The Macbook Air: The only thing that's big is the price!

Well, I had written a blog about this before. But I just visited the Apple website to make sure that all my information was still correct since it hasn't been released yet. I learned a couple of things that blew me away (not in a good way), so I think I'm just going to start from scratch.

Now for those that haven't heard about it, the Macbook Air is Apple's entry into the ultra-thin , ultra-portable laptop market. It seems like a great idea... In theory.

Now, personally, I have always felt that Apple's computers have been overpriced and over-hyped. I also think that they are overly simplified. The Macbook Air is no exception to this.

Now I do have to give credit where it's due. It is only 22mm thick, has a 13.3" 1280x800 full-screen display and a full size keyboard. That's incredibly small.

Apple also claims a 5 hour battery life. But when the battery will no longer hold a charge, you're out $129 to send your computer to Apple to have the battery replaced. Now call me crazy, but I'm somewhat fond of my battery that can be replaced in a matter of about 20 seconds by myself.

Another thing I don't like about this computer is the lack of features that should be expected on a new computer. You get 1 USB port, you don't get a DVD-R/W drive (or any optical drive, for that matter) and you don't get an ethernet port, either. Now you can buy a DVD-R/W USB drive for $100 and you can also buy a USB ethernet adapter for $29. But now you have to buy a USB hub to support more than 1 USB device. I'm also going to want to get a mouse. Your ultra-portable laptop has now become a mess of wires and external peripherals strewn amongst your desktop.

Apple says that an optical drive and an ethernet port are simply not necessary. They want to aim it toward a wireless life. In most cases, it's not a bad idea. Until you only have access to a wired network.

Their answer for a lack of an optical drive is that you can simply use an "innovative" feature called Remote Disc. They make it sound like it's such an accomplishment, but I have been sharing optical drives for years and years. You also can't back up files to discs. Their answer is the Time Capsule, a external hard drive with the purpose of backing up your system. It comes in 500GB and 1TB models that cost $299 and $499 respectively. Then you can download music and rent movies online via iTunes. So you get to pay for music and movies that you may have already paid for.

What you get -

- 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo Processor (1.8 Core 2 Duo optional)
- 2GB DDR (not-upgradeable)
- 80GB hard drive (or a 64GB solid state drive as an option)
- Wireless networking/internet and Bluetooth.

What you dont get -

- A DVD/CD Drive
- An ethernet port
- More than 1 USB (seriously, what a joke)
- A decent 3D processor (Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory, not exactly the pinnacle of video technology.)

Now lets get on to the price. The basic Macbook Air, which comes with the 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo and the 80GB hard drive is $1,799. A little steep in my opinion. Now one thing (among others) that I didn't know until I looked further into it today is the price of the upgraded model, which comes with the 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo and the 64GB solid state drive. I'm not sure exactly how they think that this is a fair price, but here it goes... $3,098. That's not a typo.

In ending, my reccomendation if you want to get into this type of laptop is to go with the Dell XPS M1330. It comes with a lot more options and starts at $999. I customized one with a 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo, 250GB hard drive, 3GB RAM and upgraded battery (7 hours claimed life) and a GeForce 8400M video card (way better than the Air's). It also comes with 2 USB ports (still nothing impressive), an ethernet port and a DVD-R/W drive. Even with the extras it was $1,429. And it comes with a 3-year warranty.

Better luck next time, Apple.

A New Place To Put My Thoughts

For the past little while, I have used the blog feature on MySpace. Although I have always thought it was a stupid idea that you had to be registered to read it. So I'm going to move it here so that everyone that wants to can read it. I also think I am going to transfer some of my old blogs from there over to here.

I may put little snippets of my life on here. But I think for the most part I will just be posting about things that I feel strongly about, whether it's positive or negative.