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- inactive, on 02/12/2009, -9/+96I am a seriously heavy-weight Apple fanboy.
But the Air is a load of pap... I'm all for aesthetics, but let's get the function right first. - Pliep, on 02/12/2009, -27/+86Yeah, but does it run Mac OS X?
- TheHayze, on 02/12/2009, -4/+38Wait, no other competitor for the MBA? Lenovo x300? Voodoo Envy? Sony Vaio TT/Z/P models, No? Yah the air is thin, but it lacks ports, and power. Where as, for just a little bit of thickness, the Lenovo x300 has the extra ports and power for around the same price. Maybe the Voodoo Envy was a bad example, but it's thin, light, and packs a punch; it's just over priced. Same for the Vaios. But they're still competitors. I know i'm going to get dugg down, but there are alternatives for the MBA for poatable computing with little compromise.
The new Dell ultra portable looks decent.. but I fear it's just the same old Dell, and lacks in quality materials, with sub-quality customer service, though costing around the same. - Auzy, on 02/12/2009, -6/+32Does it matter?
When I was selling Apple computers, many of our customers ended up dual booting anyway. OSX is great for the stuff it supports, but the reality is, it doesn't support a lot of stuff.
The Macbook air isn't good enough for video editing and pro applications anyway (which is traditionally considered OSX's strong point).
So its targeting the business crowd, and as most business applications are windows only, the target audience probably doesn't care which OS it runs.. - gllopc, on 02/12/2009, -1/+27I'm in the same camp as you. I'm a fanboy, and I want to love the Air, but the first thing needed is a price drop by half, if not more. It has *less* power than a MacBook, which is much cheaper.
It's ridiculous. - MarkusX, on 02/12/2009, -2/+25"Adamo does not carry the same DNA as the Dell notebooks you may know. Instead, the Adamo brand name will be slapped to an entire line of premium products aimed to represent the best of craftsmanship"
If the Adamo really offers "SSDs with more capacity" than the MacBook Air, wireless broadband and Blu-ray, which the MacBook Air doesn't offer at all (how sad), then I can very much see a competitor in this new Dell ultra/net/note/whatever thinbook - especially for the vast majority of long-time windows.user, who are so used to their environment and are reluctant to change to a Mac.
Wether it is better than a Mac remains to be seen. :-) - jonesyno, on 02/12/2009, -0/+21How many people have you seen with a macbook air?
I'm asking this question, of course, bearing in mind that you work in an NYC based tech company, and live on a college campus in NJ. - vilago, on 02/12/2009, -1/+20i personally prefer "thickness" and "longness" over some other attributes
- zxcasd, on 02/12/2009, -1/+19think the thinnest bluray player currently is a 9mm slotloading drive... surely can fit one into these babies
- anonymousmedic, on 02/12/2009, -4/+21Anything beats the air, unless your a smug bastard with money to waste.
Are you a smug bastard with money to waste? - CressCrowbits, on 02/12/2009, -3/+20Because everyone wants 'thinness' and 'lightness' over everything else.
Seriously, who cares? - homercles337, on 02/12/2009, -10/+26Youre right it doesnt match the specs of your beloved Church of Apple device, it betters them--for less money. Enjoy your worship.
- Nephersir7, on 02/12/2009, -2/+17http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/x300-vs-envy-13 ...
- Leviathan433, on 02/12/2009, -0/+15Dugg
But seriously - you're* - chanop, on 02/12/2009, -0/+14How many people have you seen with a macbook air, working in a nyc based tech company and living on a college campus in nj?
- Joomal, on 02/12/2009, -20/+34Well we finally have a thin notebook for straight people that DO NOT frequent Starbucks just to be a tech douche.
- smoger, on 02/12/2009, -1/+15is there really a need to "kill" an unsuccessful laptop?
- FDDIcent, on 02/12/2009, -0/+12How would they get Blu-ray in that thin of a notebook?
- UselessTrivia, on 02/12/2009, -1/+13It would have to be external...but that would still be a leg up on apple, who hasn't offered up blu-ray in any of its products. They give the lame excuse of "the legal issues are complicated".
Yet many other manufacturers have figured them out. Go figure. That's really Steve Jobs' way of saying "Look, we don't make a big enough profit margin by adding blu-ray so we're not going to" - ColorBlind, on 02/12/2009, -1/+12how many people have you seen with a macbook air, working in a nyc based tech company and living on a college campus in nj?
- Grazfather, on 02/12/2009, -4/+14Ugh, the MacBook air killed itself when it's price/spec sheet came out.
- hauntedchippy, on 02/12/2009, -2/+11The MacAir is a gimmick, it always was. It is pointless to try kill it.
- drlha, on 02/12/2009, -1/+10Indeed. I've seen one Air in my life, ever, and I work at a University in a field where almost everyone uses Macs these days (Astrophysics before anyone asks, not being a beret wearing arty type).
- Nephersir7, on 02/12/2009, -8/+17Probably. If a MSI Wind or a Dell Mini can run OSX, why wouldn't it?
- weiran, on 02/12/2009, -3/+12Linux is no replacement for OS X, they might both be *nix OSes but they might as well be chalk and cheese. It's like saying Windows Vista is based on NT 4.0, why not just run NT 4.0?
- PhoneGuy, on 02/12/2009, -0/+8Buried as inaccurate fan-boy non-sense.
The mac book air is not the lightest laptop available.
I have a Toshiba Portege R600, weighs a whopping 2.4 pounds (vs the air @ 3.0 pounds) also, my Portege HAS a built in DVD-ROM.
Sure, the air is only .75 inches thick, while my Portege is a whopping 1.00 inches - but I would trade my built in DVD for your quart of a n inch anyday.
So, air the needs no 'killer' because there are already nicer machines. - pintomp3, on 02/12/2009, -0/+8Wasn't the Sharp Actius um32w thinner than the Macbook Air? Wasn't the Dell Latitude X1 lighter?
- Auzy, on 02/12/2009, -0/+6I'll also add, that making something thinner doesn't make it more portable. It just makes it a bit thinner.
Its more likely people will find a eeePC portable, then a macbook Air. Furthermore, its much cheaper, and powerful enough for the crowd who its aimed for (a Macbook air isn't targeted at the graphics crowd anyway, so the only reason people would buy it, is mainly for word processing) - replica48, on 02/12/2009, -0/+6What does color have to do with it? If anything, there will be at least a few more colors than any Mac comes in...
- SteveMax, on 02/12/2009, -1/+7I'm not sure if this is the most fantastic piece of sarcasm I've read on Digg, or just the most stupid comment ever. Either way, dugg!
- cleverboy, on 02/12/2009, -1/+7The iMac, the AppleTV, the Apple Airport Extreme to name a few. The function of the iMac is really good. If literally has EVERYthing I need in it, and manages to add a forth USB plug on the end of the keyboard. The AppleTV is a perfect example of functionality and style existing together. If it wasn't so pricey, I'd always get an Airport Extreme over almost any other router. It's exactly how it should be... very useful and easy functions in a small form that doesn't draw attention to itself (and allows my external drive to be shared through it). Macbook Air is a good laptop, but its a HUGE compromise of form vs. function. Painting a broad brush that Apple ALWAYS favors style over function isn't simply inaccurate, its stupid. It figures into the stereotype that Apple suckers people into buying its under-performing machines for higher prices. I bought a Dell Inspiron prior to my aluminum unibody 13" MacBook. Even if I reinstalled Windows on top of this bitch, I'd prefer it over Dell's crap (the power adapter alone kept overheating and actually melting the connector). The MagSafe power cord in the MacBook, if nothing else, is a godsend. Built-in camera, easy access ports, wireless, and backlit keyboard... sorry, this has got a LOT of function to be happy about.
I'll give that the iPhone is another compromised product like the MacBook Air, but, for me, its functions are lightyears above many competitors until you get to media storage and bluetooth. My brother-in-law happily transferred a song wirelessly from his bluetooth blackberry to his friend's bluetooth Instinct the other day. While the Instinct couldn't play it (cause it sucks), its a whole world that Apple has had to compromise on not to piss off the music industry. It's been a fight just to get the industry to drm-free same-price cellular downloads. Every function added to anything in the cellphone arena has compromised broader cooperation with content providers. Also, I'm in the "MMS is dead" camp, and would encourage more people to get multimedia email capable phones. - inactive, on 02/12/2009, -0/+6@MacParrot
Your username is accurate. - Skaidon, on 02/12/2009, -2/+8Frankly the MacBook Air was a gimmick that was mostly bought by Mac enthusiasts rather than anyone buying it for a more legitimate reason. In fact one friend I have who is a big Mac user is going to trade in his Air for a standard MacBook for £200. Honestly this thing Dell is making WON'T SELL! In my humble opinion anyway.
- Leviathan433, on 02/12/2009, -0/+6I guess the real question is, what job do you want it to get done? What will you be using it for? Form should follow function.
- Balanced, on 02/12/2009, -3/+8Drivers tend to be somewhat OS-Specific.
- digitalpencil, on 02/12/2009, -1/+6users of OS X aren't necessarily interested in running Unix as an instead of.. not saying it's bad or anything, i love ubuntu but it's not the same thing and their target demographic won't see it as an a suitable trade-off.
- Incidents, on 02/12/2009, -2/+7"Adamo should also come with Blu-Ray, a feature conspicuously absent from Apple's product line."
..then it will NOT beat the MacBook Air in thinness. The height of the smallest laptop Blu-Ray player is taller than the total height of a MacBook Air. - jakem1, on 02/12/2009, -7/+12Why is this such a contentious thing to say?
One of the main reasons I'm not interested in Macs is because I'm not interested in OS X. Big deal. I've invested a lot in Windows compatible software and hardware and I'm just not interested in switching to an OS that's doesn't offer anything other than change for the sake of change and will ultimately cost me more money.
For that reason I wouldn't be interested in this if it ran OS X either. - dronkmunk, on 02/12/2009, -0/+5I TYPIN SO HARD RIGHT NOW
- vman81, on 02/12/2009, -3/+7Some observations:
People who use the word "killer" in relation to the competitiveness of an apple product are apple fanbois, or have been conditioned by them.. "Omg is this the next $Apple_product killer?"
If it is a good product, it will compete well with the iPod/iPhone/iMac/iWhatever, but it will never seriously threaten wipe out apple's market share, simply because there are too many users that will buy apple, no matter they produce (case and point, Macbook Wheel), and that apple usually make pretty good products.
By setting an unrealistic goal of "killing" apple's (typically high quality, but with 2-3 dealbreaking deliberate design choices*) product, they are failures from the start if they do not take apple's marketshare.
Stop saying "killer", it makes it seem like the world revolves around their products. It really doesn't...You journalists especially.
*missing copy/paste, closed platform, no multitasking, no flash, no SD slot, missing copy/paste (worth 2x mentions) - (aw, I'm just stressing that the iPhone could have been the perfect product with those changes) - Kazimieras, on 02/12/2009, -2/+6I liked the IBM machine that was a smidge bigger than the Air, but was a fully-working laptop that didn't require you to carry a dozen peripherals.
- BrendanSheehan, on 02/12/2009, -2/+6This Adamo thing won't even have an optical drive, never mind a blu-Ray player. Don't believe what you hear; as far as I know Dell never said it will.
- Murdats, on 02/12/2009, -5/+9no one wants the air so why would someone want to create a better undemanded product?
- digitalpencil, on 02/12/2009, -2/+6Yup, love my MBP but i wasn't aware the MBA required a race to kill it off. It's functionless, it's not even heavy enough to serve as a decent paper-weight. Same specs as a netbook, less functionality, slightly larger screen.. i don't get it. I think it's just business men/women who want something impressive-looking for presentations but I wasn't aware that was such a big demographic.
- clockdist, on 02/12/2009, -0/+4No way are they going to beat MBA's thinness and include an optical drive.
- vman81, on 02/12/2009, -1/+5MacOS X? Apple didn't invent the GUI, and they sure didn't get it to run on 10^1000 hardware combinations
iMac? horrible user experience for me, I want my beige back dammit!
iPhone? Name one new feature that wasn't done before, oh and android was in the works before the iPhone was announced, but who cares about facts, right?
iPod? No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
MacBook Air? Underpowered, overheating, nothing new, except they can highlight that the edge is 0.16inches at the thinnest spot, useful for cutting bread, granted.
I agree totally on abolishing the "i" prefix, it's so damn '99. Take the linksys/infogear iPhone circa 1998 for example
I'm just saying, Apple still has its reality distortion field in full effect, and you are being told on a daily basis that you should want Apple products by Justing Long, so who am I to tell you otherwise :) - jakem1, on 02/12/2009, -0/+4I'd also like to add that the MacBook Air is not the lightest ultraportable as the post claims and it wasn't when it was first released. For example, Fujitsu's Lifebook P-series convertible tablets weigh 1kg (2.2 lbs) and have done for years. Note that I'm not comparing to netbooks here.
- rdas7, on 02/12/2009, -1/+5software compatibility?
- crgnetworks, on 02/12/2009, -4/+8They Air isn't already dead?
- inactive, on 02/12/2009, -0/+4No, it's because you parrot them as the superior solution for the same horsepower, an assertion that is highly debatable at best.
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