Apple does it better yet again
After using my new Macbook Air, I must confess my immediate reaction was that if I had designed any of my previous laptops, I would feel professionally obligated to find a new line of work. Perhaps (to steal a phrase from one of my favorite viral videos) I would “go work on a farm shoveling pig shit” because it would be preferable to continued humiliation by Apple.
Just a few of the ways my Mac is better:
- Boot time. I dusted off an old laptop to find some tax returns last week. It felt like it took half an hour to boot. It was probably “only” 3 or 4 minutes, but it was an eternity compared to the nearly-instant boot of my laptop.
- Physical design. It is much smaller and lighter, but its is more durable (I travel a lot and my laptops take a beating). And in real life, with the SSD, it is much faster. Plus it looks way cooler.
- Magsafe power connector. It seems like a tiny thing until it is a huge thing – here’s my story. Last year I tripped over the power cord to my wife’s laptop. I was OK but the laptop went flying. Plastic flew everywhere and it wouldn’t boot. The next morning she had a presentation to her department head. I barely made it to Fry’s before closing to buy a SATA connector and managed to rescue the files from her hard drive. Her next laptop? A Mac.
The innovation continues. The thunderbolt connector in the new Air is awesome. All your desktop stuff can plug into your monitor; one cable from your laptop to the monitor and you’re connected to everything. Why didn’t anyone else think of that? I guess that’s why they’re not Apple. And if that’s not enough, the thunderbolt monitor includes a laptop charger. Duh. Why didn’t anyone else think to put a laptop charger in their monitor? Maybe because of the variety of power connectors, but somehow Apple comes up with better solution again.
I don’t know what the next innovation in laptops will be, but I know where it will come from. There’s a reason Apple is the most valuable tech company in the world.
— Max
Max Schireson's blog 
Mac laptops and desktops have been way better than PCs for years. What is fascinating to me is how long it takes mainstream buyers to figure this out. Apple laptop market share in Palo Alto Starbucks may be 75%, but Apple only shipped 2.8M laptops in Q3. That’s very low unit share. Most people still haven’t realized what they are missing.
That’s like saying that the McLaren F1 guys should be ashamed because the Bugatti Veyron is so much better.
Put down Steve’s kool-aid and get off the ledge.
I don’t want to start a Fanboy Flame War – can we argue about vi and emacs instead? – but while I really love my old(er) macbook pro, there are areas where my el-cheapo Dell is clearly superior….
If you’re on a 12 hour flight with a Mac and the power is out in your seat you’re not working. My Dell, with my three paranoid batteries, will keep on working. Forget to charge in the hotel the night before, you’re not working on the four hour flight to ORD in coach. I am.
I can also do two monitors at 1920×1080 off my laptop in a docking station. Perhaps the new Mac’s can pull that off, but the Apple Store guys had a good laugh when I asked them how to pull that off. That was actually the main reason my Mac went to my daughter.
I guess Steve thinks that docking stations are ugly like extra batteries.
The list goes on.
Having said that, my Mac is in many ways preferable to my Dell. It just costs 2x as much.
-XC
PS – I do love the power cord on my mac.
Max, I just got a new 11″ MBA for email, internet, light dev. It is amazing in size, quality and speed – couldn’t be happier with it. I still use a 15″ MBP for the heavy lifting, but Apple is totally onto something with the MBAs. I’m wondering when people will start spending a few hundred more for the 11″ Airs vs an iPad?
Yes, the 11 inch is a pretty good ipad competitor. I have both but find I use the 11 way more.