Close But Not Quite: MacBook Air Misses the Mark for a Mainstream Audience
I’ve purposely waited a few days before writing this post, mainly to let my impressions about the MacBook Air (MBA) stabilize. They finally have, and if you want the short version, here it is: I’m not terribly impressed. It’s a reasonable machine for certain users, but I think my definition of certain users and Apple’s are two different things.
And maybe therein lies the rub: the success — or lack thereof — of the MBA will be how many align with my line of thinking, versus that of those who think the MBA is a runaway hit.
When the MBA was unveiled during the keynote, I was thrilled: I’ve been looking to replace my MBP with a newer machine, preferably one that’s smaller and yet still has pro-class power. At first glance, the MBA looked like it had a fighting chance to be such a machine. Those hopes fell away rather quickly. Now, as I write this, I can soberly say that I have no desire for an MBA given my requirements.
Cutting to the chase, here’s how I see the MBA: it’s clearly and unavoidably a second machine. To think it can be used as a primary machine is to admit that your computing needs are incredibly light or that you really haven’t thought through the MBA’s downsides. Anyone with even a mildly wide array of computing requirements trying to simplify and consolidate to the MBA as a single machine will likely be disappointed.
Like everything else in technology, the MBA represents a tradeoff in terms of benefits and cost. To me — and I’m guessing to the larger market — the costs associated with the benefits will be an upside-down proposition.
THE UPSIDES
The form factor, obviously. The MBA achieves what I’m sure was its primary goal with aplomb: the machine is thin and light to an otherworldly degree. When people talk about ultraportable or subnotebook machines in terms of minimalist heft and thickness, the MBA is the new high-water mark.
Aesthetics. The MBA is gorgeous, quite literally the most attractive and modern-looking laptop I’ve ever seen. And from all the Macworld show floor reports I’ve read, it’s doubly stunning in person. If you want a machine that will turn heads in Starbucks, your ship has arrived.
Remote optical disc technology. Seeing how the MBA doesn’t come with an internal optical drive, the fact that the MBA can access another Mac or PC’s on-board optical drive is outstanding. Again, however, this clearly suggests that the MBA is a second computer for a given user/family, and that there’s another, presumably more fully-featured, machine in the household. Nonetheless, a very smart and convenient technology.
THE DOWNSIDES
An insufficient array of standard ports. No ethernet, no Firewire, and only one USB on a modern machine? In my book, that’s badly crippled. I know you can by adapters/dongles to address these shortcomings, but (1) they represent extra cost, and (2) they’re inconvenient. I’d much rather have more functionality built into the machine at the expense of a few points of aesthetic/size. I/O functions are a huge part of daily computing, and to require the user to affix accessories to the machine to do them is shortsighted. What seems no big deal at first will become annoying over time.
Sealed battery, which means it can’t be replaced by the user. This is the biggest show-stopper for me, and likely the heaviest impetus to the comments I’ve seen around the web that decry the MBA as “not a real computer.” If you’re on a plane or vacation and your battery decides to go tits up, so does your machine until you send it in to Apple for replacement — which means you also send away your entire computer and personal data that’s stored on your hard drive/SSD array. This isn’t a phone or iPod; this is a computer. Having a non-user-replaceable battery again hints at Apple’s bias towards this machine as a second machine in a household or straight-away hobby machine.
Stupid nickle-and-diming by Apple. This isn’t so much a fault of the MBA, but it does relate and contribute to the MBA’s purchase and ownership experience. Want a Frontrow remote controller, even though the software is included in Leopard? That’ll be $20, please. Want an ethernet adapter? Cha-ching. How about a different video adapter? Upcharge. Would it have killed Apple to include these in the box, seeing how the machine has very obvious holes in functionality/convenience as it relates to the average user? No, it wouldn’t have.
The best way for me to explain my feelings about the MBA is this: it’s upsides are tactical, while it’s downsides are strategic. Over time and using the MBA daily, the downsides will permeate through the user’s experience far more than will the upsides.
Again, I go back to the notion that this is a satellite machine, period. And while that’s fine and well for some people, not everyone has $1800 (or over $3000 if you want the SSD storage) lying around for a convenience machine. Apple made the MBA’s target market smaller via conscious design choice, which isn’t a necessary concession just because you’re talking about an ultraportable. I think the assumption that an ultraportable computer would naturally be a second machine is a bad one.
If I were buying an ultraportable machine today on pure features vs. price alone, it’d be impossible to pass up the Dell XPS M1330, which is a very nice machine. LED backlit LCD, available 200 GB 7200 RPM HD or SSD option, cellular networking, 3 GB RAM for no extra cost, dedicated GPU, battery-powered WiFi catcher — it’s about the most loaded ultraportable on the market, and it surrenders about a pound to the MBA. Yes, it runs Vista and not OSX, so I’m not exactly talking apples to apples (the pun sucks, I know), but nonetheless it’s the best that the market offers in this computing category. I’ve seen and used one, and it’s a nice machine.
I’ve read several times elsewhere on the web that the MBA is the new G4 Cube, which is Apple’s most recent big-time flop. I don’t think the MBA is that far off the mark, but make no mistake: this is not a volume sales product. It will fit within a niche, and my hope is that it’s simply a first-generation model that hints of much better things to come, both unto its own product line as well as the standard MacBooks and MacBook Pros.
1) It has the perfect number of ports for a wireless oriented (that’s what the “Air” stands for) 2nd or traveling computer. No way would I want it as my primary, but as a 2nd it is fine.
2) New reports show that the battery can be replaced in about 5 minutes with one screwdriver. There are bound to be kits to do this soon. Your info is obsolete.
3) For a MBA I don’t need a Frontrow remote controller, even though the software is included in Leopard. The software to run an Apache web server is included, too, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to run one. An ethernet adapter is unneeded. It’s wireless focused. I don’t need different video adapters.
Damn! You sound like all the people who complained that the original iMac was no good because it didn’t include a floppy disk drive.
You’re really clueless.
There is only one factor preventing the MacBook Air from being a primary or sole machine: HD size. So many users have much too big music/photo libraries to fit into an 80GB internal drive.
In every single other attribute, this machine would be a perfect primary machine for me and many other very “serious” users.
I don’t need an optical drive. I use mine once a quarter. I don’t need an ethernet port. It’s a wireless machine. I plug my current MacBook into ethernet about once a year..
The MacBook Air is too pricey for me. But then again so is a BMW M3 or Audi TT. When SSD memory prices drop I expect I will replace my current MacBook with a MacBook Air with 80GB of SSD. Yeah, super fast boot, near instant application launches … yeah!!!
Khurt: And you’re OK with having to send your entire computer away to replace a simple battery?
I could write a lot in response, but I think this covers it: the MacBook Air is not for “mainstream audiences.”
” If you’re on a plane or vacation and your battery decides to go tits up, so does your machine until you send it in to Apple for replacement.”
This is pure FUD! Battery failure is typically a slow process. How likely is it that the battery will fail spectacularly such that it can no longer be recharged when you land? The worst that might happen is that the battery runs out if juice after 4 or 5 hours of use. What other laptop would even give you that much running time?
Brett: Go check the ThinkPad x60 line for battery times between 7 and 9 hours. 5 hours is excellent, but there are others out there that offer the same performance.
With respect to immediate failure, yes, “typically” batteries fade over time. What happens if your battery is defective? What happens if your battery isn’t “typical”? Then you have to go into an Apple store and have them send it away for repair. You can’t even buy a new one and replace it yourself.
I hate that decision. I’d be furious if I took the MBA on a two week vacation only to run into that sort of problem — one that’s easily addressed on any other ultraportable.
Apple’s love of non-user-replaceable batteries is bullshit. I’ve hated it from day one, and will always hate it.
“Then you have to go into an Apple store and have them send it away for repair.”
No, the battery can be replaced in-situ. For the vast majority of users, who don’t lug spare batteries around with them, this time of one-in-a-hundred-thousand “xTreme battery failure” would be exactly the same level of problem as on any other notebook. You’d need to get a new battery, and could run it off mains in the meantime.
The only difference is having to go to an Apple store to get the battery installed. Since this is, as I said, a one-in-many-many-thousands occurrence, this whole point is anyway frankly of miniscule significance.
Benji: for YOU it is. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve swapped out a dead battery for a second one so I can continue working.
For the record, the battery cannot be replaced in the store. It costs $129 (as would a battery for any other laptop), but Apple makes no promises that your data will be preserved. The “repair” also typically takes five days to perform.
Apple’s MacBook Air Service Policy
And your batteries have randomly, instantaneously self-destructed? And you’ve got with two batteries previously significantly more real-world usage time than one Air battery? I strongly doubt it.
Regardless of whether or not that is the case, my point was, quite clearly, that just because you and about six other humans happen to carry spare batteries with you doesn’t give you any justified argument about the Air’s suitability for mainstream audiences. This article is specious in presenting it as such.
“For the record, the battery cannot be replaced in the store… The “repair” also typically takes five days to perform.”
For the record, according to reports, yes it can. Your link makes no mention of the subject.
MacBook Air Misses the Mark for a Mainstream Audience because … it wasn’t aimed at a mainstream audience.
Mac Pro Misses the Mark for a Mainstream Audience because … it wasn’t aimed at a mainstream audience.
Beyond the basic 3, iMac, MacBook, and MacBook Pro, Apple is targeting specific niche markets with the Mac mini, Mac Pro, and now MacBook Air. Looking at comparisons of the MacBook Air against other really lightweight notebooks, it stacks up really well. Compared to my usage pattern of my Thinkpad X60, I think they’ve nailed it, as they’re left out the things I’d need about 2% of the time, while giving me a larger 13″ screen, keyboard, and lighter weight which I’d want all the time, and a thinner package that better utilizes space in my briefcase/backpack. The only adapter I’d carry is for VGA projectors.
And to add to the Benji/Jeff back-and-forth, I’ve never swapped batteries on my ThinkPad though I’ve been on itineraries of up to 8 hours. (I have a 2nd battery for the cradle – it replaces the DVD in the cradle. The cradle doubles the weight of the package, so it stays in a drawer.)The X60 battery started life with about 5+ hrs (with no wifi use, lowered brightness), and is now, 2.5 yrs later, down to about 2 hrs, though the drop from 3.5 to 2 has happened quickly over the last 3 months. I’ll be getting a new battery swapped in as soon as IT shows up with it.
Benji: you’re being confrontational for the sake of being such. Okay.
As a matter of fact, yes, two MBP batteries equal more unplug time than 1 MBA battery. Last time I checked, 7>5.
Every single laptop save the MBA has a user-replaceable battery. I know Apple users like to think they’re *that* much better than everyone else (which bugs me to no end as an Apple user myself), but when people start arguing FOR a sealed battery that takes five days to replace…well, you’ve got a wee bit of a cognitive dissonance problem. In fact, you’re the only person I’ve read defending that choice.
So be it. When your MBA battery dies, have fun sending your machine away for five days with no promise of data preservation. Next time mine dies, I simply slap in my spare or go to an Apple store (or online reseller) and get a new one and put it in myself.
And finally Benji, let’s just say that the “repair” CAN be performed in the store, although you can’t seem to be bothered with providing a link. It will still typically take five days to finish, which leaves you sans machine for that period of time.
If that’s acceptable to you, then congratulations, you’re not a mainstream user. Celebrate! Without your computer!
Jeff, I totally agree that the MacBook Air is, almost by design, a secondary machine.
I mean, how else can you call a smaller hard drive an upgrade?
(Jumped the gun on Submit)
People should think of it more as a souped up Palm pilot or iPhone with DVI, rather than as a scaled-down Mac Pro.
I must agree with Jeff 100%. You will need an optical drive at some point..$99. A thumb drive 4 port USB hub cost $20, which ain’t much at all and is obviously tiny. The car/airplane power adapter is $49, also not much, but now you’re up to $169 plus tax. The HD is supposedly an iPod drive 1.8 in drive, which I worry about it’s durability. Also, if you ever need to reload the OS, you need a bootable external USB drive, so I hope that the MBA Superdrive is bootable, because I haven’t found an external USB DVD bootable with a Mac yet. The only other option would be to partition the internal HD, and use something like ‘Restore’ in Disk Utility to create an installation partition from an install DVD, if the MBA Superdrive is not bootable.
“Benji: you’re being confrontational for the sake of being such. Okay.”
I am genuinely pissed off with people presenting subjective opinions as the basis for this shoddy imitation of analysis. Even bloggers should aspire to better ideals than that.
Look, you don’t like the MacBook Air. Fine, I get it. You want to swap out batteries on road trips. You want optical drives and firewire. Great. OK. Cool. This machine is not for you and you know what, strangely, I have no beef with your personal preferences. I’m sure they make sense to your way of working. I have a great deal of beef, a whole bull-load, with the number of people who for some reason cannot conceive that, just maybe, OTHER PEOPLE MIGHT HAVE OTHER PREFERENCES THAN YOU!! That maybe, there’s a whole load of people who would be really well served by a simple, appliance-like, wonderful computer so gorgeous they’ll love merely stroking its smooth, lustrous exterior. People who are not just poorly served, but *not served at all* by the current computer market. People at whom this computer is, you know, aimed…
I suggest you go re-read Wil Shipley’s article about this subject. And then re-read it again. And then think about that for a while. Until you realise that actually releasing a computer not *specifically designed for you* isn’t a direct personal insult, and the reaction “You released a computer that isn’t right for me and my *exact way of life* OMGz this will never sell you SUCK!” is in fact neither appropriate on a personal level, nor something that can honestly be presented as generally applicable analysis. Then go away and think about what you’ve done.
I still have no idea why Apple can’t just give us a 2008 12-inch Powerbook. Surely with the move to smaller and cooler Intel packages that footprint could be retained with all the features intact while making it maybe slightly thinner?
What puzzles me is, I hear a lot of people moaning about how their notebooks are too big and heavy. But I have never heard anyone complain that their notebook is too thick. If anything, I know 2 people who had Sony and Fujitsu subnotebooks who gave up on those machines because they were TOO THIN and consequently uncomfortable to type on when on a desktop.
I mean, all they had to do was shoehorn a Mac Mini 2.0Ghz into the 12-inch PB casing. Would have saved a lot of trouble and unnecessary criticism, I dare say.
Well, exactly. They could have done that, it would have been a different product, and they still might do it.
I think the PowerBook 12″ had one of the best form factos ever. I was not an ultraportable at all, it was just compact (and inculed discrete graphics, as far as I remember). For me the biggest question is why isn’t the Air offered with a 160 GB HD, it’s supposed to use the same drives as the iPod right?
I like the form factor but just see it as an expensive machine for my needs. however Apple needs it for Asian markets.
Benji: go get yourself an MBA, then. And then, once you have it, maybe you can take some time to understand a few things:
1. This is my blog and yes, in fact, I can give my opinion unfettered.
2. Walt Mossberg’s review at the WSJ pretty much says exactly what I say — that the MBA is good for some users but lacks options that make it fully appealing to the traditional market. That’s Apple’s choice, but there are disappointed people out there.
3. I’m a tremendous fan of Apple’s technology, but I’m not one who thinks everything that comes out of Cupertino is perfect.
My criticisms of the MBA are being echoed in many, many early reviews of the unit.
You’re in the vast minority, which you’re entitled to be. However, that fact doesn’t change the validity of my MBA impressions nor the reality that most reviewers are finding the product flawed along the same axes I am.
Also, Jeff and Will Shipley are saying much of the same.