Why is this a concern? I'd rather a USB stick than a CD/DVD any day. And it probably is read-only, it would make sense - however it would still be flash-based.
In the MacBook Air, the SSD chips are soldered to the logic board. It is not like there is a choice on what kind of drive can be installed. When 64GB isn't enough, there is no way to upgrade. When the SSD gets a fault, there is no drive to swap out - it would be time for a new logic board. With NAND Flash having a finite lifetime, soldering the SSDs to the logic board is a prime example of planned obsolescence. When the SSD dies (when, not if), there is only Apple to turn to, so Apple effectively has vendor lock-in as well, but we have come to expect that from Apple.
Oh, and how about the fact that SpaceShipOne can't even get in to orbit? I'm sorry.. but it always frustrates me when people go on how much cheaper SS1 is for getting to space... when they neglect the fact that it can barely carry any load, and promptly falls back out of space just after getting there. Wake me when they create an orbital vehicle...
Guy has a good point.. how can one RTFA when/. keeps posting links that require registration? not everone wants to cop spam for a stupid NYT article.. should be compulsory to have a google news link in there or something.
Slashdot Mirror
Why is this a concern? I'd rather a USB stick than a CD/DVD any day. And it probably is read-only, it would make sense - however it would still be flash-based.
In the MacBook Air, the SSD chips are soldered to the logic board. It is not like there is a choice on what kind of drive can be installed. When 64GB isn't enough, there is no way to upgrade. When the SSD gets a fault, there is no drive to swap out - it would be time for a new logic board. With NAND Flash having a finite lifetime, soldering the SSDs to the logic board is a prime example of planned obsolescence. When the SSD dies (when, not if), there is only Apple to turn to, so Apple effectively has vendor lock-in as well, but we have come to expect that from Apple.
No, the SSD's are on a removable board. See http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Air-11-Inch-Model-A1370-Teardown/3745/1 (It's the thing that comes off from above the RAM)
Have you tried using somthing like this? http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/features/softwa reupdateserver.html . That way only one machine needs to do the downloads/get past the firewall.. just like windows update and windows server update services....
Oh, and how about the fact that SpaceShipOne can't even get in to orbit? I'm sorry.. but it always frustrates me when people go on how much cheaper SS1 is for getting to space... when they neglect the fact that it can barely carry any load, and promptly falls back out of space just after getting there. Wake me when they create an orbital vehicle...
Guy has a good point.. how can one RTFA when /. keeps posting links that require registration? not everone wants to cop spam for a stupid NYT article.. should be compulsory to have a google news link in there or something.
A slashback is where they go back over previous articles and post updates, errata etc.