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New MacBook Air Now Available on Apple Store

store.apple.com

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Re: New MacBook Air Now Available on Apple Store

#111

Post by srgseg »

colin_jack wrote: post #109
srgseg wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK HMRC charges no customs duty or import duty on imports of computers, but does levy 20% VAT (sales tax). Using today's exchange rate of 1.6149, here are the UK like-for-like premiums for several Apple products in the UK: 7.6% - ipad 2 13.4% - ipod touch 14.4% - mac air 11 64gb 12.1% - mac air 11 128gb 13.9% - mac air 13 128gb 13.5% - mac air 13 256gb 12.1% - mbp 13 21.1% - thunderbolt display Note: these premiu…

I think Apple are actually being far too greedy, one of the reasons I don't buy Macs is the premium you have to pay...I don't like being ripped off quite so explicitly.

To be fair, it's not just Apple.

The UK is known in the industry as "Treasure Island" because they know that they can charge more here and get away with it.

E.g. Bose QC15 noise cancelling headphones: 25.2% premium excluding sales tax, 50.2% premium including sales tax comparing a zero sales tax US state to the UK.

Re: New MacBook Air Now Available on Apple Store

#112

Post by aneth »

w1ntermute wrote: post #49
TillE wrote: post #9

That 13" Macbook Air is looking really attractive as a portable work computer. Any downsides I should be aware of?

Seems most people are interested in the 13". Does anyone have any comments on the 11"? The only downside I can see is that only 1 external monitor is supported. After all, when you're traveling, the smaller the better.

The battery life is 40% longer on the 13", which to me is enough to swing the balance. The size is only about an inch different in two dimensions and 1/2 pound.

I have a previous generation 13" and I find I use the SD port often, which is missing on the 11".

Re: New MacBook Air Now Available on Apple Store

#113

Post by kristofferR »

yread wrote: post #55
afterburner wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like plenty to me for a laptop, do you bump up against that limit for what you do on a laptop? (I'm curious.)

I use Windows, but just yesterday I noticed I was using 5.47GB and I didn't even have any VMs opened. Just VS with Silverlight, sql server management, couple of browsers with the silverlight plugin opened.. 6GB of RAM payed of I guess

All good OS's try to use all the RAM availible (within certain limits of course). My RAM is almost always at 80% usage and above even with just a couple of lightweight applications running.

Re: New MacBook Air Now Available on Apple Store

#115

Post by marknutter »

marknutter wrote: post #21
ionfish wrote: post #17

There's a bit of sleight of hand on their Thunderbolt Display page [1]. The first image is of a MacBook Air hooked up to one of the new displays, but when they talk about "The ultimate docking station" they show a MacBook Pro. This is because the Thunderbolt and power ports are next to one another on the MBP, but on the Air they're on different sides of the machine, which is going to make it a lot less elegant. [1] h…

That or they wanted to save time and just take one picture, which is probably their go-to picture whenever talking about "the ultimate docking station."

They clearly took a picture with the Macbook Air, but I still maintain they weren't trying to intentionally mislead people:

[http://images.apple.com/displays/images/overview_hero1.jpg](...

Re: New MacBook Air Now Available on Apple Store

#116

Post by danso »

TillE wrote: post #9

That 13" Macbook Air is looking really attractive as a portable work computer. Any downsides I should be aware of?

I have the fully-loaded 13" from the previous iteration. It replaced a $3000+ Macbook Pro from 2008 and on paper, was less impressive in almost every regard except for the SSD.

I thought I would keep the MBP around just as a desk station but after using the Air, I just can't stand the slowness - perceived or real - of the MBP. I've stopped playing computer games, but as a coder and photographer (processing RAW with Adobe products), I've been incredibly happy with the Air. It seemed like a luxury purchase at the time but it's had a big effect on productivity in terms of my personal projects. I live in NYC and I tend to carry my laptop (with my fullsize DSLR) everywhere...I used to do that with the MBP, but many times would not just because it was too heavy of a combo. I pretty much take the Air anywhere I go where it's acceptable to have a messenger bag.

Also, I had thought about getting the iPad2...but, besides the fact that the ipad2's feature set wasn't that impressive, I found myself using the Air for a lot of portable leisure computing and using the iPad a lot less these days.

Re: New MacBook Air Now Available on Apple Store

#117

Post by spullara »

chopsueyar wrote: post #83
larrik wrote: post #27

Also, new Mac Mini: http://www.apple.com/macmini/ NO Optical Drive! Includes Thunderbolt. Supports an SSD plus a regular hard drive. HDMI port. I really have no idea how much of this is new features, though.

Notice the new MacBook Air does not have an HDMI adapter available?

You should be able to use the mini-displayport to HDMI connector in the Thunderbolt port (which is a mini-displayport as well).

Re: New MacBook Air Now Available on Apple Store

#119

Post by yardie »

aznwhtey wrote: post #77

Does anyone know if the Thunderbolt on the MacBook Air supports multiple displays?

The Intel HD3000 can only support one 2560x1600 display and the built-in. It's safe to say it can't do multiples. And the TB->DVI adapter only has one DVI interface so you can't even try 2 lower resolution monitors.

Re: New MacBook Air Now Available on Apple Store

#120

Post by notahaxor »

Great specs to go along with the great looks. I'm still disappointed that the smaller model uses a squished 16:9 ratio screen, it's useless for writing anything longer than a tweet.

Also, I hope the now backlit keyboards see some improvement in tactile feel, I thought these were a weak point on the previous generation.

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