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MacBook Air : Disgustingly Thin

Industrial Design
Posted by DT
Jan 16, 2008
(11 comments)






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mba1.jpg
mba3.jpg


mba2.jpg
Disgustingly thin images from apple.com

I hate to say it, but I think its time for me to cross over. Not because of its disgustingly thin form factor, but the way it is optimized for wireless network and the increased usability in its touch pad that is very similar to the gesture features found on the iPhone. This gestural control is going to be a trend setter.

With its relationships with Intel and other vendors, they have essentially managed to push the envelope of engineering and manufacturability, and thus able to deliver this thing beauty to all of us. It is interesting to hear that “challenge” their vendors to push the limits, something very rare in these days of outsourcing. This, I believe, is a strategy that other product development companies and component vendors can learn from to make better products.

Finally I have always believed that is all you need on a note book, screen, HDD and a damn good wireless connection for all your online needs. (I’ll keep my ugly pc for my 3D stuff!) Apple has shown that they understand this, and delivered a product (with all software included, iLife etc.) that is easy for converts to move over.

But there are a few downsides though. Firstly don’t get conned on all that marketing hype about the battery life. Less components means less battery consumption. Not only that, most of their environmental friendly aspects (recycled body, clean PCB etc.) already come standard in many other electronic products. Furthermore a smaller product also means smaller packaging, DUH! The reality though is a environmentally friendly packaging comes in the brown box with no external printing. However all in all, it comes together in a pretty good Eco package and a decent effort in responds to getting slammed by the Green groups recently.

If you have not already, check out its greatness at the official Apple Macbook Air website. Time to get your MBA?

Edit 3: Fantastic Macbook Air Parody!

Edit 2: If you are like me, are interested in Steve Job’s Keynote at MacWorld, but don’t have the 90mins it runs for? Check out Mahalo Daily’s 60 second edit! Everything important is in there. Via: Techcrunch

Edit 1: Additional information added.




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Comments

Jacob Cass
Jan 16, 08 – 8:12 pm

Wow, that is massively thin! Pity about the battery life. I am still a PC fan through and through - strange for a designer :P

DT
Jan 16, 08 – 8:32 pm

Hi Jacob,

Hah-hah I have to say PCs are getting better and better. Ah well we can’t have it all.

Thanks for visiting and please keep in touch?

olls
Jan 17, 08 – 12:43 am

hey dt.

boy oh boy. i might have to end up a convert with the MBA too!!!
the only thing i can’t get around is the small hard drive capacity.

drew kora
Jan 17, 08 – 2:49 am

Yeah, the MB Air is pretty nice, but definitely a one-trick pony for extremely mobile people with extra money to blow. The small HD and lack of an optical really limits its use for most users right now.

And yeah, PCs are getting better and better. As the competition wises up, Apple won’t be the only one making beautiful, interior decor-friendly computing scultpures anymore.

Jasper
Jan 17, 08 – 12:12 pm

Well - it is nice but i would rather buy a standard Mac book, it’s cheaper with the same specs - ok it weighs twice as much but at least i get a faster processor, dvd burner and more usb and firewire connection slots. The MB air dosent have the connections slot you are used to like an eathernet-port. You also can’t change the battery.

cybrpnk
Jan 18, 08 – 12:25 pm

As with all things 1st generation-al for Apple…there is immense potential here…especially with the gestural control interfacing. About time they ported this technology over to a laptop i say…

Will I be getting one? Depends…can it run Rhino 4.0? Solidworks 08? I highly doubt it…

DT
Jan 18, 08 – 10:11 pm

@Olls, heh-heh I know its so nice huh? But yes it is just too expensive!

@Drew, good to hear from you, I hope you are feeling better. SONY! Gets my vote all the time. The other PCs of my choice is actually Asus, they have a huge design team and actually make great PC laptops.

@Jasper, I am starting to think so as well. A standard Mac book Pro might be a better solution in terms of price vs specifications. The reality is it all that heavier that you would break your back on anything other than a MBA? I doubt it. There is a critical weight and most laptops are already there.

@Cybrpnk, Thanks for your comments, my biggest WOW was really the interface and that’s about it. Yeah if it can dual boot it can but apparently Rhino 4.0 has running in a Mac/Intel environment. Let’s wait and see what the market says?

spayced
Jan 29, 08 – 5:53 am

I’m going to point this out for people who have poor vision and math skills. It’s wider and longer. It’s actually much bigger than a lot of laptops on the market. I have a lot of other gripes but seriously guys, it’s not smaller.

DT
Jan 29, 08 – 6:23 am

Hey Spayced,

Thanks for visiting and leaving your comments.

I’m not sure how you got this impression! The discussion here is on its thickness, weight and computing specifications. I can’t find any evidence of someone saying that it’s smaller?

Aaron
Jan 29, 08 – 10:12 am

“I’m going to point this out for people who have poor vision and math skills. It’s wider and longer. It’s actually much bigger than a lot of laptops on the market. I have a lot of other gripes but seriously guys, it’s not smaller.”

With a 13.3 inch screen, it is smaller than most laptops in just about every sense of the word, spayced.

macbook air
Mar 13, 08 – 10:34 am

the macbook air is great! but its too expensive for me, maybe for… next year!


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