VAW: The MacBook Air: Less is not more

Apple finally announced the fabled sub-notebook remarked about endlessly over the last year by Apple enthusiasts the world over. Many believed the new sub-notebook could double as a PDA and some speculated that it might even have a touch screen or better yet a pivot screen. Most believed it would be expensive, but our own Jamie Jameson expressed the opinion in her article "Where is my sub-notebaok Apple?" that Apple should exercise a little common sense and price it less than $1000. But the MacBook Air, introduced by Steve Jobs at Macworld Expo 2008 surprised everyone by offering a 13.3-inch screen and full size keyboard in a three-pound frame less than an inch thick. The surprises continued when Jobs announced that the crippled notebook would retail beginning at $1799. A solid-state version with a faster processor is also available starting at $3098. Maybe Apple is betting on early adopters swiping these wafer thin MacBooks up for $700 more than a much more powerful entry-level MacBook, but for most consumers, this new sub-notebook holds little appeal. Less is not more Steve, that's marketing 101.

Apple proudly proclaims the MacBook Air is a work of "thinnovation." Truly, the new MacBook is an innovative offering, with its incredible .16 to .76 inch height. However, many potential buyers might take issue with its "no-compromise" design because of its "no-compromise" price. The MacBook Air has the same size keyboard and 13.3-inch monitor as the MacBook. So overall size is not Apple's chief selling point. Apple wants to convince consumers that the MacBook Air's weight of three pounds, two pounds lighter than the MacBook, more than compensates for its slower processor, slower and smaller standard hard drive, lack of an internal optical drive, single USB port (no FireWire), lack of an Ethernet port, and less than appealing micro-DVI port. Apple wants consumers to believe the MacBook Air is worth $700 more than a seriously more capable entry-level MacBook. Is this all we get for the extra $700?

Apple wants us to pay $700 more for a two-pound advantage. Forget about what you have to give up to be a MacBook Air user, let's consider this two-pound difference. That comes to $350 for each pound you remove from the regular MacBook and in the process you lose the internal optical drive, you get a slower, smaller standard hard drive, you get less overall available RAM...you get the picture? What is Apple thinking?

This MacBook Air as it is currently configured is going to go down in history as Steve Jobs' worst mistake since the ill-fated G4 Cube, which did not find a market because beginning at $1799 was too expensive when you began to compare it with the far more powerful G4 Power Macs of the day. Apple quickly realized that consumers were not prepared to pay for style over substance. Some would argue that Apple is nothing but style, but that is not true and never really has been. Apple produces superior products that are, by the way, very cool in the style department. However, sometimes Apple falls victim to its own propaganda and does something that simply does not make sense to consumers. Past examples of this include the aforementioned G4 Cube, the Apple III, the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, and the Macintosh Portable. The MacBook Air has a very close connection to the same kind of thinking that doomed the Macintosh Portable.

The Macintosh Portable was also marketed as a "no-compromise" design. The Macintosh Portable had a very different but also very similar problem. Instead of being too weak for its price, it was far too heavy and was not optimized for the market Apple wanted it to exploit. It had everything that a similarly configured Macintosh SE had in a portable case. At fifteen pounds, this turkey was not portable enough. Apple corrected the deficiencies of the Macintosh Portable with the PowerBook 140 and PowerBook 170, which both weighted in at around seven pounds and were uniquely tailored to be the perfect mix of capability and portability for the market they were intended to serve. The three-pound, .76-inch MacBook Air is very light and thin, but it is otherwise the same size as the MacBook. In other words, the MacBook Air might be considered an alternative to the five-pound MacBook, but when you think about all the other things you get with an entry-level MacBook for $700 less, the MacBook Air value proposition vaporizes.

For the life of me I can't figure out what need this device is supposed to fill. It's too big to be a PDA. It's too crippled to be a desktop replacement and it's too expensive to be an alternative to a regular MacBook. This product will not be a big seller. It is cool device without a market.

Where I really see Apple going wrong with the MacBook Air is that it isn't optimized for anything in particular. It is basically just a thin, slower MacBook priced well above what anyone would want to pay for a laptop computer with its capabilities. Apple seems to be in love with the idea that this thing is "without wires". So what?

This is all possible with a regular MacBook that is $700 cheaper. Apple is pushing the idea of the "Remote Disc." This allows you to use another Macintosh's disk drive to install software on the MacBook Air. Otherwise, you would need to use an external MacBook Air SuperDrive, which is sold separately and occupies the MacBook Air's precious single USB port. I think this is very innovative, but it is only necessary because the MacBook Air doesn't have an internal optical drive. This is not necessarily a problem, but when you consider that you can buy a regular MacBook starting at $700 cheaper that actually has an optical drive and is only two pounds heavier, well, this just doesn't thrill me very much.

Apple offers an option to upgrade from the slow and small 80 GB 4200-rpm Parallel ATA hard drive to a 64 GB solid-state drive. Now this is interesting. A solid-state drive would mean that booting the MacBook Air would be near instantaneous and the longevity and power consumption of the drive would be remarkable. How much does this upgrade cost? $999! Are you kidding me? This is just too expensive for MacBook Air's intended market. I don't see many people going for this option because most people don't have more money than common sense. Apple also offers another option to upgrade from the 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo to a 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo for $300. So let me get this straight. An entry level MacBook with a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo sells for $1099, but you can upgrade the MacBook Air to slower processor than this entry level MacBook for a mere $300 on top of the $700 more you spent over the price of a regular MacBook. Where do I send the check?

If Apple would have given us a more specialized design for a more reasonable price, I would probably buy it. What we do have is an overpriced dude that doesn't really fill any market niche. Price and performance tailored to a specific need just doesn't work with the MacBook Air. Its screen is too large, its flash hard drive option is too expensive, and although you might be able to fit it in a manila envelope, it is too cumbersome to be considered a PDA. I would have preferred a 10-inch screen, a smaller flash drive option (20 to 30 GB) and a smaller keyboard. Finally, I would have preferred a more reasonable price, around $1500. I would not give more than $1000 for the MacBook Air because the regular entry-level MacBook is far superior and starts at $1099. I am not about to pay an additional $700 for a crippled MacBook that's only selling points are two pound lighter and half an inch thinner. The MacBook Air bumps right up against the same market as the regular MacBook and in that market it is a definite loser.

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Patrick :

Posted 70 days ago

I really think that macbook air is too expensive. I'm from Brazil and here it is 3 times more expensive than the macbook. But it's a inovation, it's really thin.

Mat Pancha :

Posted 228 days ago

I agree with your entire article whole heartedly. I've basically written the same thing on a lot of blog posts.
The only pro I saw in the MBA was the longer battery life, but honestly, the longer battery life doesn't justify the extra $800 you're going to spend. You can buy a second battery to take with you on a trip for any Mac laptop for much less.

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