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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?
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
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
Because when they don't need to make a hatch for the battery, they could make it thinner.
Seriously: the reason MacBook Air exists is because it's light, and because it's ridiculously thin. It's also interesting because of the trackpad and its multi-touch gestures, and because it has slightly different tradeoffs when compared to other subnotebooks which makes it a fairly unique product - MacBook Air has a faster CPU and normal-sized screen and keyboard, virtually every subnotebook has more features and ports in every other aspect, but piddly screens and keyboards.
The reason MacBook Air exists is because it's a unique proposition in the market (per the above), not because it's really convenient to service yourself or fast or extensible. There are other products for that.
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.
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.
Maybe you should have tried reading the "What's in the box" section:
That lets you connect an Off-the-shelf MacBook Air to anything you can connect an Off-the-shelf MacBook Pro.
I'm not saying you won't get nibbled to death in other places (*cough* iTunes rentals *cough*), but this isn't one of them.
As for the limitations, they don't really bother me much apart from the battery limitations. But then, in business class most airlines offer in-seat power these days and adapters for the Macs are cheap enough, and if you fly economy there are always external portable laptop adapters you can buy (yes, they are not great, but if you're sitting in your seat on a plane it's not a big problem to have one in your carry on and put it in the pouch of the seat in front of you while working, and if the alternative is carrying around replacement laptop batteries you'd be carrying about the same weight anyway).
Something tells me that if Apple had made the Mac Book Air 10 or 12 inches instead of 13, people would be ripping Apple for making a computer with a screen that is too small. Look at it another way...it is the thinnest notebook on the planet with the largest screen.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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
That's what gets me. I just don't get the point of a thinner notebook, and if I'm reading this right, needs dongles for every port. Never have I seen anybody complain about laptops being overly thick. Nobody says, "wow, I wish this notebook was 2cm thinner, as this would be revolutionary!". Of course, we've seen Apple innovations go the way of smaller iPods, on the x & y axis. Now the laptop is just smaller on the Z plane.
You want innovation? How about a cheaper laptop? A laptop that costs less than $500 that has all the features of competing laptops $1200+ would get my attention.
Want more innovation? Shrink the size of those dang power bricks. We can make everything else smaller in computing, except the power supply?
Of course, any laptop I've seen that's smaller & cuter at the store, the prices astronomically rise. I have an hp zd7000 laptop from work, and frankly don't need the monster size. I'd rather have a smaller screen & a right-side Windows key.
Forget the Air, I'll wait for the bigger-screen size Asus EEE & save over a grand. That'll be nice to take to the coffee shop to check mail, surf the web, etc.