First Impressions of Apple’s MacBook Air

January 16, 2008 at 12:00 am PT

Although he tells MarketWatch’s Stacey Delo in this video that “he’s professionally not allowed to be wowed,” Walt Mossberg offers his first impressions of a number of new Apple products being unveiled this week at Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco, among them the MacBook Air — which, he cautions, he has not had the chance to put through its paces yet for reviewing purposes.

Tagged with Apple, MacBook Air, MacWorld, Steve Jobs

comments so far. Add yours.

gaetano fasciana

Hi Walt,

I watched the video. I know its tough coming up with comments on the spot. Especially, with a new product. You mentioned that it was a very nice looking piece of hardware and I would agree. You mentioned that Apple didn’t want to compromise on many things here. The touch pad was a significant introduction to laptops. I would agree.

I have been a laptop user for many years. I am a freelance photographer and laptops make sense for me. I just recently bought my first desktop (iMac aluminum 24-inch), since the mid 80′s. I am loving it! In the late 90′s I owned the “wallstreet” G3 laptop. It had a zip drive. I recall when the new aluminum Powerbook came out without a zip drive. I didn’t understand. I thought that the machine lacked something.

Instead, Apple was saying that we didn’t need zip drives, and that CDs and DVDs were the new storage media. Thus, instead of a compromise, it was a move into the future. There was no lack.

It is the same this time around. There is no compromise or lack. Apple is simply saying that we no longer need CDs or DVDs. Things will move from computer to computer, or from the “cloud,” wirelessly. The Macbook Air is the first computer to do away with shiny disc’s as storage media. In my opinion, this is the profound significance of this new laptop. And again, Apple is leading the way.

gf
Bill Graham

Walt,

I agree this is a road warrior machine. I have paid a premium for many laptops in this segment. I find the lack of built-in mobile broadband significant and a feature I do not want to give up. With the fragmented market Wi-Fi is simply not adequate for a road warrior unless you’re willing to shell out $9.95 at each airport and hotel. I know there are USB broadband solutions, I don’t want to carry and keep track of a separate item.

An additional note from Macworld on a different product. Apple TV could certainly run the Mail and Safari client from the iPhone/iPod Touch. A Wi-Fi keyboard with these apps and this device becomes a real value. I think many people would like to surf on their new HDTVs.
Kevin Crays

Gaetano, I think it’s silly to say that the lack of a DVD isn’t a big deal. This is geared at road warriors, and if you’re on a plane, you might want to watch a movie, and if that movie is on DVD, then you want a dvd drive. Yes, they could extract the movie to their drive, but that’s technically illegal.

What, you say buy it from iTunes? Call me old fashioned, but if I’m going to buy a movie, I’m not buying an inferior copy (and all Digital downloads are inferior to DVD and most (all?) lack the features that come with DVDs).

Renting via itunes or net flix may be an option, but if I own the movie, why should I have to rent it to watch on my laptop?

All that said, it looks sleek and is probably very light. I may not like losing the optical drive, but I can definitely see the appeal for some buyers and for them the benefits may out weigh this deficiency.
http://www.curiouslyincongruous.net Eric Perlberg

GF: I’m also a photographer but I don’t think the MacBook Air is aimed at sophisticated media work. That’s what the MacBook Pro is for. This is a road warrior’s machine and suitable for people who basically don’t need more than what Apple’s iApps offer (iWork apps and iLife apps), people who spend their time blogging, surfing, emailing, etc and for that its plenty fast enough. Some might find the price premium too high but there are plenty of people who buy Porsches and BMWs, high-end hifi, etc. They won’t have second thoughts about the price. They’ll buy the machine because its elegant. Well healed students may find it useful too. I don’t think the absence of a DVD is too painful, and IMO lot of people will use their iPods to handle music.

It will be interesting to see if the battery life is sufficient for road warriors, it might be. For many though it should be sufficient. It sure beats a Sony with a giant extra battery add-on.

I’ve not heard anyone comment on some small print on Apple’s web site in the Tech Specs section of the pages on MacBook Air: Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet. If that’s the case, then a 5 hour battery will be plenty but road warriors won’t be happy. Anybody know if this is just obligatory text or if it really is the operating limit for altitude?

Eric
gaetano fasciana

Hey guys,

Thanks for the feedback. I enjoy reading them. Today…road warriors…will be the early adopters. You are correct in saying so. I guess I am always thinking a couple steps ahead. We will eventually have info beamed all over the place (including airplanes). What is the point of a disc when you can grab it out of thin air? Eric..I agree. I do not expect to do photoshop on the laptop. I can see that a camera would wireless beam info to the machine. The laptop would be to surf and email etc. I could post the images on a website and have the art director choose an image, (and later do the work on a more powerful machine). I must mention that these small machines will one day be much more powerful. I admit to speaking in the abstract. And that was my point. The future will be ‘Different’.

cheers

gaetano
George Muenz

I’m seeing lots of negative feedback from those who attended Macworld. What they don’t seem to realize is that this is not meant to replace the MacBook or MBP. I will purchase the MBA. I have an iMac in my den, and I do the heavy stuff on it. I want a light, good looking laptop for my living room, where I can check email, do my Tivo schedules, write some quick letters etc. When I go for a coffee, I want a light laptop for simple tasks, this does it. Yes, its more expensive, but I also like style. Its why I have an iMac and and iPod and soon an iPhone.
Sean McLeod

Eric the 10,000ft altitude limit is standard for all mechanical harddrives. It actually refers to pressure altitude.

Now at 30,000ft in an airliner the actual pressure altitude inside the aircraft is only about 8,000ft, so it’s still safe to use a harddrive inside an airliner.

Cheers
Sean McLeod

Walt you mentioned in the video interview that this was the 1st laptop to offer gesture support.

Windows tablet PCs have included gesture support for years, albeit not multi-touch gesture support.

There are system level gestures, called ‘Flicks’ in Vista that a user can assign to various commands.

In addition there are a much larger set of application gestures that an application can register for.

And on tablet pc’s that offer touch screen input in addition to the use of an active digitizer with a pen the user can perform these gestures with their finger as well.

See the following links for some more info and a list of the different gestures that are supported.

http://blogs.msdn.com/andyed/a.....et-pc.aspx

http://codebetter.com/blogs/pe.....28549.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windo.....letpc.mspx

Cheers
Mohamed Emira

Only Mac fanboys will buy this, they will listen to their master Steve and they will buy it.

I don’t prefer certain brand, but I hate arrogance and I hate when someone tells me that you are not going to use an optical drive or telling me that everything should be wireless now.

If you have money and you want to show off, go ahead and buy it, I think helping kids in third world country is better than wasting your money on a Macbook because it’s sexy or elegant.

Just to know something, I don’t mind using apple products or windows or even Linux, I’m not against any brand.
John O’Halloran

My take is that the Mac Air will struggle to find a market. To be sure, they will take a small slice of the market just because it is sleek and cool.

I’m not convinced, however, the Mac Air is really for road warriors. It has an insufficient amount of disk and lacks an adequate number of ports. And, some road road warriors will indeed want to be able to watch a movie and be able to swap out batteries.

In the end, ‘cool’ won’t carry the day for the Air.
Mohamed Emira

I think some people likes to buy stuff for what it looks, but then they get to the point that they will miss having the extra power they used to get.

I think Macbook Pro is really neat laptop, it looks nice and it has a plenty of power.

I used to listen to Steve last year and I was fan of him, and now I figured out that he is falling in love with him self, and I think he is going to hurt Mac so bad.
http://www.curiouslyincongruous.net Eric Perlberg

*Now at 30,000ft in an airliner the actual pressure altitude inside the aircraft is only about 8,000ft, *

Thanks Sean, that makes perfect sense. I guess you can tell I’m not a frequent flyer…

Further thoughts on this laptop. It’s hard to believe that the minaturisation technology in the MBA won’t find itself in other Apple products that are super thin or super small yet full featured devices running a subset of Leopard. Since the first MacPlus with its insufficient memory and add on drive, through the the floppyless iMac with its frustrating round mouse Steve has always gone for underpowered machines with kinky set-ups that scream fun and elan and which frequently manage to change the industry. Given his track record I’m inclined to give his “hunches” the benefit of the doubt over those who are filling the internets with practical reasons why this bee won’t fly. And maybe they’re right but Apple rarely does things on a whim and I imagine there was a fair amount of internal discussion before the go-ahead was given.
Cliff Bennett

My 2 cents worth on CD/DVD player:

We publish a twice-monthly trade newspaper, and I only need a CD/DVD drive every other issue or so. All our ads come by email or online, with only an occasional exception.

I’ve gotta agree with gaetano — the future of both information and entertainment transmission is online.

Kevin Crays has a point, but I think it’s likely someone will solve all the issues someday, so one can buy all the content now provided on DVD, in a package available for their cell phone to download and play, with the same or cheaper cost. At that point, what will be the use of CD/DVD players in any device?

cb
Felipe Agosto

Mr. Mossberg, as a consumer I’m looking for a brekthrough in battery technology where can watch 12hrs HD Video on my Laptop and has a battery life close to 24hrs before it dies on me not 5hrs. As a consumer thats what I’m looking for, now, in the year 2008.

Thank You for Listing!
http://www.tedavibilgisi.com Tedavisi

agree this is a road warrior machine. I have paid a premium for many laptops in this segment. ..

First Impressions of Apple’s MacBook Air

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