Apple boss Steve Jobs is well known for
using his keynote address at the annual Macworld geekfest to wow the world
with the company’s latest must-have gadgets. Last year, he pulled an iPhone
out of his pocket. What would he do to top that this year? Tech bloggers and
writers around the world feverishly speculated what might be announced and
some of them even got it right.
Jobs walked on stage with a manila envelope and whipped out what looks set to
the business traveller laptop to be seen with this year. Except that it
might not get seen at all given how thin it is. At its thickest point, the Macbook
Air stands just 0.76 inches high; at its thinnest, it is 0.16 inches.
While the previous incarnations of the Macbook have been extremely desirable
for their looks, business travellers have sometimes shied away from them
because of their bulk. The lightest in the range weighs in at more than 2.27
kilos, whereas Windows-powered laptops with similar specs are considerably
slimmer, typically a kilo lighter. For a business traveller constrained by
the weight limit of hand luggage, especially in the current climate. The
Macbook Air, by contrast, comes in at 1.36 kilos – lodging it firmly in the
realm of the lightweights.
Much of the weight loss is achieved through an Atkins-style avoidance of
certain things – no optical drive, a handful of ports and a non-swappable
battery. Intel even redesigned its processor to cut down on size and weight.
The lack of an optical drive could worry some. It is possible to hook up to an
optical drive on the network or plug one in to the single USB port but Apple
is banking on the future being wireless. It sports the latest version of
wi-fi - 802.11n – but on the downside there’s no WiMax and, unforgiveably in
my opinion, no in-built high-speed 3G SIM card like most of the latest
Windows business traveller laptops.
The battery could give cause for concern too. Apple says it will last for five
hours, even if you are using wireless. However, some reviewers, such as USA
Today’s Edward
Baig and the Wall Street Journal’s Walter
Mossberg got less than this.
The keyboard will be familiar to anyone who has used a Macbook and it has the
added benefit of backlighting, making them easy to see read when you’re in a
low-light situation.
It’s a pretty green beast too – recyclable aluminium casing, mercury and
arsenic-free display and eco-friendly circuit boards. Even better, it comes
in a box with the minimum of packaging.
Despite the potential problems, this is a beauty. As a lifelong Windows laptop
user, it has even made me start to think the unthinkable of defecting to
Apple.
Macbook Air (£1,199 or £2,028
with a 64GB solid state disk)
I have just bought a MacBook 13.3inch Dual Core. I should have done it years ago.
As someone posted before - running PC programs can be difficult or should I say were! It is possible to buy a program in the Apple Shop (all legal) called Parallels where Windows XP or Vista can be run without faffing about partioning Hard drives and other techy stuff on the Mac OS (Operating System).
I am in the aviation world and we use specialised programs - PC only - I will be running parallels very shortly and my PC based programs on my MacBook.
Meril at your peril, but its Apple all the way for me now. PC are truly dated and their time is nearly up! Yes Macs are expensive but as well all know, you get what you pay for.
Christopher Harrison, Sheffield, United Kingdom
I have found the mechanics of notebook to be important. I have Dell note's I've repaired. I like them as they have removable bays that allow for a mix of drives or batteries. I would much rather have functionality over appearence or a 'slim ' design. As for OS'es, I have a mix of MS 98SE on up to XP, linux , and a wallstreet OS 9.2 mac note. It gets down to the point where the end of the process is the same no matter what machine - it's the steps to get there.
Wes, Iowa City, Iowa USA
I love Apple products and have used them for years. This post is typed on a Powerbook G4, but I don't think I'll be replacing it for the Air until I can get a CD/DVD drive and burner in it and more than one USB port. It's a mistake to think that everything is stored on the main drive, especially graphic intense users like me who have large programs and masses of graphics files (I teach computer animation). I also think the sealed battery is a turn off. I've already gone through one battery recall and if- no, when- the Air's battery fails, then I'd be out of a machine for the time it takes to get it back to the factory and replaced. I can't work without a laptop for a day, much less weeks on end while a battery is being installed. I also have duplicate batteries I can switch out when I'm not close to a power source, which happens more often than you'd think. Ever look for a plug in an airport waiting lounge during a 4 hour layover? Good luck.
alice, salado, us/tx
Just wait till you accidently sit on it cos its so thin and you didn't know it was there - perhaps left it in an envelope!!
Billy Bop, London, UK
Macs are great to use: simple operating system, and very fast. However, they are expensive, and become even more so if you have to buy software to run any PC-only programs.
Gibby, Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire
In my experience, batteries don't last that long on notebooks (12-15months on my Dell). What happens when the battery needs replacing ? - an expensive service trip to Apple no doubt. At least the battery on my iBook pops out in 5 seconds !
Steve M, Bournemouth, Dorset
To me, it looks more like fashionable toy. If this is a business laptop, then it is one for a very smooth, standardised business environment. I'm afraid the reality on the road is different for most people. Wireless is still a quite marginal phenomenon, despuite all the talk about it - once you leave the downtrodden yuppie-paths, you'll find wireless to be not so widespread at all. Great for apple to think it will be the future, but I wouldn't count on it for the first 5 years. And then the lack of USB drives - USB stick, plug in a printer, and for some , a mouse. It's just a mess.
Apple said exactly the same when it got rid of disk drives - then already claiming everything would become wireless - the only difference it made was that the USB stick has become widespread. Depending on the presence of working wireless network is just way too risky for most businesses.
And batteries... 5 hours max, so less in reality. My good old dell had 6 to start with, and that's 3 years ago already.
peter, edgbaston,
Totally agree with many of the comments above! Not often, given the fierce sporting rivalry, do I agree with an Aussie! But there really is 'nothing special about this Laptop' save the price tag.
It seems the power of the brand forces journalists and consumers alike to only ever really compare Apple with Apple! Forgetting the likes of Toshiba and IBM/Lenovo who have been making lightweight business laptops for ages!
What is really important to the business traveller is battery life and weight! I'm sure anybody who has been waiting for a BA flight over the last few weeks would agree. Here the Toshiba Portege R500 knocks spots off the Apple and the Solid State Drive version is a real bit of innovation.
But go on, buy the Apple. You'll have a lot more time for posing and shopping for other fashion accessories in the airport stores while real business users are still online!
Thomas Cunliffe, London, UK
Comparing this laptop to any Windows sub notebook is simply wrong. Apple make multimedia friendly machines. This means larger monitors and speedier performance is what people are looking for. Toshiba uses a much slower processor and a much smaller monitor. Yes, they are compact. But, they choose to sacrifice in the area where people don't want to sacrifice. Apple's only sacrifice is in the optical drive IMHO. I cannot remember the last time I actually needed to use a DVD drive on my MacBook Pro. As for watching a video for a plane ride, just download the movie (rent) from iTunes or use HandBrake and copy the video to your machine before your flight. Finally, people seem to forget that there is such a thing as a USB hub. These are tiny and offer all the external connectivity you would need. For travel, I cannot think of any computer I would want to use more. I've given up on Windows (XP, VIsta) for OSX already, and am NEVER going back to that awful environment.
Josh Katlof, Plano, USA, TX
A totally dumbed down machine with a jacked up price. All for the sake of saving a little thickness and weight? If you have money to throw away. Early test show that it is somewhat speed-challenged. I'll stay with my MB Pro.
Tate, Buffalo, NY
There is nothing special about this laptop. Toshiba have a multitude of laptops weighing less e.g. 0.97kg with a DVD burner. My Sony is only 1.20kg with a DVD burner. Fujitsu, NEC, Panasonic etc etc all have had lighter laptops out for ages.
Jun, sydney, australia
Sorry to say but this laptop is NOT a business laptop but more of a consumer laptop catering to those who don't care for the specs but more of it's aesthetic values.
J, Loudon, US/Virginia