Diet Mac

I know, I know... yet another eating disorder comparison regarding the new Mac Book Air... Now that old laptops are feeling fat and there's even software to help your computer to lose some weight (like the Xslimmer). It will be just a matter of time before they launch a "campaign for real ugly laptops" and TV shows like "downsize my laptop" "biggest loser, PC edition" and so on.



Thinnovation? Why the obsession with thin? They didn't make it just thin... they removed it's vital organs! The MBA lost more organs on the process of becoming thin, than it would have during a sex change! : "Only 1 USB port, no Firewire, no Optical Drive, and worst of all, no user replaceable battery." It is clear during a "reverse engineering" or "reverse design" of the liposuction that the marketing strategy behind the design brief was merely focused on the external aesthetic and not on the "inner beauty". Maybe it is true, that wireless and flash cards are now an easier way for file transfer "on the go"... but come on! you can't even install the OS without an external drive or another computer to use as a remote CD/DVD reader! The portable external optical super drive should have been a default accessory and not a device to be sold separately... In my opinion, for the hefty overprice, they should have tossed the superdrive as a freebie... and maybe an air port base as well! Otherwise it is almost useless... or is just a very stylish and thin EeePC or a very expensive $100 dollar laptop.

Who will buy it?

Unlike the MacBook and MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air isn’t designed to be a general-purpose computer; it has, by design, limitations that will be unacceptable for many people. People who want the smallest, lightest laptop possible and are willing to sacrifice other features to get it, have probably already placed their orders for the MacBook Air. If you carry a laptop everywhere you go, but don’t need all the power and ports of a full-sized laptop, it’s worth serious consideration.

I can't make any accusation, but it seems to me, that the design team at apple didn't consider any user comment at all, or is very hard to understand their design brief rationale. When we saw the keynote presentation, the first thing that my wife noted was something like: "when they start making excuses for something they did or didn't do, it's because they know that the users are not going to like that feature. So they just try to convince them otherwise, instead of doing what the users actually need". And that's absolutely true... maybe it's time to let our laptops gain a little weight like king size homer: "to start press any key"... Yeah! maybe I'll just order a tab since my keyboard doesn't have the apple key anymore.

Mac Book Air is a good example of emotional design... being the emotions : anorexia, a huge overprice so that the people who actually buy this can feel good about spending a lot of money on a very limited laptop, and they can be able to rub it in the face of "ordinary" people who cannot afford to spend $4,000 on a computer that has almost the same (use) limitations as any ASUS Eee PC but costs 10x more. In my opinion the Eee is exaclty what a portable (or in this case the MBA) should be! Not only in price... but ASUS is more open to user upgrades and modifications without voiding the warranty, not only that but also a one year accidents (drop/fire/spills/surge) replacement warranty! That's having good consideration and respect towards the clients! The fact that EeePC runs on Linux and that ASUS motherboards can be used to build clone-macs a.k.a. Hackintosh (follow the links to see how to bulid a MacPro for under $800) makes me wonder if someday there will be a way to transform an Eee into a Hackintosh Eee (maybe eeeBook?) At least it is possible to make it a tablet PC with touch screen for just a few bucks!

ciao