Archive for January, 2008

Macworld Conference & Expo

Monday, January 21st, 2008
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MacBook AirI went to Macworld again this year. The MacBook Air is incredibly nice. It’s very portable and it’s something you have to pick up and hold to fully appreciate. I was always very happy with my 12″ iBook G4. I thought the size of that was just perfect. I was a little hesitant about a portable laptop with a 13.3″ screen, but it’s still surprisingly nice. Being so slim and light weight really makes up for the other dimensions.

I’d say there are a few good criticisms of the MacBook Air and what was announced, however. With the MacBook Air, Apple also released an external USB Super Drive. It seems that drive exclusively works with the MacBook Air. I was told by the Apple gentleman showing the laptop to me that the USB port had an additional line to provide more power, thus preventing the drive from working on other computers.

I thought the Remote Drive seemed pretty cool. I typically just use disk images on a file server that I mount, but I could see the benefit of having a mounted physical drive from any other networked computer. Asking about that, I was told that the Remote Drive software would only work for the MacBook Air. I can imagine scenarios where that software would be very convenient for me to use.

I have mixed feelings about gesture pads and I’m not certain how much success Apple will have with it. Looking at the MacBook Air, the trackpad button is much smaller and the trackpad itself is 20% larger than the MacBook. If Apple has a lot of success with gestures, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just remove that physical button altogether.

ModBookThis probably only effects a small group of portable users. But many people buying these ultra-portable laptops are doing so because they’re doing a lot of moving around and field work. As a result, opportunities to plug into an outlet and charge your battery may be few. The MacBook Air does not have a user replaceable battery. So unlike many other laptops, you can’t carry around an additional battery to pop in once you’re running low on battery life. I personally have never needed to do that. Speaking anecdotally, I can think of only one person I’ve ever met that carried around a second battery. But I’m sure there’s some people out there that take long flights and need the additional battery while working on a plane, for example.

In addition to seeing the MacBook Airs, I also had a chance to browse the exhibit hall and for the first time used the ModBook. It’s a MacBook that is modded to be a tablet with the keyboard removed and touch screen added. This illustrates to me a demand for this kind of mobile Mac. I’d really like a computer that is something between my iPhone and my MacBook. I frequently walk around my workplace and could benefit from a Mac that is as easy to hold and use as a clipboard. My iPhone doesn’t have the software and my MacBook requires me to hold it in an awkward way and sometimes balance it on my knee to type.

I was told the ModBook also works with the Tablet Edition of Windows. The ModBook only comes in white, which is a shame, because the gentleman at Macworld had one specially made for him that was black and it actually looked really sleek.

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