Steve Jobs announced Apple’s entry into the ultra-mobile laptop market, the Macbook Air during his keynote at the Macworld Expo today.
It’s an amazing machine that I got to play with this afternoon (photos below) so I’ll get the fanboy stuff out of the way. Air is an apt name, because its 3 pounds (1.36kg) and thinner than my iPhone in its (somewhat bulky) case. The tech specs are solid, but like any good Apple product it’s the form factor that makes the difference. Full keyboard, 13.4″ screen and a tactile trackpad brings iPhone style touch functionality to a laptop.
Now here’s the downside. The price. $1799.
We’ve covered the move towards cloud computing recently with the gPC; the same company now offers a ultra-mobile laptop for $299. Asus offers the eeePC, another ultra-mobile laptop that runs linux and is focused on the cloud for between $299-$499. The move away from computers that rely on desktop apps to the cloud (internet apps) is on. The Macbook Air fits the criteria with its lack of optical drive, relatively small storage options and emphasis on wireless/ WiFi internet. But here’s the thing: it’s too much money. Sure, it’s superb engineering and a full powered machine, but $1799 US and probably a lot more by the time its offered internationally is beyond what many will pay for an ultra-mobile.
The Macbook Air will also likely cannibalize Macbook sales, after all for not much more you can own an amazing machine, but perhaps that’s the whole point. Perhaps the Macbook Air is Apple’s outreach to the premium end of the Ultra-mobile market and longer term a replacement for the Macbook? Either way Apple has not launched a mass market computer, but they probably know that already, oh, and I still want one.
Update: international pricing is (as expected) inflated. Air in Australia is $2,499 AUD ($2,219) for the base model, and a staggering $4,338 AUD ($3881) for the model with the solid state drive. To put this is perspective I paid approx $3,600 AUD for the top of the range Macbook Pro less than 12 months ago.
@Tonto
It isn’t 1970. Though, I will say you are correct in saying that $1700 really isn’t that much for a laptop. However, $1800 is too much for this laptop. Also, I don’t really understand why this computer is so “extremely portable” when compared to other notebooks on the market. We are talking about less than 1″ and a couple of pounds. Seriously, the difference is not that huge.
@Michael Griffiths
You are also correct in saying that $1800 isn’t bad for a top of the line laptop. Unfortunately, the Air is not top of the line. It is a bit smaller and lighter than other laptops on the market, but the actual tech is not very good.
@Rose
Sony computers are and have always been extremely overpriced.
Hey, if you are happy spending around 2k for an Intel with a crappy HD and 1 USB port, I say go for it. Especially if it makes you feel better about yourself.
Becoming smaller and lighter are baseline pedestrian improvements in the computer industry. I don’t want to belittle the efforts of the engineers that crammed all the pieces into that tiny chassis but it is still just a laptop. This is not innovation. The touch screens on the iPhone and the Wii Remote are innovative. The Air is just boring.
why the price inflation in australia?
taxes or duties?
greed?
what is with that?
Duncan, great take on things.
As a loyal mac fan boy, I must say that this one missed by so far it’s sad.
My guess is that this started it’s development path 18+ months ago and “hot categories” changed rapidly when the Asus EeePC (et al) came out.
Let’s see… An Asus (web, wi-fi, office, webcam) for $400 (2 lb) or Air for $1700…. Hmmmmm.
Would loved to have seen an ultra portable (al la Asus) category killer for around $600 - I can dream on I know - but that’s the current exploding category (350,000 EeePC’s sold)
Kind of obvious they knew they missed a bit - it wasn’t the “One More Thing” - just another thing.
I think it is a great machine. But 13″ does not cut it for me. I want a 17″.
BTW, cloud computing and thin client. When did we hear that before? Now … do not be upset. I totally believe in the cloud.
I’m sure the price will come down in the next few months. They (tech companies in general, not just apple) always jack up the price for the early adopters.
Macbook Air is fantastic product but I think its slightly expensive.
OMG NEWS!!! Apple’s BRAND NEW PRODUCT COSTS LOTS OF MONEY!!!11!ONE
That’s not too expensive considering the specs.
It’s funny that SJ compared the (hot)Air to the Sony ultra portables. Having a full sized keyboard and screen are great, but that’s not what an ultra portable is all about.
A UP is about a small FOOTPRINT not just being thin. The Sony has a smaller footprint thereby giving it exactly what U.P. buyers expect, something small that fits in small places (like the tray table in front of you on a plane), not just thin. I can get a thin ThinkPad (and it will have better specs and last for 5 years). So what.
Typical SJ trying to hide a weakness as a strength (like his excuse for not having 3G in the iPhone)
Wow! A new Mac that’s thinner and lighter than the last! BFD.
Techcrunch reminds me a lot of Digg: Changin’ the world one Mac story at a time.
I don’t get. My 15 month old Vaio SZ is under 3 pounds, was wireless, it’s got 160gig HD, bluetooth, IC card reader, sd slot, firewire, same rez screen, 2 video cards (low-spec, low-power + high spec, high power).
The current Vaio SZ have 250gig drives, Wireless N, 6 hour battery life, bluetooth, So, what’s the news? Yea, It’s a mac but it’s not like there is anything new in the Air that I can see.
Guys, think of the functionality…
Only one USB port!!!
I always use my optical mouse as long usage of touchpad is uncomfortable and store my files in pendrive. I charge my blackberry with USB, I Dont think USB hub for multiple ports can provide power and fastness required.
From a conventional usage point of vew, Its little uncomfortable. I hope they addressed this while designing.
- No replaceable battery
- 1 USB 2.0
- No optical drive
- 80GB 4200rpm HD PATA
- RAM 2GB not upgradeable
Apple, that’s a joke!
I think Kate @24 makes a great point. People have cash to burn these days. Sure it’s expensive internationally, but there’ll be tons of people importing these puppies from the States day one. The USD being worth s**t these days makes this one of the cheaper laptops in Norway for example. Even with the price of a flight to NY added on top it’s nearly worth it just like that, let alone if you’re buying 2/3 per person and re-selling them here.
Duncan, terrible reporting to compare the price to those machines. You need to compare it to the Sony Vaio’s etc. Or at the very least mention that those machines are much more expensive.
What apple did with the remote optical drive is sheer genius. No one but apple could have thought of that.
No doubt about it, this product has a market amongst (business) women, business travellers who care about what they carry around and students. There’s still cash to burn in the world and this will be one place where people start burning it. And expect a nice 3-500 USD drop in about 6 months just to help it get even more market share.
foleo Again ?
In Germany the Air costs 2500 USD and the AppleTV 440 USD.
Apple has nice products but many of them are just overpriced so I won’t purchase them (the iPhone is another example).
All the comments about comparisons to sony etc are not correct at all…
Comparisons to sony T/SZ etc - they are about the same price… But lets not forget that the Sony’s usually feature optical drives, proper graphics cards, processors that aren’t stunted, higher capacity disks and just generally don’t skimp on essentials like USB ports. I mean wtf - 1 usb port?… Are we thinking here?…
Plenty of similar sized devices also feature HSDPA connectivity. Maybe not a big deal for you people in the states but anywhere else in the world where mobile networks *don’t* suck - this is actually useful.
The price is so excessive in Germany and other places outside the US. I don’t think is very clever to be so US-centered, Apple computers are object of desire here, but their market share is still tiny.
On the other side, comparing an Apple computer with a cheap linux machine is not proper… it has nothing to do.
If you want to carry a 20lbs laptop (or you never carry your laptop - just keep it on your desk all the time) with 17″ and lots of ports and stuff and you want to pay $1000 or below - go get a HP or Dell.
If you’re in a market for an ultra-portable BEAUTIFUL laptop - MacBook Air is the winner - and it costs only $1800 compared to many $2000+ machine in this category - so it’s not overpriced.
And it’s so beautiful… my Thinkpad X60 Tablet is a great machine… and I’m still loving it, but I must admit it’s just ugly if I compare it to the MB AIR.
1 USB port? It’s all about wireless - Bluetooth mouse, bluetooth printer, wireless storage, etc…. and you don’t need USB ports if you think about it. I have 3 USB ports in my Thinkpad and I use only 1.
My opinion - it’s the first real WOW laptop from Apple and it’s stunning. I want one. I’m used to Tablet PCs and the only one thing I’m missing is the touchscreen and it may be the deal breaker for me… but all in all… I’m more than impressed with the MB Air… and the price is more than right - after the initial iPhone pricing I thought Steve would start with $2K, but he came to his senses - respect!
Again - it’s not for everyone - it’s for people who move around and need a quick and powerful laptop that weights nothing and can be hidden almost anywhere.
Wow, I can’t believe how great the machine is.
I can imagine my everyday work - I open up the machine and have an instant smile on my face by seeing how beautiful it is.
can somebody explain why foreign prices are so high?
duties and taxes?
china is the same distance from everywhere, so it isn’t transport
No, it isn’t transport because most of the apple products ship from taiwan or china anyway.
Who was the idiot who said they needed an extra USB port for their mouse? Use a wireless mouse dumbass.
the sony ultraportables are just as expensive at their cheapest!
and i don’t know about you, but i don’t usually carry a CD or DVD collection around when i’m traveling. if it’s not on my computer, i don’t listen to or see it.
Good god!
I just watched the keynote. The thickest part of the MacBook Air is actually thinner than the thinnest part of the thinnest Sony AND the Mac Air has a bigger screen!
That explains the price…
I only looked quickly at one MacBook Air yesterday, but its screen was a little washed out (too contrasty) — is this true of all of them?
The bigger question is, how long until it stops shutting down mysteriously?
http://www.macbookrandomshutdown.com/
http://stylewhisper.blogspot.c.....eview.html
http://appleschmapple.blogspot.com/
$1799? More likely $3100 sans optical drive in the US. And you have to buy an Ethernet adapter to boot. With an 80GB 4200rpm drive and one USB port this thing is neither fish or fowl. Oh but it’s thin, great.
I agree Mike, this is way too expensive, you might as well just get a macbook Pro, the difference in thinness is not worth all that money.
Even worse if you watch Europe, in Germany the “cheap” model is priced at 1799 EUR which is a whopping 2645 USD, for that money I can make a one day trip to America and buy it right there…
Bunch of whiners. :-((
“Oh this car is too expensive.. wah wah wah…”
“My For Taurus has a sun roof and I only paid … blah blah blah”
“Who wants to pay more for a nice looking car, I certainly wouldn’t … blah blah”
As someone who runs a business online, I always wonder why my customers do, or don’t buy, my product. Feedback is important.
So, here it is, TechCrunch: THIS is the article that caused me to unsubscribe. The basic cluelessness of all technology of Michael Arrington has annoyed me for as long as I’ve known about this, but now that you’re bringing other clueless people– in this case a total tool when it comes to understanding marketing, product positioning and basic logic.
Much of the so-called “tech” press (people who talk about techology but seem to have no understanding of it) are denigrating the Air, just as they did the iPod and the iPhone, without understandign the market position of it.
Tech crunch does not get a pass because you are making the same error- it just shows there’s no reason to continue to subscribe when I have enough of this crap already.
Also, because in the period where most of my subscriptions issued 20-50 articles, you issued 279– more than I care to read, and most of which were dreck like this one.
Bye bye!
I have to agree with Joy.
Plus, your choice of photos is useless and really tells us nothing.
Whereas if you had used a better photo, then people would actually understand why the MacBook Air is priced the way it is.
This photo says it all:
http://images.appleinsider.com.....nbox-6.jpg