2 posts tagged “macworld”
Mac fans, you know what will happen tonight [or this morning, depending on where you reside]. Somewhere in San Francisco, Steve Jobs and his friends will be introducing several new things like... I'm not sure what they will be this time, but the most anticipated announcement shall be the release of the so-called MacBook Air [which I will own by the middle of this year (I hope!)].
When will it happen? The time is 9 a.m. PST [plus sixteen/fifteen hours for those in GMT+8]. That should be around midnight. Where to check it out? Naturally, everyone will be hanging out at macrumorslive for almost real-time updates [pictures included, I believe]. Be sure to have the Apple site open, too, and refresh it once in a while to confirm that the existence of this 'MacBook Air' is real.
Update: MacBook Air is for real.
Initial responses, first impressions and comments [so far]:
• How the hell is it so confoundingly thin?! Will it crack easily?
• Glossy screen? Not my cup of tea. Glare is rarely my cup of tea.
• Where are the speakers? No speaker at all? It says in the Tech Specs page that there is a built-in mono speaker, but where is it located? Could the little holes beside the iSight serve as the speaker and the microphone?
• No optical drive. OK, great, I rarely stick in CDs into my computer. This won't do well in Malaysia because we don't have an iTunes store, so we can't buy any music and download / rent movies. And even if we did have an iTunes store, it would take hours to download a movie, thanks to the amazing broadband speed we have.
• About the whole 'access another Mac or PC wirelessly / install a programme from it' feature. That's only possible when both computers have wireless capabilities, right? Like which regular desktop PC have a built-in wireless card?!
Conclusion: It's a beautiful machine, more soft curves, or should I say, slopes. In my opinion, its future might be like the Titanium PowerBook because the design will be more polished eg. the keys will be in silver colour, improved hinges. Will I get it? No, not really. It's more of a want than a need. A MacBook Pro is better for me because I still need the ports and optical drive.
A little odd note: I've noticed that the PC guy from the Apple ads have slimmed down [judging by the latest ads], just like a MacBook Air. Nevertheless, I am amazed by both of them.
And just to add a little relevant additive to this post, check out this visual commentary based on observations of an amazing illustrator called Peter Arkle [his latest design for graniph is high on my wishlist, currently].
Not to forget, my visit to the alleged three-storey Apple store in Lot 10 [it's just two-storey; the third level empty]. Machines wasn't quite open yet, but I think by the time this post is published, they have sold dozens of Nanos and some Mac Pros.
OK. One thing I don't fancy at all. Why are they using the Arial typeface for the shop's name?! Machines have been using the standard Myriad for the rest of their stores. I hope that these are just a stand-in while the Myriad ones are still in the making.
Another sad sight. Why are the 'i's capitalised?!
Now that Machines will be the most-visited shop in Lot 10 [its entrance is right after the mall's entrance], they should keep their visitors in the store for as long as possible by not having the WiFi turned off or Safari on block.
First of all:
- Asia 2008
Ridiculous. By then all the technology here will be generations ahead of the iPhone.
Alright, so the design is kind of.... different. I would imagine the... thing... black panel thing would be white like the rest of the computers. If it was in white then perhaps it won't look too phone-y and has a more dominant Apple look?
I don't understand these Americans and how the telecommunication systems work. Here in Malaysia, people buy a phone, any kind they want, and they can also choose which service provider they want to use. They'd register for a number, then pop in the SIM card which comes with their registeration into their phones and it's ready for use. In this case, some company called Cingular are 'hosting' the iPhone. What if someone hates Cingular for their crappy coverage [for example] and wants to register under a different service provider? How discriminating! Kind of elitist too, as if they are saying "We are Cingular, and to use your excessively cool iPhone, you have no choice but to register under us,". FLARGH!
But that shouldn't be a problem for me because I've already got my own kind, which is to wait until next year to get that precious iPhone.
Since that this is the first time ever the Mac OS is installed onto a cell phone, will it be prone to viruses?
And that thing looks like it's going to shatter [or at least crack, or the VERY least, scratched] if it's dropped. And this also reminds me of the time when the slimmy-slim iPod Nano first came out. Some of the early buyers complained that the little device cracked while it's sitting in their tight jeans' pocket. Do you think this will happen for the iPhone, since that it's less than... hm 11.6mm thin? That's thinner than a cracker right?
If I ever manage to own this iPhone, I'd also buy a pair of gloves and put them on for each time I use it. Or maybe a good cleaning cloth to keep it it mint condition. Or even better, get a casing!
What else is there to be analysed, hmm...
