Scattered Brilliance
From my brain to paper (or pixels as the case may be)Archive for apple
Mahalo Daily: State of the Union 2008 in 60 seconds.
Mahalo Daily’s done it again with a condensed recap of a long speech.
Personally, I thought the Steve Jobs’ recap was more entertaining and a little more on point to the overall message.
Or maybe Jobs is just a better and more cogent speaker than our president.
Or maybe Bush doesn’t use enough “booms”.
But then again, the day George Bush says “boom” is the day he “presses the button” and maybe that isn’t the best option either.
Macbook Air thoughts
I think Don Reisinger and Molly Wood have it right with this one. While very cool looking and sexy as all hell, the Macbook Air just doesn’t feel all that practical. As it is, I don’t really get the ultraportable market for more mainstream users. I know that the computer manufacturers aren’t targeting products in the ultraportable space to mainstream users, but the truth is ultraportables are the sexiest of notebooks; thin, stylish, attractive.
Sexy products are what the mainstream aspires to own. In this case, I think the introduction of the Macbook Air just confuses the mainstream in regards to Apple’s product line.
Let’s step back a second. Apple had just started to gain momentum in the PC market on the heels of brilliant advertising, a superior OS release, and a true lagging iPod halo effect.
Instead of focusing on their core Macbook products starting at a very mainstream acceptable and friendly $1,099 and building out products and services that make the jump to Apple with a Macbook more appealing, Apple chose to set an industrial design standard with a product that doesn’t fit the core needs of the masses.
Is it fair to say that if you strip away a slight bit of height and weight that the Macbook is as good if not better usable notebook? And for $700 less!
Is it also fair to say that at only $200 more and a slight bit of height/weight, the Macbook Pro is a far superior option?
I think yes on both accounts.
Look, I am really enjoying being a switcher and I have serious, serious iPhone envy. My email sig file on my Treo is “**all thumbs, sent from my (boring yet effective non-iPhone) mobile device**” for God’s sake. But at the end of the day, I think this product is more about pomp and circumstance than use and I don’t see any reason for products like that.
(Just as I finished this post I came across this review of the pros and cons of the Macbook Air that I had to post as it’s excellently thought through.)
Scattered Brilliance 