Althouse: I love Apple.

January 15, 2008

I love Apple.

This is the thing that I most wanted from them, and it's far more beautiful than I could have pictured.

Here, watch the ad. Even the ad is sublime.

34 comments:

Peter Hoh said...: Steve Jobs for President.; 1/15/08, 4:54 PM
Ruth Anne Adams said...: OT/ Will there be Idol blogging tonight? /end OT; 1/15/08, 4:54 PM
Meade said...: I agree - it's beautiful. I wish I could sell my house and just live in a MacAir. (Second link needs an h in front of the ttp.); 1/15/08, 5:03 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Apple is one of the few companies left that lead in innovation and creativity.

My next computer will probably be an Apple.; 1/15/08, 5:06 PM
rhhardin said...: The second link (fixed to http) crashes Firefox on windows XP. Apparently not the target audience.; 1/15/08, 5:11 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: A thing of beauty, 'atiz.; 1/15/08, 5:14 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Yes, it is beautiful, ground breaking, and novel. And, yes, Apple does lead in ergonomic design.

But, I still don't like working on a Mac. The technology transfer seems to go one way, from Mac to Windows, with little movement back the other way. This is the downside of Jobs' NIH (not invented here) fetish. There are just a number of Windows features I would love to have on my Mac, but none the other way.; 1/15/08, 5:15 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Sorry, that was "industrial" design, not "ergonomic" design.; 1/15/08, 5:16 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Link fixed. Sorry.

Bruce, you don't understand what love is.; 1/15/08, 5:18 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Love is agreeing to terms of service without actually reading the fine print.; 1/15/08, 5:38 PM
Anonymous said...: LOL, Peter! How true. Anyway, I'm with you on this one Ann - looks like Apple has done an outstanding job. Elegant. I may even buy one.; 1/15/08, 5:52 PM
IgnatzEsq said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/15/08, 5:56 PM
RobertL said...: So did you place your order yet? Let me know...; 1/15/08, 6:09 PM
Mr. Forward said...: Steve Jobs next invention? The iShave.; 1/15/08, 6:15 PM
Ron said...: Love is agreeing to terms of service without actually reading the fine print.

Ah. My first marriage...; 1/15/08, 6:17 PM
Palladian said...: Temptress! You are responsible for my iPhone purchase! Do not tempt me again!

Sent from my iPhone.; 1/15/08, 6:19 PM
Mr. Bingley said...: At first I wasn't sure about the lack of an optical drive...and then I tried to remember the last time we used the drive on my Bride's iBook and I couldn't.; 1/15/08, 7:01 PM
Unknown said...: Ann:

As one of the few people I've come across so far today who seem really jazzed about the new MacBook, I have to ask: what about it does it for you?

I see that it's thin and pretty, but the lousy graphics card means this is a document editor and web surfer only. Yes, that means you can blog from it, but with a non-replaceable battery you can only do so for 5 hours.

It just seems to me that a Asus EE PC can do 95% of what this can for a 1/3rd the price. I know and accept the Apple Tax, but $1200 tax on a $1800 computer seems a bit steep.; 1/15/08, 7:16 PM
al said...: A pretty case with the same lousy keyboard as the low end macbook and low end graphics. It's a cool toy for people with money to blow.; 1/15/08, 7:44 PM
Godot said...: Underpowered. Overpriced.; 1/15/08, 7:47 PM
Mark G said...: I don't care how thin, one USB port, to say nothing of the lack of Ethernet and swappable battery, is a deal breaker.; 1/15/08, 7:47 PM
blake said...: Bruce, you don't understand what love is.

Love is what a boy has for his dog.; 1/15/08, 7:49 PM
Mark G said...: ...but I'm pulling for you in your new fling, really, I am.; 1/15/08, 7:50 PM
Noah Boddie said...: Love means never having to say "Sorry, An Unexpected Error Has Occurred."; 1/15/08, 8:10 PM
dick said...: If you are not on a network, how would you ever be able to play a CD or a DVD?; 1/15/08, 8:50 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Mark, remember when Apple got rid of the floppy drive? Did you bitch about that too? The point is: everyone's going to go wireless.

Palladian: "Temptress"? Are you watching American Idol?; 1/15/08, 9:06 PM
blake said...: If you are not on a network, how would you ever be able to play a CD or a DVD?

Image on the hard-drive from when you WERE connected.; 1/15/08, 9:13 PM
lurker2209 said...: I can't get over the lack of a DVD drive. Yeah, theoretically you could just buy movies from Apple's new movie rental service, but they only have 1000 titles and you have to watch the movie within 24 hours. I'll stick with netflix, thank-you very much!; 1/15/08, 10:54 PM
Anonymous said...: So, Apple announces its Vaio/Portege clone with great fanfare. Sub-4 lb PCs with 1280 X 800 pxl screens have been available for quite a while now. In fact I had a light-weight Vaio with nearly the same functionality as the new Mac Air almost 8 years ago. As for Apple TV, Steve Jobs and everyone else has got it backwards. By the end of the next decade or so, TV content will be delivered largely over the Internet to your computer, normal TV cable service will fade away, and TVs as we know them will go the way of the BetaMax. So what is the point of watching computer content on your TV using Apple TV? For watching DVDs, I'd prefer to do away entirely with my TV tuner and replace it with a huge Mac-mini driven 50" display that dwarfs the displays I have on my Mac Pro. That's the direction Apple should be going. All the signs now point to the fact that Apple is transforming itself from a computer company into an entertainment company. What a waste that will be.; 1/16/08, 12:22 AM
Mark G said...: Anne,

I don't think USB ports are anywhere near going away. Do you use an iPod/other mp3 player? Digital camera? Thumb drive? Some digicams have built in wifi, but my DSLR doesn't.

If you can get by with one USB port, great, this is probably the best traveling laptop ever conceived for you. I just can't fathom why they wouldn't include at least another port or two for basically no cost and a negligible size/weight increase.; 1/16/08, 1:02 AM
Balfegor said...: Yes, it is beautiful, ground breaking, and novel.

Wait, what's ground-breaking and novel about it? It doesn't seem to have any features I haven't seen on other ultraportables, like the Samsung Q40 (the Q40 came out a bit over a year ago -- the link is to the upgraded Q40Plus), or even the much older Sony VAIO X505. It's not even appreciably thinner (the measurements on the VAIO and SENS are fractionally thicker, mostly because of the heavy-duty hinges). Iapetus is right -- there's nothing new about this at all.; 1/16/08, 11:32 AM
Will said...: The elegant design is a blessing and a curse. It is a beautiful looking machine, but usability has been compromised to make it so.
As Brock pointed out, there's no ability to swap out a battery for road warriors. A 5-hr battery life (which is usually inflated) means that at some point you'd need to find a power outlet.
The single USB port is a handicap, because it means having to either swap devices constantly or bring a hub with you.
There's no excuse for the lack of an ethernet jack. Steve Jobs may be blessed by ubiquitous high-speed wireless networks, but I'm not. I have to plug in at work and at school. That means monopolizing the USB with a ethernet dongle.
I'll stick with my ThinkPad X-series laptop. It's not as slim, but it's vastly more flexible and customizable.; 1/16/08, 12:13 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: That's what I'm talking about.

I wonder how many engineers are reverse-engineering it around the world.; 1/16/08, 11:10 PM
dick said...: Blake,

The hard drive is a thousand extra and has 64 GB. If you keep a lot of stuff on your computer you are out of room and no way to get more without an external.

The whole thing to me is just eye candy and not much more. If you do carry the externals to plug into your single USB then you are losing the whole lightness of it anyway. Useless.; 1/18/08, 2:02 PM