Apple released this week their latest innovation – the MacBook Air.
A steller new laptop at only 3 lbs and fits in an envelop (according to the commercial). We’ve seen small thin laptops before from Sony, Sharp etc. but the innovation here is the attention to wireless connectivity for everything you do. Connecting to computers, drives, internet etc. Everything is wireless. Many will come out and say it’s full of flaws here and there, but there certainly is a market, from the gadget gear heads to the apple enthusiasts.
With the intention of being light, the focus may not be for travelers. The greatest feature is the full keyboard, but unlike most travel laptops, the Air also has a full screen, which great for the hanging at Irving, won’t help you on the cramped airline seats.
One of the most unique features in the sense that it’s missing is there’s no optical drive. No way to add music, programs via CD or watch movies. However there is a add on MacBook Air SuperDrive for $100 more which connects wirelessly. Again though, for those on flights the batter limitation maybe a problem.
Which to me it the worst mistake Apple continues to make. No replaceable battery. There needs to be an option to carry a spare or remove your information cleanly if you need to take it into the genius center for replacement.
Want to use Ethernet when there’s no wireless? There’s a USB to Cat5 converter
Want to use the laptop on a long flight? get a MagSafe Airline Adapter.
Want to print? buy a wireless print server, or printer to connect to.
Want to back up your data before shipping the unit back to replace the battery? You probably already own Time Capsule.
It’s very sweet but very proprietary and expensive ($1800/$3100). Obviously there’s a smaller market for this laptop than the casual computer user or the multi-device hound.
Apple has consistently shaken up the market place with not just their attention to tech innovation but to the consumer drive to own something both functional and stylish. They did it with the iPod, even though it’s not the best or most stable MP3 device. They are doing it with the iPhone even though it’s not the best or first touch mobile device and they’ll do it with this computer all because it comes down to ease of use, function and style.
Wake up, everything is going wireless and computer software is moving to the “cloud” – meaning, there will be no more drives, no more CDs, no more DVDs,… it will all eventually be on the net. IBM, Google are doing it and now Apple is contributing to that vision by creating hardware inline with that vision.
Google Gets Ready to Rumble With Microsoft [NY Times]
As Tom Cruise would say “Man you’re either in or your out, we have no time for spectators”
