-specs-lightpeak-known-as-thunderbolt/

I currently have a late 2009 iMac, custom W7 gaming desktop, and a 4 year-old MBP.

3 computers feels like a bit too much for me right now, and I only use the W7 desktop sporadically to play a few games, and this laptop is getting pretty old now.

I'll probably end up selling this laptop and the iMac and getting a new 13" MBP + Dell IPS monitor. That way I'll end up having the gaming desktop for whatever and a brand new MBP would be my main machine, leaving me with just 2 machines.

Sounds like a plan. The only thing keeping me would be if they don't do a chassis remodel.

Dissapointed if none of the 13"s have a SSD boot drive or 1440 screen.

and wait until a major revision of the MBP line, especially in regards to case design. call me vain, but it sucks to get a new MBP that you're supposed to use for 3+ years when a new design comes out just months after. maybe they'll be using liquid metal by the time those come out? from how they've handled design changes, i'll probably be late 2011 before that happens, if at all.

I'm hoping for a 13" MBP with at least 1440x900, SSD for OS, and a better GPU (I think the latest ones are a downgrade even from the 320/330m).

my machines are still fine, although i still would really like to consolidate it to a cheap W7 desktop and MBP as my setup.

but tomorrow, supposedly 13" is getting 1440x900 screen...but same rumor said 3 usb ports and pictures are showing 2.

Not too bad. This laptop will be 5 years old, and it seems like I can still sell it for a decent amount (4-year-old still go for $400?!), which is great, because I really got this machine for almost free (how many of my fellow JoshClark OKPs still have their "free' MBPS?).

I really would like to downgrade the screen size to 13" since 15" can be a little bit on the large side for portability.

i remember that post so well doing all my research and then me being in Canada stunted my plans...

did that really end up working for people in the end?

If I had any need for a quad core i7 laptop, the 17" is pretty sweet.

But I dont.


1. 17" Display. 2.2Ghz Quad i7. 4GB 1333MHz RAM. 750GB 5400 RPM HD. AMD 6750 1GB. 1920x1200




2. 15" Display. 2.0GHz Quad i7. 4GB 1333MHz RAM. 500GB 5400 RPM HD. AMD 6490 256MB. 1440x900

We're still compiling the rest of the data which appears to be:

3. 15" Display. 2.2GHz Quad i7.
4. 13" Display. 2.7GHz Dual i5. 4GB RAM. 500GB HD.
5. 13" Display. 2.3GHz Dual i5. 4GB RAM. 320GB HD.

The full part numbers are listed here, provided by Mr.X. All models ship within 24 hours.

MC700LL/A - MBP 13.3/2.3/2X2GB/320/SD-USA
MC724LL/A - MBP 13.3/2.7/2X2GB/500/SD-USA
MC721LL/A - MBP 15.4/2.0/2X2GB/500/SD/GLSY-USA
MC723LL/A -MBP 15.4/2.2/2X2GB/750/SD/GLSY-USA
MC725LL/A - MBP 17/2.2/2X2GB/750/SD/GLSY-USA

resolution is biting me tho..wtf

anyway when i cop.

i will be a month without a Mac because I broke up with my S.O. this morning and all cash is going towards moving ASAP.

Pray for me.

LOL

RDF.

>i will be a month without a Mac because I broke up with my
>S.O. this morning and all cash is going towards moving ASAP.

Damn man. sorry to hear

>Pray for me.

Sending up Thunderbolts for you. LOL
RDF

<-- Mini-me

her brother and his girlfriend moved in and it just been a mess.

sorry to hear that

I'm moving on and going to be happier.

better things always on the horizon.

wish u well

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/24/apple-refreshes-macbook-pro-family-with-sandy-bridge-processors/

Hell I might even get that 17in.

RDF.

http://www.intel.com/technology/io/thunderbolt/index.htm

deal with it.

before that tho? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUjh9Id6Id8

obviously, not as well, but enough to keep putting resources into it. its price has been coming down with each revision and its been obvious for a couple years that its the guinea pig of their mobile fleet. all new features found in the AIR make it into the other models down the line.

as each new revision of the AIR gets better and as the pro's start to adopt more and more of the qualities of the AIR, we'll be looking back at the AIR with a different perspective.

it just wasn't a viable computer before the redesign. You couldn't do much with it, save for putting it in a manila envelope after some light web browsing.

everyone I knew who had one sold it because you couldn't use the damn thing.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

is still using it.

it was expensive as hell!

the one they released before the recent redesign was actually a reasonable price 1400-1600 range, compared to the OG 3k price.

and now he's asking me how to burn this music I sent him for his birthday. :|

down.

In fact my first few computers were Apples. I've got more Cupertino cred than half these people who buy their first macbooks and think they're oh so creative now.

*sits in b-boy stance*

-

Let's move on.

RDF.

http://electricpig.co.uk/2011/07/20/2011-macbook-air-benchmarks-are-amazing-outperforms-all-2010-macbook-pros/

The other ones are good and all, but Apple really
hit a homerun with the airs

I might grab one soon

The 1.7 or 1.8 ghz jawn kicks the shit
out of my 2008 MPB (which I LOVE)




----------------------------

Young Broadway Star Urgently Needs a Bone Marrow Donor. Is it you? http://MatchShannon.com/







O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Its a secondary computer but I might run some
calculations and stuff and could probably use
the firepower

Plus I'm a big nigga and I only need my laptop to
be so light

This 13" is like a feather compared to my 15"





----------------------------

Young Broadway Star Urgently Needs a Bone Marrow Donor. Is it you? http://MatchShannon.com/







O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

A super small, portable laptop is just what I need. Only thing I'm hesitant on is downgrading to a 13 in screen since I have an 18in Macbook Pro(2008) right now. It is still a great computer but it is starting to slow down a lot and showing it's age. Might keep it around for a bit still.

The laptop market is full of MBA clones aka 'ultrabooks'.

Just saying. New MBPs this week.

RD-Muthaglocking-F

I've got a Toshiba Portege Z830 that is fucking awesome. It's my favorite machine at this point.

would've pulled the plug on this line 3yrs ago...you guys will prop up anything with an apple logo on it.

>would've pulled the plug on this line 3yrs ago...

That's exactly why Apple is successful. They adjusted
and perfected their design. The MBA wasn't successful
when it dropped; its hugely successful now, because they
didn't just drop it, they readjusted.

selling a ton of broken shitty machines is not something to be complimented for

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

>selling a ton of broken shitty machines is not something to
>be complimented for

And I think there is something to be said for persistence

Apple cakes hard as shit on the MBA now

I wouldn't call being stubborn a compliment.

But being persistent with the Air has paid off
huge dividends.

So far I enjoy it. I love it's weight. Letting it sit on my lap and typing away is a dream comparedto my 2008 MBP. I will give a full review later.

That'll be a kick in the balls, i did some reasearch online and didn't see anything. THen I bought it, went home and saw "new MBP's for June!" lol

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/05/15/next-macbook-air-update-to-focus-on-retina-displays-too/