[X4U] MW Expo; I'm underwhelmed

[Stroller]

On 20 Jan 2008, at 17:37, Zane H. Healy wrote:
> ...
> As should already be obvious, I agree with Dave.  In fact he did a  
> better job than I did at pointing out what I was trying to say.  By  
> purchasing an "Air" you're spending a sizable portion of money more  
> than you would for a souped up MacBook, and for that extra money  
> you get something that is less powerful, but more expensive.   
> Except for the thickness it is actually *SLIGHTLY LARGER* than the  
> MacBook.  So in reality you're paying $700 for something that  
> weighs in a 3 vs. 5 pounds, and is decidedly under powered.  As  
> someone that does carry a laptop around every day, as my job  
> requires it, I consider that "Snobbery".  Now if the $1800 model  
> came with the 64Gb Solid-State drive, then I might agree, but that  
> model costs $3100.  Even though the $3100 model comes in more  
> expensive than a top of the line MacBook Pro, I actually see more  
> of a reason for the "Air".
>
> I like the idea of the "Air", I actually do understand why people  
> want it.  Without seeing it, I want one (I may very well decide I  
> don't upon seeing the keyboard), as I want something like this for  
> writing on.  I have to agree with Dave, the base model should be  
> $800, not $1800.

I don't know why this thread persists. Most everything that one could  
say has already been said.

Regarding the optical drive, I have mixed feelings. It seems like an  
omission to me - as does having only a single USB port - but then my  
job leads me to use my MacBook's CD-writer quite regularly. I could  
probably manage perfectly well with a USB key instead. I think only  
the future will show whether this is an extremely prescient move on  
Apple's part, or whether it is an idea whose time has not yet come.

Regarding the price: there is surely an element of early-adopter tax  
to this, but nevertheless one has always paid a premium for an  
aluminium skin on Apple's laptops. I paid c £1100 for my 12"  
Powerbook, at a time when iBooks were perhaps £800. I wouldn't be  
surprised if the price of the basic model were to fall a little in a  
year's time.

The price of the premium model reflects the size of the solid-state  
hard-drive. In naive terms, a £800 seems expensive for 16x a 4gig  
SDcard (at £24), but build a non-redundant RAID array with 16 drives  
and see how long it takes to lose all your data - the quality control  
of building a flash drive of this size must be quite demanding. A  
customer of mine bought a Dell XPS last last year - when it was still  
"the thinnest laptop in the world" - and we skipped the option of the  
30gig flash drive at that time. 30gig is a little more limiting than  
64gig, but also because prices of flash drives as sure to fall -  
we'll easily replace the hard-drive with a flash one for a fraction  
of the price in a couple of years' time. Do not think that the  
premium Air will still be £2000 in 12 months time.

Stroller.