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News & Opinion
Apple Releases Bare Bones $999 13" MacBook Air to
Education Market
AppleInsider Staff report that Apple quickly slotted a less powerful
variant of its 13.3" MacBook Air into the space left by last week's
"end-of-life" discontinuation of the white polycarbonate 13" MacBook
that had been selling to education customers for $899.
The new 13" MacBook Air model, offered to educational institutions
buying in quantities of five or more, will sell for $999 per unit, will
only be offered in Apple's education channel, and has pretty much the
same internal specification as the 11.6" MacBook Air Apple sells
to general consumers for $999, only with the bonus of a larger 13.3"
display.
The 13.3" education model and entry-level 11.6" MacBook Air share a
1.6 GHz dual-core Core i5 Intel processor with Intel's HD Graphics 3000
chipset, 2 GB of RAM and a 64 GB solid-state drive (SSD).
9 to 5 Mac's Mark Gurman notes that the 11.6" MacBook Air will also
be available in bulk to education institutions starting at $929, and
that higher-spec Airs in both sizes will also be offered at
commensurately higher prices, culminating with a 13.3" machine powered
by a 1.7 GHz Core i CPU, 4 GB RAM, a 128 GB SSD, and AppleCare
extended warranty protection at $1,312.
Gurman also reports that Apple is also offering educational
institutions a MacBook Air mobile labs program that bundles ten or
twenty 1.6 GHz 13.3" MacBook Airs with a mobile cart that incorporates
an AirPort Extreme wireless hub. Ten-unit carts will sell for $11,399,
while the twenty-unit model $21,599. AppleCare coverage can be added
for $2,000 and $4,000 respectively.
For budget-minded "civilian" MacBook Air aspirants, Apple will sell
you a refurbished Core 2 Duo
Air starting at $699, or $849 for one with Sandy Bridge Core i
silicon, supported by the same warranty and AppleCare eligibility as a
new machine.
Link: Apple Now Offers
Basic 13-in. $999 MacBook Air to Education Buyers
(AppleInsider)
Link: Goodbye white MacBook, Apple Takes
the MacBook Air into Education with New Five-Pack, Mobile Lab
Programs (9 to 5 Mac)
Upgrading a First Generation MacBook Air with
SSD
Wired's Brad Moon says that following the success he had with
upgrading his MacBook Pro's hard drive with a SSD (solid state drive),
he decided to to try the same thing with his Early 2008 MacBook Air - a first
generation model with a small capacity hard drive that uses a hard to
find ZIF connector. He didn't have to look much further than OWC, the
company that supplied the SSD for his earlier project.
Moon says taking apart the MacBook Air was a little more challenging
than other models, but the real challenge was reinstalling the OS, and
while it took the better part of the day, eventually the old MacBook
Air was again operational. The project was deemed worth the effort, and
the whole setup reminds Moon of a PowerBook 100 with Word 5.1 set up to run
from a RAM disk.
Link: Upgrading a
First Gen MacBook Air with a SSD
SSD-only 15" MacBook Air Coming?
Hardmac's linathael says that the latest rumors swirling around
anticipated new MacBook Pro models seem to indicate that at least for
the 15" model, Apple may be fixing eliminate the SuperDrive and the
hard drive, and rely on SSD for storage.
While such hardware would be lighter, thinner, and have a longer
battery lifetime, linathael observes that if having a more powerful
notebook is a key priority, it sounds a bit extreme to rely only on SSD
modules for storage, noting that already, save for RAM modules and the
hard drive, users can't really modify anything in current Apple
notebooks, and it seems to be shaping up that in the future we may not
even be able to open the case anymore, upgrade the RAM, or change out
the drive for a larger one.
He further speculates that with Apple using a rather specific SSD
module technology, currently only available from OWC besides Cupertino,
it may be difficult-to-impossible to upgrade future Mac laptop
hardware, suggesting that we might even be obliged to pay for RAM at
the "Apple rate", meaning 3x to 7x higher cost than the equivalent
memory upgrade from top quality third-party manufacturers.
linathael goes on to speculate, perhaps with wistful optimism, that
there is still a possibility that Apple will release a MacBook Air with
a 15" display while maintaining its current form factor notebook models
with hard drive/SSD and optical drive support, noting that while there
is evidently a market for 15" ultralight notebook with only limited
storage, high performance, and long battery lifetime, that motif would
not have to cover the entire lineup of forthcoming notebook models, and
observing that having to downsize from the 750 GB or greater hard drive
capacity to having only 256 GB on SSD would be a massive setback. But
will Apple's response to that be reference to iCloud?
Link: Towards MacBook
Air-like MacBook Pro Models?
How About a 15" MacBook Air with a Pro Docking
Station?
Hardmac's Lionel says his colleague linathael's report (above) of a rumor of a forthcoming MacBook Air-like MacBook
Pro (MBP) has been generating a lot of reaction, most of it driven by
the fear of seeing Apple moving to an entirely closed system.
Lionel speculates that there might be room in the new Pro laptops
for a 2.5" hard drive in addition to the default SSD and observes that
Thunderbolt facilitates high-speed access to other peripherals.
However, he notes that a light and powerful MacBook Pro with an "Air
style" would particularly benefit from a docking station via
Thunderbolt to get provide access numerous peripherals without the need
for multiple additional ports on the laptop's enclosure. Essentially,
he says, the notebook would only need a power port, ethernet, two
USB 3, and one Thunderbolt port. Current MacBook Airs only support
ethernet through an optional dongle and don't support USB 3 at all
natively. (Your editor is not anticipating USB 3 support on the
coming redesigned machines.)
Lionel also observes that the current MacBook Air uses an "Ultra Low
Voltage" (ULV) version of Intel's mobile CPUs, so it's quite clear that
Apple will have a hard time reaching the same performance level as the
current MBP, meaning a likelihood of higher TDP and power consumption.
Of course that issue is expected to be addressed to some degree by
Intel's forthcoming Ivy Bridge silicon. Another point that remains
unclear is whether a new, MacBook Air-like MBP will retain the current
15" and 17" Pro models' discrete GPU in addition to Intel integrated
graphical chipset. A discrete GPU would require a dedicated cooling
system too, and he suggests it will be a challenge to cool down the
tandem CPU/GPU at once, especially if the Thunderbolt is used as the
"universal" connection point.
Consequently, Lionel maintains that if Apple wants to move to a
SuperDrive-free MBP, the computer's enclosure will be thinner, but most
likely not as thin as the MacBook Air due to need to accommodate a
cooling system. The possible alternative would be that the 15" MBP "Air
style" will be essentially a MacBook Air with a 15" display, hosting
the fastest CPU and the Intel graphical chipset, which would leave many
current Apple Pro laptop users out of luck.
Link: What About MacBook
Air 15" with a Pro Docking Station?
Apple Poised to Disrupt Notebook Space Yet
Again
Charles Moore, in his latest 'Book Mystique column on MacPrices.net
says:
"The Windows laptop makers are just beginning to get their Ultrabook
production ramped-up to take on the year-and-a-half old MacBook Air,
but Apple is expected to disrupt the laptop computer market again this
year with a complete top-to-bottom overhaul of its notebook Mac
lineup.
"It's in the category of rumor yet, but it seems like a
near-certainty that Apple will announce a 15" laptop in the MacBook Air
thin wedge design motif sometime this year. The operative question is
whether it will be called a MacBook Air, a MacBook Pro, or perhaps even
something else. Recent scuttlebutt has it that Apple is fixing to do a
major overhaul of its entire notebook lineup in 2012, presumably timed
to coincide with availability of Intel's forthcoming Ivy Bridge Core i
CPUs.
"Intel estimates that it Ivy Bridge will provide a 20 percent
performance boost with comparable Sandy Bridge laptops. Ivy Bridge also
provides a 30 percent boost in integrated graphics performance
"When Steve Jobs said that the MacBook Air was the future of
laptops, he was right as usual. To the disgust of a vocal minority,
it's only logical that Apple will take the same design steps with their
MacBook Pro.
"It also seems likely that there will be some rationalization of the
MacBook Pro with the hot-selling MacBook Air, and the 13" MacBook Pro
seems a potential casualty. While both new 15" and 17" professional
MacBooks rumored to be in the works, there's been nothing, at least
that I have heard, about a redesigned Ivy Bridge 13" MacBook Pro. That
could be because if the Pro models are to share the MacBook Air's
styling and engineering, it might be deemed illogical to have very
similar 13" MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros. On the other hand,
AppleInsider's Kasper Jade thinks
there could be room for a somewhat upgraded feature set version of the
MacBook Air to be slotted in as a new 13" MacBook Pro."
Link:
How Apple Is Poised to Disrupt Notebook Computer Space Yet
Again
Ultrabooks Are Just MacBook Air Clones and Unlikely
to Succeed
Barrons' Tech Trader Daily columnist Tiernan Ray cites J.P. Morgan
hardware analyst Mark Moskowitz hosting a conference call regarding
ultrabook laptops summarizing his thoughts about the new crop of
thin-and-light laptops that have been spun out of Intel's Ultrabook
initiative and $300 million subsidy, touted as the future of mobile
PCs.
Attentive Apple followers will recall that the late Steve Jobs
declared the MacBook Air to the the future of notebook computing back
in October 2010, a prophetic observation, as it turns out, what with
the stellar success of the Air and acknowledgment that Ultrabooks
amount to frank flattery of the MacBook Air as paradigmatic to the
super-thin, super-light laptop category.
Ray reports that Moskowitz considers Ultrabooks to be little more
than MacBook Air ripoffs - nothing new at all, just the Wintel crowd
scrambling to catch up with Apple, contending that despite increasing
vendor hype and media focus on Ultrabooks, he doesn't not expect the
overall PC market's growth profile to manifest much incremental uplift
as a result, and predicting that the PC crowd will be humbled again as
they struggle to get prices to the right level while offering something
distinctive to set respective vendors' offerings apart.
Moskowitz thinks the first generation of Ultrabooks, with base
prices typically $899-1,299 are too expensive and doesn't anticipate
their achieving the market traction that would be required to stem the
tide of customer dollars flowing toward smartphones and tablets.
Link: Apple:
Ultrabooks, Clones of 'Air,' Challenged to Succeed, Says JP
Morgan
MacBook Airs, Ultrabooks, and Windows 8
WinSuperSite's Paul Thurrott says he recently purchased an Asus
Zenbook, one of a handful of first-generation Ultrabooks currently in
the market - and the one he thinks most closely resembles Apple's
MacBook Air.
Thurrott allows that while he's very enthusiastic about the
Ultrabook form factor overall, he's not sure he can recommend this
particular rendition, at least not universally.
Windows-centric Thurrott concedes that the MacBook Air is a fine
machine, but he maintains that it's not ideal as a Windows laptop,
although it's beautiful to look at and, thanks to its thin profile and
low weight, an ideal travel companion. If only it were better suited to
running Windows. (The Verge's Joanna Stern disagrees - see below.)
Enter the Ultrabook, which Thurrott acknowledges is a bald-faced
attempt to copy Apple's design for the MacBook Air and apply it to
Windows PCs, an endeavor that's not yet been entirely successful.
However, he notes that second generation Ultrabooks will ship
throughout 2012 featuring more efficient third-generation Intel Core
i-Series ("Ivy Bridge") processors anticipated to offer better
performance, better battery life, and allow for even thinner and
lighter form factors. That said, he observes, "most of these machines
won't move very far beyond the basic look and feel of the MacBook
Air."
However, Thurrott predicts that things will get a lot more
interesting with third generation Ultrabooks, which he says will be
hybrid devices whose "guts" will live behind the display rather than
under the keyboard, meaning that they can be used as pure tablet
devices, but with the ability to plug into a keyboard dock and become
traditional clamshell laptops. He says these hybrid devices will ship
with Windows 8 in late 2012, with true third generation Ultrabooks more
closely resembling iPads with a clip-on keyboard base. He expects
Windows 8 to unleash further Ultrabook design innovations and predicts
that the next year is going to be an amazing one for portable
computing.
Publisher's note: The MacBook Air has already entered its third
generation thanks to the addition of Thunderbolt in Mid 2011, and Apple's iPad is
expected to enter its third generation within months. By the time
"third generation" tablet-cum-laptop ultrabooks finally ship, Apple
should be another generation ahead of the game. dk
Link: Of MacBook Airs,
Ultrabooks, and Windows 8
Does Putting Windows 7 on the
MacBook Air Make It the Ultrabook to Rule Them All?
The Verge's Joanna Stern observes that the ultrabook phenomenon in
Windows PC space is essentially Intel and the rest of the PC industry's
reaction to Apple's MacBook Air, but while the sundry ultrabooks
brought to market have all tried to mimic and beat the Air, none have
managed to pull it off.
However, Stern observes that it really isn't an apples to apples
comparison, because the Air doesn't run Windows 7 out of the box, and
many who buy ultrabooks are presumably looking for a very thin and
light Windows PC, not a Mac OS X laptop. She also notes that a
MacBook Air running Windows 7 costs a minimum of $1,419 (the cost of
the computer plus Windows Home Premium) - quite a bit more than a
typical $1,000 Ultrabook.
So, she queries, is the MacBook Air worth the extra cash? Are there
any tradeoffs? Does Apple make the best Windows ultrabook?
She endeavors to make a fair comparison to find out.
The takeaway is that while Apple is never going to make the perfect
Windows 7 machine, in many ways its MacBook Air hardware supports the
best Windows experience right now.
Link: MacBook Air with
Windows 7 Review: The Ultrabook to Rule Them All?
Tech Trends
Ultrabook Prices Unlikely to Achieve 'Sweet Spot' Until 2013
DigiTimes' Aaron Lee and Joseph Tsai report that despite notebook
vendors all understanding that price is key to significantly driving
demand for Ultrabooks, especially when approaching the "sweet spot" at
about $599-699, considering their profitability, the vendors believe
ultrabook ASPs are unlikely reach that level until 2013, according to
insider sources at notebook vendors.
They also say intelligence received from inside the the supply chain
is pointing out that production cost of Ultrabooks is still relatively
high, especially the cost of SSDs, which are still a whopping 10x
higher than traditional hard drives, and that custom-made ultrathin
panels and components also represent large factors in vendors' overall
cost, although there is a chance that Ultrabook ASPs could reach as low
as $799 in the second quarter - albeit with profitability
"significantly pressed" and improved shipment volume the key to
sustainability.
Unfortunately for the Ultrabook brigade, volume thus far has been
disappointing, with Acer and Asus reportedly struggling to gain
traction in a MacBook Air dominated market, obliging them to reduce
initial Ultrabook orders by as much as 40% and looking for more
generous marketing subsidies from Intel to help keep prices
competitive.
Link: Ultrabook Prices
Unlikely to Achieve 'Sweet Spot' Until 2013 (subscription
required)
Ultrabook Prices to Drop 20-30% in Early March to April
DigiTimes' Ocean Chen and Joseph Tsai say prices of the currently
available crop of ultrabooks are expected to see a 20-30% drop in early
March to April to help digesting notebook vendors' inventories as Intel
prepares to announce its next-generation Ivy Bridge platform in April,
according to analysis offered by sources from channel retailers.
Chen and Tsai project that mainstream notebooks and desktops powered
by the current Sandy Bridge family of Intel Core i5 and i7 CPUs will
also drop in price to clear out stocks.
Link: Ultrabook Prices to
Drop 20-30% in Early March to April (subscription required)
Taiwan Manufacturers Report Ultrabooks Slow Sellers in Europe
DigiTimes' Aaron Lee and Adam Hwang report that the proportion of
global notebook sales represented by Ultrabooks in 2012 is estimated at
only 20%, lower than a target of 30% or even 40% as projected by Intel,
attributable mainly to Ultrabooks selling sluggishly in Europe,
according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.
Lee and Hwang's sources tell them consumers in Europe prefer
notebook models of 15" or more, and among notebooks currently available
in the global market, 40-45% are 15" models (there are currently no 15"
Ultrabook models, but the report says Acer plans to launch 14 and 15"
Timeline Ultra series notebooks featuring a slim design, Instant-on
technology, and Always Connect technology specifically for North
America and Europe), 35-40% are of 14" models and only Hewlett-Packard
has launched a 14" ultrabook, the Envy 14 Spectre, but its price is as
high as US$1,399.99.
Apple is widely expected to be preparing a 15", thinner and lighter
MacBook Pro for release in 2012, although whether there will also be a
"consumer" oriented 15" MacBook Air as well remains a matter of
conjecture.
Intel's first-phase Ultrabook design guideline specifies notebooks
less than 21 mm thick, weighing no more than 3.1 pounds, with
flash-based SSD data storage and at least 5 to 8 hours of battery life,
and selling for around $1,000.
Ultrabooks have so far been launched to test market response and Lee
and Hwang's sources maintain that if vendors want to increase sales,
they have to lower prices from US$1,000 to US$699.
Link: Ultrabooks Less
Desirable in Europe, Say Taiwan Makers (subscription required)
Products & Services
Stylish Laptop Bags to Match Spring Fashion and
Tech Trends
PR: Jill-e Designs, the leading maker of sophisticated career
bags, laptop bags, and carry bags for today's technology-rich
lifestyle, has released their Spring 2012 Trend Report. With spring
right around the corner, the report outlines some stylish ways for
tech-savvy women to warm up their style in the upcoming season with
Jill-e Designs new E-GO Leather Collection.
Clean Classics: Simple, classic looks are in season and
the new, stylish Leather E-GO Collection career bags will be available
just in time to make wardrobe updates.- Rockin Leather: With its classic, yet cutting edge connotations,
leather is the perfect style for the modern woman. The E-GO Leather
Collection offers go-to, staple pieces to complement all
lifestyles.
- Head Into the White: With warm weather ahead, looks accentuated
with a shade of white keep styles cool. Be sleek and stand out with the
Jill-e Metro Tablet Bag or luxe and rich in style with the Leather E-GO
Tablet Messenger in Vanilla.
- Survival of the Fittest: Make a fierce fashion statement with a
carry bag accessory that is decadent and daring. The Chocolate Croc
Laptop Tote takes looks from subtle to stunning.
"Jill-e Designs style mavens understand women need a stylish option
that can bring their favorite Apple and tech products safely and
stylishly from one season to the next," says Gail Backal, Jill-e
Designs President. "We are thrilled to offer the innovation and
dependability that our E-GO Collection is known for, with the added
versatility and timelessness of high quality leather."
Keeping up with the hottest spring trends, Jill-e's new E-GO Leather
Collection of chic career bags will be available just in time to
celebrate the new season. On sale February 20, the new line of leather
bags for the E-GO Collection safeguards Apple and other popular tech
products, while offering a polished, versatile look for women
on-the-go. From stylish laptop bags to wristlets, Jill-e Designs offers
a carry bag designed to hold her favorite lifestyle essentials, no
matter what her needs and personality may be.
Link: Jill-e
Designs
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