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MacBook Air's Battery is Actually Easy to Replace
pizzach noted that the MacBook Air battery is actually fairly easy to replace.
"All it requires is a philips screwdriver. Unlike some of Apple's other products, the battery is not so soldered in which should make a lot of people at least a little bit happier." I think I'll have to wait for something with a bigger screen and a faster clock speed.
If you want big screens and fast clocks, I'd conjecture you're not the market segment the Air is aimed at. Have you considered a Macbook Pro?
Isn't the whole point of the 'Apple experience' to never have to do something like open up your laptop's case with a screwdriver?
Now if only I can bring a Phillips screwdriver and a spare battery on to a plane, then I will be set for those extended flights without in-seat power. I could go for a plastic screwdriver, but I know TSA won't be all too happy about my spare battery.
It doesn't really matter that it takes five minutes to open it with a screwdriver and switch the battery. The point is that people want to carry two or more batteries with them and be able to switch them when one goes dead, without requiring tools (or having to void the warrenty).
eclecti.cc
They also mention you can have it replaced for $129 by mailing it in. Ahh, that must be why Steve Jobs showed us that it fits in a manila envelope. How convenient!
I think this is missing the point behind the main thrust of the complaints. Most of the people complaining about it (at least here on Slashdot) have been the mobile road warriors who are worried about it running out of juice while traveling, rather than the battery wearing out after 2 years and needing replacement.
It would appear at first that Apple's ultra thin and light missed its target market; after all, the main market for ultra thin and lights has traditionally been mobile road warriors. However, the lack of a swappable battery and of a wired LAN port (my company, and most I have been to, as well as many hotels I have stayed at, don't even have a wireless network option) make clear that mobile road warriors aren't the target market.
The target market is in fact fashion conscious users, and students, and others whose requirements are a sexy form factor.
I don't think that weight is necessarily even _that_ significant a factor here. Steve Jobs made clear if I recall correctly that he was willing to increase weight to decrease thickness. Thickness has no particular use other than sex appeal, footprint is actually more significant in terms of usefulness when it comes to size. In terms of weight, there have been other laptops that are significantly lighter yet retaining key features like a wired LAN and swappable battery. The entire point of this laptop is how thin and awesome looking it is.
I think I'll have to wait for something with a bigger screen and a faster clock speed.
I've got some good news for you then: You don't have to settle for a 13 inch screen and 1.8GHz processor at $2,099! For just $1,999.00 you can get a macbook pro with a 2.2GHz processor, the same RAM, a bigger hard disk, a bigger screen (still LED-backlit), free built-in gigabit ethernet, firewire, a decent graphics chip, you can avoid the glossy screen, RAM and HDD are user-upgradable - and you get all this for $100 less!
Or is being thin a really big selling point for you?
"Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
for something with a little more ethernet ports. Like, one, for instance.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Ajax/DHMTL/Javascript is nice when it degrades gracefully. It's poor design when it doesn't.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Why are these batteries so expensive? I know Apple is just launching this AirBook, and all its tech is new, and battery life is its primary constraint. But that replacement cost is 7.5% of the $1720 of the entire AirBook. The R&D and manufacturing of the rest of the skinny tech seems more precious to me.
But it's not just Apple and the AirBook. I've got an Inspiron 8000 notebook that's been running continuously for about 7 years, with no problems or failures/wearout (including the HD, which I replaced just on principle - and capacity - after 6 years). Except for the batteries: two batteris that I hardly ever used (maybe 4h cumulative unplugged) that just died after 5 years, cost $75 each to replace. And no option to repair them.
Is there a reason? Maybe I'm just missing the aftermarket of cheap 3rd party batteries. Or maybe the vendors are just "power mad".
--
make install -not war
Ok, so it is rather easy to change at home.
However, don't this opening of it void the guaranty?
Also, why did Apple made the battery internal like this in the first place?
Why don't simply make it as easy to change as on a Mac-book or any other laptop?
I don't see the rational in the decision to not make it easy to change it without opening the case.
I see myself in the middle of a flight replacing the battery with a screwdriver. Honest
Okay, you can replace the battery. But can you replace the battery without voiding the warranty?
Les Miserables Volume 1 now up with my reading of
I can see it now, business travelers on a plane taking their computers apart to change the battery so they can continue working. I don't know how you will get that screwdriver past security...
This is the best explanation of why the MacBook Air doesn't have $yourFavoriteFeature I've read so far.
http://wilshipley.com/blog/
Or in other words, using a car metaphor, of course: "Nobody will ever buy a Porsche, because it's got only two seats and a minimal trunk space. For 50'000 EUR *less*, you'd get four seats, a pickup-sized cargo bay AND as much horsepowers, so the Porsche is clearly bad value." :)
If a Porsche had the same handling characteristics as a pickup, it *would* be bad value.
Unlike automobiles, making a laptop smaller doesn't increase its performance... it usually decreases it. The Macbook Air has a slower processor and hard disk (less horsepower) than the Macbook Pro, not the same.
If you're going to use an automotive analogy, try and find one that makes the slightest bit of sense.
There's a certain crowd that's criticizing the MacBook Air a lot for what it leaves off, and I don't think they get what you want with a subnotebook. I likewise wonder what they think of the EeePC.
There's a diversity of needs in personal computing, and at one end you have the gamers who want highly upgradable components and to cram everything they can into a 600-watt beast with fans whining. Fine, okay, but my own preference is that I'd rather not share my living space with that. The next is the quiet low-profile desktop, and Apple's doing that kind of thing very recognizably with the iMac and Mac Mini. There are PC systems like the shuttle. Then there are desktop-replacement laptops with enough GPU for gamers and CPU for number crunching. And now there are subnotebooks. Cite whatever midpoints or extremities you want, these are the relevant ones.
Most web/email/office use is simply best done on something like an iMac if you're stationary, or a laptop. Those of us who value quiet and energy efficiency will more and more choose this route. The real junkies among us have not one, but several machines. After a while, it gets annoying if they're all identical configurations. You don't want to pack a DVD and a monster peripheral set into your subnotebook - that's for basic needs on the go! Leave your movie collection at home, say, on a nice Kurobox or some other NAS. You don't need multiple DVD burners. You can get disk images off your NAS. Back it up with a Time Capsule or roll your own.
I like my network of specialized machines. It makes choosing an operating system and hardware configuration a matter of the right choice for the job. I think most of the criticism of the MacBook Air comes from the 600W desktop beast crowd that has everything in one or two boxes. Well... they'll come around.
I commented about this just yesterday.
Anyone else remember that one of the "oh wow" moments in Apple history was when it was discovered that the Macintosh was the most frequently stolen computer in the world. More recently the iPod became the target of choice for footpads and muggers. With such an easily disguised laptop, is Apple trying for the hat trick?
I'm wondering about the battery life with the solid state drive option. Apple states that the machine gets 5 hours on a 37 W-hr battery -- suggesting an average power draw of about 7.4W. Cursory Googling suggests that SSD draw about half the power of a normal HD -- perhaps 0.5 W less. That suggests that the SSD version might get more than 5 1/2 hours. Of course the SSD option comes with a faster processor which might taketh away that extra battery life.
But all this is just speculation and BOTEC. Has anyone got their mitts on an SSD MBA and tested battery life???
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
neither makes your point nor endears you to the boss (who's daughter IS quite probably the target demographic for this little gem.)
Just say its not for you because of (yadda, yadda, yadda), and suddenly, you find that not even you want to read your opinion.
I'm not buying one because of my needs for something more substantial, but those are MY needs. They aren't for everybody.
Apple
got everybody to switch 5"1/4 disketes for 3"1/2 by giving them no option (and everybody predicted disaster,) them he
got everybody to switch to USB by giving them no option (and everybody predicted disaster), then
got rid of the diskette drive altogether by giving them no option (and everybody predicted disaster,)
then he got everybody to switch to writable CDs (and now DVDs) by giving them no option.
Now he's getting rid of CDs and DVDs altogether and moving storage into appliances and services; by giving them no option.
Wake the fuck up.
The machine YOU'RE using as a road warrior would still be taking up all of your desk space if it wasn't for Steve Jobs' sheer balls.
The internet and the web weren't caused by INTERNAL influences.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Yea, but what are the chances Apple will sell you a replacement battery?
Is this the new iPod "lame" quote?
"I think I'll have to wait for something with a bigger screen and a faster clock speed."
I'M SICK OF THE WORD "ACTUALLY"!!!! Can people stop overusing it??? I also declare war on the words "dude", "awesome", and "like".
Lets look at what else it doesn't come with:
anything and everything that will keep you tied to your desk.
Your storage is internal (2GB RAM and an 80GB application and scratch-pad persistence mechanism) while the rest (500GB or 1TB with USB [for your printer{s} and RJ-45 to the net/web) can come over the 802.11n.
(Sorry I got distracted by my MacBook Pro's external 1TB drive doing its hourly incremental back-up via TimeMachine.)
Its a wireless (and slightly less top end,) version of something I already own, and use.
Yah, it'll sell and eventually shift the business world when they get around to building new stuff and NOT needing to pull cable.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
The title is "MacBook Air's Battery is Actually Easy to Replace". Why is this tagged with "hardhack"?
The tag system annoys me.
I'm a programmer. I just want a machine I can write software on. Once I loved hacking on the computer itself, but now I just want a gadget that (a) works and (b) is easy to use. Beautiful I'll take... but I'm a programmer, I'm the only guy who'll see it, and the rest of my office is decorated in Early 21st Gentury Geek so I don't care.
Software-wise, OSX gives me (a) works, (b) is beautiful and easy to use.
Hardware-wise, I'm still waiting for Apple to deliver on (b). Beautiful they've got down, but they sure make it hard to use. My beautiful Macbook Pro is hidden behind my monitor, because the keyboard is the worst laptop keyboard I've ever owned, and pretty close to the worst I've ever used. The Macbook and Macbook air have an even more screwed up chiclet keyboard. I can go almost 15 minutes on my Macbook Pro without having to stop because of my RSI, but I couldn't even manage five minutes on the Macbook keyboard I tried.
Your hands and wrists are still in pretty good shape, good for you, but for two grand I think I ought to get a keyboard at least as good as the one on an $800 Thinkpad, not something I'd refuse to accept from Dell.
One button mouse/trackpad, missing keys (look, Steve, the Macbook Pro's got all this space around the kayboard, so why do I have to hit Fn to get Page Up? I DON'T CARE if it makes them cheaper for you if you don't have to design two keyboards... design is what we're paying you for, remember?), lousy cooling (you saved 1/10th of an inch by leaving out enough space for proper airflow, so I have to remove the battery pack to keep it from overheating when I use iMovie HD), and all the rest of the design problems.
The bottom line is that I didn't buy my Macbook Pro because it looked good, I bought it because it was part of the cost of getting software that doesn't suck. The bottom line is that Apple still puts far more effort into the "looks good" part of "works and looks good", and far too little into the "works" part. The bottom line is that unless the "looks good" part is the main reason for getting the computer, the Macbook Air is nothing more than a crippled Macbook... and you're better off spending the extra $700 on symphony tickets or a good suit if you just want style.
It's pretty simple, really. The magnetic charge port. Apple can offer a battery pack that recharges the Air's battery, extends operating time, etc. It would be just like the AC power supply except it would run off of DC. It could still run with typical laptop batteries (Li-ion and such) for high power densities but it also wouldn't need to be some oddball configuration that drives up manufacturing costs. It could be a basic brick more or less.
The Air has a power port. Getting extra run time when on aircraft without power plugs, etc, is nothing more than supplying power to the power port.
Efficiencies also depend on how Apple configured the power port. With just a little forethought, they could have made it where a portable power pack (i.e. auxiliary battery) just runs the Air itself and doesn't recharge the onboard battery. That would be more efficient than accepting charging efficiency losses and the only down side would be having to carry an assembly with cord instead of just an extra battery. A fairly acceptable compromise to trying to make removable batteries in such a tight form factor.
Explain to me how a MacBook Air is a subnotebook... Because Stevie J. says so? An OQO is a subnotebook, a Toshiba Libretto is a subnotebook. Tiny screens, width less than 12'', etc. A MacBook air is not a subnotebook.
I also don't see the usefulness of this machine--it's still wide and deep. Sure, it's not very tall when closed but that just shows technical innovation (a small plus) but no practicality (a huge minus). Granted, many people, especially Apple fanbois, buy things that aren't practical... But when I look at a notebook/subnotebook, I look at the "total space required" to use that machine. That's the total cubic volume, including the empty space between the keyboard and the top of the screen.*** How much less physical space does an opened MacBook Air require compared with other small notebooks? Slightly less. All this for several hundred $$$ more??? I'm impressed the technology exists where a notebook can be put in an envelope but at the same time, whoop-dee-doo. When in use, it still takes the same amount of space on an airplane tray or desk as other small notebooks. If anyone needs to ship a MacBook Air, it's not going to be thrown in an envelope--it'll be put in a box with a shitload of packing peanuts like any other notebook...
The MacBook air... Much ado about nothing.
***Imagine a sub/notebook with the display angled 90 degrees from the base. Now, imagine a cube based on that entire form. That is how much physical space is needed to use the laptop--otherwise you won't be able to type or see the screen.
Windows 3.1x calc: 3.11 - 3.10 = 0.00
Lets look at what else it doesn't come with: anything and everything that will keep you tied to your desk.
The Macbook Air would tie me to my desk more surely than my Macbook Pro does. All that wireless stuff you're talking about? That's software. Having to dangle a dongle drive off my leg when I'm checking out a CD version of a presentation while I'm sitting on a bench in a conference center, wishing I was back at my desk to I could USE that wireless connection, that's hardware.
...you could, uh, just charge it.
1) there's an adapter for airline seat jacks so you don't need that second battery
2) theres a Ethernet jack dongle for the USB so you can plug it to a hard line
3) there's a mini multiple USB hub so you can put in plenty of things
4) it has blue tooth (and wifi N) built in so your blue tooth mouse or pointer does not need a jack.
5) it's gotta honk'in large cache so the 4800 rpm disk is not going to be that big a drag (afterall the macbooks and mac mini are only 5400 rpm and have smaller caches)
It's not a supercharged photoshop engine given the slower disk and lower end graphics and 13.3 inch screen of course. That's what the8 cpu macpro is for.
But it's two pounds less than a macbook and you don't need an oversized breifcase or book bag to take it a along. I could see this as a lot easier to schlep around at conferences than may macbook pro. And with it's ultra-fast wifi it's gonna be a lot easier to keep synched than the usual cable clumsiness.
The 13.3 inch screen is also a much nicer form factor than the 15 or 17 for airplane seats. PLus it's a wide screen not a SVGA shaped screen to it's not as tall. And it has a back lit KB that the macbook lacks.
Basically the mac book is for college kids and teachers. The air is for bussinessmen and conference goers and people who like aesthitics in the house.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
imagine how many energies must be just waiting to fly violently out of that battery at high speeds, and damage plane parts. those damn energies.
Please stop stalking me, bro.
I'll add that I bet that a third party will make an outboard battery you can jack into the power plug, ending all arguments.
...you could, uh, just charge it.
Not if it, uh, fails to hold a charge.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
My Powerbook G4 had even a RGB cable; the Macbook PRO doesn't even has such port anymore ...
;)
Now even the modem is missing and for sale as extra usb device for 55 euro.
Every little needed option is causing the TCO to go up.
The worst thing is, where are those darn serial ports on those Macs AND PC's?
Can one say OOB management without a loose-hanging Keyspan?
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
So you get one for wired network. Ok, then what about USB, as there's only 1 port? Ok so another for that. And optical media? Ok so another for that. Well now that small, light, elegant, laptop you bought isn't so light, isn't so small and certainly isn't so elegant. I have an older tablet that my work lets me use that is like that and it sucks. The tablet itself isn't bad, but you have a bag full of crap to go with it, since nothing is included.
So that's the problem here for the road warrior market. The "well just buy X accessory" really defeats the purpose of having a small laptop. You lose your weight and size advantage there, not to mention that it is a much bigger pain to carry a bunch of separate dongles than it is to carry a slightly larger laptop that has everything in it.
We'll have to see how it does, but trying to explain away all complains by "just buy an accessory" doesn't really work. Remember that Sony has a whole lineup of sleek small laptops out there. Many of them include just about damn everything (wired lan, USB, firewire, WiFi, bluetooth, cellular net, DVD, etc). Yes, they are a bit thicker and a bit heavier (though they have lighter ones that still include most things other than an optical drive) but that doesn't mean they aren't a consideration. While people like light, it isn't a case of "Well that laptop is nice, but it is 0.5 pounds more than this other one so I can't possibly buy it."
what if the user burred the edge of the screwhead or ... OMG ... scratched the case. The world would surely cease to exist in order to rectify such destruction of The Ultimate Beauty That Is Apple (TM). SUch work should be entrusted to those fully introduced into The Way of The Apple (TM) (for which the user will be more than happy to pay a suitable ripoff price)
It's about the power supply. More and more airlines have in sear power in Coach. The power supply in the current MacBook and MacBook Pro draw too much power. They trip the breaker on the seat. The Air draws almost half as much as the others and will work with every airline power system out there.
Second, the TSA keeps restricting extra batteries. Recently Spare LiON's were banned from checked luggage. There is no way to know if the same won't be applied to carry on.
From that standpoint, a laptop that works with Airline power seems more important than being able to change the batteries.
The 0.1% of people who think this is a problem can carry an external battery with them.
It can be as big as you carry and last as long as you like. Just plug in a cable and you're good to go.
No sig today...
What I never understood is why they made them backgrounds so white; my eyes are overexposured almost continuesly. I got to turn all the backgrounds black again to have that retro style back. Some users have their backgrounds set to hi-contrasting colors ready to blow off your head into atleast 216 pieces (the amount of webcolors).
... now let me continue look to my porn in EGA .. it's the sadomachochistic side inside of me ;)
I'd say, let's have a strike all of us, bring back the retro! Bring back the 7 to 9" screens! I want my black backgrounds back! Back to the old days!
Boycott VGA!
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
Why would you carry a second battery - do you carry a second battery for every device you own? Why not get a single external power source, like the Solio, that you can use to power multiple devices AND recharge from the sun instead of mains? If you're going to have the bulk of a second battery anyway...
Or as others noted there are a lot of power options around all the time - though airports I find to be the worst in this regard as they generally do not have enough plugs for everyone that would like one. Again, a secondary power source comes in handy.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
On a Mac, there is no failure mode that can prevent the power button depress from shutting down power.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Metaphor holds.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
(I know i'm at risk for being marked off-topic, but alas this is slashdot!)
OK I had to say "actually", but this at least makes two of us. People assume using "actually" in discussion adds some intelligence to their statement. I've noticed people tend to use this in online discussions but not as much in email nor in spoken word.
There are already a number of external power options for laptops. You can generally use a 12V adaptor to keep the laptop charged from them, and most are not much larger than a second battery would have been anyway - AND you can charge multiple devices, not just one!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Clearly you are right, but it is odd that Apple didn't announce that product at launch to just shut people up. Since Apple doesn't license the mag-safe connector to anybody, it makes it much harder to get a third-party battery pack.
I bought a refurbished Macbook two weeks ago, and had to pay $19 for the adapter.
:)
Of course, I like my super-high resolution, bright, glossy Macbook screen more than my Dell 17" UltraSharp monitor, so I could have saved my money. Go figure.
Perhaps the new Macbooks have the adapter included, but I'm pretty sure they don't. Someone let me know if I'm wrong.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
So you can just take the Airbook into the Apple Store and wait five minutes for your dying battery to be replaced. What about long trips where you want to carry a spare? Some bright person at Apple should come up with the idea for an external battery with a Magsafe connection that you can use. The battery could be the size of a whole Airbook, and provide something like 12 hours of usage.
I know it's not called "Airbook" but that's what I'm calling it, because I like it better.
Actually, I'd want a smaller one. Faster clock speed and such do not matter on an ultraportable laptop, if I wanted that I'd be getting some giant 10lb Dell XPS or something. What would you do with it that required so much power? I actually thought the macbook air was too big when I first saw it and that mac should be focusing on overall size rather than just thickness. Now, if they made a macbook air with an 11" screen, that would be just about perfect. :) That could help extend battery life as well, which is another large concern for me when it comes to portability. My current laptop only gets about 3 hours of battery with wifi on and screen at full brightness.
Weaksauce as they say...
Then get the car adapter from apple and buy one of these: http://www.ntxtools.com/network-tool-warehouse/JNC-JNC660.html
the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
To be fair, you'd have to say 'Dell' or 'Gateway'. There would be no outcry and name calling if this was about something they did or did not do.
I think your original point is how much Apple is adored and how much Microsoft is loathed, and that adoration or loathing remains resistant to logic.
Even with that, Microsoft's long history caused people to loath it. It's annoyed people so many times that even if it is nice once, people are not going to change their minds about it. People would have to perceive a fundamental change of Microsoft and a history of quality before it stops being a whipping boy.
Gimme Apple's take on a Fujitus U810 / U1010 / U50X. 5.6" screen, full keyboard, tablet convertible.
Or smaller again. A Zaurus size CLAMSHELL device. First company to produce a pocketable clamshell x86 machine gets my money. Doesn't need to be quick, just needs a proper keyboard, be usable on a desk and not require holding in both hands (like 99% of UMPCs), and PDA size.
Many people keep multiple charged batteries when traveling. I don't think switching out batteries on a plane by opening up the machine is convenient, and you may get arrested if someone thinks you are creating a bomb.
The Air is about 2" wider than the 12" PowerBook, but almost the same depth... and then there's the thickness (thinness?). Do the math, and you'll see that the Air is about 52 cubic inches in volume, while your "smaller" PowerBook comes in at a whopping 110 cubic inches.
Or to put it another way, the Air is 50% smaller than the PowerBook. Important when putting it into a briefcase or backpack. Heck, it's even 20% smaller than the Asus Eee.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
I have similar batteries for an old PowerBook 100 series I have. They are, by far, the most, heavy, clunky and uncomfortable laptop accessory one could carry around with them. Almost like carrying a second laptop.
In addition, these batteries connect to the laptop through the power adapter port on the machine. In the event you ever drain your internal battery before using such a beast, you risk losing all of your work if you accidentally bump the plug. (Something one could easily do in a crowded area.)
Aside from that, you'd probably have fun trying to get one of these past the TSA checkpoint at an airport. You'd have to figure out how to explain to them why you have a carry-on with wires sticking out of it with no discernible features. Even the prospect of an internal battery replacement would fail. Even if you somehow got a torx screwdriver past TSA, good luck trying to surreptitiously swap out the battery when you have to open up your computer down to its circuitry. You'd be lucky if the attempt didn't end up grounding your flight and get you flagged as a terror suspect for attempting to "construct a bomb" midflight.
Most likely, the MBA will likely go down in history as the least travel-friendly laptop ever made... at least as far as post 9/11 devices go.
8==8 Bones 8==8
I was reading on CNET earlier (http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9852240-7.html), that Sharp produced an even thinner laptop that was lighter. Further, if you really want to reduce weight, the Asus EEE pc is going to be better. In terms of functionality, this computer is faster and bigger than other light laptops, although I think the hp tc1100 was a more interesting package for road warriors. This computer seems underwhelming compared to the iphone.
Long haul flights tend to have the 75 watt jacks. By going to the led screen and trimming the cpu speed apple came in under the magic number of 75 watts. According to seat guru not every seat in a plane is equipt, they stagger the jacks so you may have not seen them. Also they are no on the short haul planes (yet). It should be noted that the 5 hour rated life is actually under real world usage conditions: wifi on, screen at half brightness, disk spinning, so your milage may very if you scrimp. On my macbook pro I run with the screen just one click from dark, turn off the wifi and shut down the disk when I can. Also given the 2GB standard memory I expect this puppy will hit the disk a bit less often.
In most major airports I fly into it's no longer neccessary to lie on the floor next to a coveted power jack. There's these (for sale) power stations going in usually run by the smart-cart luggage folks. I expect within the year these will be ubiquitous. Sure you'll drop a few dimes for something you used to get free but you'll have a more assured charging expectation between short hop flights, and probably less expensive than the spare battery you now don't need.
Finally, airlines are now experimenting with a music "charging tone" for the ubiquitous audio jack currently on all seats. It won't be enough to run a 75 watt laptop but it is already good enough to charge up power cells or ipods. So you can see the airlines are going that way.
If you look at history steve always dumps old shit about a year before people think he should, then a year later we see all these companies trying to stretch themselves with backward comaptibility and realizing steve got it right.
examples: How long computers persist in having 5-1/4 or hard shell floppies long after they were not needed. Remember parallel ports and Rs232 serial. THose jacks used to festoon the back of computers long past the point they were needed. PCMCIA is a gonner too, but it still is being built into computers. Modems? would you not rather pay $25 for a usb to modem dongle if you needed rather than have it built in and drawing power. VGA connectors--who needs them--just use a dongle if you want one.
instead with a mac oyu tend to get ubiquitous high level features that software writers can count on being in every new mac for 5 years or so. Like motion sensors, lit keybaords, DVI. Or way back to the apple II , postscript, hard disks, dynamic memory replacing static ram, and optical disks.
The only one that bugs me is the non ubiquitous support of fire wire.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
"All it requires is a screwdriver"...which you're not allowed to take on planes. Also, what's the warranty implications of popping the box?
...please?"
If you'll all forgive the snark, here's my impression of a Mac user trying to present at a conference:
"Does anyone have a DVI to VGA adapter? Anyone? Anyone?
Whatever should have happened (projectors w/ DVI ports, Mac users who don't forget their dongles), what does happen is pretty damning. It's pretty damaging to the brand, from a business side.
I just felt compelled to say that the community here on Slashdot is a helluva lot better than most of the people who post to Digg. Over the past week I have counted at least 12 news items on the front page pointing out the Air's problems, followed by hundreds of comments from people acting like 12 year olds. At least here it's possible to have a rational discussion.
Thank you Slashdot community for continuing to be polite and mature.
Aside from that, you'd probably have fun trying to get one of these past the TSA checkpoint at an airport.
I carry on board aircraft a Solio, combination solar and powered external battery that looks far funkier than anything you might have. With it I can provide power to any number of devices directly, or anything that can plug into a cigarette lighter. I have not once had the TSA even glance at it, even though it goes through the X-Ray every time. Perhaps it's time people stopped being afraid of the TSA, who are frankly more bored than interested in getting all up in your business.
I've also carried other mixtures of wires and batteries, and hardly ever even get asked to swab the case (which is all that happens now if they have a question about a bag).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Almost all cases or carryon bags are designed well to hold sheets of paper, which the Air is not much bigger than. The Air is just as portable as the eee for just about any case or backpack I would actually use, and with carryon width is a very important dimension since that's what stops things from going in the overhead bin. I have a nice dent in the top of my Macbook Pro from trying to fit a just slightly overpacked carryon case into the overhead bin - it fit just fine when I took the Macbook out, I had to hold it in the seat pocket in front of me (which also would have worked a lot better than the Air).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Most people are just going to perminently remove the screws so they can easily ARGH the battery just fell on my foot! THE PAIN!
Once you start despising the jerks, you become one.
I'm waiting for something with a smaller screen and a slower clock speed.
Apple, please, those of us who travel really want a 12" screen, maximum battery life, and as little heat as possible.
Namgge
There are lots of inexpensive (read 1/2 the price of a Swappable/Removable laptop battery pack) external battery packs with higher capacities than said laptop battery packs on the market. Sure none have Apple's MagSafe connector as an option (yet), but I'm sure the crafty Slashdot types out there can figure out how to hack up a pretty inexpensive MagSafe airplane power port connector to work with one of these connections. Ideally, Apple would come up with their own extended battery pack or add on base (clamps onto the vent ports?) for the bottom of the Air. But you could always cobble something very usable and cheap to make together yourself. I suspect some crafty 3rd party manufacturer is going to come out with a replacement base plate for the Air that acommodates a much larger battery at some point (negating the thinness of the Air) to satisfy someone who just has to have a bigger battery. Come on, just get a Macbook already, the Air is just may not be the one for you.
There are no stupid questions...just stupid people.
Before you book your international tickets, just checkout:
http://www.seatguru.com/
and select a seat with Power. Most modern planes flying
international routes (777 Airbus) are full of them). Getting a cheap
adapter sure beats lugging along an extra battery if it were
easily replaced (which it actually is).
Looks like Apple made a wise choice for the movers and shakers
comprising the "jet set" ( knowledgeable ones, that is).
What's past is NOT ALWAYS prologue for the future!
If you don't like the specs, the small size, the fact that the battery isn't user-replaceable.....don't buy one. That's exactly why this isn't the only product that Apple sells.
Every product is meant to appeal to a certain audience. Is the iPod Shuffle really for everybody? No. Which is why there's the iPod Nano, iPod Classic, etc.
The macbook airline power adapter will run the macbook but not charge it, so presumably the air has a similar set up.
Wouldn't this void the warranty?
The plain old Macbook is more portable than the Macbook Air.
It's the same width, and you're not going to carry your Macbook Air in a manilla envelope, or even a badded jiffy bag, you're going to carry it in a bag, briefcase, or backpack with about an inch of padding... just like any other laptop... and with the optical drive shoved down into another pocket (so you don't scratch up the 'book's shell).
Yes, the optical drive.
No road warrior is going to go out to a customer without the ability to read anything they get handed on a disc.
So you end up with it taking just as much real space, in a less convenient form.
No, even I, a notorious defender of the Mac against the people who insist it's just style, have to say that this time it really is just style.
If a student can justify the extra $700 over the plain old Macbook, they're a lot better funded than I ever was at college.
The MacBook Air (like the other 13.3" MacBooks as well) is only a third of an inch more in depth than the 12 inch PowerBook (and actually a bit smaller than the 12 inch iBook), and it's the depth that matters in in cramped conditions. Most of the increased size goes in width, which I don't think will be a problem even on an airplane.
Yesterday was the time to do it right. Are we having a REVOLUTION yet?
An easy to replace battery is one where you pull it out and stick a new one in.
A battery which requires removing the case with a screwdriver is a hard to replace battery.
...'cause, y'know, everywhere you might go has WiMAX.
Right.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
Perhaps you haven't heard, but WiMAX isn't like WiFi where it's provided at random places; instead it will be a pervasive network built out by major carriers, like cell service. Sprint has committed to it as their 4G technology and is rolling it out nationwide, starting now. 100 million people will have WiMAX by the end of the year.
main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
I hope you'll forgive my cynicism, but a) I'll believe it when I see it, and b) not everywhere is a major metropolitan area.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
"I think I'll have to wait for something with a bigger screen and a faster clock speed."
Sheesh, you like to critcize. Never satisfied are you? Get a macbook pro then
Think about what you would benefit more from, a 1/2 inch off the sides or 1/4 inch off the top.
A half inch off the sides, for sure. I'm only carrying one laptop, no matter how much other paper I have (and I've had plenty). It's a lot easier to get a carryon that's 1/4 of an inch fatter than a tray table that's 1/2 an inch wider. It's easier to get a briefcase that's 1/4 inch thicker than a desk or bench that's 1/2 inch wider.
qwerty