Having owned virtually every Apple laptop since the Duo 230c, I believe this shortage is being created by demand, not an artificial manipulation.
It might not be the iPhone, but the MacBook Air is selling much stronger than many of us would have guessed. After a full month of being on the market, the MacBook Air is still a difficult commodity to obtain in some markets…
(Via MacBook Air aflutter: demand stays strong, sold out often.)
Remember, most users consume probably 10% of the capabilities of any modern Intel-based computer.
Graphics professionals, videographers and gamers may push beyond its capabilities, but literally everyone else would be more than satisfied with the Air’s capabilities.
Think about it, 2 gigs a ram, intel processor more powerful than one a mere 2 years ago and enough storage for most normal uses.
I think quality vs. kitchen sink feature list is winning out in this case.
Last week I posted about having a less capable (more focused?) laptop make for a more productive environment.
Being in the market for another Mac, and on the verge of purchasing another MacBook, I decided to pickup a MacBook Air.
Why?
While at the Apple store I spent an hour actually using the Air. Not just surfing the net and drooling over the design or coolness of it, but actually downloading the tools I use every day and doing a little work.
After an hour, I came to the conclusion that it was good enough and in fact superior in important ways.
First, the screen is amazingly bright and consistent. Viewing an LCD screen for 10-18 hours a day, like I do, the LED backlighting makes a huge difference.
Second, the keyboard the most solid laptop keyboard I have used. It feels like a desktop keyboard, not the mushy or bouncy feel most laptops have.
Coupled with the amazing build quality and light weight, it is a pleasure to take everywhere I go.
After, using it for a week do I regret anything?
Nope.
It is one of the most pleasurable computing experiences I have ever had.
Is 2 gigs of memory enough? Yep.
More memory is always good, so I hope Apple offers a build to order option for 4 gigs in the near future.
Can you live without a DVD drive? Maybe. The Air’s Remote Disk feature worked fine, though it took 3 hours to install Mac OS X via my Airport Extreme.
Is an 80GB hard drive large enough? Barely. After installing all the essential applications and work tools, I have 33 gigs free, but my iTunes or iPhoto libraries add up to 26 gigs, so I am holding offer copying them over until I make sure they are not unnecessarily bloated.
What would I change?
Other than a larger hard drive, not much.
If Apple can swing a 100-120 gig drive, build to order memory upgrades for 4 gigs I would be in nirvana, not just smitten with this computer.
This week I am picking up a second laptop to work on my main project, MailTank.
I am partial to Apple laptops, given that it is our primary development platform and is lightening fast to configure thanks to its FreeBSD underpinnings, not to mention I love the built in battery backup in the event of power outages.
As I was about to pull the trigger on another Macbook, I had a thought, why not grab the Macbook Air for a few hundred dollars more?
I don’t need high-end power since it is mainly used to test configuration changes and as a backup in the event that my main Mac goes down for some reason.
It got me thinking, having less options on the laptop may in fact mean being more productive.
If its more painful to play with every new application, utility or distracting toy, will you be more productive?
Just like Merlin Mann, of 43 Folders fame, promoted the idea of a distraction free desktop for similar reason, would having a less capable laptop do the same?
I may just find test this theory out.
“2008. There’s something in the air.” What does that slogan mean? On Tuesday, Steve Jobs will introduce whatever it is they have lurking in Cupertino.
Could it be movie rentals through iTunes? A revamped Apple TV with DVR? Yet another, better and cooler iPod?
Or perhaps, something innovative and game changing (yeah lame phrase, but bear with me).
With laptop sales eclipsing desktops, and iPods and iPhones leading to a perpetually mobile generation, wouldn’t it make sense for Apple to push connectivity everywhere?
What if Apple released a sub-notebook with the usual suspects and “one more thing” - WiMAX.
Paired with the 3G iPhone we will see in 2008 and Back to my Mac, it would be a powerful product to accelerate their growth in this powerful market segment.
What tea leaves am I reading to think this? A curious announcement timed for this coming Tuesday.
Sprint recently announced that the company is on track to begin offering their Xohm WiMax service in April of this year…the New York Times reported that the soft launch is set for this Tuesday.
(Via Sprint to Soft-Launch Xohm on Tuesday - dslreports.com.)
Sprint did a deal with Amazon for EVDO in the Kindle, why not Apple for a WiMAX enabled laptop?
Apple’s deal with AT&T certainly said nothing about WiFI or WiMAX, but may have locked them out of embedding EVDO.
With AT&T’s CEO blowing the lid on Apple’s 2008 iPhone plans it would be sweet revenge for Apple to work with Sprint.
Apple could build a strong relationship with Sprint, while fulfilling their obligations to AT&T.
One can dream and speculate. We will know on Tuesday.
Just in case you read about the latest Net Applications browser market share report and the .09% share that the iPhone got, I wanted to jump in with a reality check as the Apple zealots are making my ass itch with their usual idiocy. I mean, it’s great to hear the iPhone is doing well… mobile Safari is the best mobile browser bar none and shows the true power of the mobile internet - if you think otherwise you’re an idiot (or have never used it).
However, that said, if you believe any of those wonky mobile stats, you’re also an idiot.
(Via Lies, damn lies and mobile browser market share reports.)
Russell is correct. These reports are usually exaggerated if not flat out lying.
That said, we “mac zealots” have been saying the same thing about market share reports for years. After all, every “PC” shipping is not destined for someone’s desk.
That said, Russell points out that there are more browsing enabled phones than computers.
However, one trend I am witnessing first hand with the iPhone and will see more when iPhone competitors hit the markets in 2008, is that people want easy to use devices.
Amy inherited by partners iPhone recently, she is what you would describe as a typical mobile phone user.
She always has a phone with her, uses it as her primary communication device, yet despite my efforts to keep her phone up to date with the latest trends and encouraging her to text, browse and use email on her phones - she never did before the iPhone.
I am still figuring out what changed and from my observations, it is all about the ease of use.
She doesn’t have to dig through menus, learn to appreciate the hack that is T9 predictive typing and most of her web sites just work.
Instead of asking me for the information when we are out, I frequently look to see her texting, surfing and generally using more of her phone’s features than ever before.
”Looks like Apple might be mulling over the inclusion of Boot Camp in Leopard according to a statement released to investors last week.”
(Via Will Boot Camp be the end of OS X apps?.)
Of course, some developers will not port their widows applications to Mac OS X.
Those developers will suffer from poor sales, high technical support costs and build a crappy reputation, all of which open the door for competitors.
”So, ever since I got the eeePC I’ve loved how easy it is to tinker with. Since I’m not a Linux guy, I dumped the Xandros preload and opted for Windows XP so I could you my EVDO USB datacard and blogging software easier, but I wondered could I install OSX on it? And, after trial and error - you can!”
(Via Load OSX 10.5 Leopard on the eeePC.)
Impressive effort!
Recently I downsized my work setup, moving from a 17” MacBook Pro and 30” Cinema Display to a simple 13” MacBook.
Why dump the nirvana of displays and laptops?
The large display was gorgeous, but having umpteen windows open was distracting sometimes. I found myself either overwhelmed when sitting to close, or leaning forward to read what I was looking at when too far away.
Originally I planned to only dump the display, but to my surprise Apple released the new MacBook on my birthday - must have been a sign, right?
Upon reviewing the specs, I found that it had everything I needed in a laptop, minus some frills and about $1000. As a bonus, I could transfer the 4GB of ram from my MacBook Pro.
After a quick dance on Craiglist, I sold the MacBook Pro in a mere 2 hours, then headed off to the Apple Store to snatch the new MacBook.
For the first week I toyed with picking up a 20” display, but resisted the urge so I could acclimate to the new setup.
Working on a small screen everything is easier to focus on (the perfect resolution?) and thanks to Leopard’s Spaces, I found that I didn’t miss the large desktop monitor.
The reduced screen space also gave me an understanding for the the sprawling mess a lot of web sites have become, something I strive to avoid in my work.
The last benefit is portability.
With the new setup I no longer dread packing up the laptop for a day out of the home office. In fact, I prefer getting out more now.
”Keeping track of what’s new on your favorite Web sites isn’t a big deal if you only have one or two sites to follow. If you have several, however, it can become a time consuming chore that eats away at your day – unless you use an RSS news reader, and that’s exactly what Apple added to Mail in Mac OS X 10.5.”
(Via TMO Quick Tip - Mail: Leopard’s New News Reader || The Mac Observer.)
Tried it. Liked it. Good start, but undercooked.
Some news items are truncated regardless of the original feeds length, no hooks to link to Weblog Editors, like MarsEdit and can not import OPML.
It is a good start and reveals the addition of the PubSub framework now included with Leopard.
This article says what I have failed to put into words in the past.
”There is really nothing religious about our use of open source. We use it because it’s better on the scales of merit that we care about. For infrastructure software, such as web servers, databases, server operating systems, programming languages, and web frameworks, the scales of merit lend themselves incredibly well to open-source development. Thus, we use it and are passionate about it.
For desktop operating systems? Not so much. There are just too many disciplines involved that programmers are not naturally good at and don’t have sufficient levels of taste to prepare masterfully. And programmers constitute the vast majority of builders in the open source communit”
(Via Ask 37signals: Why OS X and not Linux? - (37signals).)
I use Mac OS X on the desktop and open source for deployment for the exact same reasons.
With every new major release of Linux and Solaris, I take a look to see if either is coming close to the desktop experience I now enjoy.
Call me a fanboy or part of the cult if you like, but it really is true that I get more done using the platform I have than any other.
I need to post a list of the tools I can not live without, that I have not found true equals for on Linux or Solaris.
”The Sparkle framework just nails the process of providing an automatic update mechanism for Cocoa applications. I’m really impressed with how smoothly it works and the idea of using RSS as a notification mechanism, in the form of an appcast, is perfect. In fact, it works so smoothly that the part of me that automates everything wanted to take it one step further and make pushing a new version of a Cocoa application I’m working on as easy as pushing a button. Sort of like using Capistrano with Rails, but from within Xcode. After all, once Sparkle is wired into an application, doing the rest of the work to build archives, create feeds, and upload things seems like a real drag. So, last night I sat down and hacked away on it and have come up with a first cut solution.”
(Via James Duncan Davidson – Sparklemation.)
The Android platform will be made available under one of the most progressive, developer-friendly open-source licenses, which gives mobile operators and device manufacturers significant freedom and flexibility to design products. Next week the Alliance will release an early access software development kit to provide developers with the tools necessary to create innovative and compelling applications for the platform.”
(Via John Battelle’s Searchblog.)
Hopefully this leads to some compelling mobile devices. It is certainly less than consumers expected today.
By the second half of 2008, when they expect the first Android handsets to hit the market, we should have Nokia’s iPhone challenger and the second generation iPhone.
It will be interesting to see where the chips fall.
Last night I bought a new Macbook, one of the swanky new ones Apple just released.
As an experiment, I let Time Machine do a complete backup of my old Mac before powering up the MacBook.
When it was done, I plugged in the Time Machine drive, powered up the new MacBook and select import from Time Machine backup.
Having over 70 gigs of of data, I headed for the couch and enjoyed Spiderman 3.
Later I returned to see how things fared.
One word, wow!
Nearly everything was there, working correctly. Bookmarks, iTunes, Password, Applications.
Virtually flawless.
You have to endure numerous authorizations to tell Keychain to let applications access the passwords, but it all works.
There is one caveat though - developer tools was only partially copied, including some I had installed in /usr/local.
Firing up DVD and reinstalling the developer tools from the Leopard disk fixed that in couple minutes.
Very very impressive for a first release!
I not imagine not using Time Machine from now on. It is reason enough for anyone to upgrade to Leopard.
In a notable about-face, Apple has changed its stance with regard to allowing Mac OS X Server to be run inside a virtual machine (VM), much as Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion make it possible to run Windows and other PC-based operating systems on a Mac. Until the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Server, Apple’s software license agreement explicitly forbade running multiple copies of Mac OS X Server on a single Mac, preventing Parallels and VMware from including Mac OS X Server among the operating systems that could be virtualized legally. Apple’s Tiger Server software license agreement reads:
This License allows you to install and use one copy of the Mac OS X Server software (the ‘Mac OS X Server Software’) on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time.
(Via TidBITS.)
Huge step in the right direction. Ship something VMWare. Please.
