The author also mentions that he just had a supercharger installed on his Lotus. He's not "normal people". He obviously has a lot of disposable income and the desire to spend it on expensive toys. There's nothing wrong with that; the MBA was designed with him in mind. If I had that kind of spare cash, I'd get one too - right after the supercharged Lotus.
For once, even as a linux fanboy, I must say the Air isn't a BAD value. Its priced at $1799 without SSD and I mean that isn't outrageous or anything considering its a decent laptop with Mac's flagship OS (which I would never call bad, only overpriced) and a solidly beautiful design. Perhaps its not worth every penny, but its definitely an ok value.
Now as for the SSD version...I'd have to rethink that a bit.
And of course, normal people buy solid computers that fit their need without that extra oomph to the form factor, probably for a cool $1000 or less. And they install linux to save money if they're smart ;)
Expensive toys... like the iPod? Apple has never marketed to the kind of "normal people" you're talking about.
They've marketed to people with designer homes, designer clothes, and designer children; college students (working ridiculous hours at high-paying jobs but with no high-charging commitments such as a mortgage); and schools (who have large sums of government money and a strong desire to use it for anything other than improving learning quality).
Additionally, the Mac v PC ads appeal to hipsters, the same people that buy $300 pairs of jeans, and soccer moms, the same people that buy $30000 minivans.
The inexpensive Apple products are just things to buy for your children, your relatives, or your spouse to integrate them into the Apple fold. When those kids grow up, they'll buy [the expensive] Macs as well. It's a loss leader in the same way that Adobe feigns interest in copy-protecting Photoshop--when the people that crack it hone their skills and start actual graphic design careers, where else will they turn for official, licensed on-the-job software?
derefr,
Unfortunately, you are either jealous and letting that affect your judgment or you completely fail to understand that there are real-world reasons to own a Mac. I bought a Mac because I wanted a system that is designed rather than evolved, comes with software I actually want to use (iMovie, Garageband, iPhoto), is secure, and not a target for viruses/spyware, and can occasionally play my Windows video games and host my Windows development environment.
The reason I switched my mom, inlaws, brother and sister to Macs is because I got damned sick and tired of being their IT Helpdesk every other weekend -- diagnosing problems, rebuilding machines infected with spyware & viruses, installing patches and fixes, etc. I've got better things to do with my life such as making original content (music & video) with the computer. However, some people just enjoy farting around with settings. That's not me.
Those commercials appeal to me: a 40-year-old guy wearing $17 Wrangler jeans and a t-shirt from Target. You know why? Because they bring out the defensive XP fanboys such as yourself. We laugh at the commercials, then we laugh at you. Now run along.
Don't you have some patches to install or something to update?
I'm sorry for coming off as an "XP fanboy"--I didn't mean to sound negative with anything I said. I fit into at least three of the groups I mentioned, currently am on my third iPod, and am thinking of getting the very Macbook Air I'm talking about. I love OS X, but that has nothing to do with my argument. I know full-well that I'm in the upper-middle class, and you probably are too--you've just chosen, like most enthusiasts, to spend your money on technology rather than fashion.
The fact that Apple has a successfully viral strategy in using their more inexpensive products (such as the Mac Mini) to guide people into buying complementary products (such as the Apple TV, Cinema displays, and Airport Express) and eventually fully integrate them into the "Mac lifestyle" is the mark of a smart company, and exactly what Microsoft wishes it had when it refers to a lacking "consumer experience." They probably never will as long as they don't control the hardware, though.
Of course, from the perspective of the consumer, Apple products are sometimes the "pragmatic decision." However, in all of this, I was referring to Apple's marketing department's intended market for their products and services, not necessarily the "long tail" of economic and word-of-mouth users.
For those not familiar with Wil Shipley, this is his style, so MacBook Air haters: don't take it personally. :)
Some context: he founded The Omni Group software back when OS X was NEXTSTEP. They became pretty successful when Apple bought NeXT and released Mac OS X. He left and founded Delicious Monster, which makes one of the more successful useless OS X applications, Delicious Library.
they've sold more than 50,000 copies apparently. most of the employees he's had at delicious monster have been poached by apple over the years. most recently that of mike matas.
Will Shipley can be an ass... but this otherwise worthless blog post has one nugget of useful info -
"My MacBook Air with 2GB of RAM and 1.8 GHz cores and the SSD compiles Delicious Library 2 from scratch in 1:59.4. My MacBook Pro with 3GB of RAM and 2.3GHz cores and an HD compile it in... 2:04.3."
Yeah, that's certainly what he sounded like here (though I'm sure he's a great guy -- we've all got our soapboxes). I stopped reading after this:
"I have no fucking idea where the hard drive is in my MacBook Pro, and even if you drew me a damn diagram with labels and numbers and gave me a replacement drive I wouldn't open my machine even in exchange for a year with Zooey Deschanel."
"..what you think is cool is NOT what my mom thinks is cool, or what an executive thinks is cool, or what a lawyer who just wants to write a deposition on her laptop thinks is cool.."
I'm sure an executive doesn't think it's cool that the battery's going to die on them before their plane touches down.
"But I understand my iPhone, and I don't have to learn it, because it's learned me."
Your phone "learned" you? Really? Someone with an iPhone, please enlighten me.
"But let's admit amongst ourselves that the overwhelming majority of people out there have never pulled the battery out of their existing laptops, and didn't even know or care that it comes out."
Which means that they weren't complaining that it could come out. Don't fix it if it ain't broke. By that logic, I guess Lotus should make it so that you can't change your oil. Judging from your mechanical skills (it's called a bolt-on because it bolts right on), you were gonna take it to the dealership anyway, right?
That said, I don't think the Air is worthless, just worthless for people who view their laptop as a tool rather than an accessory.
"I'm sure an executive doesn't think it's cool that the battery's going to die on them before their plane touches down."
poor argument. 5 hours battery life on the MB air is more than most Dells would last on 2 batteries.
"just worthless for people who view their laptop as a tool rather than an accessory"
lets see, what have I plugged into my MB pro in the last 6 months....
1. DVI
2. Power
3. Headphones
4. USB Harddrive
5. Digital camera
Basically nothing I couldn't have also plugged in on the MB Air. (never had to plug in my camera and usb drive simultaneously). Also, I haven't put a CD in my computer since I installed Leopard, so not having a CD drive is hardly much of an inconvenience.
I liked this article because it called out all the FUD tactics that the Macbook Air haters are raging on about for no reason.
Read arstechnica's review, they didn't get even get 3 hours, much less 5. They got worse battery life than from a regular Macbook and noted that it takes twice as long for the battery to charge than to discharge. In fact, an entire section of their review is titled "Battery Life, I Miss You". Does that sound appealing?
When I say accessory, I mean that some people don't NEED to be able to pull out their notebook at any given time to do something important. Not everybody does, but those would be the people that view it as an "accessory". It's cool that they have it, but I hope their ability to get work done is not solely dependent on it.
Like I said, I like the Air, but it seems to only be perfect for people who don't actually NEED it.
My main argument against the MacBook Air is that you pay more and get less. Sure, it's a flashy computer, but the standard MB and MBP lines are flashy also, yet still competitively-priced.
Not to mention, the comparison that he's making on this post is between an MBA with an SSD and an MBP, which isn't even remotely apples-to-apples. If you put an SSD in an MBP, I guarantee it would crush the MBA in any benchmark you ran. My point is he dropped upwards of $3k on a computer that's slower than his $2k MBP.
