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- fkr3, on 04/18/2008, -10/+65In other news, LED backlights have been around for ages and growing in popularity simply because they're better, not because Apple's using them.
The analyst the article quotes doesn't even say the Air is spurring adoption of LED backlights, it says the Air will drive other manufacturers to produce thin notebooks as well. Most of them seem to have time machines and after Apple invented the thin notebook they went back in time to beat them to launch. - EBFoxbat, on 04/18/2008, -3/+54The Macbook Air was not the first to use an LED screen. It wasn't the first notebook, wasn't the first Mac.
- Intangible360, on 04/18/2008, -10/+47FTA:
The MacBook Air didn’t start the trend to using LED backlights, but its stunningly thin design will prompt other companies to put out similar notebooks, Yao said, further spurring the LED industry. - digitalpencil, on 04/18/2008, -3/+33No, he's not. The MBP was Apple's first laptop to adopt LED backlighting. Sony VAIOs have been using for a quite a few years prior though.
- DarkLance, on 04/18/2008, -18/+41No, because thats only been done for like.... years. WTF is this crap doing on the front page? buried
- ferrariman60, on 04/18/2008, -6/+25Fail
- usingpond, on 04/18/2008, -33/+51Wasn't the MacBook Pro first?
- majortom1981, on 04/18/2008, -11/+29Dell and sony have had led screens in laptops for a while also. MY 1520 had an option for one when i ordered it last june or july.
Why must articles be written like this. What ever happen to good honest journalists? - Ramble, on 04/18/2008, -11/+28LED screens have been in laptops for ages and adoption has been continously going up (before the Air).
- inactive, on 04/18/2008, -10/+27Its called Mac-retardation!
- MioTheGreat, on 04/18/2008, -4/+21Not even close. HP and Sony both had machines that used LEDs in their display before Apple, and Dell may have had a unit before them too, I can't remember.
- brundlefly76, on 04/18/2008, -5/+18Oh wait - are your trying to say that an article got frontpaged by using an inaccurate and hyperbolic headline about Apple?
Not on digg! - soogy, on 04/18/2008, -2/+14Why is he being dugg down? The MacBook Air was not the first to use LED screens by a long shot. The MacBook Pro was at least ONE of the first in mass-production, the first from Apple.
Saying the MacBook Air is causing manufacturers to move to LED backlighting is like saying LCDs superseded CRTs because Apple used them to make their iMac G4. As the cost of manufacturing goes down and as advancements are made to make a certain technology more efficient, companies inevitably shift production. - peterjmag, on 04/18/2008, -6/+16I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure Sony produced the first consumer-level LED-backlit laptop.
- inactive, on 04/18/2008, -9/+18buried for being INSANELY false!
And yeah Sony has many (and HAS HAD) LED screens. - milkmage, on 04/18/2008, -5/+14what the ***** is wrong with you people? NOWHERE in the article or headline does it say Apple was first... nor does it say anyone is copying anyone else. the Air is the thinnest laptop to date. it uses LED's - other companies that want to make a really thin laptop will use LED's too because LED's are thinner than CCFL's, the LED industry will benefit as a result. Apple haters are reading what they WANT to see, not what is being said.
- pintomp3, on 04/18/2008, -5/+14is it also spurring the use of 1.8" hard disks?
- inactive, on 04/18/2008, -5/+12It's also used on my Dell XPS M1330 (Ubuntu pre-installed), and it saves me some battery life.
- shawnanigans, on 04/18/2008, -0/+7This just in. Every successful implementation of an innovation drives further use that innovation.
- inactive, on 04/18/2008, -14/+20Stunningly? Maybe revisit the idea
Seeing as the Mac Book Air is almost a copy of Sony's Vaio X505.
I take that back, the Vaio X505 had more ports and features.
And again, Sony also had LED screens long before Apple. - SirZRX, on 04/18/2008, -11/+17macworld = maclame
- SillyRabbits, on 04/18/2008, -0/+5No, but it's a typical journalist's babble where they try to sound like know more than the average laptop designer. Every hardware/laptop designer is well aware of the advantages of LED back-lighting. In fact they know the benefits down to a level of detail that the author or the piece isn't even qualified to understand. The only issue is the cost of implementing the technology - it has nothing to do with designers not seeing the advantage, or the possibilities. In systems where cost isn't as much of an issue, it's in them (like the earlier Sony's, etc., and now the Air Book). To suggest that all these designers were sitting around oblivious until Apple "showed what was possible" is very insulting.
- LeeSoong, on 04/18/2008, -2/+7Now, if only more city street lights, businesses and homes switch over from wasteful bulb lights to ultra energy efficient LED lights!
LED lighting uses far less power even than the spiral mercury filled lights - the run cleaner, cooler, and are not classified as Toxic Waste like mercury. - orangetiki, on 04/18/2008, -1/+6But your guessing that these kiddies read the article first.
- Trevahaha, on 04/18/2008, -0/+5No it isn't.
It is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase "exempli gratia" which loosely translates to "for example." You can have more than one example, but it is not required. - usingpond, on 04/18/2008, -6/+10Actually, here, straight from Apple: http://support.apple.com/specs/macbookpro/MacBook_ ...
- Teej, on 04/18/2008, -8/+12It was definitely the first in Apple's line of laptops to use LED backlighting.
- cave, on 04/18/2008, -6/+10WOOSH... THe point of the article was missed by ALL of you, I'm impressed!
My Macbook Pro (not even current gen, even!) has a LED screen, but what the Air has demonstrated is just how exactly thinner a laptop's screen can be, and is dramatically increasing the market's demand for LED screens. Customers who previously weren't aware of the potential benefits are now beginning to see the light (lulz), all thanks to Apple's hype machine. - Pyehole, on 04/18/2008, -1/+5I get between 4 and 5 hours. That's with bluetooth off, keyboard LED at minimum or off and the display at a pretty low lighting level. The Air is the first Mac I've ever owned and I'm positively in love with it. The OS is 'meh - I've had stupid problems like iCal crash on me, but for the most part I've found it really easy to use. Setting up a VPN to get to the office was far easier than my experience with Windows, that's for sure.
- azazel00, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3"...will prompt other companies"
I dont know about it being false, but it certainly isn't a fact yet. Just speculation by the author. - ckm1224, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3you guys need to stop reading digg comments first and start reading the article instead.
the main point of the article is the benefits of the lcd screen, with a push from the MBA. it didn't say "oh this friggin dell laptop pwnd the mbp in length of months out with an lcd screen". who cares, honestly; it's going to be adopted if it's a better technology, like how online gaming and mp3 players are coming up further and further.
first time i was disappointed in digg commenters in a while. - DCstewieG, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3You're being buried because you're arguing who was first which is not what this article is about, not because you're wrong.
- robby818, on 04/18/2008, -1/+4I've been using a Macbook Pro with an LED screen and it is really much better than my previous CCFL laptops. It's not just the brightness but also the color depth that looks so much better with the LED screen. I watch Netflix DVDs on my MBP, and the LED screen + the improved DVD player in Leopard makes them look fantastic. Previously watching DVDs was always a little less than satisfying because the video looked pretty flat. LED is a huge improvement. The MBA's screen is even brighter than the MBP. Just go to an Apple store and compare the Macbook to the Macbook Air and the difference is obvious.
- SillyRabbits, on 04/18/2008, -1/+4You forgot a step. First, they copy. Then, they have their fanboys run around claiming they invented it and were the first to do it. digg me down....
- inigomntoya, on 04/18/2008, -2/+5"LED grow lights, google that chit"
Yes, Sir! Right away, Sir! - azntiger1000, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3I think this is a good trend to reduce weight in laptops and other techs.
- daizaru, on 04/18/2008, -5/+8Nowhere in the article does it say they were first, just that because of the air its catching on, laugh at all these comments. The oxymoron is that Apple tends to design their computers around already trendy things. Case in point the EEPC is/was pretty trendy and was popularizing LED's way before.
Anyways, mac article from macworld.com praising macs is... not surprising. This is a fluff article pointing out a pretty obvious fact... LED backlights are becoming the new norm due to being brighter and less battery consuming. Still this is digg and anything Mac is instantly diggworthy apparently... not by me though. - usingpond, on 04/18/2008, -1/+4Maybe, but I was talking about Macs.
- purplehaze420, on 04/18/2008, -5/+7ACtually he IS first... to get BURIED!
- darienphoenix, on 04/19/2008, -0/+2*you're
- MioTheGreat, on 04/18/2008, -3/+5IIRC, the VAIO was first.
- 4thcage, on 04/18/2008, -0/+2with 1200rpm...
- Pic0, on 04/18/2008, -3/+5No, Apple was not first to do this, they copied it. Typical Apple company policy, copy.
- peterinjapan, on 04/19/2008, -0/+2"The Macbook Air was not the first to use an LED screen. It wasn't the first notebook, wasn't the first Mac."
Yes, but if Apple's adoption makes it become mainstream, as was the case with USB (kind of important now, you know), then they deserve some kudos. - BEDrocko, on 04/19/2008, -0/+2You're all kinda missing the point of the article using the Macbook Air as an example...
"The MacBook Air didn’t start the trend to using LED backlights, but its stunningly thin design will prompt other companies to put out similar notebooks" - decker12, on 04/19/2008, -0/+2We have a couple of Airs in the office and the screen is indeed stellar. It's tough to quantify, but it's just brighter, readable from several more feet and different angles than my MBP, and just seems.. sharper and more vivid. Too bad Leopard is a POS that doesn't play nice with WPA Enterprise, 10.4 Xserves or SMB-shared NAS or Active Directory. It doesn't matter how light or pretty the machine is, if it doesn't work as well as Tiger did in a mixed environment enterprise.
- cthellis, on 04/18/2008, -2/+4The point is really just for anyone who desires full-size, light-weight computing, plenty powerful-enough computing; in short, people who are really mobile.
I certainly wouldn't spend extra for it either, but it's got plenty enough power, has most things you want from a computer while you're on the road, and is much more enjoyable to sit and work at for an extended period over subnotebooks that can weigh that little or less, but almost universally make keyboard, screen, and battery life compromises to do so. - theradical, on 04/18/2008, -3/+5Anyone with a MBA, what is your average battery life?
- inactive, on 04/18/2008, -4/+6this will be buried because most digg users use linux and are linux fanboys. There is no problem with them being fanboys, off course.
Anyway, I used to be a vista user and was pretty happy with it, because it was better looking than xp (although xp beats it in performance).
But when I bought a Mac book air, it was as if I bought a dream. Nearly everything was better than both xp and vista.
I'm just your average joe user who mostly just likes to use the internet, nothing more (well.. except playing games too)
Anyway this is why I like my Macbook Air:
-The speedy restart (vista takes a century to restart in comparison).
-The speedy opening of PDF files (on vista, when you click a PDF link, it takes centuries of waiting until the pdf document loads, but in osx the pdf link opens at the same speed as any other link which makes it feel more natural).
- Opening multiple safari windows in expose is much better and faster than opening multiple tabs (yes it is! I can't even believe how I managed without it. when I'm watching a movie and running safari in the background and suddenly someone in the movie says something that is hard to understand, I quickly pause the movie and use expose to use safari and search for that term, and then get back to continue watching the movie. BEST FEATURE EVER!).
Anyway, in the near future I might use linux, but I'm still worried that it might not work with some of my hardware. That's why I will wait until there is a particular distro that would be recognized and supported by many manufacturers. - cthellis, on 04/18/2008, -2/+4So... if you make a thin notebook, you're copying whoever made nearly as thin before you?
Or did it "copy" the X505 by having a full-size screen, full-size keyboard, full-size track pad, make it thinner, more comparatively powerful by it's release date, give it better battery life, avoid some garish parts of the case design (that central hinge looks out of whack), and start the base model off $1200 cheaper?
Certainly I like subnotebooks, and the Air can't serve that purpose for everyone, but if the emphasis is on weight over body width, it's rather hard to beat.
I own a Vaio subnotebook myself, but I'm certainly not going to say Apple "copied" much of anything from the X505. They spun their own design and specs. -
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