[Shacs] Apple Releases World's Thinnest Notebook Computer

[ekeown at swbell.net]

Ouch...I didn't realize that there was only one USB port.  Apple is already selling two USB devices specifically marketed for the MacBook Air, an external optical drive and an ethernet adapter.  So, you can't use both unless you also have a USB hub; that sure sounds like a lot of stuff to have/carry around for an ultra-portable device.

Also it's going to cost $129 to get the MacBook Air's battery replaced and it has to be installed by Apple, but the installation is free...or rather included in the price.

    Eric

----- Original Message ----
From: Byron Ray <bray at conroeisd.net>
To: ekeown at swbell.net
Cc: shacs at shsu.edu
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 9:00:46 AM
Subject: Re: [Shacs] Apple Releases World's Thinnest Notebook Computer


Don't forget only ONE USB port and NO optical drive.

*************************************************************************************
Byron Ray                                    Technology Department,
 Conroe ISD 
Email and Web Security Analyst  3205 West Davis #C208  
Tel:   (936) 709-7626                   Conroe, TX 77304
Email: byron at conroeisd.net 
*************************************************************************************

ekeown at swbell.net on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 11:00 PM -0600 wrote:
>
>It's very cool and light, but three quirks they fail to mention in the
> sales pitch:
>
>It's factory sealed, meaning:
>1) You can't replace or upgrade the hard drive
>    - OK, not a huge deal because if you use all the hard drive space
> on a machine that is no means meant to be a desktop replacement (it
> doesn't have an optical drive) it's probably old and therefore by
 Apple's
> standards out of date, and two they offer pretty good service on
 their
> machines if you don't mind going to an apple store or sending it off.
>
>2) You can't upgrade of replace the RAM
>    - This is a bit of a bigger issue to me because while we all know
> that laptops aren't generally upgrade friendly, it's nice to know
 that
> you can always add more RAM to get a little more performance out of
 the
> machine.
>
>3) You can't replace the battery
>    - This is the biggest issue for me.  The battery is internal and
> therefore sealed...so no spare battery, and worse, when the battery
> decides to loss it's charge capacity, you have to be without your
 machine
> while Apple get around to replacing the battery for you.
>
>As I mentioned there is no optical drive which isn't that big of deal
> since there is always the option to use an external drives, and they
> have a piece of software you can put on other machines so the MacBook
 Air
> can use their optical drives.  Also the machine excluded a network
 port
> choosing to go exclusively wireless.  Again these are both very minor
> issues, especially compared to the whole factory sealed issue.
>
>To me, these factory sealed issues are the kind that should be found
 in
> something like the OLPC XO-1, not a system you paid $1800 for.  Thin
> is neat and compact is neat, but to me they shouldn't sacrifice such
> common features, at a premium no less.
>
>Eric
>
>----- Original Message ----
>From: Dr. Tim McGuire <mcguire at shsu.edu>
>To: shacs at shsu.edu
>Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 3:36:54 PM
>Subject: [Shacs] Apple Releases World's Thinnest Notebook Computer
>
>
>This is one sleek computer.  The question is: "Is it usable?"
> 
>http://www.apple.com/macbookair/guidedtour/
>
>-- 
>Timothy J. McGuire, Ph.D.
>Department of Computer Science
>Sam Houston State University
>Huntsville, Texas  77341-2090
>(936)294-1571    mcguire at shsu.edu    http://www.shsu.edu/~csc_tjm/
>
>
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