Macopinion

New MacBook Scuttlebutt Complicates System Upgrade Equation

Comments

Dear Road Warrior -

Exactly! I am in a similar position, needing a new laptop. I travel 3-4 weeks a month, constantly in and out of airports, United 1k, and almost enough Hilton points to stay in Hawaii free for a year

The MacBook Air concentrated all it’s juice on what was relatively unimportant to the road warrior: thickness. It’s footprint & weight that counts, not thickness. I mean, unless you’re talking about a mid-1990’s notebook that was 1-1/2” inches thick, this is not a problem. So, the main feature of the MBA was to solve a problem that didn’t exist.

While the unit is nice and light, because thickness was the overriding design goal, too many required features needed to be removed. I know it’s selling well and I am happy about that but what good does this unit do when you have a 9 hour flight from ORD to CDG or 16 hours from LAX to MEL or 9 hours from SYD to HKG or 13 hours from HKG to SFO? Unlike Steve, I don’t have my own jet nor can I often afford to fly First Class, so after about 2-3 hours with an MBA, my work has ended.

Paying $1800 for one USB port is a bit bizarre IMHO. Almost all of my camera/video technology revolves around that 1394 port, as does every external hard drive I own. When in a hotel without wireless (and there are a lot of these, everywhere), how does one connect to the Ethernet network while simultaneously plugging in a software dongle? And don’t insult the road warrior by telling us to carry a USB hub; we’re trying to reduce what we must schlep, not add to it! Besides, who knows if the MBA’s Ethernet functionality even works via USB hub?

I can live without the DVD drive - easily - but without a replaceable battery and reasonable IO to get some work done, the MBA is a very cool toy but certainly not the daily traveling companion and workhorse of the road warrior. I’d love to own one just to show it off in local coffee houses but I would not head to the airport with it.

What I want is a MacBook with a 12” screen (it’s all about footprint), better graphics to drive display technology for presentations, and a separate DVD drive (it’s all about weight). Keep all the ports.

I do not wish to return to the aluminum MacBook Pros. I’ve owned a Titanium G4, an Aluminum G4 15”, an Aluminum G4 12” and two Aluminum 15” Intels. After my 2nd MBP Intel got worn down, and I got worn down carrying that load all over the planet, I was itching for a new laptop. Just like today, I was raring to buy.

But after 5 metal laptops, I was bored with the whole metal look. I wanted something different, but it just seemed that Apple’s whole new strategy was “Think Same.” Year after year, the same old same old look. Since 2002 - over 6 years ago - one metal laptop after another metal laptop.

But wait! My wife and I walked into an Apple Store a year and a half ago and much to my surprise, a BLACK MACBOOK. Hey, now, finally - that’s something different! Something new! I was wowed.

And it was lighter. And the footprint was smaller. I didn’t have to sacrifice a lot - graphics performance, mainly, which has been mildly inconvenient & slightly embarrassing listening to Windows users tease me when the BlackBook couldn’t drive the LCD projector - but all in all, it’s probably been one of the best laptops I’ve ever owned. Sturdy and reliable.

And here’s the kicker: on that same trip, my wife bought a brand new Aluminum Intel 15” unit. I can sit on our deck and get a strong Airport signal but she gets no signal; nada, zip zilch zero. Turns out metal DOES make a good signal shield

I have discovered what I’ve been missing all these years of using metal Mac laptops - superior WiFi performance! I have reveled in this speedy connection for the last 18 months or so. What a great laptop this MacBook has been.

And so, I would not like to be forced to return to limited WiFi range again - I’ve grown very spoiled - as well as be forced-fed more of the same, old, tired and worn out 6-7 year old metal design (6-7 years in the electronics business is an ETERNITY!). Also, it weighs more than the plastic, and frankly, I grew tired of carrying Apple’s extra weight.

It’s surprising that the company that became noted and famous for superior external design has grown so complacent over the years and would feed us the same looks year after year after year, resting on their laurels. Hopefully, the company now believes it’s time to earn their stripes again, and give us something different for a change.

(continued, next post:)

(continued)

The perfect Mac laptop for road warriors:

1. High impact, lightweight non-glare plastic case for superior WiFi broadcast and reception.

2. 12” non-glare LCD, LED backlight with MacBook-style hinge, lowering the height factor of the laptop to better fit in airline seat back trays (15” is untenable; 13” is almost too tall and is a problem quite often).

3. External, optional DVD player/recorder.

4. 2 USB 2.0, 1 1394a, 1 mini-DVI, 1-10/100 Ethernet, 1 headphone, 1 external speaker ports (obviously, power port required).

5. 1 security port.

6. Easily replaceable HDD & RAM, just like the MacBook design.

7. Easily swappable battery. I would carry 3 or 4 on long trips.

8. Two-button mouse (it should not take two hands to do in OS X what it takes one finger to do in Windows).

9. Optional iSight camera & built in microphone.

10. MacBook-style keyboard, possibly re-design slightly to provide more room (does the CAPS LOCK key need to be that HUGE, really now?).

11. 250 Gig fastest HDD available.

12. 2-4 Gig RAM.

13. Best in class mobile Intel processor.

14. Optional graphics upgrade to drive high quality presentation equipment and monitors.

15. Work on the power adapter to further reduce the weight, if possible. Think of the system as a package. The current power adapter needs some thought.

16. Low profile (height - with LCD open), lightweight (think of the current MacBook with a few ounces saved using a 12” LCD plus maybe 1 to 1.5 lbs saved with the DVD drive removed), and a small footprint - instead of worrying about the thickness, worry more about the length x width.

This would be my dream machine! I would tote this puppy all over the world, and would generate envy everywhere I went.

Great article, Charles! Thanks so much.

I agree with everything in your post, Charles, so closely that I could have written it myself, and with most (but not all) of the two-part first comments posed by Colorado.  I disagree about metal, though.  Aluminum is OK, and afer more than 4 years of hard continuous use my PB G4 still looks OK and is undamaged.  Most of the weight of the laptop is in its components and not in the case, as far as I can tell, so I would be OK with metal, but with larger plastic inserts to improve wireless reception.

My ideal machine would be a slightly lighter quad-core with the optical drive dispensed with in favor of more memory (4 GB minimum total capacity) and optional extra internal hard drive.  A return to slower Ethernet would be a huge loss after 4+ years of gigabit ethernet connectivity with my PB G4, so I definitely would keep the GbE capability.  Sounds like Colorado wants a machine more like the current MacBook and I want one more like the current MB Pro, but faster and lighter in both cases.

And the sooner, the better!  I don’t want to have to wait until August—June or at latest, July would be more like it.

Charles, Colo, SM,

You all three nailed it for me! Especially Colo; you perfectly described the MB I need. Can you please elaborate a little more on your projector problems? I have never read of that kind of problem, but it would surely be embarrassing for a ‘Doze user to witness that!

Wife’s G3 iBook just died on our present Asia trip, and my 8 year old Pismo, although still going great, is definitely due to be semi-retired. I even still have my PB 180 (remember those?) and my Kanga PB.

We absolutely must get something soon, but I really want to at least wait until the WWDC to see if any newly designed MacBook will be introduced. What to do, what to do…

Hi Colorado;

Thank YOU for the excellent comments and suggestions.

I would buy one of those.

I agree with you about metal. Plastic is more practical and functional for laptop housings (I have a 17” AlBook), and ther is the WiFi range issue. However, I expect we’re probably out of luck on that one, and that the MacBook Air is the styling bellwether for the foreseeable future.

Personally, I’m more abiut vertical depth than width in displays (I hate scrolling), but it sounds like you’re going to be accommodated on that one, with the industry scuttlebutt predicting a shift to 16:9 aspect ratio notebook displays from the current 16:10.

Maybe not on size, though. The trend line is bigger rather than smaller, with 15.6”, 17.3” and 18.4” displays in the pipe.

Great to hear that you’ve gotten such satisfactory service from your MacBook.

Charles

Hi Alan;

Alas it may be more like September, but I hope I’m mistaken about that.

I think you’re right about weight. Apple did go with aluminum for the MacBook Air which is the lightest laptop they eve made, although the monococque case design has a lot to do with that. They could probably build a monococque polycarbonate case, but it would have to be thicker to attain equal rigidity than with aluminum.

For me, it’s more about function. As I said in the article, I want FireWire and Ethernet, and more than one USB port, and a replacable battery, and an easy acces hard drive. And as Colorado noted, decent graphics performance is welcome too.

Charles

Hi Jim;

Gene Munster at Piper Jaffray thinks there is a 60 Percent chance of new Mac laptops being announced at WWDC on June 9, and an 80 percent chance by fall.

I’m very doubtful about a WWDC announcement, as Intel has pushed back the “Montevina” chip rollout to late June, and I can’t imagine them releasing another update, let alone a major redesign, that isn’t Montevina-based at this juncture.

Good news is that the portable Montevina chip draws just 25 watts as opposed to 35 watts for the Santa Rosa C2D, which should translate into substantialy lower heat and longer battery life.

Charles

It is true that macbook is very hard to upgrade compare to anything else. That’s why i switched to normal notepad. As im writting, i wrote my blog http://whackonly.com in pc notepad. While my previous blog in mac. Wat an ironic..

Add a comment