Why Apple's new laptop is basically useless
crunchgear.com
crunchgear.com
What Devin Coldewey is announcing here is that he is not in the target market for an ultraportable laptop. And that's fine. Other people are.
1) Treo 2) External HD 3) Ethernet (I'd forgive just about everything if it had built-in ethernet...at least then it's a decent thin client) 4) Mouse 5) Keyboard (Yes, keyboard. Who types on their laptop keyboard for most of the day? I don't envy your wrists, even on Colemak/Dvorak). 6) DVD (in this case)
And that's assuming I never have to transfer files from one external drive to another. I'm often sending out a loaner external for massive video files (or Logic 8 ISOs).
I like having an ultraportable. I like being able to use it as a desktop, too. Because unlike one Apple rep tried to convince me, the 'solution' isn't to have one laptop and one desktop for everyone. We're not made of money.
I sure don't. My office is my living room (and also my wife's office). I'm also my only employee, so getting purchases approved is rarely a problem. :)
Sure do - but it's an enterprise environment that has 80% travel. I have a Treo and an iPhone, neither of which I sync very often, and when I do, it's from my workstation not m Macbook. I don't bring an external mouse or keyboard when I travel, that would just be too bulky.
Its biggest feature is flashiness. Its not really an ultraportable, because its width and length are too big.
It could be just me, but I've only installed software by DVD/CD rom - two times in two years for my macbook pro. I think a lot of people can get away with not having an optical drive.
And Duo 2 1.6Gz is too weak? That's just insane. Software has stagnated for at least 10 years, lagging behind hardware like crazy. What is that guy running today that he wasn't running 10 years ago? I have a CPU scaling frequency indicator in Gnome menu that 99.9% of the time shows me freaking 800Mz - yes, that's a typical frequency my 2.2Gz Duo 2 is running at.
The only time I wish I had a faster PC is when I do batch conversion of a bunch of RAW files from my camera. But it's like doing backups - pushing gigabytes around... And even that I am doing on my "big" PC where I need more screen real estate.
The only thing this laptop is missing is UltraNav found on ThinkPads. An enormous productivity/ergonomics booster, something that will keep pe glued to Lenovo forever.
> And lastly, let's be honest: did we really need things to get that much thinner? My MBP is a great size, not too heavy, and it's thin enough that there's quite a lot of leftover room in the laptop compartment of my bag.
There's obviously much more room for ports and other little conveniences at 15", but it's unfair to call a machine "useless" if it makes compromises to get smaller than that.
Great news.
The real problem I see is this: reset of the password has always been done by inserting the boot dvd. This needs an external drive now and should better not be necessary on the go.
I was hoping Apple would do something revolutionary, like a portable that's basically a 10-inch screen iPhone (all touch/styles gestures and writing, tablet style, virtual keyboard that pops on text widget focus...).