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  • RE: Where Gruber Thinks the MacBook Air Fits In

    Last night John Gruber posted on Daring Fireball that he feels the MacBook Airs place in the Mac lineup is as a second computer for the 13” and a sort of iPad Pro for the 11” model. It is an interesting perspective and I was glad to read it, but I completely disagree with him.…

    Last night John Gruber posted on Daring Fireball that he feels the MacBook Airs place in the Mac lineup is as a second computer for the 13” and a sort of iPad Pro for the 11” model. It is an interesting perspective and I was glad to read it, but I completely disagree with him. ((For a change.)) I don’t think that Apple sees the MacBook Air as a “secondary Mac” at all. In fact in light of the reviews and benchmarks coming out about the MacBook Air I would suggest – actually I am gambling on – the fact that a MacBook Air can and will be more than ample as an everyday, only Mac, machine.

    Gruber:

    Here’s the way I see it: the Air is a secondary Mac; MacBook Pros are for use as a primary computer. I.e., if you want your MacBook to be your one and only Mac, you should get a MacBook Pro. You’ll need the additional storage, and you’ll be thankful for the additional RAM and expansion ports. If you’ve got a desktop Mac (or perhaps even a big MacBook Pro) as your primary Mac, but want a small lightweight MacBook for use away from your desk, the MacBook Air is your best option. The biggest weakness of the Air is its relatively small amount of storage space — that’s not nearly as much of an issue for a secondary Mac.

    I completely see where he is coming from, but I think he may be projecting his usage too much onto the machine. My wife for instance has an original MacBook Pro with a 100GB hard drive – all of her media is on the computer, nothing on external drives – and she still has 19GB free. The biggest HD I have ever had was 300GB in my laptop, I switched that a few months back for a 240GB SSD. Right now I have 97.6GB free, but I keep all of my photo archives and music/videos on an external drive at home.

    My sisters keep all their media on one machine and have room to spare, ditto my Mother and step-mother. Ditto a co-worker that has an older Macbook. I don’t think storage space is at the premium that Gruber thinks it really is. There is certainly a large contingent of Mac users that have an overwhelming amount of data storage needs, but if you fall in that group than I doubt that even a 500GB ((Which is the current maximum hard drive you can get on a MacBook Pro)) hard drive will suffice for you. So let’s go ahead and just throw out the ‘needing more storage space’ arguments against the MacBook Air, most people can and will figure out how to deal with that if it is even an issue for them, even then I don’t think it is an issue for the average user.

    That leaves the last two points that Gruber brought up: extra RAM, and expansion ports. Here is how Apple deals with the RAM in its computer line: MacBook Pros, Mac minis all support 8GB of maximum RAM, the iMac supports 16GB max, the Macbook and MacBook Air supports just 4GB of RAM max, and the large-and-in-charge Mac Pro supports 32GB of RAM max. So really to get more RAM you must buy at least a MacBook Pro if you want a laptop with more than 4GB of RAM, but that is going to add $400 to the price ((Unless you buy 3rd party and install for your self.)) of your MacBook Pro.

    How many people out there are really going to pay to upgrade to 8GB of RAM? I would guess not many, and I would further guess that not many are going to pay to upgrade the MacBook Airs 2GB of RAM to the 4GB. So we are really comparing a 2GB RAM machine with a 4GB RAM machine – and in that case the MacBook Pro looks a lot better. There is a huge usability difference between 2 and 4GBs of RAM, so much so that I would recommend 4GB as a base starting point for all Mac users.

    That brings us to expansion ports, here is what that looks like:

    Screen shot 2010-10-26 at 11.27.11 AM.png

    Essentially then we can leave out the 17” as I bet Apple will sell more Airs than they do those and a 17” notebook is bordering on being a desktop only machine to begin with. So that leaves the rest of the lineup. With a Macbook you get less expansion than the Air, and with the MacBook Pros you get firewire and only in the 15” do you get the audio in mini-jack.

    What your choice then boils down to is a MacBook Air or a 13/15” MacBook Pro. We can eliminate the storage space needs by virtue of my above argument that anybody who needs more than the 128GB you can get in the Airs is probably going to need more than the 500GBs you get in the Pros. We can further eliminate the ‘more RAM’ issue by saying that most people will see a $100 upgrade on the Air as trivial (well most people that read this article). That just leaves the expansion port issue, and unless you do a lot of audio recording, or use firewire at all there really is no net gain to getting a MacBook Pro. I would further guess that most people would take 3 USB ports over 2 USB ports and 1 firewire – most people (read non-geeks) don’t use firewire. Also these same people that don’t use Firewire don’t use that extra audio port either. ((I use firewire and never have used that audio port, have you?))

    So really the choice is down to price and size, if all my above assumption are correct. ((And I do realize I have given no hard facts, just used my life experiences thus far.)) Base 13” MacBook Pro $1199, base 13” MacBook Air $1299, but as I said it is really $1399 because you need to pay for that extra RAM. So for $200 less you get a slightly faster computer with more storage and more expansion ports – except that it is not faster than the Air. Macworld showed us yesterday that due to the Flash hard drives in the Airs it is two points better on their benchmark system that the MacBook Pro 13″ – even with half the RAM in the Air.

    That means that to get ‘better’ ((Again it is not better across the board, but given the way most people use their machines and stock Air will feel and perform much faster than a stock Pro due to the flash drive speed)) performance from a MacBook Pro than a MacBook Air you need a MacBook Pro with an SSD drive. If you configure it that way here is how the pricing breaks down: 13” MacBook Pro w/ 128GB ((There are larger SSD options, but the prices increases significantly and I am trying for an apples to apples comparison. If you subscribe to the thinking that storage is needed then go ahead and waste a ton of money on the 512GB option.)) SSD $1549 versus a 13” MacBook Air w/ 4GB RAM for $1399. Now for $150 less you get the same machine with one less expansion port and a lot less fat to the device.

    Realistically then I think it is safe to call the price difference between a 13” MacBook Pro and a 13” MacBook Air a wash (if they are similarly configured). Given that your choice is between a computer that you can change out the RAM and hard drive on yourself and a computer that you can’t, but that is much lighter and thinner. The best way to think about that decision is two-fold:

    1. Have you ever upgraded your computer yourself?
    2. Do you plan on carrying your computer?

    If you answered ‘yes’ to #1, then you really need to think about if you are OK with not upgrading any components of the Air, if you are not OK with that don’t get it. If you answered ‘yes’ to #2 then are you OK with carrying an extra 1.6 pounds with you? Like the saying goes: ‘the best camera is the one you have with you’ – so it goes for computers: ‘the best computer is the one that you have with you not the one sitting on your desk back home’.

    I think it is reasonable to assume that the majority of Mac users will never use their Mac to the degree that they need the added processing power of the MacBook Pro. I would also guess that most Mac users carry their Macs places than they bother to desire to crack the case open. So for most Mac users wouldn’t the Air make more sense than the 13″ MacBook Pro?

    All of this to say: the 13” MacBook Air is no secondary computer any more than the 13” MacBook Pro is. ((I will address the iPad Pro / 11” MacBook Air thoughts later.))

  • MG Siegler Makes My Wait Unbearable

    MG Siegler on his 13″ MacBook Air (aka my future computer): It’s funny that I haven’t really even talked about the size of the machine yet — that’s the glittering lure that ropes people in. But the Air has always had that. What it didn’t have previously was a great price and killer performance. Now…

    MG Siegler on his 13″ MacBook Air (aka my future computer):

    It’s funny that I haven’t really even talked about the size of the machine yet — that’s the glittering lure that ropes people in. But the Air has always had that. What it didn’t have previously was a great price and killer performance. Now it does. Just in the past six days, five people that I’ve showed this thing to have already bought one. That’s the stuff iPhones and iPads are made of. It has the “wow” factor.

    I cannot wait to get mine, this is going to be a great machine especially given the Macworld tests.

  • Lightening Review: iPhoto ‘11

    The difference between the last version of iPhoto and the new version is: fullscreen. That is, iPhoto ‘11 is billed as a full-screen app all the time. Now of course you don’t have to use it in that mode, but why not, right? Well the odd thing is that you can go full-screen, but you…

    The difference between the last version of iPhoto and the new version is: fullscreen. That is, iPhoto ‘11 is billed as a full-screen app all the time. Now of course you don’t have to use it in that mode, but why not, right? Well the odd thing is that you can go full-screen, but you can never get a picture full-screen like you could with the old version, you always have a top and bottom bar as far as I can tell. Which is about 90% of the reason that I used iPhoto in fullscreen.

    Here are some more annoyances:

    • Flickr syncing seems to lag out iPhoto until it is done.
    • Emailing brings up a nice window that forces you to use an HTML template (you can’t just send a regular email without attachments, without exporting the pictures first).
    • You can only send 10 pictures at once (but your should really only be sending 3 at once if you want to save the other persons sanity)
    • The icons along the bottom for all the iPhotos controls in the non-fullscreen mode look out of place in Snow Leopard.
    • Switching into fullscreen mode produces a significant lag on my Machine with only 1211 pictures in the library.
    • In fullscreen mode the bottom bar looks like iOS, yet you are still in Mac OS X.
    • Faces still has that stupid corkboard background.
    • Resizing the window is a jerky animation, which just seems odd in OS X.
    • Correct me if I am wrong but Calendar creation appears to be gone.

    And now some of the good:

    • Flickr integration is very nice, it may download all of your pictures – but that is pretty neat to have on hand.
    • The interface seems very much more streamlined, I bet new iPhoto users will feel right at home.
    • I may not like the letterpress card templates they have, but $2.99 per card with an envelope is not a bad price at all.
    • The flat printed cards and folded ones are also aggressively priced. Sure beats going to a print shop and not knowing what kind of quality you can expect.
    • The editing features seem a lot easier to use, even though they are not on par with more expensive photo editing software, they are more than adequate for most users.
    • Making books is really easy and can be quite fun.

    Overall

    So I the iPhoto ‘11 upgrade worth it? Only if you are all about Letterpress cards or creating books (it is actually great for making books) otherwise stick with what you have. The people who really should buy this upgrade are those that really like how the iPhone works and find the old version a little cumbersome. iPhoto ‘11 is all about straightforward ease of use.

    I think iPhoto ‘11 is a great piece of software for most people, just not for people who are really into working with their photos.

  • How Long Does a Flash Drive Last?

    Josh Bressers filled all but one block on his Sony flash drive, then kept writing to the drive until it failed and this is what he found out: It took 90593104 writes for the drive to die. That’s 90.5 million, well beyond my expected 30K. and: I can still mount and read from the drive,…

    Josh Bressers filled all but one block on his Sony flash drive, then kept writing to the drive until it failed and this is what he found out:

    It took 90593104 writes for the drive to die. That’s 90.5 million, well beyond my expected 30K.

    and:

    I can still mount and read from the drive, but I can no longer write to it. It’s nice to know that when a drive dies, it’s more likely you just won’t be able to write new data to it, rather than complete data loss.

    I wonder how consistent this is throughout all the different manufactures of these little drives.

  • Lessons in Being an Ass

    Look no further than Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who says that they only drive somewhere once with their Street View cars – so you know if you don’t like that you can just move after the cars has come through. Because you know if you don’t like something Google is doing it is your damn…

    Look no further than Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who says that they only drive somewhere once with their Street View cars – so you know if you don’t like that you can just move after the cars has come through. Because you know if you don’t like something Google is doing it is your damn fault.

  • Secret Button Sequence Bypasses iPhone Security

    This appears to be solved in the 4.2 beta builds right now – so perhaps Apple already knows about it and was trying to keep it hushed until the new update came out, I don’t know. Either way this is not good.

    This appears to be solved in the 4.2 beta builds right now – so perhaps Apple already knows about it and was trying to keep it hushed until the new update came out, I don’t know. Either way this is not good.

  • Macworld Puts the New MacBook Airs Through Their Paces

    James Galbraith: The 15-inch 2.4GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro’s Speedmark 6.5 score is 55 percent higher than the 11-inch MacBook Air, and 22 percent higher than the 13-inch MacBook Air. However, the flash storage in the new MacBook Air still beat the standard hard drive in the Core i5 MacBook Pro, but in tests that…

    James Galbraith:

    The 15-inch 2.4GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro’s Speedmark 6.5 score is 55 percent higher than the 11-inch MacBook Air, and 22 percent higher than the 13-inch MacBook Air. However, the flash storage in the new MacBook Air still beat the standard hard drive in the Core i5 MacBook Pro, but in tests that could take advantage of the Core i5’s HyperThreading technology like CineBench and Handbrake the Core i5 MacBook Pro was twice as fast as the 13-inch MacBook Air and not quite three times as fast as the 11-inch MacBook Air.

  • Think the 11″ Air is Slow? Think Again

    Leander Kahney reviewing the new 11″ MacBook Air (base configuration): In an initial test, I opened up 17 applications and launched more 40 tabs in Safari and 24 tabs in Google’s Chrome browser (each is its own separate process). A funny thing happened: nothing. It kept on cranking. There were no spinning beachballs, no stuttering in…

    Leander Kahney reviewing the new 11″ MacBook Air (base configuration):

    In an initial test, I opened up 17 applications and launched more 40 tabs in Safari and 24 tabs in Google’s Chrome browser (each is its own separate process). A funny thing happened: nothing. It kept on cranking. There were no spinning beachballs, no stuttering in the music I was playing.

    I opened three more Safari windows and 40 more tabs. At this point the RAM was completely overloaded. The Air had carved out 1.76GBytes of drive space for virtual memory. Now the music started stuttering. But then it resumed.

    Impressive – most of this is due to the flash memory, it is simply mind-boggling how much faster flash memory is than platter based HDs.

  • Some MacBook Air Benchmarks For You

    Looks like the base configuration of the 13″ MacBook Air fairs well considering its size. Be interesting to see how well the 2.13GHz version does.

    Looks like the base configuration of the 13″ MacBook Air fairs well considering its size. Be interesting to see how well the 2.13GHz version does.

  • Chris Bowler’s iPad Life

    Please welcome Chris Bowler, he was kind enough to participate in this weeks iPad Life. Tell me a little about yourself, what do you do, where do you live? My name is Chris Bowler and I am a Christian and a father of 6. I run a little boutique company called Fusion Ads and an…

    Please welcome Chris Bowler, he was kind enough to participate in this weeks iPad Life.

    Tell me a little about yourself, what do you do, where do you live?

    My name is Chris Bowler and I am a Christian and a father of 6. I run a little boutique company called Fusion Ads and an online store called the Idea Cafe. I’m a novice front end web developer and have a passion for many things, software and coffee chief among them.

    My family and I live amidst the forests of northern British Columbia (Canada) and enjoy the blend of modern convenience in a small town.

    What was your reaction when the iPad was launched?

    Mostly, meh. I mean, it was gorgeous and such a well designed piece of hardware, but it was clear from the start that I was not the target audience. I do very little consuming of media (TV, movies, magazines, games etc.), so a lot of the focus of the iPad did not apply to me. I didn’t have much need for another toy or satellite device.

    Of course, we all knew that creating content would be possible on the iPad (as Chairman Gruber keeps harping on), but for the first while, it would be much harder to do my creating on an iPad than on my Macbook.

    In the end, I did get one since Fusion Ads were going to be included in iPad apps. I wanted to be able to see the ads in beta apps before they hit the public.

    Which model did you order and why?

    The low end 16GB wifi version. It cost the least and I have no need to use the iPad in any location. If I do work from outside my home office, it’s always at a cafe with free wifi.

    How are you using the iPad on a daily basis?

    Even though I don’t consume a lot of media, I do read a lot. So my iPad is usually where I thin out my feeds — it’s like a filter where I dismiss the articles that don’t interest me or read shorter, less intensive posts.

    And thanks to OmniFocus, my iPad is now a key part of my work day. I keep an eye on my tasks there and do all of my weekly reviews with the iPad. It’s the first app where using the iPad version is easier and has less friction than the desktop counterpart. I give the biggest kudos to the OmniGroup team for creating an interface that just … flows.

    As well, I foresee myself using it in face to face meetings with clients. It’s an ideal way to show and discuss content with others.

    Can you give me a quick run down of the apps that you use the most?

    Mail, OmniFocus, Reeder, Twitter for iPad, Simplenote, Dropbox, Instapaper, YouVersion and most recently, Yojimbo.

    Which app is your favorite?

    OmniFocus, by far. Obviously Instapaper is great, seeing as the iPad is a great device for reading. But I had been perfectly happy consuming news before the iPad. OmniFocus changed the game for me.

    Do you have any bag/stand/case recommendations for people?

    I only use a stand and I’m very happy with it. It’s the Loop from Griffin. Although it looks a little large, it’s a pleasure to use. It’s sturdy and will not worry you about falling etc.

    What features do you want to see in a future iPad?

    Just two: iOS multitasking and the Reeder feature from Safari on the desktop. I have a few sites I read regularly that would be a pleasure to be able to block out all the noise (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl). And I believe multitasking is self-explanatory.

    Thanks again to Chris for taking the time to give us a little insight into his iPad life. Be sure to follow him on Twitter.

    More iPad Life

    To see more people’s iPad Lives take a look here.

  • Shawn Blanc’s Take on OmniFocus

    This is not just another review – if you are thinking about whether to go with one task management app or another you need to read this first. It is an epic write up of one of the most valuable tools on my computer. OmniFocus is not just a great task management app, but it…

    This is not just another review – if you are thinking about whether to go with one task management app or another you need to read this first. It is an epic write up of one of the most valuable tools on my computer. OmniFocus is not just a great task management app, but it is a great reason to own a Mac.

    As Shawn Blanc says:

    But what I have found with OmniFocus is that once you’ve taken the time to learn it and acclimate to its features, it just may be the best thing that ever happened to your task list.

    Amen.

  • The Forgotten Souls of 1 Infinite Loop

    This morning I was looking at the Apple Store website and noticed a few things that just seem to never really get any attention – which made me wonder, has Apple forgotten about them? The Forgotten Apple Wireless Keyboard: I know how do you make improvements upon a keyboard? And yes I know that Apple…

    This morning I was looking at the Apple Store website and noticed a few things that just seem to never really get any attention – which made me wonder, has Apple forgotten about them?

    The Forgotten

    • Apple Wireless Keyboard: I know how do you make improvements upon a keyboard? And yes I know that Apple recently changed the requirements from a 3-battery keyboard to a 2-battery keyboard, but other than that this little aluminum and white plastic tray has stayed pretty much the same. I would have really loved to see a model with a number pad on it, or hell I would love it if they added a backlight to the wireless keyboard – that would be sweet.
    • Mac Pro: Yes indeed Apple does continue to offer speed bumps and other performance enhancements, but the design has been the same for quite some time now. Yes, it is a good design and really easy to add stuff to, but are you telling me that the crew that just made the MacBook Air can’t do something a bit smaller than the current 60lbs model?
    • iPod Classic: Back at the iPod event a couple of months ago Steve Jobs said that they were updating all the iPods – yet there was no mention of the iPod Classic. A quick check of the Apple website shows that you can still buy one in 160gb and 160gb configurations. The very least they could do if continue to update the HD size – 250gb would probably cover most DJs these days.
    • iWork: The latest version is iWork ‘09 as in 2009. I am not saying that iWork needs to be updated every year, but if you are not on a yearly release schedule please show some wisdom and don’t make the version the same as the year it was released in. Also, please take Numbers a little further because I really hate to use Excel.
    • iDVD: Yeah this probably isn’t long for the world given Apple’s distaste for all drives that spin.
    • iWeb: You would think that Apple would want to have WYSIWYG web tool, but it seems they have just stopped caring about it. iWeb, though not a great tool, is a good tool for many amateurs who simply want to have a nice site to share with their family – why does Apple not care about that?
    • Aperture: I know that Aperture is regularly updated, but let’s be honest here – Aperture is no where near in the same league as LightRoom anymore for digital RAW processing. Aperture was awesome when it came out and I still like it much more than LightRoom, but, that this is a big but, it is no where near as good as LightRoom and causes my MacBook Pro fans to spin up at the slightest thought of using it. I know they say slow and steady wins the race, but Aperture is just slow.
    • MobileMe: Christ.
    • AirPort Express: Where is the video out port for streaming video to a TV (oh yeah it’s called an Apple TV) – why even buy this over the Extreme? Why even sell this? What the…
    • Time Capsule: Has this even really been updated since it came out? I still hear the same complaints and general dissatisfaction with the Time Capsule. This could be a really great product, but it is not there yet. This product feels like it is one guy in the Janitors closet that works on it. Poor guy…
    • Apple In-Ear Headphones: They aren’t even prominently displayed in the stores. I think Apple could do something really great, if they actually made these sound great and lowered the price it would force other companies (ahem Shure) to lower their prices a bit.

  • Might The Mac App Store Lead To A New Class Of Micro-Apps?

    Mg Siegler is curious whether the Mac is about to see a deluge of cheap apps, specifically cheap games, when Apple launches the Mac App Store. In a word I think we will definitely see a deluge of these sub-$10 games. Why? Because the question I am often asked by ‘normal’ computer users when they…

    Mg Siegler is curious whether the Mac is about to see a deluge of cheap apps, specifically cheap games, when Apple launches the Mac App Store. In a word I think we will definitely see a deluge of these sub-$10 games.

    Why?

    Because the question I am often asked by ‘normal’ computer users when they switch is: “where is solitaire?”

  • “So it’s not an ability thing, just a speed thing?”

    That was the question my wife posed to me the other day when I was rambling on about whether or not I should get the new MacBook Air. It was the question (well the answer really) that made me go ahead and place the order. What was being implied was that there really isn’t anything…

    That was the question my wife posed to me the other day when I was rambling on about whether or not I should get the new MacBook Air. It was the question (well the answer really) that made me go ahead and place the order. What was being implied was that there really isn’t anything that I do that I would not be able to do on the MacBook Air – rather just some of the things would be a bit slower (a lot slower in some cases). ((Things like FPS would not be a great thing to run on it – I would guess.))

    It was one of those questions that opened my eyes and changed my decision process. From that point it was: would I use my computer more if it was lighter and smaller, or if it was bigger and faster? Simple answer, the easier it is to take something with me the more I will use it these days.

    I ordered the 13” MacBook Air (2.13GHZ 4GB RAM 256GB SSD) and I ordered the top of the line model not for maximum speed, but for maximum life of the device. ((I tend to keep computers for about 2 years before replacing them.))

  • Additional, Additional Thoughts: Do I Become an Air Instead of a Pro?

    This has really been bugging me since yesterday when I posted that I was probably going to order a new MacBook Air. Do I really need to give up the horsepower of the MacBook Pro for the mobility of the MacBook Air? How much of a difference is it? Will I be happy with a…

    This has really been bugging me since yesterday when I posted that I was probably going to order a new MacBook Air. Do I really need to give up the horsepower of the MacBook Pro for the mobility of the MacBook Air?

    How much of a difference is it?

    Will I be happy with a 13” screen instead of a 15” even though they are both 1440×900?

    Why do I want the MacBook Air instead of the MacBook Pro?

    Ah that last question, that is the only one of the above that I can actually answer. I want to go Air instead of Pro because:

    1. Everyday I carry my MacBook Pro to and from work and the MacBook Pro is heavy.
    2. I rarely do anything more than write and surf the web on the MacBook Pro.
    3. I never take the MacBook Pro anywhere to use it because it is simply too big.

    Why am I hesitant to get rid of the Pro for the Air?

    1. I do use InDesign and LightRoom about every other week.
    2. For work I use Parallels and awful lot.

    So right now my thinking is this: call around and see if any of the 4 Apple Stores near me have the 13” in the configuration that I want. I would prefer to do this over this weekend than I would mid-week. If they have one go and pick it up, clone my MacBook Pro HD to it and start going. If I don’t like it then I return the MacBook Air to the Apple Store and pay the 10% fee (or see if I can sell it online for less of a fee). If I do like it sell the MacBook Pro.

    If I can’t get the MacBook Air in store this weekend, there is a small chance I may say forget it – I don’t know why. That is just how I feel right now.

  • Additional Thoughts on the New MacBook Air

    I have just returned from a hands-on at my local Apple Store with both the 11.6” MacBook Air and the 13” MacBook Air. I went to the store with the thought that if the MacBook Air could handle a few ‘tests’ that I wanted to run I would buy one on the spot – unfortunately…

    I have just returned from a hands-on at my local Apple Store with both the 11.6” MacBook Air and the 13” MacBook Air. I went to the store with the thought that if the MacBook Air could handle a few ‘tests’ that I wanted to run I would buy one on the spot – unfortunately they took MacBook Air’s out of the box and the employees were carrying them (they were not tethered down yet) due to this there were no ‘Pro’ apps installed so I could not run my tests.

    The Baby 11” MacBook Air

    First things first the 11.6” MacBook Air (herein called the ‘11’) is a 16:9 aspect ratio – a full HD ratio like the 27” iMac (the 13” model is a 16:10 ratio). This was something I did not know, this aspect ratio makes the 11 look pretty silly. It is super wide and very shallow, the proportions just look off on the machine.

    I was not interested in buying the 11 so I didn’t spend much time really playing with it like I did its larger sibling. What I will say is that it is tiny, really tiny. In fact the screen is so small that I just don’t know if you would really want to work on it for prolonged periods. There was a time when 768 pixels was a pretty good screen resolution on the verticals, unfortunately for the 11 that time was 4-5 years ago.

    Just looking at the Apple startpage on the 11 and I knew that there was no way I wanted that computer, the whole thing just felt entirely more cramped than the iPad – though this was in part due to the fact that the Dock was not hidden on the screen and thus took up a large portion of the bottom. The positive to the 11 is that it has a fantastic footprint, it really is one of those computers that you look at and think “how is that possible.”

    The 13

    The 13” MacBook Air (herein called the ‘13’) was in quite the demand, I had to wait a few minutes to play with it. I was testing the base model 13 (1.86ghz and 2gb RAM) and I must say I was impressed with the speed of the machine. Having played with the older MacBook Air I was expecting a rather disappointing speed, but the SSD really makes that machine snappy (as SSDs tend to do). As I said there was only the base load of apps (with iLife) on the machine.

    I opened up PhotoBooth and recorded a short 10 second video on the built in camera, popped it into iMovie. Once in iMovie I cut the clip up a few times and added transitions, at no point, no matter how fast I went did the machine stutter on me. Now this was not HD video, but those little transitions usually make a slow machine pause no matter what. At this point there was a line forming to check out the machine so I didn’t have time to export the video file.

    What I can say is that the performance impressed me, I would say it is fast enough for most everyone out there. I doubt that there will be that many times where even I would regret not getting the MacBook Pro. The apps that I did open snapped open faster than they do on my MacBook Pro (even with my SSD). This of course is not subjective, but that is certainly the way it felt.

    The 13 also wakes up incredibly quick. It definitely comes to life faster than my MacBook Pro. I also tested to see if you could open the screen with just one finger as Apple advertises. You can indeed do it, but if you go to slow the base will lift just before you get to the 90° point. Still I could see how if you did it fast enough you would be able to open the screen to the 90° position with no problems.

    My Overall Thoughts

    Color me impressed with these machines. My Mac life went from a 12” PowerBook G4 —> Mac Pro (first Intel line) —> MacBook Pro 15” (again first Intel model) —> 15” unibody MacBook Pro (current machine). The new MacBook Air is no Mac Pro, or even a my generation unibody MacBook Pro, but I would say it is handily faster than the original Intel MacBook Pros and faster than the PowerBook felt back in its day.

    When I was done playing with it I was going to buy the 13 – unfortunately you can’t get any RAM upgrades from the store, the are custom order online only. You can however get all the hard drive and processor options in the store (I imagine that you will be able to get all options in the near future).

    After playing with it I think I will just order one next week or this weekend. (I will probably go with the 13 1.86ghz 4gb and 256gb HD)

  • Some Good Quick Links

    Instead of a deluge of links as I clear my Instapaper Backlog here are some links that I think are worth time if you have it – perhaps not must reads for all if you don’t have the time. AppleInsider looks at the new scrollbars in Lion I must say – I like them, I…

    Instead of a deluge of links as I clear my Instapaper Backlog here are some links that I think are worth time if you have it – perhaps not must reads for all if you don’t have the time.

    AppleInsider looks at the new scrollbars in Lion

    I must say – I like them, I think that the scroll bars in Snow Leopard are very inconsistent with the rest of the OS styling.

    Stephen Hackett weighs in future touch based Macs:

    Even with Lion’s new features, Mac OS X is simply not ready for touch. Menus, window controls, lists and complicated toolbars are too small of targets to be usable with a finger. The remarks Jobs made about 7-inch tablets and small targets can be applied to the desktop, too.

    Danny Sullivan reviews the new Sony Google TV:

    A menu appeared asking me to enlarge a box on the screen to match my actual screen size. Then I got another menu asking how I wanted to connect, through a wired or wireless connection. I went the wireless route. Next, I was asked if I wanted to update my software. Sure!

    After about a 10 minute download, that Google TV logo came up again. And I had to do the screen size thing again. And enter my wireless details again. Hmm — annoying. The “update” seemed more like a fresh install.

    TechCrunch has video of them using the new HP Slate 500

    Pro tip: you only have to watch the first minute to know that this thing will not out sell the iPad.

  • HP Slate = Ballmer’s iPad

    It costs $799 and I didn’t read anything else about it – why? Because I say the pictures of it and stopped caring. Gruber says that this picture of the permanent slide out panel (that serves no purpose) sums up the device. I say it is this picture depicting the fact that you need a…

    It costs $799 and I didn’t read anything else about it – why? Because I say the pictures of it and stopped caring.

    Gruber says that this picture of the permanent slide out panel (that serves no purpose) sums up the device. I say it is this picture depicting the fact that you need a STYLUS to use this tablet.

    [Updated: 10/22/10 at 11:12 AM] This thing only has 5 hours of rated battery life! Pathetic.

  • No Flash Player With Mac OS X

    John Gruber after receiving confirmation that new Macs will not ship with Adobe Flash Player installed: This also absolves Apple of responsibility for the distribution of Flash Player security updates. Recall the controversy last year when Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) shipped with a slightly older version of Flash Player, with a few known…

    John Gruber after receiving confirmation that new Macs will not ship with Adobe Flash Player installed:

    This also absolves Apple of responsibility for the distribution of Flash Player security updates. Recall the controversy last year when Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) shipped with a slightly older version of Flash Player, with a few known security vulnerabilities. Henceforth, Flash Player security updates for Mac OS X are Adobe’s problem, not Apple’s.

    That is ominous enough – I was curious to see if the MacBook Air in the Apple Store had Flash on it or not, but I have yet to be able to get my hands on one (a source tells me the stores in Seattle are getting shipments and will have them on display this afternoon).

  • “Like Hiring Temps as Your Design Consultants”

    This is so good I couldn’t NOT post it. Edward Tufte: The WP7S layout and typography have a looseness found in posters, commercial art and marketing, an inappropriate metaphor for a handheld information and communication device. In the splashy panoramas, there are hints of design-by-focus-group (which is like hiring temps as your design consultants). Instead…

    This is so good I couldn’t NOT post it.

    Edward Tufte:

    The WP7S layout and typography have a looseness found in posters, commercial art and marketing, an inappropriate metaphor for a handheld information and communication device. In the splashy panoramas, there are hints of design-by-focus-group (which is like hiring temps as your design consultants). Instead of impressing focus groups, designers should do a thought experiment: Imagine what Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive would have to say about your interface. As Jonathan Ive said: At Apple “we don’t do focus groups.”

    That is just the opening paragraph.