On Wednesday 16 Jan 2008, John Hunt wrote:
> > It's very interesting, and it's been slated on Slashdot already.
> > No CD/DVD is fine, but no FireWire or Gig Ethernet and only one
> > USB is a royal pain. Wireless only is trendy but slow and not
> > always practical. Not that I'd refuse it if someone was giving
> > them away...!
>
> I'm no apple fan boy or anything (I only own that new ipod shuffle (clip
> one)), but in my oppinion it seems people often miss the point of most
> of the apple hardware. For the casual user, this is a *superb* bit of
> kit by the looks of things.
I agree for the casual user who has no idea it's great. I think the lack of a
proper wired connection is one feature too few.
I have friends who are Mac nuts, they have lots of FireWire kit and the
current anti-FireWire trend is very annoying to them.
> This looks like more the kind of laptop you take on the train with you
> rather than plugged into your network at home for transfering large
> files. Especially with it's decent battery life. My IBM r50e on the
> other hand is the kind of laptop you have stuck on your desk.
>
> Features != how good a product is.
I agree, most devices have lots of unwanted features in them, if you have a
decent network then CD and DVD players are pretty much redundant on most
systems thesedays. My work notebook has a duff DVD apparently, I didn't
notice as I've never used it, and I've only use the desktop unit's CD-ROM
three times in as many years...
> I know if I had one of those macbook air things, I'd certainly be sat on
> the sofa with it on my lap!
I can see it's utility under some circumstances, but it's also appealing to a
lifestyle that doesn't really exist as much as the ad men like to think.
> I didn't particularly want to start a long discussion or anything, I
> just think apple gets a bad rap often for no *real* reason (imo!)
I'm not anti-Mac, it's a nice but proprietary Unix system with a pretty GUI
and generally well thought out hardware and software. If any one would like
to give me one, I'd rather have a full-spec 13" Mac Book (black)...
The only problem with the Mac are the clueless zealots that go on and on about
them, annoying everyone else.
--
Adam Trickett
Overton, HANTS, UK
The Internet? We are not interested in it.
-- Bill Gates, 1993
