back to article Apple rolls out two new MacBook Air models

"What would happen if a MacBook and an iPad hooked up?", Steve Jobs asked his "Back to the Mac" audience today, and answered his own question with the release of two new versions of the MacBook Air, available today starting at $999. The new duo includes a 13.3-inch, 2.9-pound version, the same display size as the MacBook Air …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Big Fucking Whoop

    Next!!!

    1. maclovinz
      Thumb Up

      Huh.

      Yet, you spend the time to (I hope) read the story...AND comment on it!

      Thumbs up...for being THAT guy.

  2. Bob 18

    Netbook

    A yes, the new smaller MacBook Air is Apple's long-awaited netbook. According to the iPad intro talk, such a devices is good for nothing.

    This was expected...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      How do you figure it's a netbook?

      Almost every computer manufacturer makes a distinction between netbooks and ultraportable laptops.

      Due to licensing restrictions from Intel and Microsoft, "netbooks" almost invariably have Atom CPUs, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drives, 10" low res screens, etc.

      The small MacBook air is clearly an ultraportable laptop and I think you will be hard pressed to find anybody calling it a netbook outside of a few uninformed haters.

  3. Smudge@mcr

    Lagacy already...

    Just had a look on the Apple site and supprised they have included USB 2.0 sockets on the new Air.

    Thought they might have put USB 3 on their 'new' 'magical' product.

    1. Bear Features
      Megaphone

      surprised?

      Why are you surprised? It takes them forever to use what the rest of the world has. Then when they have it, fanbois think they're the first, bless.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @ Surprised

        Just remind us who was the first company to make USB the only means of connecting periferals to their computers.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Not surprising

      Being as there is no chipset level support for USB3 for Intel CPUs yet. Apple would of had to include a third party USB controller which I'm guessing they'd be loathe to do.

  4. Symbarowski
    WTF?

    Now Fanbois can have netbooks too!

    "We're not tremendously worried. As we look at the netbook category, that's a nascent category. As best as we can tell, there's not a lot of them being sold."

    Um looks like a netbook to me steve.

    1. Volker Hett

      Let's see

      compared to my Asus EeePC 901:

      Single core Atom vs, C2D

      Intel GMA 950 vs. Nvidia 320

      1GB RAM vs 2 GB RAM

      optional 2GB RAM vs. optional 4GB RAM

      Slow 4GB and even slower 16GB SSD vs 64GB SSD

      1024x600 vs 1336x768

      300 Euros vs 1000 Euros

      But they have 5h battery life in common.

      I'd call that a subnotebook.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Down

        What, compared to your two / three year old netbook?

        Times move on. My girlfriend's HP cost £280 vs £850 for the macbook.

        It has:

        1.3 GHZ C2D vs 1.4GHz C2D

        250GB 7200rpm HD vs 64GB of solid state storage (of unknown performance)

        Intel 4500 vs Nvidia (both do basic gaming, bluray accelerated playback)

        3GB vs 2GB

        optional 5GB vs optional 4GB

        1366x768 vs 1366x768

        £280 vs £850

        Both have 5hr battery lives

        I've spent £90 on a Sandforce 60GB SSD that will wipe the floor of whatever is in the air, so £370 vs £850.

        The worst thing about this announcement is memories of Saint Steve slagging off the Vaio TZ two years ago ... only to release a laptop two years later based on the exact same parts and screen size (but with a lower battery life, well done). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIV6peKMj9M#t=87

        1. Wibble

          HP = minger

          You forgot to add:

          Minging looks vs gorgeous modern design

          Plastic vs metal

          3cm thick vs 1.7 cm (appearing much thinner towards the front).

          Windows vs OSX

          Some people WANT to have nice things; others go for price.

          1. Chris Thomas Alpha
            Thumb Up

            @wibble: you forgot to add

            that in 6 months that 5 hour battery life on the HP will be about 45 minutes tops, just like the HP laptop and the dell laptop and every other PC based laptop.

            the battery in the apple on the other hand and 2 years from now will have 5 hours. Just like the staying power my macbook does (although my macbook has 3 hours, not 5)

            thats the difference between cheap battery design and expensive battery design

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Jobs Horns

              Pfft

              Tell that to my 18 month old 17 inch macbook, which is showing battery health of 45% and a run time of around 1.5 hours.

              Obviously, I know this is only an anecdote, but my last macbook was subject to a battery recall, so I'm a little sceptical of your statement about expensive battery design.

            2. jason 7
              Stop

              Not really.

              Been pushing my 13" Dell 13Z with 8 cell 8 hour battery hard for the past 12 months and still getting around 7 hours.

              You doth protest too much.

            3. maclovinz
              Thumb Up

              Cheap....

              And, it's also the difference between cheap people and ones that will gladly fork over the extra dosh for quality.

          2. John Hughes
            FAIL

            1.7cm thick?

            Yes, the macbook air is grotesquely thick and heavy.

            Have you ever seen a Sony Vaio X series? No feeble "tapering towards the front" to fool you about how "thin" it is.

  5. Ammaross Danan

    Just wait

    Just wait until the MLC flash has a chip-level error or the like. Sucks that you won't be able to replace the "drive" (or upgrade the capacity for that matter). These look like fairly nice machines for the semi-premium however. If I ever need a laptop-that-feels-like-a-clipboard, might be a consideration. Perhaps.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Any chip can fail

      Hard drives are built to handle some bad sectors and SSD controllers can handle flash cell failures. It will suck if anything breaks in one of these new MacBook AIrs breaks since they are so integrated but that's the price you pay for something with these dimensions and specifications.

    2. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD

      Planned obsolescence

      Heh, there's the battery too.

      They want you to buy a new machine in 2 years, perhaps

      But... frankly.... don't we all kind of long to change our machines every 2 or so years anyhow?

      1. jubtastic1

        ~$120 for a new battery.

        Or less if you can wield a screwdriver and are happy with aftermarket replacements.

      2. flameresistant

        You need to read about Apple's battery technology

        The batteries in Apple's latest notebooks are good for 1,000 full cycles unlike the ~300 of their predecessors and those found in most Windows machines. This is because of the sophisticated charging circuitry and the specially developed battery chemistry. After nearly a year of daily use, my cycle count is ~190 cycles. So if it was an old style battery, you would be right. I would need a new one next year but, the way its going, I reckon I'll get four years out of it easily.

        In any case, you don't need to buy a new machine if the battery fails, you can get it replaced by Apple or as someone else said do it yourself. I know people who have had their older style battery replaced under AppleCare within 3 years of owning one because it didn't achieve the predicted 300 or so cycles.

        I don't think Apple are worse than other manufacturers with regard to obsolescence. If anything they are better. My previous Mac lasted me over five years and several major OS upgrades. The Windows box I had five years ago wouldn't have a prayer of running Windows 7 effectively and was creaking at the seams with XP.

        1. Chris Thomas Alpha

          mine gets....

          about 2.5 to 3 hours of use out of it, it's 437 cycles in it's recharge history, has stated capacity of about 80% and it's 1.5 years old.

          yeah macbooks are more expensive, but you are paying for something that cheap HP can't give you. Thats why I became a "fan" but not "fanboi"

    3. jubtastic1

      Actually

      It's clear from the video that the Flash is on a plug in daughter-card, hence different capacities offered.

    4. Volker Hett

      No.

      In one picture one could clearly see the board they use for their SSD, it has a connector like the one I have in my EeePC 901.

  6. Ian Ferguson
    Coffee/keyboard

    Lovely, but...

    1. No 3G? I barely use my laptop for anything but net browsing, and most of that through 3G. Why no built in 3G modem?

    2. $999 for a netbook? Hahahahahaha*plonk*

    1. Scott Mckenzie

      Hahahahaha indeed.

      I mean, all those netbooks with OS X, Core 2 Duo processors, nVidia 320M graphics etc... i agree, we're so spoilt for choice it's untrue.

      As for built in 3G modem... it's called tethering, Apple want people to have iPhones tethered, tariffs are usually the same as a dedicated 3G card too so makes a lot of sense if you ask me. I junked my Vodafone datacard when i could tether using my iPhone - i always have the phone with me (unlike the datacard) and the tariff is £12 a month cheaper.....

      1. O
        WTF?

        re: ahahahha indeed

        C2D processors in these things are within weeks of being 2 generations out of date, 320M graphics are nothing to write home about, HDDs & batteries can't be removed without costly and lengthy RTMs .... oh, and there's still no fecking ethernet port.

        My sister has one of these. They're total and utter crap.

        1. Volker Hett

          320M ist better then Intels offerings

          at least it can play 1080p Videl :)

        2. Scott Mckenzie

          Quite

          But a C2D may be nearly 2 generations out, but it's still significantly faster and far better at multi tasking than any Atom processor currently out there... I even forgot to mention the SSD hard drive, another hugely prevalent feature in every Netbook i've owned.

          As for HDD and battery, you've clearly not used one - my Macbook lasts well over 6 hours still... it's nearly 12 months old and still lasts as well as did when brand new, no other machine i've owned as done that well.

          Ethernet... wow, clutching a little now? I don't plug an ethernet cable in with the Macbook either, unless you're constantly moving massive files around a network - which would need to be Gigabit anyway - then Wireless-N 5GHz is way more than ample. Most people browse the web, download music, play films etc... for which a Wireless connection is way more than adequate. If you're in an environment when full speed of file movement across a LAN is necessary, maybe buy a different machine?

          Being a fanbois that I am though, i'm clearly blinkered in my views. Though i won't be buying an Air. There is no space for it in my requirements... they're already filled by the iMac, Mac Mini, Macbook Pro, iPhone 4 (x2) and iPad that myself and girlfriend own between us. (I forgot to mention the Dell Mini 9 as that isn't used anymore since getting the iPad, not even when Hackintoshed and upgraded with a 32Gb SSD was it redeemed)

      2. John Hughes
        Unhappy

        Apple want...

        "As for built in 3G modem... it's called tethering, Apple want people to have iPhones tethered,"

        And we always do what Apple want, don't we.

    2. Dan 92

      just get the sony X series

      Thinner, lighter, longer batter life, larger drive and has 3G built in. Only downside is that it's slower and costs more.

    3. Philippe
      Happy

      Re: Lovely but

      Ian,

      Please point me in the direction of those other "netbook" with 64 SSD, Core 2 Duo (no atom), 1,336-by-768 pixels and Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics processor costing less than $999.

      er..

      nothing?

      thought so.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Nope

    Ian - it's not an Asus Eee PC.

    I'm assuming you Hahahahahaha*plonk* at people in BMWs and Mercedes for spending so much on a car?

    1. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
      Thumb Down

      I do...

      Why on earth would anyone buy a beemer or merc is quite beyond me...

      If I had THAT much money to waste, I'd waste it on something better.

    2. Neill Mitchell
      Alert

      Bingo!

      The inevitable meaningless car analogy on the first page!

      Well done. It wouldn't be an Apple discussion without one.

  8. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    @Lovely, but.

    > No 3G?

    Then you need a cell phone provider and a contract.

    Apple don't want to confuse potential iPhone / iPad buyers (ie they make more profit off you buying an iPhone/iPad)

    1. Neill Mitchell

      Except that...

      In the UK at least, tethering is banned by all the major providers.

      1. Jonathan White

        what title?

        Well done for putting up the most wrong post on ElReg today.

  9. Magnus Ramage

    UK pricing

    At http://www.apple.com/uk/macbookair/compare.html. £849 for the bottom-end model (I use the phrase comparatively - hardly bottom-end by other standards) with 64GB flash drive + 11.6 inch screen, going up to £1349 for the 13in screen with 256GB flash drive. Hardly netbook prices. Looks pretty nice, but a totally different market.

  10. Richard Scratcher
    Jobs Halo

    Six shooters?

    1) "Big Fucking Whoop"

    2) "Netbook"

    3) "Lagacy [sic] already"

    4) "Now Fanbois can have netbooks too!"

    5) "Just wait"

    6) "Lovely, but..."

    Yeah! What are Apple thinking? These new Macs will never sell! I mean who'd be mad enough to buy one?

    Dear Santa....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      who'd be mad enough to buy one?

      the iDiots

  11. John A Blackley

    Laughing

    all the way to the bank. Sneer all you like but the company makes a lot of money.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Big silence

    When Jobs revealed the prices, the audience was utterly silent. He had told them that it ewas aggressively priced, then POW! $999 for starters. SILENCE until a drone started the clapping. I'll stick with my 3 year old Macbook Steve. Thanks but no thanks.

  13. Piloti
    Jobs Horns

    $999....

    .... for a netbook?

    Get an EEE machine, drop on kubuntu [KDE is fabulous right now....] and pocket the $600 difference on anything at all!!!

    P.

  14. xj25vm

    Netbook

    In all fairness, the screen size and lack of optical drive might make it similar to a netbook - but the CPU clearly doesn't. Any portable machine with a Core 2 Duo processor can't be a true netbook by any stretch of imagination.

    On the other hand:

    1. What's with the battery size and life - specially on the 11" machine? Samsung have had on the market for a while now netbooks stretching to a (theoretical) 13.5 hours battery life. Couldn't Apple muster something a bit further North? Maybe closer to 10 hours?

    2. What's with these Core 2 Duo processors in a brand new design? And not only at Apple. I am under the impression that the new ultra low power processors from Intel are i3 ULV and i5 ULV (all ending in 'UM'). Why am I not seeing any laptops with these in? They were launched in May. Any particular reason for this delay?

    See here for press release details: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/24/intel-officially-outs-core-i3-i5-and-i7-ulv-processors-for-thos/

    1. aThingOrTwo

      Intel licensing

      You can't use the Nvidia graphics with the intel i3 because of licensing restrictions.

      And the intel graphics are slower than the 9400M in the old MacBook Air, let alone the 320M. I'm also pretty sure (but not 100%) that intel's graphics don't support Open CL. Which is a problem for Apple.

      So Apple has two choices:

      [1] 10% drop in CPU for 2-3x graphics performance

      [2] 2-3x drop in graphics performance for a 10% CPU boost

      Technically they had a third choice which was to change the form factor of the Air to fit a discrete GPU. On balance it is probably still the right choice.

      See:

      http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/04/why-the-13-macbook-pro-didnt-get-a-core-i5-upgrade.ars

    2. flameresistant

      Battery Life

      "What's with the battery size and life - specially on the 11" machine?"

      Jobs referred to new. more realistic measurements of battery life so that you can expect to enjoy the figures they quote. Forget the precise terminology he used to describe them now.

      The 11" enclosure has less room in for battery cells than the 13" that's why there is a difference.

      I bet you would easily get a day's real world use out of both of them.

  15. uhuznaa

    Well...

    compared to similar offerings from Dell, Sony, Acer etc. this thing is not especially expensive. Note that this is not an Atom-"powered" Netbook at all. It's a subnotebook and these never were really cheap.

    Still, I think the 13.3" version is a luxury compared to a 13" MBP. It's a bit lighter, a bit thinner and more expensive.

    The 11.6 Version is only about as expensive as a white plastic MB (the cheapest portable Mac) and I'm pretty sure that people will like it. Decent power, full-size keyboard, decent screen, *very* light, small and thin. I've been lugging around my MB quite a bit lately and cutting the weight in half surely would be tempting.

  16. jonathanb Silver badge

    Not a netbook

    With a core 2 duo and Nvidia graphics of some description this is an ultra portable rather than a netbook.

    Something like the Lenovo Ideapad U160 is a closer comparison, £549 for an i3 (faster) and Intel GMA graphics (much slower) or the Thinkpad X201 (12" screen so slightly bigger) i7 (much faster) Intel HD graphics (much slower) £1729.08.

  17. Mark 65

    Shame about the chip

    Nice design, shit CPU. Core 2 Duo? At the prices Apple charge I'd be looking for the new i-series ULV processors.

    1. MagicBoy
      Jobs Halo

      i3 won't fit

      The i-series won't fit. It's a three chip solution as Apple won't use the Intel graphics and nVidia don't have a combined Chipset/GPU part.

      Won't fit in the 13.3" MBP, so no ******* way it's going in the new Air.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Meh

    1. What about TRIM for the SSD?

    2. CPU is 2 generations old. What next... used Pentium 3's?

    3. I own 4 Dell mini 9 and Dell mini 10 running OS X, cost for 4 machines less than $999.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re Meh

      "3. I own 4 Dell mini 9 and Dell mini 10 running OS X, cost for 4 machines less than $999."

      Well done you. The rest of us want legal machines.

  19. flameresistant

    Underwhelming Special Event

    That was the most underwhelming Apple special event for ages. Nearly half the time was spent demonstrating what seem like modest enhancements to iLife applications. I use all the ones they demonstrated and I was bored stiff.

    That said it is a good thing that Apple seem to have remembered that Mac's are still important to their company.

    The new MacBook Airs look like very nice notebook computers indeed. I think the light weight, long battery life and instant on will make them attractive to many people. Can't see the point in the 11" model personally.

    I need deeper pockets to get one mind you. The configuration that approximately matches my current MacBook would cost an eye watering £1600! I know that 250GB of flash isn't cheap but phew that's a lot of wonga to spend on a notebook computer.

    Jobsy reckons all notebooks will be built this way in the future. Hopefully the price will have come down by the time my existing one needs replacing.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      My sentiments exactly

      Thinner - tick.

      More memory and usb ports - tick.

      Longer battery life - tick.

      No CPU upgrade? - X.

      No need for me to upgrade yet. Would have expected more, 18 months on from the last Air release.

  20. stu 4

    Company

    Well I'm gonna go see em today.

    A 11.6 specced to 1.6 at 128gb is still much cheaper than the old air which I've got as a 'holiday' laptop.

    If they have sorted out hardware acceleration and it can play 1080p gopro footage I can see me walking out with one

  21. Regis Terme

    Price not justified

    1000$/£850 for the low-end model? No ethernet port?

    Flash memory instead of a hard disk probably is the future - but right now I'm getting a less storage for more money. Where's the beef?

    Come back Asus eeepc, all is forgiven!

    1. Tim Almond
      Go

      Flash memory installed...

      ... is like your car manufacturer keeping the locking wheel nuts. SSD prices are real high but in a couple of years, they'll be mainstream. I'd buy an SSD for a laptop right now, but I'd do it on the basis of upgrading in a few years when you can get 256GB for £100 rather than the current price of £400.

      1. Neill Mitchell

        What? Eh?

        "Flash memory installed is like your car manufacturer keeping the locking wheel nuts."

        That doesn't even deserve an Apple/Car analogy bingo.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Dear Santa

    Nice to see the PeeCee DellBoi's spitting hate and envy so early this morning. Shouldn't you be running virus checkers or something useful?

    My only regret is I have a 1 year old Macbook Pro which is running like a dream, has had zero problems and still looks brand new.

    I guess I could trade up - this is something the DellBoi's may not understand - but Apple kit has a residual value unlike 90% of one year old Windoze boxes that are fit for the recycling bin after 6 months use.

    1. BigG
      Heart

      Still does the job

      A whole year? Impressive.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not impressed

    I like these new Airs, but I watched the event online last night and I must say I was pretty disappointed with the proposed new OS 10.7 features. Mission Control? A fullscreen feature? An app-store?!?! How about fixing the Finder first before adding all this nonsense. Finder is so pathetically useless it's not even funny: if you are a Windows user here are a few things you take for granted that Explorer can do but Finder can't:

    1) Email a file from within Finder - nope, doesn't work. Right click a file and there is no way you can email it or share it.

    2) Cut a file a paste it elsewhere. Yep, you heard right, you cannot cut a file in Finder. You have to copy it, paste it, and then go back and delete it. Or drag it between two open windows, but then you need to mess about and arrange the Finder in such a way as to make this possible. Or indeed it means you must have the source and destination windows open at the same time.

    3) Right click a file and select "Rename". Nope this does not work either. To rename a file you have to select a file and hit the enter key. Seriously. Enter doesn't open the file, Cmd+O opens a file.

    4) Select a file and press the "Delete" key... nothing happens. To delete a file you have to press Cmd+Backspace. Yes, there Delete key does not delete files. Actually, you could say that this is just something you have to get used to, but to me it is just Apple trying to be different.

    Finder is lacking so many features I could go on for hours.

    1. bex

      true

      After using windows explorer for years using finder can be very frustrating true. The lack of send to email at this late stage is baffling.

    2. Steve Ives
      Go

      No reason to be unimpressed...

      These things that Finder can't do are, for the main part, just done differently:

      1 Email from finder? Use the Services menu or just drag and drop the file into the Mail icon in the dock.

      2 If you want to cut and paste a file between 2 directories on Windows, won't you need to have opened both windows at some point? So what's wrong with just dragging the file's icon between the two? Or drag the Finder icon onto the drive/folder icon and wait - a window will then spring open, where you can drop the file.

      3. Rename - click the file, wait a second and click again. The file name is then highlighted for renaming (but, unlike XP, without the file extension being highlighted, so just type the new name). And what's wrong with hitting 'enter' to rename? You're going to need the keyboard anyway. It appears that using the Finder, the rename procedure is: 1. Click file. 2. Press enter. 3. Type new name (without extension).4 Press enter again. Seems quick to me.

      4. Delete key doesn't delete file but cmd-delete does? Big deal - less risk of accidental delete. Just customise the toolbar to add a delete button.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      This is pathetic

      It's not windows. It's not right-click centric. OSX focuses on drag and drop.

      1) Drag it to the mail icon.

      2) Drag it to where ever it's going.

      3) Click once to select the icon and once more on the name.

      4) Drag it to trash.

      This is like someone who's learnt to drive using an automatic bitching about "that pointless clutch thing".

    4. uhuznaa

      Finder...

      AC, you can mail a file from the Finder by just dragging it onto the Mail icon in the dock. Using Cmd-Backspace for deleting has some logic to it, since portable Macs have no Delete key and using just Backspace for this is a bit too easy. And what's wrong with Cmd-O for opening a file? It's the same keycombo you use within an app to open a file, so it's just consistent. Hitting enter for renaming instead of selecting a menu entry can't be that troublesome since the next thing you will do (typing a new name) will involve the keyboard anyway.

      There are some things the Finder does differently, but I can't really see a problem here. At least there's some logic to it.

      I totally agree that the Lion presentation was disappointig. It just dealt with cosmetic stuff. I don't think these will be the only changes, though.

      The app store, as an option, is a good thing. A direct connection between developers and endusers/customers can't be a bad thing. Apple takes a healthy cut, but on the other hand trying to reach the same audience and setting up your own licensing model and selling software online is not exactly free either. Most indy developers use third-party services and companies to market and sell their software and getting 70% out of what the customer pays is very hard then.

    5. whats the point of kenny lynch?
      Stop

      eh?

      1. are you talking about the desktop or a finder window? on the desktop you just drag the file onto the mail icon in the dock and its then attached to a new email

      2. you can drag from a finder window into the sidebar icons, pressing the spacebar when hovering over a folder will open it for you, then you can drop the file. does windows do that?

      3. you click onto the filename, wait a second and click again, then rename

      4. apple is trying to be better. hitting delete to remove a file from the desktop is not quite the right usability. you can right click and send to trash, this fits in with the desktop icon environment of moving unwanted items to the trash, then emptying the trash later.

      the finder has lots of hidden usability features, you just need to discover them, it's a pretty good way of working and is different to windows, and slightly better too.

    6. Richard Scratcher
      Jobs Halo

      What is this "Right clicking" of which you speak?

      1) E-mail a file from within finder? Just select the file and then from the Finder menu select Services> New E-mail With Attachment.

      2) Cut a file a paste it elsewhere? erm...not that big of a deal.

      3) Right click a file and select "Rename"? Just click on the file and then click on its name (Don't do this too quickly or that counts as a double click).

      4) Select a file and press the "Delete" key... nothing happens! This is just something you have to get used to. And it's there for a reason.

      "Finder is lacking so many features I could go on for hours." - I don't doubt it!

    7. Miek
      Linux

      A tit is required

      "2) Cut a file a paste it elsewhere. Yep, you heard right, you cannot cut a file in Finder. You have to copy it, paste it, and then go back and delete it. Or drag it between two open windows, but then you need to mess about and arrange the Finder in such a way as to make this possible. Or indeed it means you must have the source and destination windows open at the same time."

      Amusingly there is a cut option, always permanently greyed out. There is a hack to enable this but that is where the hilarious stuff starts. When you 'cut' on OSX the file is dumped to the waste-bin where you can move it to your desired location. That one gave us quite a giggle for quite a while.

    8. Ivan Headache
      Thumb Up

      Re: Not impressed

      You've not been using macs very long have you?

      1. easily done - even with a right click and using automater

      2. No messing about needed at all. Cutting and pasting implies that you have to open windows anyway. And what happens if you get that 'never exptected crash' before you've managed to paste?

      3. Who told you to hit the enter key? You just click on the file name - like we've been doing for the last 20 years or so.

      4. deleting a file with a single keystroke is a good thing? You have a lot of faith in idiots my friend.

      (why not use the right click anyway.)

      1. caerphoto
        FAIL

        Cut and paste

        "2. No messing about needed at all. Cutting and pasting implies that you have to open windows anyway. And what happens if you get that 'never exptected crash' before you've managed to paste?"

        Usually when I cut&paste it's because I HAVEN'T got both windows open. I Cut the file, navigate to where I want it moved, then Paste it.

        As for the crash nonsense, you do realise that Windows doesn't actually move the file or anything until you Paste it? When you click Cut, all you're doing is tagging it as "waiting to be moved". If the power goes out, or Explorer crashes, no big deal, the file will still be there. Sure, if the crash/power-out occurs during the move there will might be problems, but again, the original file isn't touched until it's first been copied to the new destination.

        1. Ivan Headache
          Thumb Down

          Re: Cut and Paste

          Oddly enough, I rarely have both windows open when I'm moving files.

          File on desktop. I want to move it 7 folders deep on an external drive.

          One click and some dragging will do it. (I only have to go back to the desktop to delete the original because my destination is on an external. If the source drive and the destination drive are the same then there is no need to return.)

          So

          Select and move 7 folders deep - 1 click

          Delete original - 2 keystrokes( or 1 right-click)

          Cut and paste:

          select file - 1 click

          Cut - 2 keystrokes (or 1 right-click)

          navigate to external drive and open it - 1 click

          navigate to first level folder and open it - 1 click

          navigate to second level folder and open it - 1 click

          navigate to third level folder and open it - 1 click

          navigate to fourth level folder and open it - 1 click

          navigate to fifth level folder and open it - 1 click

          navigate to sixth level folder and open it - 1 click

          navigate to seventh level folder and open it - 1 click

          Paste - 2 keystrokes (or 1 right-click)

          So 4 keystrokes and 9 clicks ( or 11 clicks) - that's much easier than doing it on a Mac.

          OK so my Crash comment was irrelevant - similar to all four of your comments.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm NOT going to say Netbook!

    because it is clearly not a netbook, as stated above the processor and good screen etc means this device falls smartly into the 11.6" sub notebook category.

    Now thats clear... a grand for a 11.6" sub-notebook! When the competition max's out at £499

    Citation provided: http://www.reghardware.com/2010/10/20/group_test_11in_notebooks/page2.html

    What are apple thinking! oh yeah a fool and his money... shiney shiney bling bling..

    1. flameresistant

      Many People Are Prepared To Pay For Quality

      Don't all of the machines in that group test have hard drives instead of flash memory? That would explain a lot of the price difference. Even taking that into account the airs would still have a premium price tag.

      Just because some people are prepared to pay a premium price for a premium product doesn't make them fools.

      I use both a MacBook Pro and an equivalent Dell notebook bought about the same time. I was given the Dell by my employer and I spent my own money on the MacBook. They had a similar price differential. By your logic, you would conclude that both computers are the same and only a fool would waste his money on the MacBook particularly when he already had a free equivalent Windows PC.

      Well in practice, the Dell is a piece of s*** that I only use when I am forced to. It's big, cumbersome, loud, has a poor display, a shockingly bad keyboard, a pathetic trackpad and runs like a slug. The Dell often locks up to the point where a power off is the only solution. That has never happened with the MacBook which is a joy to use. I gladly pay the premium for the superior engineering and quality in the Apple product that only becomes apparent when you use one on a daily basis.

      I do think the MacBook Airs are expensive but in comparison to a MacBook Pro not a sub-notebook Windows PC.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        shiny shiny bling bling...

        "I gladly pay the premium for the superior engineering and quality in the Apple product that only becomes apparent when you use one on a daily basis."

        Yes a premium indeed.

        Premium - Adjective

        1. Higher in price or value.

        Whilst it is true that many windows machines suffer from bloat (usually due to too many apps & crapware!) and are also a big target for Virus's (due to market share) it is not true that ALL windows machines suffer. If you know what you are doing its perfectly simple to keep a windows PC in good shape. Part of the stigma is they sell windows to people who don't know what they are doing! this is not so much of a problem with Apple as there is a smaller pool of available software and hence they cant be polluted so readily (espceailly if you ban flash)...

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. uhuznaa

      Netbooks

      I'm really looking forward to a Reg article doing a benchmark comparison between the MBA and the cheap 11.6" netbook flock.

      Personally I think the 11.6" MBA will be a hit. It costs as much as the 13" plastic Macbook, weights half as much, is thinner, prettier and not much slower. It also has the full-size keyboard as any MacBook. When my MBP is about to go to a new home (in half a year or so) I will have a good look at this thing.

    3. John_C
      Pint

      Cost and value for money aren't the same thing

      It's not £1000 vs £500, you're comparing a thousand dollars to five hundred pounds.

      UK pricing for the 11.6" starts at £849

      In any case while it's tempting to do so I don't think giving it a beating over the price really stands up to objective scrutiny. Look at the Dell Adamo or Sony Vaio X which are similar in design philosophy and the MBA is good value by comparison.

      I know it looks expensive against the laptops in the recent el-reg 11.6" group test but that's not comparing like with like - once you take into account that the MBA has a good tech spec (dual-core CPU, high rez screen, dedicated graphics, SSD), the battery life and the case design you see where the extra money goes.

      It's not going to be for everyone for sure, but given it's a lightweight ultraportable with enough power to cope with a wide range of tasks I don't think it's that overpriced. Oh, and before the predictable cries of fanboi yes I do own an iPhone, and an iPad. I also own a 10" dell netbook running linux and a high end gaming laptop running Windows 7. Each fills a niche in my life very nicely thank you very much, and I couldn't care less who makes them, I like them for what they do.

  25. Pavlov's obedient mutt

    oh the dilema

    see...

    the iPad is the portable option, and the iMac is for the home

    where does this new air fit in?

    1. flameresistant

      In Between

      "where does this new air fit in?"

      In between.

      The iPad is a portable option but not suitable for authoring anything significant. For example, there is no way you would edit a big report, develop a website or do some image editing on one. You could do that on an air. The iPad is currently good for web browsing, email, media consumption, games and large screen versions of iPhone style apps. I prefer using my iPad for all these activities. Until you want to use a site that runs flash that is.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    just what the wife ordered

    other 1/2 has a truly awful Tosh running something called 'vista' been wanting to get her a mac for ages, don't see the ipad as a runner for her...but one of these looks right peachy. basically her needs are pretty minimal, she likes a keyboard, she has a P&S so SD card slot is handy, mostly she is on FB, email and IM. She will appreciate the instant on (Tosh takes for ages and ages and ages...),she will appreciate the built in cam, she will appreciate the lack of virus, she will appreciate it's snappiness...plus I won't have to learn Windows!!

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    It is a netbook

    The definition of a netbook is lightweight, thin, with ether flash memory or HDDs and finally lacking a optical-drive. Aside from the Core 2 Duo and larger displays, this thing is an (expensive) netbook.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Troll

      shifting goalposts ?

      So your definition of a netbook doesn't include Atom-like CPU and sub-10" screen. Digital tech moves too quickly for any these definitions to have a life span for more than a month ....

      Let's give up on these "is it, is it not a netbook?" rants ...

  28. Matthew 17

    Looks fantastic

    Makes me wish I'd have an application for one. Would rather have this over an iPad though.

  29. Syn1c

    Here we go again

    "Oh no!! Apple wants to sell some more stuff. Quick, let me tell the world how much I hate them"

    I feel the same way about cars. Bloody Mercedes/Porsche/Ferrari making expensive motors when I can get a cheaper, more economical Ford/Mazda/Honda.

    If you don't like it, DON'T BUY IT!

  30. Garibaldi
    Linux

    Bit too pricey

    I would love to buy a mac book. My biggest issue with mac-books are that they have very limited option -- specially smaller notebook.

    13inch notebook don't come with matte option, and of course Mac-Air doesn't let you upgrade. Also, every 3 years or so I upgrade hard-drive, and with Macbook Air it's not that easy, instead of a standard PATA connector Apple uses a 40-pin ZIF (Zero Insertion Force). Standard Stata would've been betters..

    I would wait a year or so for apple to offer matte option in 13inch lappy, otherwise I would probably buy 15inch Macbook in near future.

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