MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Feb 12, 08 - 04:16 pm Comment from: theloniousMac

Wow.
That seems a bit optimistic to me.
The MacBook Air seems to suffer from the "Everybody likes it, but they're still gonna get the MacBook Pro" syndrome if ya ask me.

I'd love one, but it would be a complete luxury. I'll put my cash on the next MacBook Pro with a significant update.

16% is indeed a briliant success! Nice one, Apple! Now put the MacBook Pro in a similar box, and I am buying.

Feb 12, 08 - 04:23 pm Comment from: Spark

Okay, someone do the math. How many is 16% of quantity of MBs sold in 2007?

Feb 12, 08 - 04:23 pm Comment from: Tired of Retards

theloniousMac,

Wow, you have access to "everybody?"

We'll have to take your findings over Piper Jaffray's, that's for sure.

Thanks for the tremendous insight, you stupid fsck.

@MDN: "That oughta knock the foment right off the lips of the MacBook Air naysayers."

MDN - isn´t the word "Foment" a transitive verb ; however, you use it incorrectly as a noun?
The word "fomenter" is noun (as in a person who is fomenting). The word foment is a verb.

The word foment implies persistence in goading as in "fomenting rebellion".

LOL,

Hence MDN's use of quotes around the word "foment."

MDN, if they know anything, definitely know how to write. This site is a joy to read because of it.

Feb 12, 08 - 04:37 pm Comment from: ken1w

Considering Apple only has 5 lines (types) of Macs currently, including MacBook Air and not counting the server, 16% by the end of the year (meaning during the holiday quarter) actually seems reasonable. By that time, Apple will have reduced the price by about $200, probably.

Having seen the Air in person last week, I'm impressed. My MacBook weighs 5lbs according to the Apple tech specs, while the Air weighs 3lbs. On paper, it doesn't sound like a huge difference, but I can tell you that my MacBook feels like I'm carrying around a set of bricks while the Air felt like a feather. I'm in the category of buyer that will wait out the second generation of the device, but I'd say it's definitely a winner long term. Like many of Apple's current generation of offerings, they've thrown their hat into the ring with an excellent first generation, and they will only improve with time. Kudos to Apple.

Let's compare:

20" iMac 2.4GHz+ MacBook Air = $1500+$1800 = $3300

15" MBP 2.4GHz = $2500

At this price, the MBP has only half the iMac's disk space, so figure on adding an external disk to the MBP. A 20" external monitor isn't an unreasonable addition, either, if the MBP is your primary machine.

The opportunity cost of having a MBA is somewhere between $500 and $800, depending on what you need to equalize these two configurations.

Granted, that's a lot of money to some, but others will find the economics compelling. Instead of having one machine that's a compromise one the desk and on the go, why not have two machines, each a bit better at what it does?

I don't like laptop. MBA is nice though, but I won't buy it.

Feb 12, 08 - 05:00 pm Comment from: shen

Famous Grouse:

now do that math again, except a mini does everything i need on the desktop, and i don't have real office space so EVERYwhere is my office.

mini+screen+MBA=$600+$145+$1800=$2545
or MBP for $2500 minus the ability to let the kids use the mini when i am on the MBA.....

yeah, tough choice.

Feb 12, 08 - 05:09 pm Comment from: Rich Apple person

Yeah and there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as well. This ain't gonna happen

The MacBook is still much more robust, has more features, is much more affordable and will sport a SSD at some point.

I could probably get a SSD and put one in if I wanted to anyway.

So it's the MacBook for me.

If you want to get a MacBook Air, more power to you.

It's your money.

Feb 12, 08 - 05:14 pm Comment from: toby

The Ultra thin laptop is currently a niche market. So sales are not expected to be in the iPhone level.


But then again, MP3 players were a niche market before the iPod.

Apple's approach is consistent - small, medium, large.

Each move up is reasonable, logical, and meaningful to the individual buyer. Not every Macintosh buyer felt compelled on day one to buy a bondi blue gum drop machine. Six million units later, well, many somehow forgot their adamant predictions of catastrophe.

When submitting your predictions of failure, please include with your genius the list of all the items of which you have profitably manufactured, marketed, and sold more than a million units.

Quit competing the MBA with the rest of the Macs...there simply is now another choice and another reason to purchase a Mac, regardless which one suits your needs the best. A new high-mobile Mac solution.

Feb 12, 08 - 05:33 pm Comment from: Wun Dum Gai

Rather than cannibalizing MacBook (Pro) sales it should have a positive effect on the global notebook line by bringing in new fans, uh er customers.

Hey, they got the research but 16% of all Mac sales sounds like a typo to me. 16% of laptops or even 16% of MB sales are strong numbers that certainly justify the development cost. The marketing value alone might be enough to justify the development cost as long as the MBA isn't seen as a dud.

With all the good/positive news and Apple stock tanks again, thanks, you shit-head, spineless, investors!!!

Feb 12, 08 - 06:04 pm Comment from: Jim - TIV

Anecdotal evidence, but every other day or so when I go into the Apple Store, they continue to sell out of the flash drive models from the previous couple of days and are awaiting another shipment. The regular hard drive models are not selling as fast.

Feb 12, 08 - 06:07 pm Comment from: Ferf Muckmeyer

Will all of you naysayers just shut up already? If you don't have a need for something like the MBA, fine! But there is a market for it and 16% isn't too shabby.

Mine is awesome, and it works for me. It is a godsend for a road warrior like me. But don't knock it if it doesn't work for you.

Feb 12, 08 - 06:22 pm Comment from: Haiku

Once I Saw The Air
I Wondered Why All The Fuss
It's Just A Laptop

Why does everyone assume that they meant 16% of actual sales, the MBA is likely to bring in many new customers to Apple. That means that 16% will represent much more than the 1,242,240 estimated by MDN.

Famous Grouse,

good on yer. That's what I've been arguing all along - but not in such (financial) detail.

The combination of an iMac and MBA is quite irresistable.

Whoops! I meant 'irresistible'.

Glossy screens suck and so does the MBA until it gets a matte screen.

Hmmm. 16% of 2.3% is 0.368% of the world market. Damn, that's freakin' awesome! Way to go MBA! We now have quantified how large a niche really is.

Feb 12, 08 - 09:15 pm Comment from: theloniousMac

@Tired of Retards, you must be so terribly tired of yourself. Clearly I was generalizing. You might take a look at the gist of the comments here. It's not that people don't like the MacBook AIR, or that we are even naysayers.

In fact, I find that most people are exceptionally positive about the MacBook AIR. What most people seem to say is, great computer, not for me, but great computer nonetheless.

Those of you who can't emotionally deal with that sort of criticism of any Apple product seriously, and I do mean seriously, need to seek professional help. You've become the worst example of misguided kool-aid drinking fanboys in the world. Get a clue. Apple is a great company. It makes great products, but it isn't pefect.

Feb 12, 08 - 09:20 pm Comment from: theloniousMac

"If you're looking for a desktop replacement system, get a MacBook Pro. If you're looking for a basic laptop, get a MacBook. If you're looking for supreme portability and more than reasonable performance, definitely get a MacBook Air."

If you're are looking for the best deal for the money in a Mac laptop, get a MacBook Pro.

Feb 12, 08 - 11:14 pm Comment from: MacBill

Um... NO THE MACBOOK AIR WILL *NOT* TAKE 16% OF MAC MARKET BY 2008 END. Maybe 1.6% of the Mac market, but certainly not 16%... not even by a long shot. I think I'm even being optimistic when I say 1.6%.

Jaffray's Muenster says the sales are "modest" and he is pro Apple so I have to believe that sales are in fact modest. I never really understood this thinner is better thing. Do people want things thinner or do they want them more durable? Thinner or more features? If anythng I think people want something more in between an Iphone and air

I don't think it really matters how well the MacBook Air actually sells.

In a comparison with a full-featured laptop, the MacBook Air comes out as a niche product with modest sales--as well it should, because the comparison is unfair. Who cares? It has much more value to Apple than how well it sells. It creates publicity, it brings people into the Apple Store, it raises the visibility of OS X, it enhances Apple's image of technical wizardry and design elegance, and it raises the bar for the industry. No one imitates Dell, or HP, or Gateway. The MacBook Air nails down the correct perception that Apple is the innovator that all others imitate.

Measured by any criterion, the MacBook Air is already a huge success. Who cares what anyone says about its sales? Apple goes laughing to the bank.

PS: the last time I went to Best Buy, I saw four faux iMacs in a row. A victory for Apple, really, because customers look at them and say, "Why not get a real one?"

After holding MBA in my hand I'd say it belongs to it's own category just like the iPhone. If iPod Touch is between the regular iPod and iPhone, the MBA is between the iPod Touch and the MacBook. I bet a lot of people will find the MBA just right for them.