WYSIWIP » technology http://zakimirza.com/blog What You See is Work In Progress Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:07:22 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Macbook Air or Hot Air? http://zakimirza.com/blog/macbook-air-or-hot-air/ http://zakimirza.com/blog/macbook-air-or-hot-air/#comments Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:07:39 +0000 Zaki http://zakimirza.com/blog/macbook-air-or-hot-air/

Apple MacBook Air eh…. I’ve always been a fan and advocate of the PC. The complete customization, the abundance of parts and accessories, the immense software selection…. all great aspects of the PC. Of course not all is well with the PC. The infamous BSOD, random restarts, hardware/software issues, etc. Sure XP fixed a lot of that, some would argue that Vista fixed even more. All fine and dandy. Yet I still use a mac….

At my current job I have been given a first gen MacBook Pro, since I’ve had it… I’ve pretty much used my (well built and powerful) PC system for pretty much just gaming. With Parallels I don’t have to worry about any “lack of software support” that the mac might have. The machine has been great for me at work, at school, and on a personal note.

Recently I have grown very accustomed to the mac. In fact you could call me a switcher. I’ll never forget my PC roots, but point is lately I’ve been pretty pleased with the way apple has been going till now.

Today’s keynote was well… kinda weak. An update to the apple tv which no one cares about, iPhone and iTouch coming out with a handful more apps (previous owners need to pay another $20 for the apps)… again no one cares because everyone who’s savvy has their iPod unlocked or has used jailbreak. Time capsule? what?

So now we come to the Ultra light, ultra thin Mac Book Air personally I don’t like this machine. I don’t even care for the name much.

Lets just do a simple Pros and Cons of the new MBA:

Pros:

  • Ultra thin
  • Ultra light
  • SSD Potential
  • Bragging Rights

Cons:

  • Price
  • Non-standard DVI connection
  • Single USB
  • NO Optical drive
  • NO expansion slot
  • NO memory upgrade
  • NO RJ-45 port
  • NO user-replaceable battery ($129 replacement)
  • Battery life not impressive
  • SSD costs another GRAND
  • Extra 200mhz costs $300
  • Typical apple markup
  • $99 external super drive that might only work with the MBA
  • Mono channel audio

MacBook Air is ultra thin, ultra portable, and ultra unlike anything else. But you don’t lose inches and pounds overnight. It’s the result of rethinking conventions.

Uh… no you lose inches and pounds by removing necessary and basic features of a computer.

I like my MBP because its pretty thin and pretty light… and the fact that its a complete computer…. not like the toy described above.

Being a hardware tech savvy guy, I cant stand the thought of not being able to replace my own battery, or add memory.

Bottom line is the MBA is a glorified iPod.

]]> http://zakimirza.com/blog/macbook-air-or-hot-air/feed/ 14