More MacBook Air Details and Notes

[MacRumors]

- MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro photos - side by side.
- The MacBook Air battery will be a $129 replacement, requiring Apple to replace it.
- Walt Mossberg (video) first impressions of MacBook Air
- More high quality photos: Appleinsider, ThinkSecret
- How long will a SSD drive last? - up to 51 years for a 64GB SSD and 12.9 years for 160GB SSD, longer than the average replacement cycle for storage.
- Multitouch video demo and control panel screenshots
- Guided Tour is available on Apple.com

Article Link

 

[Antares]

Nice comparison. That really shows the visual differences between the two. And I had no idea an SSD could last that long. That's longer than a regular hard drive would typically last.

 

[FoxyKaye]

Waiting for the take-apart photos and video. It's all fine to line it up next to a MBP, but let's take it apart! Someone with a set of torx: let's make this happen!

 

[Unspeaked]

- The MacBook Air battery will be a $129 replacement, requiring Apple to replace it.

The future of Apple portables...?

 

[slffl]

Looks great!

 

[tbobmccoy]

The future of Apple portables...?

I seriously doubt it. I think there would be an Apple riot on their hands if they try this tactic with the next MBP. I'll be seriously pissed, at least

edit: forgot to include the "future" i interpreted there was the $129 apple-only replaceable battery. whoops.

 

[Slip]

The visual comparison really does show off how stupidly thin it is. And the MBP's not thick either

 

[yoak]

But it´s rather large when put on top of a MBP.
I thought it would be smaller

 

[Unspeaked]

I seriously doubt it. I think there would be an Apple riot on their hands if they try this tactic with the next MBP. I'll be seriously pissed, at least.

Maybe not the next revision, but somewhere down the road, you figure Apple would make everything as thin as this if they could.

The question is, does Apple prefer the non user replaceable battery or are they forced to use it because they couldn't find a workaround?

I would guess the latter, but looking at the iPods, it seems like they could have easily developed a user replaceable battery for those by now (it's been a very similar form factor for years) but still prefer you to go to the Apple Store, mail it in, etc.

 

[Diversion]

But it´s rather large when put on top of a MBP.
I thought it would be smaller

It's the same dimensions as the MacBook sans being much thinner. Which is unfortunate, tired of the huge bezel around the screen/keyboard area.. they could have shaved more off.. or maybe not, depends on how large the motherboard is inside.

 

[Stampyhead]

Waiting for the take-apart photos and video. It's all fine to line it up next to a MBP, but let's take it apart! Someone with a set of torx: let's make this happen!

Go for it...

 

[officerdick]

Hope someone hacks the multi-touch software so i can get it on my MBP.
It should be possible hardware wise.

 

[porky]

The question is, do I have to wait for new MBP or not... I think the current models are too expensive for what you get ... But I don't want to wait another 6 months... If the videocard and the harddrive of the AIR was higher, i would have bought the AIR... But now I don't know

 

[Mac21ND]

Question

I can see arguments for and against the built in battery, but not being an Engineer, I'm curious if having a 'built-in' battery versus a user replaceable battery gives the consumer any real advantage (outside of designing a thinner device)?

 

[happydude]

man, i'm tempted. i've been waiting a long time for the next equivalent to the 12"PB . . . and while this thing looks awesome, it isn't what I was hoping for, at least not enough to drop $1800 getting one. sad day, i guess. at least i'll be getting an iphone in feb/march!!

i think what needs to be underscored in all the macbook air discussion is how this is a revolutionary step forward in the design of apple's laptops. i'm sure in the not too distant future, most, if not all will be similarly as thin. the R&D that went into this will surely be applied to future laptops, ipods, iphones, etc. makes me wonder what iphone 2 will look like . . .

 

[Mac21ND]

man, i'm tempted. i've been waiting a long time for the next equivalent to the 12"PB . . . and while this thing looks awesome, it isn't what I was hoping for, at least not enough to drop $1800 getting one. sad day, i guess. at least i'll be getting an iphone in feb/march!!

i think what needs to be underscored in all the macbook air discussion is how this is a revolutionary step forward in the design of apple's laptops. i'm sure in the not too distant future, most, if not all will be similarly as thin. the R&D that went into this will surely be applied to future laptops, ipods, iphones, etc. makes me wonder what iphone 2 will look like . . .

Agreed. I think we're already seeing how the R&D that went into the iPod and iPhone is really impacting Apple's laptops. With all the discussion, and complaints, about what the MacBook Air isn't - what it IS is still amazing.

 

[zelet]

Anybody know of Apple's history of updating the MBP? I need to replace my old-as-dirt 12" Powerbook and want to wait for the multi-touch track pad.

Is it possible they will release an update in the next 2 months? And is it even remotely possible they they will release a 13" MBP with a decent number of ports, dedicated graphics, and an optical drive? The MBA is awesome - but not what I need.

 

[ricosuave]

Air Server?

Steve showed us the inside of this thing. Without the HD and battery, it is essentially a video card sized complete computer.

I wonder what one could do putting in say 14 of these air cards in this enclosure...

Mmmm, yummm.

 

[Danksi]

Replacement Battery

I wonder if there's a market for an 'extender' battery pack for the MBA (or other Macbooks) - similar to those available for the iPod.

Not an external replacement, but something that you could connect to the Mag-safe (or maybe even the USB) for extended periods, where there's no power.

Would seem a better option than replacing your internal battery, as you wouldn't need to shutdown - you could just connect the extender-pack and keep working.

 

[MacRoom]

Confirmed - MacBook Air Processor is 45nm Merom

Just off the show floor where I finally got confirmation from an Apple employee the MacBook Air Processor is a 45nm Merom 2 years in the making. So much for early Penryn options. It's Mac Pro or nothing.

 

[abijnk]

I've never been around for an apple product release (yeah, I'm that much of a newb) so, when will we see these things in the Apple stores to play with? Would they be there now? I live a couple hours away from my closest store, so I need to know when to plan my visit.

 

[MrGouda]

Looking at the black keys on the MBA makes me think about the new iMac. I find this amusing because they decided not to have black keys on the iMac's keyboard, but instead used white keys. I remember someone from Apple saying their focus groups didn't like the look of black keys or something?

But they went ahead and used black keys on the MBA anyways. I don't see why they didn't use the black keys on the iMac's keyboard. They actually look great and would match the iMac perfectly.

 

[mcvaughan]

I'm such a sucker for new technology. I bit the bullet.

Looking forward to her arrival!

 

[izzle22]

I've never been around for an apple product release (yeah, I'm that much of a newb) so, when will we see these things in the Apple stores to play with? Would they be there now? I live a couple hours away from my closest store, so I need to know when to plan my visit.

They will be in the stores in 2 weeks when they are available to the public.

 

[/dev/toaster]

Mr Jobs, please remove your head from your arse. We need replaceable batteries.

Not having a replaceable battery on an iPod is acceptable
Not having a replaceable battery on an iPhone is very annoying
Not having a replaceable battery on a laptop is unacceptable and down right idiotic

I have had 7 replacement batteries in 2 laptops in 2 years. Obviously, they have some serious issues when it comes to having good batteries. Why does he think its ok to have a laptop that can't have its battery replaced by the user, and they charge $129 for a new one. This is going to kill most people who would purchase it for travel. I know many sales guys who carry extra batteries for everything from their phone, DVD player, laptop, etc. When I travel, I carry 2 batteries for my laptop.

Its going to kill sales.