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January 22, 2008

hardware

MacBook Air: the iPod shuffle of Macs

Posted Jan. 22, ’08, 9:50 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Hardware

MacBook AirA thought struck me as I read The Macalope’s excellent commentary on the complaints about the MacBook Air, specifically that the Air lacks features like FireWire, an optical drive, Ethernet, a bigger hard drive, etc. Quoth the wise, horned one:

That “lack of features” is actually a feature.
Well put, Señor Macalope, well put indeed. And, come to think of it, this isn’t the first time that Steve Jobs has managed to spin a lack of features into a feature itself.

Remember the introduction of the iPod shuffle? After the rampant success of the iPod line, people scoffed at the idea that an MP3 player with no screen could succeed. But somehow, Jobs managed tout the lack of being able to pick your own songs as a feature. And, even more astoundingly, it worked.

Why? Critics snorted and pointed to Jobs’s famed Reality Distortion Field, snidely point out that he could probably sell glasses to the blind, taxes to the rich, and smog to Los Angeles. There’s no denying that Jobs is an excellent salesman, but what makes him a good salesman is that he’s selling you something you didn’t even know you wanted.

Simplicity.

Simplicity has been a watchword of Apple and the Macintosh since their inception and you’ll notice that Apple’s darkest days have tended to coincide with them moving away from that precept. Look back at the mid ’90s when the Mac line was full of Quadra 650s, Centris 800s, and Performa 6300s. Look at Apple’s lineup today: iMac, MacBook, Mac Pro, even the MacBook Air. Simple. Easy to remember.

The shuffle was the same thing: an exercise in simplicity. Three year-old children can master the shuffle’s controls in a matter of minutes. Heck, seventy year-old adults can master the shuffle’s controls in a matter of minutes. Competitors may brag about all the features their products include—voice recorders, FM radios, nose-hair trimmers—but truth is most people are still buying a music player for playing music. Screens and computer interfaces are daunting to many: the shuffle reduced its controls to play/pause, forward/back, and volume up/down. All functions that people were used to from VCRs, DVDs, and cassette decks. Simple.

The MacBook Air is cut from the same aluminumy cloth. Yes, there’s no FireWire, Ethernet, optical drive, etc. If you want those things, this is very much not a product for you. But don’t think just because it isn’t a product for you that there aren’t those out there who will gladly sacrifice all of those features (and potentially even more) for two fewer pounds in their carry-on bag. Me, I would have dumped the micro DVI port too, but I guess that’ll have to wait for wireless display technologies to catch on. Mark my words: when Wireless USB, Bluetooth AD2P, and wireless display technologies catch on, we’ll see a no-port MacBook Air. It’s still a few years off at this point, but if you think Apple’s not working on it, you’re nuttier than a squirrel’s closet.

Even the nominal point of the MacBook Air—that it’s your secondary Mac—is similar to the iPod shuffle. Plenty of people who owned a fullsize iPod went out and bought a shuffle for a specific purpose. Going to the gym, for example. It’s niche design, no question, but niches are made for filling. The MacBook will sell and—I predict—sell well, for many of the same reasons the iPod shuffle did. I don’t think it will outsell the MacBook, but since Apple doesn’t break sales into model lines, we may never know.

Of course, the big difference between the MacBook Air and the iPod shuffle is the pricetag. Whereas the shuffle offered a stripped-down price along with fewer features, the lack of components in the Air comes at a premium. As Mr. Macalope pointed out, that’s a feature in and of itself—and, of course, the engineering costs in getting the components small enough and efficient enough to work in that small a package aren’t inconsequential. Plus, let’s not forget that the Air is also the most environmentally-friendly Mac yet. All of these factors will result in lower costs eventually—they always do. But for the first few generations, you will pay more. The same was true of the iMac, another great example of Apple’s simplicity in design.

And, hey, look where that got us.


6 Comments

krye said:

So true, and well put. I can't wait for people to stop bashing the MacBook Air.

People need to take a good long hard look and realize that the MBA is NOT A DESKTOP REPLACEMENT. People think it is, or it should, because the MacBook Pro is. It is not. I have 3 iPods, including a shuffle, and they all fit a specific need. I don't want to bring a heavy 30G ipod video to the laundromat. A shuffle is perfect for that.

When all you need is mail, internet access, iLife apps and office suites, the MacBook Air is perfect.

I carry a MacBook and believe me, sometime it's "too much" laptop.

January 22, 2008 10:11 AM
Ward Author Profile Page said:

I think the best comparison is to the iMac. "No floppy drive? No SCSI, ADB, or serial? How will we survive?"

USB peripherals proliferated to replace those that used the legacy ports. Flash drives and writable optical media replaced floppies. The world is a better place.

I expect there will be a lot of bluetooth peripherals designed for the Air in the same way that USB peripherals were designed for the iMac. And the ubiquity of wireless networking means less dependence than ever on local storage.

January 22, 2008 11:11 AM
jayH said:

well, don't you boys know that the macbook air is a masterplan from your highness to save the desktop computer? you need to have a desktop computer in order to own a macbook air. so u have to buy both an iMac AND a macbook air :P

January 22, 2008 12:11 PM
exnihilo said:

I think the non-replaceable battery is an issue that will give most potential buyers second thoughts. An ultraportable laptop needs to have way to keep it going when you don't have access to an outlet. Five hours of operation is most likely a best case scenario. Having an extra battery around could come in handy. External plates are clunky because you need have them attached when the internal battery runs out.

January 23, 2008 2:58 AM
CorpMac Author Profile Page said:

I don't think it's the shuffle - but in terms of where it's placed in the market, and also its styling, I definitely think it's the Nano of the Macbook range!

February 3, 2008 8:57 AM
CorpMac Author Profile Page said:

I don't think it's the Shuffle really - if you take a look at the spec, the performance, and the visual styling of it - it reminds me a lot of being the Nano of the Macbook range!

February 3, 2008 8:59 AM

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