Apple has just reduced the price of the lowest tier of refurbished MacBook Air to $699 — I’ve just seen it pop up on a couple news sites. One would think that the option of getting for such a low price what was a year ago an object of envy would make it a no-brainer. But it is the old version of the famously flat laptop, and although it may seem superfluous to point this out, I feel I should warn our readers that to take advantage of this deal is to buy yourself some grief.
This version of the MacBook Air debuted in October 2010, and it has a Core2 Duo processor that has roots going back to 2008 and before. It was outdated when it first showed up, and it’s a dog now. → Read More
This Kickstarter project has been kicking around the Internet a bit but it’s pretty cool. This is a handsome dock for your 11- or 13-inch air and includes 4 USB ports, an ethernet port, a DisplayPort, Kensington lock port, and power supply. To use it simply lock your MacBook into the LandingZone’s snug confines and start working.
As a doofus who just set up a standing desk, this would be a livesaver. First it improves the Air’s USB situation immensely and the ease of use would shave, at worst, a few seconds off of my start-up time and probably improve air circulation around the Air. → Read More
In my home office sits a 27-inch iMac with a secondary 24-inch LED Cinema Display attached to it. It’s a glorious vision of screen real estate.
And yet, I dread using it.
First world problem? It’s perhaps the definition of the term. But it’s true. I’m sitting here on a couch adjacent to my desk because I’d rather type this post on my MacBook Air. To be completely honest, I’d rather be using my iPad right now. But I must admit, it doesn’t come anywhere close to cutting it when it comes to typing more than a few dozen words. So for now, the MacBook Air exists as the pinnacle of personal computing in my eyes. → Read More
Apparently not all Thunderbolt ports are created equally. Anadtech discovered that the Thunderbolt chip within the latest MacBook Air is not the same found in the current MacBook Pro. The Air’s version packs less power and throughput resulting in less abilities. Hope you weren’t planning on hooking up two of those new fancy Thunderbolt Displays. → Read More
Ultrabooks are supposed to be the PC’s answer to the MacBook Air. These notebooks are said to rock hardware platforms very similar to the Air’s but, you know, run Windows instead of OS X. The first crop from HP and Asus will likely hit during the fourth quarter of 2011 but won’t be Air-killers right away. They’re going to be too expensive. → Read More
The Sandy Bridge update to the Air line has been enough to make some feel the lightweight laptop is ready for prime time (I’m convinced, personally), but it’s still not enough for some. MacBook Pro users are accustomed to more storage, more screen real estate, and a greater number of ports. If rumors are to be believed, the best of both worlds might be on its way, with Air-style design making its way to the Pro line.
The sources are obscure, referred to only obliquely (MacRumors “has learned” and TUAW is “hearing”), so take this with a grain of salt. But even sans source, it makes sense, while leaving room for plenty of speculation. What will the compromises be? → Read More
The traditional “splaying of the device” has been performed successfully on the new MacBook Air by the teardown experts and hand models at iFixit. The most user-relevant finding appears to be that the SSD module is user-replaceable — i.e. Apple hasn’t seen fit to physically bond it to the motherboard. Yet.
Apart from that and some minor layout changes to accommodate the larger processor die and Thunderbolt controller (and of course the LED lighting for the keyboard), there isn’t much to write home about. The new Air is a lot like the old Air — just faster. The big design tricks took place a long time ago, when they were first making the design choices that made this form factor possible. Check out the whole teardown here. → Read More
“At this point, I’m thinking Apple should just replace the standard MacBook with the Air.”
Yes, I just quoted myself. But I have a good reason. I wrote that on October 21 of last year, after one day of playing with the just-released new MacBook Air. Today, 9 months later, Apple is listening. The MacBook is dead. Long live the MacBook Air.
The fact of the matter is that this was inevitable. The MacBook started at $999. The MacBook Air started at $999. I just couldn’t see who would choose the MacBook over the Air. Unless you wanted an optical drive — but the optical disc had just been killed. As I wrote in my full review of the Air a few days later, it even replaced my brand-new MacBook Pro as my main computer. It was that good. And today, it gets even better. → Read More
It’s almost that time of year again, friends. New movies are terrible, kids are sucking down popsicles and my office is like a moist toaster oven. It’s nearly back to school time!
That means in our little trivial world that it’s time for new gadgets and the Internet rumor mill is lining up quite a big showing from Apple. Of course it’s always this way. The rumors state Apple will do no less than reverse the rotation of the Earth and then Steve Jobs simply introduces a new high-speed interface. But let’s dance anyway. → Read More
Impatient for those new MacBook Airs we know are coming? It’ll be a couple more weeks, if whispers heard by 9 to 5 Mac are to be believed. The upcoming earnings call on the 19th corroborates this; Apple was rumored to be waiting until they could ship with Lion, and it may be that they’ll just have nailed down that date come mid-July… but not quite yet. → Read More
Another day, another sold-out Mac product that points to a refresh. This time Best Buy is the culprit, noting that current MBA notebooks are not shipping from its stores. This usually means that a refresh is coming within the next few days and is most probably a minor upgrade of little interest to the average user but that will piss people off who just bought an MBA in the last week to no end. → Read More
If you’re in need of a sexy sleeve for your new Sandy Bridge/Thunderbolt MacBook Pro, you might consider picking up one of these from Acme Made. I reviewed a couple of their bags a while back and I know them to be pretty solid, with nice materials.
These two new entries are available only in Apple Stores, though, so you’ll have to move your feet around to get ‘em. → Read More
As you’re undoubtedly aware by now, tomorrow (in just a few hours, really), Apple is expected to unveil their latest line of laptops. News has already started to trickle out about what’s getting upgraded and what’s changing. Noticeably absent in this talk is the MacBook itself. And that begs the question: is it the end of the line for the product?
Simply put: it should be. → Read More
Twelve South makes cool, if simple, laptop gear. We’ve covered their BookArc before and this is an improved permutation of the version for the latest MacBook Air. It costs $39.99 and allows you to stand your laptop up next to a monitor and control the cabling so everything is in its right place. → Read More
So you got a new MacBook Air. Big deal, right? How have you been using it on your desk? Surely you have an external monitor, trackpad and keyboard. But, somethings missing, isn’t it? Why lie the MBA flat on the desktop, especially since there is now the BookArc from 12 South. → Read More
Every piece of technology has both good and bad attributes. Nothing is perfect. Not even the iPhone. (Well, at least not until that AT&T exclusivity ends.) But until three days ago, I had never used a product with attributes that are both insanely awesome and shockingly awful at the same time. Welcome into the world, Cr-48.
Now, Google has made it very clear that they don’t intend to release this product as it stands. As such, they’ve more or less asked those they’ve sent it to not to review it as a completed product. But it’s pretty much impossible to avoid talking about the hardware here because for most of us, it is the first and only gateway we’ve had into Chrome OS. Plus, there’s a lot of interest in this particular device among our readers, so I’m going to talk about it. → Read More
Guess which one wins? The brand new MacBook Air running at 1.4GHz or the vintage PowerBook 145B circa 1993 with a 25Mhz CPU? [via TUAW] → Read More
Looks like Apple is playing the heel again. It has asked PhotoFast to stop producing its 256MB SSD upgrade kits for the new MacBook Air. Boos can be heard all over the arena Why, Apple, why? Why’d you do it? → Read More
A recurring refrain in my Twitter feed is the coded question, “11 or 13?” Despite it’s religious overtones, this is not a reference to passages in the Bible. It is a question familiar to any Apple-obsessed consumer: Should I get the 11-inch MacBook Air or the 13-inch?
If you’ve been asking yourself the same question, today the price difference will not be the deciding factor. Although the cheapest 11″ MacBook Air is still $999, a Black Friday deal on the the 13″ models makes the lower-end one with a 128 GB flash drive the same price as the higher-end 11″ model with the 128 GB flash drive. It is actually a dollar cheaper, $1,198 versus $1,199, and the battery lasts longer. → Read More
Adobe Flash is under attack again. And you know what that means. Time for more complaining.
Today, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch spoke with Fast Company about the most recent Flash controversy the company has had to deal with. Last week, a report revealed that the lack of Flash on the new MacBook Air may save as much as 2 hours of battery life on that machine. Several subsequent reports noticed the same or similar things. Lynch’s response? “It’s a false argument to make, of the power usage. When you’re displaying content, any technology will use more power to display, versus not displaying content.” → Read More
