No Pepsi blue? January 15, 2008 5:34 PM   Subscribe

How is it possible that there is no Apple post? Has there been a secret agreement to not shill that I missed? Is there a secret plot? I always enjoy the fireworks, and am missing them this Tuesday.
posted by cccorlew to Etiquette/Policy at 5:34 PM (140 comments total)

OMG.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:39 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


It was a fairly boring keynote, right up to the very end there.

But more importantly, how would a pointer to the apple keynote be "the best of web"?
posted by tkolar at 5:40 PM on January 15, 2008


This is not the MetaFilter you are looking for.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 5:41 PM on January 15, 2008


And yet here you are.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:43 PM on January 15, 2008


What a load of hot air.

WTF, Apple!? No touchscreen tablet?
posted by loquacious at 5:43 PM on January 15, 2008


Mefi's own John Hodgman strikes again.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:45 PM on January 15, 2008


NTHing OMG.
posted by snsranch at 5:48 PM on January 15, 2008


LOL
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:49 PM on January 15, 2008


I'm so confused. Apple? What? Oh never mind.
posted by Evangeline at 5:52 PM on January 15, 2008


You're actually looking for a rehashed flamewar that we've been through again and again? You like that shit? I think there are better sites for that sort of thing. Go there.
posted by slogger at 5:52 PM on January 15, 2008


Nothing like some delicious preemptive hatorade. Jebus.
posted by drpynchon at 5:54 PM on January 15, 2008


Try to keep up, we did this last week.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:56 PM on January 15, 2008


ccorlew: are you suggesting that there was something really earth-shatteringly awesome about today's keynote? Because personally, I found it to be meh and lacking in best-of-the-anythingness. Stuff is skinnier and uses fewer cables. Paradigms have not been subverted this day.
posted by mumkin at 6:00 PM on January 15, 2008 [2 favorites]


Pardon me, cccorlew. I appear to have inadvertently dropped one of your cs.
posted by mumkin at 6:03 PM on January 15, 2008


That Randy Newman murderous dictators bit was a bit fucking bizarre, wasn't it?
posted by chrismear at 6:07 PM on January 15, 2008


I think we should instead talk about the devices Apple would make if they worked exclusively under contract to secretive government agencies.
posted by ardgedee at 6:16 PM on January 15, 2008


I think it would have been totally FPP worthy if Steve announced porn video rentals because I don't think anyone would see that coming. As it is, it was pretty meh. However, I am pretty excited my Apple TV will be able to watch rental movies.
posted by birdherder at 6:25 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite]




The keynote was solid. Not every single event can be "HOLY FUCK THE DIGITAL WORLD HAS CHANGED", and topping last year's iPhone announcement is basically not going to happen for quite some time.

Really, I'm glad there was no keynote coverage on MeFi. It's everywhere already--it's not like if it wasn't on MeFi, you'd never hear about it. I'd rather see stuff I can't see on every single Mac and tech site in the known universe.

Because personally, I found it to be meh and lacking in best-of-the-anythingness. Stuff is skinnier and uses fewer cables.

as i have demonstrated, *pushes up glasses*
posted by secret about box at 6:30 PM on January 15, 2008 [3 favorites]


Yep, agreed. There's no Apple post because what Apple did was boring. Nothing new. Just more of the same ole', same ole'.

The only thing I want from Apple now is an iPod classic style iPod that has at least 80GB of space, a touch screen, a radio and Wi-Fi that is unhindered by DRM. When that day comes, Apple will excite me again. But since that day will never come...
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:44 PM on January 15, 2008


The new AppleTV is going to surprise people. It will be the next ipod for apple.
posted by empath at 6:51 PM on January 15, 2008


I would love a post that combined Ron Paul, Apple, Google, Iraq, lolcats, and relationships. I think it would explode. Or, implode. A plode of some kind for sure.
posted by ORthey at 6:57 PM on January 15, 2008 [2 favorites]


Ha, I was surprised that there was a missing Apple post because I've come to expect it everytime Apple announces something new. Would have been nice to hear Mefites' opinions on the Mac Air. But oh well.
posted by divabat at 6:59 PM on January 15, 2008


I thought that the Time Capsule thingy was pretty bloody cool, to be honest. But if you're even vaguely interested in Apple gubbins, there are - what? - ten places on the web where discussion of the keynote would be more informative and more fun than any thread here. And if you disagree, why not make a post about the announcement yourself instead of having a troll/whine here.
posted by jack_mo at 7:01 PM on January 15, 2008


No updates to the MacBook Pro line? I HOPE YOU GET HERPES OF THE SYPHILLIS, STEVE.
posted by middleclasstool at 7:02 PM on January 15, 2008 [2 favorites]


The new AppleTV is going to surprise people. It will be the next ipod for apple.

I'm waiting to see what the realistic download times for rental movies will be, and how quickly the movie library expands. But yeah, as of today the AppleTV became a viable product for me and a lot of my coworkers.
posted by tkolar at 7:03 PM on January 15, 2008


What is this? I came here hoping for Gwyneth Paltrow.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:03 PM on January 15, 2008


MetaFilter: This is not the MetaFilter you are looking for.
And yet here you are.
posted by ottereroticist at 7:09 PM on January 15, 2008


I was thinking about doing a comprehensive roundup of links to info regarding the late, lamented former Apple CEO Gil Amelio and his legendary non-compelling 1997 keynote a few days ago, but I couldn't quite bring myself around to the idea.
posted by porn in the woods at 7:09 PM on January 15, 2008


I think we should instead talk about the devices Apple would make if they worked exclusively under contract to secretive government agencies.

iSnoop?
posted by jonmc at 7:19 PM on January 15, 2008


I wouldn't say it was boring. MacBook Air is very lustworthy. A big leap in laptop thinness, but, no, not FPP worthy.
posted by The Deej at 7:25 PM on January 15, 2008


The new AppleTV is going to surprise people. It will be the next ipod for apple.

It seems an expensive and restrictive way to stream movies, compared with Netflix. I was also surprised Jobs didn't have any answer for Amazon's DRM-free, cheaper music.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:27 PM on January 15, 2008


I would love a post that combined Ron Paul, Apple, Google, Iraq, lolcats, and relationships.

Who will take up this bold challenge?
posted by LarryC at 7:31 PM on January 15, 2008


Working on it.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:32 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


It's the same thing as before, but smaller and with slightly fewer features. Not really FPP material.
posted by Malor at 7:34 PM on January 15, 2008


I wouldn't say it was boring. MacBook Air is very lustworthy. A big leap in laptop thinness, but, no, not FPP worthy.

I was underwhelmed. Thinness is more of a marketing thing (ooh, look, the thinnest laptop ever) than something of use to the consumer. Weight? Form factor? Yes, definitely.

I'd rather give back some thinness though in order to get an actual Ethernet port and a couple USB ports and, heck, even a Firewire port so I can actually connect stuff to this thing when I'm not porting it around. But thinness? Of no use.

I was really looking for a replacement for my 12" Powerbook. But this, sadly, does not seem to be it.
posted by vacapinta at 7:37 PM on January 15, 2008 [4 favorites]


It gets a little disgusting watching MeFi suckle at the Apple teat sometimes.
posted by caddis at 7:37 PM on January 15, 2008


so how do you feel today caddis, with the absence of that suckling?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:41 PM on January 15, 2008 [7 favorites]


It's usually disgusting if suckle and MeFi are in the same sentence.
posted by ORthey at 7:42 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


I like the Macbook Air. It *might* be the computer that makes me an Apple owner again. But I'm still hesitant -- do the Mac people now have to tithe to Steve Jobs?
posted by clevershark at 7:42 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


Where is the damned Apple Tablet by the way? That is all I am waiting for to make the switch.
posted by LarryC at 7:49 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


seriously, no firewire? Useless for me.
posted by empath at 7:51 PM on January 15, 2008


Can you install Vista on it? That's available on Mac products now, right?
posted by geoff. at 7:53 PM on January 15, 2008


It gets a little disgusting watching MeFi suckle at the Apple teat sometimes.

I suckle at Apple's teat every day these days.

Which reminds me, the UNTOLD story of MacWorld was the STARTLING SUCCESS of Bento, a product which in retrospect will have broken every single sales record in history due to its widespread grassroots support.

Disclaimer: I was a major[*] contributor to Bento.

[*] Well okay, I came on three months before the project was finished, but I did some vitally[**] important work on it.

[**] "Vitally" may be overstating it. Very[***] important work.

[***] Okay! Enough already! I did a few small animations. And added a checkbox to turn off the animations.
posted by tkolar at 7:58 PM on January 15, 2008 [2 favorites]


I thought MacBook Air was a new carrier, kind of like SkyHigh Airlines.
posted by lukemeister at 7:59 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


Can you install Vista on it? That's available on Mac products now, right?

Yep. And believe me, the cognitive dissonance of seeing Windows on a Mac is nothing to trifle with.
posted by tkolar at 7:59 PM on January 15, 2008


Raise your hand if you have iTunes ...

Raise your hand if you have a FireWire port ...

Raise your hand if you have both ...

Raise your hand if you have $400 to spend on a cute Apple device ...

There is Apple's market. Pretty slim, eh? I don't see many sales in the future of iPod.

posted by Mid at 8:00 PM on January 15, 2008


(I just love that every time one of these "it doesn't have [foo]" discussions starts.)
posted by Mid at 8:01 PM on January 15, 2008


Wake me up when Jobs announces the iFlyingCar.
posted by flabdablet at 8:03 PM on January 15, 2008


No new Cinema displays? All I wanted was a 24" glossy iMac without the iMac.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 8:09 PM on January 15, 2008


The most interesting thing was a price drop.
posted by smackfu at 8:11 PM on January 15, 2008


"It's the same thing as before, but smaller and with slightly fewer features."

What is… sex after marriage?
posted by klangklangston at 8:11 PM on January 15, 2008 [2 favorites]


You guys know the old ad campaign where real apples drop off a tree into a human-sized stack that starts playing basketball or rocking out? I remember liking the music, and I've never found it online.
posted by breezeway at 8:11 PM on January 15, 2008


klangklangston,

No, Metafilter. We're going back to our original community values.
posted by lukemeister at 8:20 PM on January 15, 2008


more like crapple amirite
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:21 PM on January 15, 2008


You made those animations, tkolar?

I hate those animations.

Okay, I don't even know the product, much less the particular feature, but I saw an opportunity that no one else was jumping on
posted by yhbc at 8:22 PM on January 15, 2008


Hey, there's a reason why I also implemented the checkbox that turns off the animations.
posted by tkolar at 8:24 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


ten places on the web where discussion of the keynote would be more informative and more fun
Like where, Jack? Most of the discussions I read today were just woeful.

OMG it has a fixed battery uh so what? because like you can get apple to change it and it's better than the eeepc because it's thin, so even though it's bigger, it is thin and that makes it great for me when I'm a student so I've pre-ordered one and I would totally buy this for my dad, but I don't know if it will be thin?
posted by bonaldi at 8:34 PM on January 15, 2008


So it's just a nicer looking nomad? This was supposed to be a big deal?
posted by nitsuj at 8:52 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


I pretend to be open-minded, but deep down I believe in my heart of hearts that those horrible bastard people who don't use and love Macintosh computers are half-human, half-goat devil creatures sent from the depths of Hades to torment me with their rapacious pincers and ravening maws.

God how I hate them.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:55 PM on January 15, 2008 [8 favorites]


Wait, Pepsi bought Apple?

I need to stop smoking this.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:01 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


I'm still bitter about my brown Zune post.
posted by Artw at 9:06 PM on January 15, 2008


I think we should instead talk about the devices Apple would make if they worked exclusively under contract to secretive government agencies.

What makes you think they don't? You really believe the iPod is just a music player?
posted by tkolar at 9:13 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


Hey, there's a reason why I also implemented the checkbox that turns off the animations.

*You* implemented that checkbox? Let me tell you all the things wrong with that checkbox...

No, not really. If I did that, I'd have to think about all the time I've seen checkboxes implemented badly

Also, I like the Mac keynote MeFi threads. they save me having to sort through coverage elsewhere. It's like a filter. Of course, there was nothing I cared about this go 'round, so I suppose the system works. Carry on.

posted by stet at 9:22 PM on January 15, 2008


*You* implemented that checkbox?

Yeah. It's the one labeled "If you don't want to see the unanimated version of this application, uncheck this box"
posted by tkolar at 9:32 PM on January 15, 2008 [5 favorites]


*runs that through babelfish*
posted by middleclasstool at 9:36 PM on January 15, 2008


Thank you all. I feel much better now. This was every bit as good as a Blue post. I can sleep with a happy heart. Goodnight.
posted by cccorlew at 9:56 PM on January 15, 2008


MBA
  • battery: not replaceable
  • memory: not upgradable
  • hard drive: not accessible
  • ethernet port: missing
  • firewire: doa

    meanwhile in iPhone land
  • bluetooth stack: pathetic
  • Notes Sync: awol
  • To Do List: not still alive

    Video Rentals
  • cost: slightly more than your local store

    meh!

  • posted by blue_beetle at 9:59 PM on January 15, 2008 [2 favorites]




    Test.

    Okay, this is weird. I wrote a joke FPP comment (here, in this MeTa thread, not as a stunt FPP on The Blue) with the Ron Paul, Apple, stuff, etc. It showed up when I posted it, but then it disappeared. At first I figured a mod deleted it (which would be weird enough for a harmless comment in a thread like this in the gray), except now, when I preview a new comment (like this one), the comment reappears again. So is comment http://metatalk.metafilter.com/mefi/15623#501864 showing up for you guys, or not? I'm starting to suspect general Internet weirdness on my end...
    posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:14 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


    Nope, doesn't show up for me.
    posted by tkolar at 11:21 PM on January 15, 2008


    ...and now it's gone again.

    Buuut on preview, it's back. Okay - I get it. Preview obviously isn't keeping up.

    Will whichever mod deleted my comment please memail or email me? I'm honestly confused.
    posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:24 PM on January 15, 2008


    Sorry, Charlie. Gone, daddy, gone.
    posted by team lowkey at 11:27 PM on January 15, 2008


    I just rented a movie. I don't feel ripped off at all. I don't have any space to keep a full movie anyway.
    posted by empath at 12:14 AM on January 16, 2008


    MetaSuckle? MetaTeat? MeTeat?

    Seeing the word "MeTeat" brings to mind the words "meat tit." Makes me cringe a bit.
    posted by MaryDellamorte at 12:46 AM on January 16, 2008


    mmmm, baconnips
    posted by trondant at 1:04 AM on January 16, 2008 [1 favorite]


    I can't take apart my Kitchenaid blender. If they come out with a new motor, I'm screwed. It's not upgradeable! And when the motor blows (as it DID... grrr), I have to send it back.

    True, but I can go two weeks without my blender. I can go two weeks without my iPod, too. My cellphone, PDA or laptop? Hells no. The battery issue is a usability issue there, not a technical one, and I'm surprised it doesn't bother more people. I suspect it will in a couple of years.
    posted by middleclasstool at 4:24 AM on January 16, 2008


    bonaldi: "ten places on the web where discussion of the keynote would be more informative and more fun
    Like where, Jack? Most of the discussions I read today were just woeful.

    OMG it has a fixed battery uh so what? because like you can get apple to change it and it's better than the eeepc because it's thin, so even though it's bigger, it is thin and that makes it great for me when I'm a student so I've pre-ordered one and I would totally buy this for my dad, but I don't know if it will be thin?
    "

    Yeah, you're right: I wrote that before really delving in to the various Mac-specific sites, and the drivel-spouting was high, higher than usual, even.

    And I only managed to resist the urge to turn into a slavering Eee PC fanboy on those sites, too. Thin schmin! Give me tiny! I actually did buy one for my Dad! &c.! To be honest, I think I might have to install OS X on mine, cover the Asus logo with an old Apple sticker, commission Susan Kare to draw that wee Swedish clover thingy over the Home key with Tippex and just believe that it was announced in yesterdays keynote as the MacBook Midget. As an Apple-suckler of many years standing, it's really very distressing to find oneself gulping lukewarm techmilk from the gummy teat of a sodding Linux PC

    cccorlew: "Thank you all. I feel much better now. This was every bit as good as a Blue post. I can sleep with a happy heart. Goodnight."

    Oh, you are a sneaky devil.
    posted by jack_mo at 4:31 AM on January 16, 2008


    > those horrible bastard people who don't use and love Macintosh computers are half-human, half-goat devil
    > creatures sent from the depths of Hades to torment me with their rapacious pincers and ravening maws.

    Oh great, the meta-missing-Apple-thread post has morphed into the missing Apple thread. So I'd just like to point out that Apple is not now a computer company and has not been a computer company for many years--pretty much not since the rainbow Apple logo greyed out. That's a high price to pay for one of Satoshi Kon's hand-me-down black turthenecks. Carry on.
    posted by jfuller at 5:17 AM on January 16, 2008


    It's the same thing as before, but smaller and with slightly fewer features.

    Doesn't this describe 99% of Apple's products?
    posted by DevilsAdvocate at 6:14 AM on January 16, 2008


    Like empath said upthread: no firewire.

    Is drag.
    posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:15 AM on January 16, 2008


    the minute i post about getting a mac ...................... everyone stops giving a hoot about apple, i must be the anti jobs or something.
    posted by sgt.serenity at 7:30 AM on January 16, 2008


    we have an Apple post - Apple stole all its good ideas from Braun (I may have paraphrased that badly ;)
    posted by caddis at 7:35 AM on January 16, 2008


    What does Apple have against fat laptops?
    posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:51 AM on January 16, 2008


    ORthey:
    Asplode is the splode you seek.
    posted by Mister_A at 9:04 AM on January 16, 2008


    I had missed that post Caddis. Pretty amazing correlation. Tx.
    posted by jouke at 9:41 AM on January 16, 2008


    How is it possible that there is no Apple post?


    there was one, but it was so thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin that you missed it
    posted by matteo at 9:42 AM on January 16, 2008 [3 favorites]


    I think we should instead talk about the devices Apple would make if they worked exclusively under contract to secretive government agencies.

    They would make 800MHz PowerPC computers. Each one would come in a suitcase, weigh 45 lbs., and cost twenty-five thousand dollars. It would require six weeks of training per operator to learn how to use, which the government employees would ignore, and the devices would sit in a warehouse, unused, for ten years before finally being sold as surplus, whereupon they'd be bought up by shoddily-constructed fronts and shipped to Iran.

    I'm sorry, did you think government agenices were cool or something?
    posted by Kadin2048 at 11:04 AM on January 16, 2008 [2 favorites]




    The MacBook Air is a conservative design. All Apple's laptop designs have been pretty conservative, really: No tablets, no accelerometers, usually not the largest hard drive available.

    The omission of ports is probably not such a big deal, since the people for whom the Air is a big deal won't be hard-plugging a lot of shit while they're away from their desk and its nice 7-port Belkin USB hub. (Get one. They're great.) The omission of FireWire is intriguing. I have to wonder if it signals abandoning the standard. I'll miss them, because I've just in general had a lot fewer problems with Firewire devices than with USB 2.0 devices. Even on PCs.

    Price point isn't bad, either. It's competitive with similar devices. Comparison with the current Asus EEE is pointless because they're not really competitors. (But comparison with the forthcoming 10" Asus EEE starts to have a point. Only starts, though.)
    posted by lodurr at 1:16 PM on January 16, 2008


    Just so as not to leave the Microsoft folks feeling left out: Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?
    posted by caddis at 1:29 PM on January 16, 2008


    All apple laptops have accelerometers. They don't make the registers easy to read from user space, but you can get kernel patches that will give you access.
    posted by tkolar at 1:34 PM on January 16, 2008


    What does a laptop do with an accelerometer? This brain floating in space wants to know.
    posted by Mister_A at 1:57 PM on January 16, 2008


    The laptop recognizes that it just fell off the desk, giving it time to prepare the hard drive for the impact when it lands.
    posted by tkolar at 2:01 PM on January 16, 2008


    It tells the laptop when it is falling, so it parks the disk heads so they wont hit the platter when the laptop hits the ground.

    Also, you can use it as a level or other nifty things.

    I think their obsession with thing came at a cost, it ended up being technically wider and deeper than the macbook. If they matched the sony for thinness, they could have atleast made the thing narrower and have a smalled *desk* footprint. The fact I can stick it in the envelope is nice, but do I really need all that aluminum around my display? I bet there is some useless space because they needed the tapered edge. I can't wait for the service manual for them.

    Next year with an affordable SSD, WiMax or other next gen wireless builtin, and a magic expresscard slot (or docking port that used the spec for the interfaces, something) along with a pony, and I'd be really happy.
    posted by mrzarquon at 2:03 PM on January 16, 2008


    iPhone fun!
    posted by Artw at 2:04 PM on January 16, 2008


    s/thing/thin
    s/smalled/smaller

    s/empty stomach/full stomach
    posted by mrzarquon at 2:05 PM on January 16, 2008


    The laptop recognizes that it just fell off the desk, giving it time to prepare the hard drive for the impact when it lands.

    plus you can hack and use it to control games.
    posted by caddis at 2:10 PM on January 16, 2008


    If I were a technology reviewer, this would be my review for the Macbook Air:

    It's very thin. Go for it, if that's your thing.
    posted by shmegegge at 2:13 PM on January 16, 2008


    plus you can hack and use it to control games.

    Among other things.
    posted by cortex (staff) at 2:22 PM on January 16, 2008 [2 favorites]


    Bah, unless you compare it to last years keynote (iPhone) it wasn't bad at all. But if you're an apple fan other sites do it better.

    And apple would be nuts to bring out a tablet computer. You people have lost your minds.
    posted by justgary at 3:31 PM on January 16, 2008


    If I were a technology reviewer, this would be my review for the Macbook Air:

    It's very thin. Go for it, if that's your thing.


    Basically right. It's a thin, light, minimalist laptop intended to be a portable supplement to another "home base" kind of setup (either in an office or home, or both). That's the subnotebook market. The trick about the subnotebook market is that it's the realm of this-guy-wants-this-without-that-but-this-guy-wants-that-without-this. If one were to speak of "can't please everyone all the time" people, the subnotebookers are those people to the letter.

    The Air is going to make a lot of people happy, while not being right for others. There's nothing much more to say than, "Go for it, if that's your thing."
    posted by secret about box at 3:54 PM on January 16, 2008


    All apple laptops have accelerometers.

    I stand corrected.

    I still say they're basically conservative in laptop design. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it manifests in really weird ways, like how profoundly difficult they are to work on. (To crack my 12 inch PowerBook I had to remove 36 screws of 5 different types and then pry loose the spring-fit halves with a couple of putty knives. What's that all about? I say it's to promote the appearance of quality.)

    As for the Air as a supplementary computer - I don't think that's it. I really don't believe that most people who use ultra-lightweight notebooks are using it as a supplementary notebook. You can't take tech journalists as a good example of the population. I truly believe that most people who use the very light subnotebooks are using them as a primary computer. "Supplemental" computers are a pain in the ass, and real people almost invariably either have lots of synchronization problems with them or just give up on using them as "supplements".

    And there's nothing about the Air that prohibits that. You just have to rethink some things, especially if you've been used to using a Mac: USB instead of Firewire, always use a hub, upgrade to 802.11N, etc. It's got 2GB -- that's plenty if you're not doing graphics.
    posted by lodurr at 4:42 PM on January 16, 2008


    I found the Airport with hard drive interesting and useful. My company is big enough to need an Xserve and RAID but I have several friends at smaller shops who could really benefit from that. It's just that when Apple makes something innovative and useful that doesn't really sate those of us who look for them to be groundbreaking. I'm not sure why they don't have a model with an optical drive in it, given the Air's ability to borrow the optical drive of another networked computer.

    Another MacGeek friend of mine summed up the Air as the new Cube/20th Anniversary Mac, and I think he's right. Steve likes to make those items about every five years it seems. Though I'll bet what they've learned about minimizing processors to make this thing will have real utility in their future real-work-doing MacBook Pros. And hopefully the next desktop won't be the size of a Volkswagen.
    posted by MarvinTheCat at 5:24 PM on January 16, 2008


    Oh come on. The Air is designed to appeal to the executive showoff demographic. The CEO who has to have the sexiest looking device to carry around to meetings. In the hope that if you get him on a Mac, he'll authorize the purchase of more Macs where PCs were traditionally being used. Honestly it's a pretty smart strategy.

    My beef with the Air is that sure, it's thin. It's also 3 pounds. There are a few sub 2.5 pound PC laptops on the market, like the 2.3 pound Vaio I just got the missus. And that tiny little thing has an internal DVD burner, built in webcam and every port she could possibly need. And she can swap out batteries if she somehow needs to work longer than the 5+ hours she gets on a charge.
    posted by JaredSeth at 5:55 PM on January 16, 2008


    re:

    Is that Mathowie?
    posted by tehloki at 6:15 PM on January 16, 2008


    why of course

    thanks cortex

    mathowie has such a great sense of humor, I love it
    posted by caddis at 6:22 PM on January 16, 2008


    Oh come on. The Air is designed to appeal to the executive showoff demographic.

    Well, sure. But that's always been true of the "metal" (Powerbook/MBPro) lineup. I think that tends to be true of subnotebooks in general. Back in '01 I worked for a shop that had very routinized IT -- 70% of the company had nearly identical Toshiba Satellites. But the CEO saw this Toshiba subnotebook he had to have, and that was why: It looked cool, high tech, hot.

    Some of us use them because they're small. That's what I loved (still love, though I hardly use it now) about my Sony PictureBook C1VPK. It makes the Air look like a beast. Shit, it almost makes an Asus EEE look like a beast. I could fit three of them inside my 12 inch Powerbook. (OK, maybe not quite 3.) And at that size, it was actually usable, but you really did want to use a keyboard and monitor with it. The Air has a big enough screen you wouldn't need to do that. It's definitely good enough for use as a primary.

    Is the "thinness" of the air really that much of an advantage? I don't know; I think, maybe. I like a really small footprint, but the 12" powerbook has been surprisingly good for that, and this is only a little larger. It's still a bit smaller in footprint than most "small" notebooks (not subnotebooks, of course).

    But you're right, it's definitely a luxury purchase or a style purchase. Shit, it's an Apple. You want bang for the buck, buy Lenovo or Acer or Asus. (Pretty colors, too.)
    posted by lodurr at 6:45 PM on January 16, 2008


    Shit, it's an Apple. You want bang for the buck, buy Lenovo or Acer or Asus.

    I dunno, my MacBook Pro didn't cost $shitloads and it's a beast of a machine.
    posted by secret about box at 7:15 PM on January 16, 2008


    I dunno, my MacBook Pro didn't cost $shitloads and it's a beast of a machine.
    posted by Mikey-San at 10:15 PM on January 16 [+] [!]


    Stop smoking the Apple pipe man. Those things start at about two grand. You can practically get two Thinkpads for that kind of money.
    posted by caddis at 10:04 PM on January 16, 2008


    By the time it's upgraded to have a DVD writer and the big hard drive you're inevitably going to need (Apple or no) and you've bought Applecare*, it's up around $3K. (I just bought one for our office.) It's a luxury product. We ultimately save money by buying them because TCO does drop (somewhat) as a function of uniformity in your support environment (i.e., it's cheaper to have all one kind of thing).

    --
    *You gotta get Applecare. Only a fool doesn't buy extra warranty protection on Apple products. And before you call me a hater, yes, if I were buying Toshibas or Lenovos, I'd probably get extra warranty coverage then, too.

    posted by lodurr at 3:58 AM on January 17, 2008


    I found the Airport with hard drive interesting and useful.

    That was honestly my only "holy shit" moment for the whole speech. The Air was pretty, the AppleTV reboot sounded okay, the new iPhone/Touch stuff was pretty lickable, but when he brought up Time Capsule, it was one of those great "well, duh, no shit" moments when you realize that in retrospect it's such an obvious, simple and useful idea that you're surprised you never thought of it yourself.
    posted by middleclasstool at 5:59 AM on January 17, 2008


    I actually think it's kind of a stupid idea. What would make much more sense (and be much less marketable, because it wouldn't be one pretty aluminum and white plastic unit) is a device that had FW 400 or USB 2 ports to mount external drives. So that when you, you know, fill the fuckers up with backups, or when the drive inevitably fails, you can add more storage.

    Basically it's a disposable appliance. I find that concept very aesthetically displeasing. Come to think of it, so is the Air. So are all modern laptops. Where's my fucking Sandbenders, people?!

    Oh, wait, here it is.
    posted by lodurr at 6:11 AM on January 17, 2008


    You gotta get Applecare. Only a fool doesn't buy extra warranty protection on Apple products.

    I thought part of the reason for that was there was no tech support beyond 90 days otherwise. I believe Lenovo, at least, provides good tech support for the whole year for free.
    posted by grouse at 6:17 AM on January 17, 2008


    No security slot, either. Worse than disposable, it designed to be forcibly replaced.
    posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:18 AM on January 17, 2008


    I thought part of the reason for that was there was no tech support beyond 90 days otherwise. I believe Lenovo, at least, provides good tech support for the whole year for free.

    Myth: Apple does not provide technical support for its computers after 90 days.
    Fact: Apple provides a year of hardware support, not 90 days.
    posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:20 AM on January 17, 2008


    I knew that Apple provided a hardware warranty for a year. I'm talking about phone support.
    posted by grouse at 6:23 AM on January 17, 2008


    Apple provides phone support for hardware issues for a full year.
    posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:24 AM on January 17, 2008


    And if you mean software support, the extent of Lenovo's software support will simply be to tell you to wipe the hard drive clean and reinstall Windows.
    posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:27 AM on January 17, 2008


    Apple provides phone support for hardware issues for a full year.

    I'll take your word on it. Everywhere I've ever seen, Apple has said that there is only 90 days of complimentary phone support, without stating that this only means software support. For example, the page outling
    Apple's complimentary support options says "Most Apple software and hardware products include unlimited complimentary support incidents within the first 90 days of product ownership. See the support-related materials included with your Apple product for more information." Bizarrely, on that page they also define hardware and software support separately, but don't state that you still get hardware support beyond 90 days for some reason.

    Anyway if such a myth exists, I think Apple is to blame. And I think it's because they're trying to sell more of those AppleCare contracts. Thanks for clearing this up, BP.
    posted by grouse at 6:48 AM on January 17, 2008


    Everywhere I've ever seen, Apple has said that there is only 90 days of complimentary phone support, without stating that this only means software support.

    Of course, I wasn't including the period more than a decade ago when they used to provide free phone support while the original purchaser owned the product.
    posted by grouse at 6:53 AM on January 17, 2008


    I'll take your word on it.

    I did tech support for a number of years and worked with Apple to get AppleCare-less and -covered hardware repaired.

    Anyway if such a myth exists, I think Apple is to blame.

    That's fair. I think it's fair to criticize Apple for their genuine faults, and while marketing of the warranty may be one of them, the actual warranty terms themselves are not much different from those of any other vendor.
    posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:32 AM on January 17, 2008


    Apple has said that there is only 90 days of complimentary phone support

    This is a confusing point about Apple and it's been shifting in the past year or two. They used to provide pretty much no questions asked phone support for a year. However lately they're more stickers about the 90 days and making you really prove to them that you have a hardware problem if they're going to talk to you at all after that.

    When I had to call them after my 90 days were up [and I had not yet gotten Applecare] because my Macbook case had cracked (a common problem, amazingly), we spent a lot of time going around in circles where they told me to take it into an Apple store and I told them that 1) the nearest Apple store was three hours away and 2) I was within my one year warranty and something was broken that shouldn't be broken and they needed to fix it. I eventually got them to send me a box to send the thing in to be fixed but they did all that CYA "just this ONE time ONLY" talk and basically spent a lot of time trying to upsell me to Applecare so I'd get phone support for my "issue" which didn't need phone support, it needed a box.

    Basically within 90 days they'll talk to you for pretty much any reason. After that, they put pressure on you to either get Applecare or go to an Apple store and that didn't used to be true.
    posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:40 AM on January 17, 2008


    However lately they're more stickers about the 90 days and making you really prove to them that you have a hardware problem if they're going to talk to you at all after that.

    As with any vendor, whether Apple, Dell, Lenovo, Sony, et al. you (not you personally, but you in general) have to want the support. That means pushing gently, politely, but firmly that they need to observe the terms of the contract when they push back.

    In any case, if you can't convince them that your issue is likely to be hardware-related, they'll be happy to talk to you if you give them a credit card number, and then they will only charge if your problem is software-related and you do not have an extended service plan. (Again, that's not just Apple, but Sony and all the others.)

    Upselling is obnoxious but not unique to Apple. As there is now price parity with Lenovo, Dell and other computer vendors, Apple keeps its profits up by selling users the extras. When Apple once was able to charge users more for its computers, it could accordingly afford to provide indefinite and unlimited support.
    posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:03 AM on January 17, 2008


    So that when you, you know, fill the fuckers up with backups, or when the drive inevitably fails, you can add more storage.

    The drive failure issue is certainly a big one, and I naively assumed the drive would be replaceable. But for the average user, 500GB/1TB is going to be plenty of backup space to last you awhile, and most people aren't going to have a need to keep very old backups of their stuff -- I personally wouldn't need to go back further than a month on anything. Anything older than that is pretty much dead to me. Surely you have the ability to delete/overwrite your oldest backups?
    posted by middleclasstool at 8:10 AM on January 17, 2008


    Time Machine does rolling backups -- when the disk is out of space, it will just start tossing your oldest state.

    It's important not to conflate "backup" with "archives". Time Machine makes no promises about holding on to things forever...

    From that perspective, a drive failure in the Time Capsule is not that big a deal. Unless your laptop drive failed simultaneously all you've lost is the backup of your current system and some recent history information.
    posted by tkolar at 8:29 AM on January 17, 2008


    When Apple once was able to charge users more for its computers...

    Apple stopped charging more for its computers? When did that happen?
    posted by lodurr at 9:06 AM on January 17, 2008


    Apple stopped charging more for its computers? When did that happen?

    About the time when Apple started selling iBooks and Mac Minis.
    posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:18 AM on January 17, 2008


    Ah, that's right. I forgot that iBooks are cheaper than other laptops and Mac Minis are cheaper than other computers desktops.... Wait, no they're not!
    posted by lodurr at 9:24 AM on January 17, 2008


    Ugh. No, thanks.
    posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:27 AM on January 17, 2008 [1 favorite]


    The nice thing about thinkpads (at least the older ones) is you can use them to hammer in a few nails and then use it to write the blog entry about the hammering.

    Thinkpads (at least the older ones) are tanks.
    posted by drezdn at 9:51 AM on January 17, 2008


    Hey, Blazecock, you don't want to fight, don't try to start fights.

    I have a friend who ran over his TiBook with his car. Several years ago. Screen got a little crazed and had to be replaced, but it still works just fine.
    posted by lodurr at 9:56 AM on January 17, 2008


    Mac users, however, are so loose with they're money that they'll buy a hammer to drive nails.

    A little more seriously, somebody's been rolling numbers on the 'Apple Tax'. MacBook vs. 14" Dell 1420. Apple MacBook Pro vs. Dell Precision M4300 (in Ireland). The Macs are cheaper than their feature-comparable Dells in some configurations, and up to 10% more expensive in others. The Macs will sometimes offer other amenities to offset the price difference (weight, size).
    posted by ardgedee at 2:01 PM on January 17, 2008


    The nice thing about thinkpads (at least the older ones) is you can use them to hammer in a few nails and then use it to write the blog entry about the hammering.

    Thinkpads (at least the older ones) are tanks.
    posted by drezdn 7 hours ago [+]


    it's basically true. they may lack some of the style of an Apple, but they are quite functional and quite tough. I have had horrible things happen to mine in airplanes, and despite the seeming trauma, it just worked fine. I still haven't experienced the dreaded deep drop onto the corner with the thing heeled over and the screen facing down. I think that takes out the screen in even the Thinkpads.
    posted by caddis at 5:40 PM on January 17, 2008


    don't try to start fights

    Answering a question is starting a fight? Let's not get silly. We're talking about computers here, not each others' moms.
    posted by middleclasstool at 6:13 PM on January 17, 2008


    AirMail: Manila envelope laptop sleeve for MacBook Air
    posted by mimo at 6:14 PM on January 17, 2008


    We're talking about computers here, not each others' moms.

    Yo mama's skinnier than a MacBook Air!
    posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:28 AM on January 18, 2008


    That's what she said!
    posted by grouse at 2:15 AM on January 18, 2008


    Yo laptop is so skinny that kate moss thinks it needs to eat something.
    posted by drezdn at 3:37 PM on January 18, 2008


    Yo yo yo, my laptop ate Kate Moss.
    posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:16 PM on January 18, 2008


    « Older “A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch...   |   American Classic Metafilter Newer »

    You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments