Macworld 2008 Discussion Thread

One more thing....? Please? So far the highlight at macworld is Randy Newman. And that's just sad.
 
its too damn big too. look at how much wasted space there is around the screen. there ought to be about a cm at most.
 
It over :( no biggg updates for the iphone except sending multiple sms :rolleyes:...

Hopefully SDK will fix that though...
 
Damn, no updates to the ACD line? I was hoping for LED backlighting and a design refresh--I'm in the market for a new 23" screen...
 
The pictures I'm looking at have it really really really thin. Makes me wonder about how easy it is to break. Hopefully they have something very strong protecting the rear of the screen.

Wonder how easy it is to take apart. Anyone have super detailed pics yet?
 
looking at apples recent products, ide imagine its a pita to take apart

they went from screws and reusuable clasps to glue and and one time pop ins.
 
Qtip42 said:
The pictures I'm looking at have it really really really thin. Makes me wonder about how easy it is to break. Hopefully they have something very strong protecting the rear of the screen.

Wonder how easy it is to take apart. Anyone have super detailed pics yet?
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thinking about plating the thing before it's even shipping? :D
 
LOL I like this comment from Digg talking about the new notebook....

Oh, and one more thing....there will now be Apple branded Manilla Envelopes to carry your MacBook Air around in for just 89.99 ::wild applause::
 
TheCreator said:
LOL I like this comment from Digg talking about the new notebook....

Oh, and one more thing....there will now be Apple branded Manilla Envelopes to carry your MacBook Air around in for just 89.99 ::wild applause::
Click to expand...

They would be the best damn looking manilla envelopes this side of the atlantic!!!!!
 
So I just checked, 1,699USD (base model) if you are a student, any others verify with their student websites?
 
This'd be usable for me with a USB port and a FW400 port, but not with just one USB 2.0 port. I'd like to be able to get myself an Mbox Micro and use a very lightweight notebook for mobile Pro Tools, using a FW400 drive as an audio drive, but this isn't doable with a lone USB port. Everything else would be more than adequate -- even the lowest-speced MacBook is total overkill for Pro Tools (realistically speaking), but it's also fairly big.

Oh well, no big thing. Seems like they could've added another USB port without wasting any real space though.

I don't see Apple moving too many of these, frankly.
 
Martyr said:
looking at apples recent products, ide imagine its a pita to take apart

they went from screws and reusuable clasps to glue and and one time pop ins.
Click to expand...


Doesn't really bother me until they use one-time popin kinda stuff and sandwiched plastic between aluminum....It's that kind of stuff that forces you to break something to get inside it. Thus making it a pain to get it back together.
 
phide said:
I don't see Apple moving too many of these, frankly.
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LOL, most mobile users hardly ever have use for more than 1 USB port at a time.... and for the price, this kind of mobility and form factor is unmatched....

not everyone uses external hard drives and such with their laptops....
 
brucedeluxe169 said:
LOL, most mobile users hardly ever have use for more than 1 USB port at a time.... and for the price, this kind of mobility and form factor is unmatched....

not everyone uses external hard drives and such with their laptops....
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it isnt that small. same size as the macbook, just thinner. big waste of money.
 
phide said:
This'd be usable for me with a USB port and a FW400 port, but not with just one USB 2.0 port. I'd like to be able to get myself an Mbox Micro and use a very lightweight notebook for mobile Pro Tools, using a FW400 drive as an audio drive, but this isn't doable with a lone USB port. Everything else would be more than adequate -- even the lowest-speced MacBook is total overkill for Pro Tools (realistically speaking), but it's also fairly big.

Oh well, no big thing. Seems like they could've added another USB port without wasting any real space though.

I don't see Apple moving too many of these, frankly.
Click to expand...

Erm... I wouldn't go so far as to say the MacBook is "total overkill" for Pro Tools. For location work and/or personal little demo stuff sure, but throw a full 32-track song with plugins and you'll start to really wish you had a higher-end laptop (like my MacBook pro).

I do, however, completely agree that they should have included a firewire port. A USB port certainly makes more sense if they had room for only one port, but as a Mac I'd expect it to come with a firewire 400 port for sure.
 
brucedeluxe169 said:
not everyone uses external hard drives and such with their laptops....
Click to expand...
No, but that's not specifically the reason why I don't believe Apple's going to sell many of these (I never said that, did I?). It'll sell -- there's no question about that -- but I see this one riding a wave of hype and then dissipating pretty severely. There are some pretty significant shortcomings with this package overall.

Think about it this way: $1800 base. A tad more gets you into MacBook Pro territory, and the only advantages of the Air, at that point, is its diminutive size and its battery life. It'll perform worse than the $1100 MacBook with its slower processor and severely slow hard drive (though it does come with twice as much RAM as a baseline). It's an expensive machine, and it'll naturally attract creative professionals who may not be able to cope with that dinky little hard drive, and if you want the faster drive, you'd better be prepared to ante up for it (and surpass the highest-end MBP doing it) or sacrifice the USB port for a drive that'll likely hold you back anyway. Believe me, the port issue is going to be the deciding factor for some people. I'm a real-world user, I fit right in this demographic, and it's a deciding factor for me.

This is something I'm going to see people using at Starbucks to check their e-mail. It might attract some web developers, writers and programmers, but likely not artists who do any kind of work for print. I don't think it's going to attract musicians, audio folk or video editors. We're talking big sections of the Mac crowd here.

insanarchist said:
Erm... I wouldn't go so far as to say the MacBook is "total overkill" for Pro Tools. For location work and/or personal little demo stuff sure, but throw a full 32-track song with plugins and you'll start to really wish you had a higher-end laptop (like my MacBook pro).
Click to expand...
Haven't found that to be the case. I have to try pretty damn hard to load up my old Opteron-equipped PC to the point where Pro Tools starts bitching at me and getting sluggish. For most purposes, the little low-power Core 2s in the MacBook are more than adequate, and for my work, overkill (and I use some of the more intensive, no-bullshit plug-ins out there)

insanarchist said:
I do, however, completely agree that they should have included a firewire port. A USB port certainly makes more sense if they had room for only one port, but as a Mac I'd expect it to come with a firewire 400 port for sure.
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Yep. Like I said, I'd be sizing this thing up if it had a FW400 port. I'd guess that they could have done some little miniport-to-full adapter type deal, but they didn't. That makes the Air pretty much worthless for the kind of tasks I'd like to do with it, unfortunately.

It's very cool, as always, but I think too much emphasis was placed on form rather than on function. I see this one as a "show-off-at-Starbucks" machine and little else.
 
phide said:
...I have to try pretty damn hard to load up my old Opteron-equipped PC to the point where Pro Tools starts bitching at me and getting sluggish. For most purposes, the little low-power Core 2s in the MacBook are more than adequate, and for my work, overkill (and I use some of the more intensive, no-bullshit plug-ins out there)
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Fair enough. Out of curiosity (and entirely unrelated to the current topic) what sort of music do you do? Are you recording other bands/people?


phide said:
It's very cool, as always, but I think too much emphasis was placed on form rather than on function. I see this one as a "show-off-at-Starbucks" machine and little else.
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Yep. Don't forget on airplanes/in airports too!
 
insanarchist said:
Out of curiosity (and entirely unrelated to the current topic) what sort of music do you do?
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Sound design, which involves a fair amount of field recording, and some mixing for post, mostly TV. Not big sessions usually, so limited LE voicing restrictions haven't been a problem for my at-home work so far, but typically plug-in-heavy. I rarely even stretch HD systems to anywhere near their capacity.

I probably place too much emphasis on physical size given what I want to do with it, but I don't want a big, meaty notebook. The MBP is a tad too expensive for me, while the MB has its own shortcomings (mainly the construction and the graphics). Just like with the desktop line, I want a good middle-ground product between the low end and the high end, and the Air doesn't hit it. That's not to say I won't drive down to the Apple store to play with 'em when they arrive, of course ;)
 
we'll see who is right in a few months, but I definitely predict this thing will be a hit for apple.... sure it is expensive, but this thing is going to get amazingly great press coverage... and at 3 pounds, its only *slightly* heavier than the EEE PC.... and anyone who has ever held one of those things will tell you... those things are incredibly light. so at 3 pounds, the 13 inch screen is a plus... really one of the biggest reasons many ppl go for 12 and lower is weight, if you can get the low weight and still have a 13 inch screen, well thats a win right there...

also, you guys are counting out the entire market for high end, low weight, stylish laptops. Those laptops that you see Sony, Fujitsu, etc selling.... the laptops that cost 2k, 2.5k+... this laptop basically leapfrogs all those designs and really steals all their thunder.


edit: I'm not ashamed to admit, my enthusiasm has tempered a bit..... no user replaceable battery.... I missed that one.... and... well with a laptop thats just a damn important feature... especially with one that is marketed on being portable.... no backup batteries, and heavy battery usage will really hurt the operational lifetime of that thing.....
 
I thought they where going to come out with 8800 chips in the macbook pro :mad:
 
I had posted this in two other threads, but it's a valid point...

"This is not truly an "Air" device. If it did, there would least be support for 3G Internal for AT&T or a slot for any other provider.




And don't even both telling me you can get a USB device, cause that's just worthless if you pay $1800 for a laptop."
 
I'm at odds. On one hand it needs to be plated while on the other, I'd have to get the highest end version they have to make it worth while. Nobody wants a pata
 
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