Of Air and Higher Ground
Ameya Dalvi, Apr 24, 2008 1940 hrs IST
The Macbook Air isn't a great product but a step in the right direction.
Finally the little storm that the Apple's Macbook Air managed to stir up has settled, and we can now use the logic processing unit of our brain to put things into perspective.
When first pulled out of the envelope, it surely got everyone drooling, but soon the techies returned to their senses and noticed one shortcoming after another. As my colleague rightly pointed out in his review, the Macbook Air ends up being a product with more flaunt value than one with practical usage. The list of complaints is endless - low on processing power, lack of optical drive and Ethernet port, just one USB port and so on. I agree that the Macbook Air isn't a great product; however I still believe that it is a step in the right direction.
The way I see it, Macbook Air is not a product for all, but then, neither was the iPod when it was first launched. But it did set a trend, a benchmark for the competition to scale and surpass. Similarly, when the first iPod Nano was out, there were obvious comparisons with its big brother and everyone pointed at things that it could not do rather than the things it could manage in that footprint. Cut to the present, the Nano can almost do it all retaining its sleek figure. The result - a majority of consumers have started preferring it over its big brother. Likewise, I expect the Macbook Air to mature and go the Nano way with its future iterations.
Apple products -- some love them, some hate them; but one thing a majority of the manufacturers love to do is ape them. So expect a lot of renowned brands to come up with their slim and super-slim laptops over the next few months, which may not be such a bad thing after all!
Over the past couple of years, the laptop weight and sizes have been growing frantically (with the exception of XPS and a handful few). A majority of them look more like desktop replacements rather than laptops. To make matters worse, some of our popular film stars have been advertising 17-inch screens on laptops like that's the best thing to have happened to portable computing, when even a "Paanchvi Pass" guy can tell you that laptops need to be compact and portable. About time these so called laptops hit the gym.
The ultra-portability trend is catching up. The success of the Asus EeePC, despite its limited functionality (but a fairly sensible price tag as opposed to the Air) adds weight to the observation. The Macbook Air will act as a catalyst in speeding up the slimming process as every other manufacturer will strive to go one up on the Apple gizmo by giving more functionality and processing power in a similar foot print. When there are a number of such products in the market, they will automatically shed their 'lifestyle' tag, and then the price tag will take care of itself. In the end, it all augers well for the consumer.
At times, people need to be pushed out of their comfort zones to make them scale higher ground. That may happen through inspiration or intimidation or competition. The bottom line is to get the best out of an individual or a product and go beyond the ordinary.
USER COMMENTS
"a late review"?? are u on some sort of medication or something" @rohan
by woozy, mumbai, on May 11, 2008 11:21 AM, Report abuse Reply
by asdasd, asdasd, on May 09, 2008 12:00 PM, Report abuse Reply
hi guys, as ameya rightly has put it and i would elobrate it a bit further by simply adding the words, welcome to the apple world...coz apple has certainly gone a long way doing only what it can do best...
by Vishal_Kadakia, mumbai, on May 02, 2008 06:01 PM, Report abuse Reply
one of the reasons for ipods success was that they obtained patents for some key features so that others cannot use it.something cannot be said about macbook air,i mean if u remove optical drive,Ethernet port.usb port.etc it would obviously save lot of space and apple knew inventing a super slim optical drive is not their cup of tea.This is like person standing naked u call him slim and same person wearing thick jacket calling him fat.Other manufacturers could have done the same long back but then u do need some guts and marketing strategy like apple.
by sachin, goa, on May 01, 2008 11:40 PM, Report abuse Reply
A very late review from the editor. by this time everyone knows mac book air not a sensible by.
by Rohan, hyderabad, on Apr 25, 2008 06:08 PM, Report abuse Reply
This aint a review M-O-R-O-N and who is pushing u to "by" one
by Sandy, Bangalore, on Apr 26, 2008 02:28 AM, Report abuse
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Why-Fi?
While I endorse securing home and private networks, I am totally against the suggestion of abolishing internet hotspots.
The Ipod was a clone of the creative zen vision, creative won a lawsuite where apple paid them $400 thousand or million not sure check online. Based on this theory, wat you have written doesnt make sense.
by Clyde Fernandes, Mumbai, on May 14, 2008 01:50 PM, Report abuse Reply