News Steve Jobs’ Macworld 2008 Keynote - Live Updates Starting 5PM GMT

Forget the mba, the time capsule is ace. Perfect for time machine and sharing.

Pre-ordered mine already lol

 

I'm with Koola.

Time Capsule is much more appealing to my needs than a MBA.

 

If you need more than 2gigs of ram then your looking at the wrong machine. go buy a mbp and stop complaining.

 

I was strongly considering this... but... probably not anymore.

Good:
Thin, light, Wireless-N

Bad:
non user replaceable battery
only 1 USB port... most external drives want 2
intel built in video
2GB on the motherboard, not replaceable or upgradeable.
4200 RPM drive
1.6 (or 1.8) dual core

Undecided:
no ethernet port
no firewire.

Comments:
This is really targeted towards an ultra portable business user who does minimal graphics and works wirelessly without CD/DVD media or extra drives. Anyone else will probably be better served with the MacBook or MacBook Pro series. The final deal breakers for me are the non user replaceable battery and fixed 2GB. Running Parallels with two active OSes with essentially only 1GB each is really pushing it. Media people (movies, digital photos, etc.) won't have enough storage and don't have firewire drive options (something Apple has pushed a lot) and with the single USB port there won't be many external storage options (unless you are near a power source) that can be used.

I can understand the lower ghz CPU for power and heat issues but again that impacts media usage and leaves pretty much only the "generic" app user base.

But that's just my 2 cents.

 

toshibas portege 500 series atleast if you can source the cash

 

Eh, I already have an airport extreme with a USB drive in. I consider it a wholly insufficient solution, especially as the authentication is a bit whacked and it's inside the network only (unless you ssh into one of your machines with it mounted and then navigate to /Volumes/AirportDiskName. As they're effectively the same thing, maybe Apple will release APE firmware 5.2.2 allowing TM backups so to not totally screw me over for buying something that was almost brand new a couple months ago.

Still, I'll probably be getting an XServe. I do enough web development work that I can kind of justify it on that alone, but mostly because 10.5 server should win at life (and my current fileserver can't run it, being a windows box).

Well,

$500 - Apple Developer Membership, which gets me (among other things) about 20% off a purchase once a year, knocking the XServe down to $2400, and a quad Mac Pro to just over $1800. I'll sell the MBP which will probably get me most of that $1800 back, and then maybe get a standard entry-level Macbook for $989. Dunno, contemplating it later tonight as I should be able to offload some of the cost of the server to the family (and then own them with rendering speed for whatever with Xgrid)

 

Those type of people would, imo, have a laptop bought for them by their work or not be incredibly proficient with systems anyway. Either way, I think its more likely those people would go with a windows system. As others have pointed out, you can get a better Dell for less and get all the support etc that goes with it. If people were really worried about size, weight etc, then they'd probably want something thats less wide too. I can see it being useful in some scenarios - but most of those I can think of, you'd either want a CD drive probably (and not have to rely on a nearby Mac too) or something with a bit more grunt for presentations.

I dig what Apple have done and I bet it'll sell out of this world - but to me it's a massive design failure. It may be thin, but it threw away everything else I'd ever want in order to bring me something I'm not too bothered about.

And those people who just need something for a train etc will only carry it for a short time anyway - I doubt weight would be a major concern for a modern travelling businessman.

 

Im not sure what the fuss is about. It does look nice but its specs are quite poor compared to the laptops out right now.

Iv just picked up a Dell XPS for £730 and i think its awesome, even though iv hated Dell prior (and still do minus this laptop)

Apple is focusing more on fashion statements than features it seems. A super sexy laptop that does about half of what the compeition does, which do it for almost half the price....hmmm...i dont know but common sense is telling me, just go with value for money and i really wouldnt shell out on that laptop.

I do however want an Iphone. As much of a ripoff as it is, when it comes down in price and more realistic in its approuch, il certainly look to get one as it is "sexy" but im not paying through the nose for it which seems to be apples aim these days and cashing in on the "cool rich kids" that can afford to shell out on their items.

 

If you have the money get a Xserv! We got one in april last year and its a blast so far. Everything(except printers from windows) run perfect out of the box. Plus the whole sleek+small apple thing.

 

I dunno, I travel a lot and the only things that really put me off this notebook is the lack of Ethernet and inability to change the battery. It's got everything else I'd ever want - I see it as equivalent to my ThinkPad, but with a bigger screen, higher resolution, more performance and a smaller form factor (width doesn't bother me here, as laptop bags generally come in sizes that are way too big for my ThinkPad anyway). It weighs about the same and I see that as a good thing - the last time I lugged a 2.5-3.0kg laptop around a tradeshow, I had back ache for about a week afterwards.

OK, the battery isn't a massive issue, but I can fly across the world and use my laptop for about 15 hours of my flight time without a charge (using one 4-cell and one 8-cell) - WiFi has to be disabled obviously and the screen brightness is turned right down (you don't need it on high when you're on a plane anyway). In normal use, I get around 6 1/2 to 7 hours with WiFi on and a bit of screen brightness from the 8-cell and another 3 from the 4-cell (that's now dead - I'll be getting a replacement soon).

Ethernet is the big issue for me though - the press rooms at CES didn't have WiFi and that's also the case at many other events I go to. It'd suck if I got to an event and there was no WiFi, because the only way I could then connect is to piggyback off someone else's Ethernet if they want to play nice.

 

I think I'd honestly prefer an EEPC....is that bad?

The Air is a nice model but the things it's lacking just aren't good enough...no DVD drive? This laptop is nice but lacking far too much to be a player for me

 

I really like the new magsafe connection layout, it's really a big improvement since on the currenet models you can't really use it between your legs as it'll knock out the plug.

 

Yeah, a lot of people feel a bit screwed over but I'm sure Apple will release an updated firmware.

I'm curious to know if the time capsule 500GB models hd can be swapped out with a 1TB hdd. Will be doing so if possible.

 

It looks pretty nice that new MAC, certainly has me interested slightly. Lack of ethernet is my issue, as well as DVD, but isn't there a posibility that Apple are producing a USB - Ethernet Adapter? surely that would make sence, rather than cutting it all together.

15hours on one battery Tim? thats incredible, i was amazed when i got over 7 hours out of my 3 hour Asus battery, and i was running Vista

SAm

 

Two batteries (1x 4-cell, 1x 8-cell)

The 8 does about 10 1/2 hours and the 4 does about 4 1/2 to 5 with very aggressive power saving features turned on.

 

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nplm=MB442Z/A

USB to Ethernet... Hmmm.

 

Way too expensive. I was hoping for something about £700/800 max.
I don't get why they made it a wedge shape. That makes no sense, they don't look right.. I think it would look a lot nicer if they leveled that off from the thick end.. included an ethernet jack, an extra usb port and bumped it up to 2Ghz with additional breathing space...also losing that hideously thick edge around the screen would be a good idea.
The multi-touch track pad is nice, it's going to be a year till that gets added to the other laptops though. Also since the Intel guy was dragged out I thought they would be announcing this thing would be running the new 45nm chips. Shame it's missed out on that...
I can't see a reason to get one of these over a 15 inch MBP. If you got it you would be sitting happily using it on the train or something and some one with an equally priced MBP will sit next to you and just say "huh.. got one of those did ya" That's gonna smart a bit...
I was hoping that this device would finally be a mac I could get.. alas no... even with a 25% discount. I'm going to have to wait for the 45nm refreshes of MBP's or Macbooks, which maybe soonish.. but I won't be able to get one without the big trackpad! Which means I'll have to wait frickin longer.
I hate computers.

 

I think this is the kind of computer I want. I have a 12" Powerbook at the moment alongside my main PC, and it works great. In the 2 years I've had it, I can count on one hand the number of times I've used the DVD drive (seriously), so the lack of that doesn't bother me. Similarly with the firewire - I've never really used that either. I've never plugged in an ethernet cable - wireless all the way, baby. This thing has a brighter, bigger screen than my PB, and better battery life, too.

BUT I'm not a fan of the aesthetics of it particularly. Those curved edge that make it look like it floats are just wrong. Should make it easy to grab and pick up though. My head says it's a great computer, but my 'want' sense isn't tingling very hard over this one. Which is really the opposite of what most Apple products do for me.

 

Well, it seems its for the Air anyway, heh.

Sam

 

well it seems we've found the solution to tims problemveith the lack of Ethernet so which Macbook Air are you getting good sir?