The MacBook Air is So Thin…

[Curt]

Fragile Brave New World:

>quote: Copyright © 2008 CyberNet |

The MacBook Air is So Thin…

Posted: 11 Mar 2008 10:04 AM CDT

The MacBook Air is so thin that it mistakenly got thrown out! Gone, forever, in the land of stinky garbage. Apple has described what they’ve done with the MacBook Air as Thinnovation, introducing it as the world’s thinnest notebook. It sure is thin, ranging in size from 0.16 inches to 0.76 inches, not even a full inch at its thickest point. Of course its size is a huge advantage, but it will also be its disadvantage. Steven Levy over at Newsweek really understands that disadvantage after the MacBook Air he was reviewing from Apple got thrown out with the Sunday paper.

The MacBook Air is So Thin…



Can you imagine the panic that came over him when he realized that the $1800 computer he had on loan from Apple was gone? He describes what he went through in an article over at Newsweek,talking about how he searched all over his apartment and tried to re-trace his steps only to come up empty handed. Eventually he thought about the huge mess of papers he had sprawled out on his coffee table on Sunday (the same place his Air usually rested) after going through the New York Times and how his wife came to scoop them up and take them to the trash-compactor room down the hall from their apartment. After thinking it all through, he said, “as humiliating as it sounds, let me repeat: the MacBook Air is so thin that it got tossed out with the newspapers.”

Imagine the feeling of realizing that the computer was gone forever. Even worse would be the thought of calling Apple to tell them what happened. Lucky for him, one of the people he spoke with at Apple couldn’t stop laughing. This didn’t get him out of being responsible for the computer though. Newsweek, the company he works for, is now responsible and is paying Apple for an $1800 computer that is so thin, it vanished without a trace.

<quote: Copyright © 2008 CyberNet |

 

[tommiew]

oops?

[Carol Haynes]

LOL - hilarious.

Actually one of the reasons it is so thin is that it is basically an almost empty box!

Impressive dimensions but there are various articles in ZDNet etc. saying that whilst the acheivement is impressive what you actually get for your $1800 is something rather less functional that a $300 cheapy laptop. It is slower, has a relatively small hard disc, a slow hard disk (4200 rpm IIRC) and has hardly any ports to attach things to it (no optical drive, no ethernet connection, only one USB connector - so you can't even attach a mobile exteral drive that needs 2 USB sockets to draw power).

Like most of Apples output it is another triumph of style over substance aimed at the executive toys market.

While I am on a rant - did people see the recent news about the iPod Nano that started emitting sparks when it was being charged?

[cranioscopical]

Carol Haynes:
did people see the recent news about the iPod Nano that started emitting sparks when it was being charged?

That's just a flash in the pano

[Deozaan]

Right where most Apple products belong. 

[Darwin]

I handled (though did not play) with on in London Drugs on Tuesday night. Carol's comments confirm what I suspected at the time - it's so thin that I can't see that there can be any serious components contained in the case. It also seems too thin to have adequate cooling, though I didn't think to look for cooling vents.

[Renegade]

HILARIOUS!

Thanks for posting that!

[icekin]

It is slower, has a relatively small hard disc, a slow hard disk (4200 rpm IIRC) and has hardly any ports to attach things to it (no optical drive, no ethernet connection, only one USB connector - so you can't even attach a mobile exteral drive that needs 2 USB sockets to draw power).

-Carol Haynes (March 13, 2008, 12:23 PM)

I could accept no optical drive and maybe (just maybe) even the rationale behind a single USB port, but there is no way removing the ethernet connection makes any sense to me. Wireless internet is nice, but its latency is way too high and I generally find it far more unreliable compared to a wired LAN connection.

Sadly, many people will rush forward to buy this new toy, simply because its an Apple. How does Steve Jobs do it time and again?

[Renegade]

How does Steve Jobs do it time and again?

-icekin (March 17, 2008, 08:15 AM)

Come to MacWorld! Free Kool-Aid for everyone!

[Jimdoria]

It's pointless to gripe about how a fashion model can't quote Heidegger, or gets tired after only an hour of hiking up the mountain, or refuses to go along when you shop at the supermarket.

Those aren't the reasons you're dating a fashion model. It's 'cause she's SEXY, BABAY! 

[tomos]

How does Steve Jobs do it time and again?

-icekin (March 17, 2008, 08:15 AM)

Come to MacWorld! Free Kool-Aid for everyone!

-Renegade (March 17, 2008, 08:43 AM)

is that spiked perchance...

[Curt]

This Lenovo looks like something we have seen before:



“Everything else is just hot air.”... 

[Curt]

Fragile Brave New World:
The MacBook Air is So Thin…
[ Invalid Attachment ]

-Curt (March 12, 2008, 12:48 PM)

but it is getting even worse:

In 2 Minutes You Can…

Posted: 28 Mar 2008 10:01 AM CDT

In 2 Minutes You Can… …brush your teeth, grab a cup of coffee, email a friend, or hack a MacBook Air. Just like last year the CanSecWest conference is currently going on, and tons of hackers cram in to see who can be the first to hack one of the laptops that are provided. The first nerd person to forcefully gain control of one out of the three laptops not only takes home that laptop, but also receives a worthwhile $10,000 cash prize.

The three laptops that were being attacked were a VAIO VGN-TZ37CN running Ubuntu 7.10, Fujitsu U810 running Vista Ultimate SP1, and a MacBook Air running OSX 10.5.2. On the first day of the contest the rules were kind of strict, and the hackers could only go after the computers over the network. There was a strong stench of failure in the air that day.

Then yesterday they decided to let go a bit and let the hackers direct the contest organizers to a website that they created to run malicious code. Charlie Miller, the first one to hack the iPhone last year, was all over it and almost immediately gained access to the MacBook Air. It took him a whopping 2 minutes to get into the system, but no one knows exactly how he did it because he was forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement. Many expect that the vulnerability lies in Apple’s Safari browser.

In case you’re wondering, contestants like Charlie had to follow these guidelines for their attack:

    * You can’t use the same vulnerability to claim more than one box, if it is a cross-platform issue.
    * Thirty minute attack slots given to contestants at each box.
    * Attacks are done via crossover cable. (attacker controls default route)
    * No physical access to the machines.
    * Major web browsers (IE, Safari, Konqueror, Firefox), widely used and deployed plugin frameworks (AIR, Silverlight), IM clients (MSN, Adium, Skype, Pigdin, AOL, Yahoo), Mail readers (Outlook, Mail.app, Thunderbird, kmail) are all in scope.

So congrats to Charlie. Apple… get to work!

CanSecWest [via PC World]
Thanks to CoryC for the tip!
Part of the image via bid burglar!

Copyright © 2008 CyberNet |

[tamasd]

This didn’t get him out of being responsible for the computer though. Newsweek, the company he works for, is now responsible and is paying Apple for an $1800 computer that is so thin, it vanished without a trace.

-Curt (March 12, 2008, 12:48 PM)

Hillarious. Smart marketing. No matter whether it's a real story or premade/injected by Apple marketing execs, I bet neither the reporter nor the Newsweek paid $1800. I like it 

[Darwin]

Just to comment on Curt's post about the Lenovo from March 22... it's quite a bit thicker in cross section than the Mac, but it DOES have an optical drive, USB ports. Somewhere I saw a video comparing the two and the reveiwer kept stressing that the Lenovo is streets ahead of the Mac... except in the looks and thin departments! He summed it up by saying that he couldn't see why anyone would go with the Mac, given a choice. I'll have to find that video review... it was probably PCMag or something, but I've no idea at the moment.

[Darwin]

Nope. Can't find it. Did find MANY comparisons, though, and the overall sense seems to be
pretty much what you'd expect... Mac diehards love the MacBook Air and Windows enthusiasts the Lenovo. Now who could have foreseen that?

To be fair, though, even given that comment, most reviewers seem to feel that these two ultraportables are pretty much tied with the Lenovo having more connections and an optical drive standard while the Mac is more powerful, smaller and lighter, and has a longer battery life.

One point of clarification from my previous post: the MacBook Air has a USB port, with the emphasis on the "a" - ie there is one vs. Lenovo's three.