Airborne

[nulldevice]

Apple released the MacBook Air this week, and the internet is going berzerk about it. Hlaf the 'net is going on about how they want one and it's sexy and so forth, the other is going on about how it will suck because it has no CD drive and whatnot

Comments

[beeporama]

Without optical drives, I think it will generate way less heat. Of course the processor is the big problem, but I suspect it won't have to work so hard on a machine like this.

[beeporama]

It's like a laptop for the Blackberry addict

Thanks, that's a great way of phrasing my thoughts about the product. I spent enough time in tech support that I know there are legions of business travelers who just need constant access to email, the web, and maybe some light word processing.

As I heard on NPR, this isn't supposed to be your only machine; it's the one you travel with, with a "real" desktop at home. I suppose if you can get a Remote Desktop client on one of these it makes a very attractive status symbol for the executive traveler.

It's not the first device I've seen like this, though. A former boss (like 8 years ago) somehow got his hands on a Windows CE device that was made full-sized with a proper keyboard. Same deal: flash memory, ultralight. And it ran Pocket Office. Very cool.

[kimuchi]

I'm definitely a desktop-replacement laptop user (in point of fact, my work "desktop" is a laptop because the MacBook Pro was the most cost-effective option for the specs I wanted (mac shop)), but if I traveled a lot, I would want one of these.

[indigo_eyz]

As Adam pointed out to me, this thing is bound to disappoint because the battery isn't removable. And we all know how much other Apple products with that issue have been customer service nightmares when repairs are needed (ka-ching!).

[nulldevice]

I don't quite think that'll be the killer people make it out to be. For example, I've owned three laptops and never once removed the battery on any of them. It's another one of those cases where apple may have looked at what users *want* and how they actually *behave* and noticed there's a discrepancy.

Yes, repairs will be pricy, but all Apple repairs are so this should come as no surprise to anyone.

[kimuchi]

I have removed batteries, but only to get at components that have to be reached through the battery component.