Macbook Air

[Msterbeau]

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/guidedtour...tml?size=medium

Apple stunned a nation, or at least those who haven't been paying attention to the rumors, today with the unveiling of a very thin new MacBook called the MacBook Air. 'The world's thinnest notebooks' starts at $1799 and comes with a 13.3 inch display (LED), a full keyboard, built-in 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, built-in iSight, and a multitouch trackpad that lets you use gestures to control a number of actions on the MacBook Air. Some other stats include:

* 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache

* 2GB of RAM

* 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive (with optional 64 gig solid state drive

* 1 USB 2.0 port

What it doesn't come with are built-in ethernet ports, FireWire, and optical drive, or enough graphics power to power a 30 inch Display (but you can hook up a 20 or 23 inch display via a built in mini-DVI port).

What's also nice is environmentally friendly features:

Highly recyclable, mercury-free aluminum enclosure

Mercury-free LCD display with arsenic-free glass

PVC-free internal cables

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The multi-touch track pad is quite cool. Similar to iPhone's multi touch. Very intuitive zoom/resize/rotate of info, photos, data, etc...

[predaking]

not a mac fan, but that is nice

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Investors didn't thisk so. Apple stocks dropped 5.5% after jobs gave his presentation yesterday.

[Azeuron]

Investors didn't thisk so. Apple stocks dropped 5.5% after jobs gave his presentation yesterday.

So, now's the time to buy apple stock eh?

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Perhaps

[Msterbeau]

Investors didn't thisk so. Apple stocks dropped 5.5% after jobs gave his presentation yesterday.

Part of that is related to this:

"And the fact is that buying the stock a day before and holding it for 48 hours (until the day after) would have made you money over the past ten years-- he calculates 1.2% growth over 24-hour period, and 2.2% growth over a 48 hour period. Of course, that doesn't hold a candle to what you would have earned if you just kept Apple stock the whole time (holding on to $10,000 of Apple stock since 1997 would have you holding shares worth $525,187 today).

But the fact is that Macworld keynotes can make wily stock traders money. The worst performing keynote so far was in 2005, when only the Mac mini and the shuffle were announced, and the best was last year, when the iPhone was first introduced. So just standard common sense just tells you that if the iUltraportable does appear, you could probably make money with a little day trading*, but if it doesn't show up (and there are no other major announcements), you could take the worst bath so far on the Keynote Index Fund."

A lot of people invest just for keynote. No wonder the stock is a bit volatile.

It's a cool product but rumors were for a full touch-screen and possibly a dock of some sort. Nothing else in Jobs keynote at Macworld 08 was all that earth shattering. Expectations run so high at this event that if there isn't at least one home run product, people are disappointed.

[Msterbeau]

So, now's the time to buy apple stock eh?

No. That was 10 years ago. :-)

[twilight]

I bought a Mac in September I guess I didn't do much to help their stock, eh?

I love my macbook.

[GothicRavenGoddess (3)]

so the question remains, would you get one? I want one, just to see how long the damn thing would last before it got mistaken for a sheet of paper, and tossed into the trask, or stepped on, or lost in the house, somewhere.... yeah..... lol

well, i still want one... i wanted one since the first time i saw the commercial. but then again, with each PC/MAC commercial... i was favoring MACs more and more.... and even more so, since I have a damn Gateway!.... le sigh... i have not the funds....

[freydis]

WANT!

[Fierce Critter]

So, do I read right that it has no CD Rom drive of any kind?

If so, what good is it?

And if I'm correct, and the answer is, "you have to hook up an external," then, again, what's the use of a super-thin laptop if you have to bulk it up by carrying around peripherals?

[Msterbeau]

So, do I read right that it has no CD Rom drive of any kind?

If so, what good is it?

And if I'm correct, and the answer is, "you have to hook up an external," then, again, what's the use of a super-thin laptop if you have to bulk it up by carrying around peripherals?

The thinking is that you very rarely need it. Most people don't install software on the road and many don't use discs for data anymore when they can toss it to you on a usb flash drive. I wouldn't buy one either unless it was as a second or third machine. (Which is what it's designed to be.) Apparently they can't keep them in stock so others are finding them worthwhile.

[Rayne]

Do not want!

My MacBook has all I need, that appears to be missing some of what I need.

Although it does look very cool.

[Fierce Critter]

The thinking is that you very rarely need it. Most people don't install software on the road and many don't use discs for data anymore when they can toss it to you on a usb flash drive. I wouldn't buy one either unless it was as a second or third machine. (Which is what it's designed to be.) Apparently they can't keep them in stock so others are finding them worthwhile.

No thanks.

I use my CD rom drive constantly. Burning CD's to play in the car, installing software, giving data CD's to others such as disks full of pictures for family, etc.

I think they're stupid. But whatever. If people have $$ to throw around on multiple machines, so be it.

I'm still hardcore set on having a desktop anyway. I'm apparently becoming a dinosaur in that respect.

[Msterbeau]

I'm still hardcore set on having a desktop anyway. I'm apparently becoming a dinosaur in that respect.

Yup... you are. My work computer, a MacBook Pro, has all the horsepower I need to run graphics/design apps and anything else I do. If i really needed to it could run high end 3D programs. I don't do much in the way of games so that's not an issue and if I did I'd use a dedicated gaming platform. (The girls have a Wii, so there ya go..)

A good, high-end laptop is a very capable machine these days.