Libra Monkee wrote:
You'd think with it's portability it'd be for the "road warrior" but the fact that you can't swap out batteries on the fly and the lack of ports negates that.
No, more like travel from my desk to my office, or to coffee/lunch, library, etc. The problem with that assumption is the "warrior" part. I do all my warring on much more capable machines.
So they like to carry an extra battery with them just in case.
I don't carry the charger with me, and most times I get enough use out of the six hours of battery that it's not quite dead when I get home. On the other hand, I don't use it all day, either. I open it from time to time to check email, or use an app that's configured for my personal stuff (vs the other machines at the office being for work stuff).
Then you think well maybe it's only for small tasks like word processing, maybe some web-chatting (I don't know anyone who uses iChat), internet surfing, or playing music. But if that's all you're going to use it for there ARE better or at least less expensive solutions.
I do a lot of word processing in general, and the Air is more than adequate for that. The reason I mentioned my HP is I just don't like it. It's a pretty slick machine, but it's clunky. The hinges are too stiff, it's not shaped in such a fashion that a "positive grip" on it is intuitive. The power cable and power supply are bulky and heavy, and they protrude at a 90° angle from the case, making it hard to rest in your lap when it's plugged in. The form factor, for me, is a good one for when I'm away from my desk.
Avriette says it's a "tertiary machine", fine. But don't you think the $1800 - $3100 starting price is a bit... well... HIGH to have two other devices come before it?
I get a discount, remember. Also, I traded in my Macbook for it. So, my out the door cost was right around $500. In general, Sandy and I sell our previous laptops on eBay before buying the new one. The Macs seem to depreciate less than comparable machines, especially in the overseas markets. So, we usually wind up rolling about $1,000 of the cost of a new machine into the equation, making the Macs in general about as expensive as corresponding PC's.
Let's see, you need something that's LIKE a computer, but not really. It has to be portable enough to carry around but doesn't have to be as powerful and your primary or even secondary machines. Well, most people who desire such tertiary machines such as this have smartphones. Smartphones (much like the MBA) do a lot of the same things real computers do, only not as well. They play music, surf the internet, send/ receive email, and (in some cases) some light word processing.
You're aware I have a BB 8310. I
do carry the BB when I don't want a laptop. I generally avoid carrying anything with me, to the extent of shrinking my keyring down to two keys, my wallet down to a few credit cards, not carrying cash, etc. If I'm going to be somewhere for a few hours and don't have a book to read, or will get tired of it (flights to SD/HI), I bring a laptop. Previously, I brought the Macbook with me. Now, I'd bring the Air. Remember, "tertiary" for me is after the Mini at home, Linux and Windows desktops at work, and my work laptop. I bring the Air when it fills a need that none of the above (making it the fifth machine in order of preference) do.
Also, you remember I tried to pair my bt keyboard with my BB. I eventually got it to pair, but it didn't do the right thing. I write
a lot. I can't do anything more than very trivial writing (email, IM) on the blackberry, but if I could pair a keyboard to it and have it work correctly, I'd carry the BB and a roll-up keyboard.
1) Mac fanboys who shoot a load every time Mr. Jobs steps down from on high.
That's kinda snarky, but yes, I'm a Mac fanboy. I like the way the machines look and feel, I like the interface on the OS, and the company has mostly treated me well over the twenty five or so years I've been using their products. The Air is my tenth mac, or fourteenth if you count the machines my employers have bought me over the years. Does this make me a fanboy? I don't think it makes me a fanboy any more than buying PCs makes PC users fanpersons.
2) People with large amounts of disposable income and want something pretty but not all that functional to sit on their desk.
Well, yeah. I mean, we're talking about the company that made the Cube, Spartacus, Newton, and so on. Most of the people that buy Macs, in general, are willing (or able) to spend more money on a computer than is strictly frugal. They're indulging their preferences, rather than being pragmatic about it. I hardly think that's a bad quality, though. And, remember, I get a 25% discount on my computers. Between that and rolling in the cost of the previous machine, we spend maybe $1k a year on computers from Apple.
3) Those who are swayed by monochrome backgrounds and hand models playing with electronics while New Wave music lulls them into a trance.
Have you looked at the ads at an Apple Store lately? Or the desktops that ship with new Macs? Ives and Jobs are kind of pretentious when it comes to style, but I'd say that in general my Macs are a lot more colorful than my PC's. As far as music, I don't watch a lot of tv, so I can't really recall the music they use. I do remember the Ellen Feiss commercial, and that wasn't really new-age as much as it was a sort of coffee-shop kitsch.
As far as my reasons for getting a Mac,
* It's Unix. I like having a terminal and an X server. I'm a Unix admin, and it's really, really useful to have all the Unix tools I need to do my job. With a Windows machine, I always wind up making my "home" a Unix machine that I shell in to. I started using Linux on my Macs in 1998, about a year after I started sysadminning. Back then, we were on OS 8/9. When I got my first copy of the OS X public beta, I started using that.
* All the apps are there, and built by the same vendor. For better or for worse, the same vendor builds all the applications on my Macs. If I use only the Apple apps, my machines are incredibly stable (moreso than my Linux machines, even). I can't do that with Microsoft. And even with Windows/Office, there are so many more developers on the project, and so many factions in the company, that there are inevitable differences in APIs and interfaces. The Mac is just a cleaner installation.
* The form factor is generally good. I just don't like the way most PC's are built, with the exception of the VAIOs (which are as expensive as Macs anyways), and some of the Alienwares (same).
* The warranty. I've had two Mac laptops replaced, no questions asked. I've had a few repairs over the years, and some of them have been manufacturer defects. However, I've
never paid for a repair. Remember, also, that I work in helpdesk organizations most of the time, so I send in RMAs all the time for every brand of PC we have. Usually those go okay, but you get some dude in Hyderabad who wants you to clear your IE cache when you report a problem with your NIC.
The only other thing I'd add to this is that I've been using Ubuntu since I started working here, and I really like it. I'm getting to the point where I think Linux is getting close to parity with the Mac in terms of stability, usefulness, and aesthetic. The new KDE4 remix is just gorgeous, and the package management and Xwindows configuration
finally work. I may start running everything on top of Linux. I'll probably still be buying Apple hardware, though.
