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The MacBook is dead, long live the MacBook Air!


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Posted

According to El Reg (they seem to be doing a lot of Mac coverage of late!): Apple kills MacBook, soups up MacBook Air ? reghardware

 

The first part of the article makes intersting reading:

 

Apple the specced up the new MacBook Air line - and killed off the plastic MacBook.

 

The new Airs do indeed gain Core i5 processors: 1.6GHz for the 11-incher, 1.7GHz for the 13.3in Air, and 1.8GHz Core i7 as a build-to-order option for both. They get backlit keyboards too, absent from their predecessors.

 

But the basic model, the $999/£849 11.6in, 1366 x 768 Air will still ship with just 2GB of memory - now 1333MHz DDR 3, though - and a 64GB SSD. You can get a 4GB/128GB 11.i6in model for $1199/£999.

 

It's the bottom-of-the-line Air that will stand in for the old 13in MacBook. Or you can have a 13in MacBook Pro for £999. No question - if there was any doubt - Apple is not in the business of selling you a cheap computer.

 

That's a hell of a price for an entry level portable Mac!

Posted
I still haven't found the will to find out what FaceTime is.

 

Video Conferencing with audio assuming you use the onboard mic or another mic - basically using a webcam and mic and facetime is just the software / app you use to do it with. Works well imo

 

 

Screens look good but

 

1. I don't have that sort of money for a screen

2. I don't have a mac with thunderbolt which comes back to not having that much money for a new mac with thunderbolt

3. It does look good though

 

I will have to wait a number of years before I will have money available by which time I am hoping they would of released a lot more things that use or support thunderbolt

 

An iphone 5 that synchs and uses both USB 2 / 3 and or thunderbolt - imagine being able to synch audio, video , contacts etc etc using thunderbolt or something faster then USB 2.

 

I would much prefer a mac book pro then a mac book air.....

Posted
Not quite dead yet. It's only being sold to Education institutions now.

 

AppleInsider | Apple's white legacy MacBook pulled, only available for education buyers

 

Hmm. That may be true in the US, but on the Apple UK Education site they have withdrawn them: Welcome to the Apple Store - Apple Store (UK)

Mind you, the US Apple Education site they are not listed either: http://store.apple.com/us-k12

I'll look into this a bit more, as I can see they will have some stock they will wish to run down, and to cut themselves off from the education market through overpricing would be a big mistake I think.

Posted
& gutted the Mac Minis are drive less now. My really old one was great as a dvd player/CD ripper/Disc Creator. The drive died and I have kept meaning to get a new one. Looks like I will have to get an external drive now if I want to do that.
Posted

I've just enquired though Apple UK's educational sales team and they tell me that MacBooks are still available for purchase via them with purchase orders and have a starting price of £780, however the list price for a MacBook air on the Education site is £798, so there is not much differance beween them. The Airs are the i5 model as well and the tech specs can be found here: Apple (United Kingdom) - MacBook Air - Compare the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air.

It will be intersting to see how the MacBook Air holds up in an educational environment.

Posted
I'm not sure if channel partner will be able to provide teh MacBook anymore. If someone can let us know if they are available from third parties please do so. The will be some stocks to run down I guess, but these may begin to dwindle quite rapidly once word spreads.
Posted
I've just enquired though Apple UK's educational sales team and they tell me that MacBooks are still available for purchase via them with purchase orders and have a starting price of £780, however the list price for a MacBook air on the Education site is £798, so there is not much differance beween them. The Airs are the i5 model as well and the tech specs can be found here: Apple (United Kingdom) - MacBook Air - Compare the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air.

It will be intersting to see how the MacBook Air holds up in an educational environment.

 

I see. If they really want to rid themselves of any excess stock of the poly Macbook then they need to rethink the pricing.

 

I've been told we'll be going 1:1 sometime late next year in our Middle School ( grades 6-8 ) and using the Air. In that situation it's tough to tell how well they will hold up. The white Macbooks we have in rolling carts seem to be doing okay apart from the rubberized back soaking up dirt and grime and the other surfaces scratched but not overly so. With the Air lacking an optical drive and no moving parts on the hard drive one would think it would be a little more robust than the average laptop.

Posted
The white MacBook will continue to be available from all Apple Solution Experts for Education (such as us).

 

Do you have any idea of how long for, or will they still be in production for the forseable future?

Posted (edited)

We imagine that the white MacBook will be retained as an education only offering just as with the 20" iMac has been for the last few years.

 

Edited by Dos_Box

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