Other MagSafes can’t reach into MacBook Air’s power port:

A USB 3G modem finds no purchase in MacBook Air’s USB port.

Michael Horowitz, who writes a blog for CNET called “Defensive Computing, has a very important point to make about the design of Apple’s sub-notebook superficially made for business users or road warriors. The non-replaceable battery makes another appearance as primary suspect. Imagine, Horowitz writes, forgetting to backup all your important files when you ship your MBA for a change of battery? How many times have we forgot to backup important files? Now imagine making a disk-image backup of the hard disk without an optical drive?

Horowitz thinks the MacBook Air “is a really bad idea.” Apple promised us battery replacements for only $129 with no service charge. Yeah, and where is the fine print on Apple never changing the price of MacBook Air battery. Here is Aple’s repair terms and conditions and here is the MacBook Air battery replacement FAQ page.

Horowitz’s column

Been reading Adam Frucci’s “Battlemodo” comparing five laptops in the same price range as the MacBook Air. Besides the MBA, he had the Dell XPS M1330, the Toshiba Portege R500, the Fujitsu LifeBook S2210 and the Sony Vaio TZ150N. All of these notebooks are under four pounds and are defined as “ultraportables.”

Side-by-side these other four laptops, it’s obvious the MacBook Air severely suffers on the storage department. Using only a 18-inch PATA hard disk with spin speed of 4100 rpm, it is years behind the storage technology used by the other four (all 5400 rpm). Of course, Apple provides an SSD (solid state) option for the MBA but so does Dell, Toshiba and the Sony.

If I take it that Apple will be marketing their ultraportable to the usual market for ultraportables, the business users. This is crucial because business users are always at work and saving their work frequently. They would be on an airport lounge or on a train working on their spread sheets or Word documents. The 4100 rpm PATA of the MBA isn’t exactly the ideal tool for these people.

Yes, I don’t think the Adam Frucci’s comparison table is fair. If the MacBook Air had the same SATA HDD it wouldn’t have been a fair comparison at all, even with the non-user-replaceable battery.

Any thoughts?

Read

I find it curious that most if not all of the “advance” reviews of the MBA lay a lot of emphasis on the MacBook’s weight, belaboring the fact that the MacBook Air is not the lightest book out there. The Toshiba Portege R500 and the Sony VAIO VGN-TZ150N are two of the often cited ultraportables that are lighter than MBA.

1. PCMag review of MacBook Air: perhaps the most positive and pro-Apple review, yet, of the new ultraportable Mac.

The MacBook Air weighs in at 3 pounds and includes features that the rumor sites had long been predicting, including a 13-inch LED screen and an optional SSD drive. It lacks an internal optical drive, and the (very) limited number of connectivity ports will raise eyebrows, but the $1,799 starting price, standard-voltage processing parts, and full-size keyboard make up for its few limitations.

A statement that flies in the face of disillusioned Apple fanboys expecting a 12 or 13-inch MacBook Pro but got a notebook that fits in a Manila folder instead.

2. The USAToday points out the marketing problem of MBA. It agrees with PCMag that the larger-than-usual screen on the MBA for an ultra-portable is a plus but points out the new thing would be a tough sell to the core market of ultra-portables: business users.

3. ZDNET – Russel Shaw saying there’s no point to a light Mac.

4. Danny Dumas of Wired reiterates the key issue for me: an under-powered MacBook is such an odd-thing.

5. CNET says the MacBook Air makes no compromises. Really? What about that wash out screen (see pic above)?