Gaming Macworld Thread

[Urza]

Actually the Air itself itsn't that bad. What IS bad is the price.

Jesus, you you guies wouldn't be bashing it if it had a lower starting price. I mean much lower than it is now.

Honestly, I think making it thinner was completely the wrong direction. They should have been aiming to give it a smaller footprint ala EeePC/OLPC/Cloudbook/NoahPad.

 

[Dylaan]

Am I understanding this right, but they want us iPod Touch users to pay freakin' $20 for the iPhone apps that we already have for free? Not to mention break our 3rd party ones...

 

[H8TR]

Actually the Air itself itsn't that bad. What IS bad is the price.

Jesus, you you guies wouldn't be bashing it if it had a lower starting price. I mean much lower than it is now.

Exactly. That thing needs to come down in price by $400 to $500.

Am I understanding this right, but they want us iPod Touch users to pay freakin' $20 for the iPhone apps that we already have for free? Not to mention break our 3rd party ones...

Try this. Send your iPod touch in for a repair. If it doesn't need a repair, claim it does anyway. Make up some problem like "touchscreen is intermittently non-responsive". Send your iPod in and when you receive it back, you'll receive a new iPod, not a repaired one (for me, it'll get get rid of the scratches I have). Your new iPod will probably be 1.13 and if your lucky, you might have the apps without having to pay for them.

 

[Urza]

Am I understanding this right, but they want us iPod Touch users to pay freakin' $20 for the iPhone apps that we already have for free?

No, they want the average iPod Touch user who doesn't already have those things to pay 20 bucks.

 

[Dylaan]

Try this. Send your iPod touch in for a repair. If it doesn't need a repair, claim it does anyway. Make up some problem like "touchscreen is intermittently non-responsive". Send your iPod in and when you receive it back, you'll receive a new iPod, not a repaired one (for me, it'll get get rid of the scratches I have). Your new iPod will probably be 1.13 and if your lucky, you might have the apps without having to pay for them.

Not worth it, as I've already got them... I might do just before my warranty runs out though to get rid of scratches!

 

[Teun]

Actually the Air itself itsn't that bad. What IS bad is the price.

Jesus, you you guies wouldn't be bashing it if it had a lower starting price. I mean much lower than it is now.

Exactly. That thing needs to come down in price by $400 to $500.

Am I understanding this right, but they want us iPod Touch users to pay freakin' $20 for the iPhone apps that we already have for free? Not to mention break our 3rd party ones...

Try this. Send your iPod touch in for a repair. If it doesn't need a repair, claim it does anyway. Make up some problem like "touchscreen is intermittently non-responsive". Send your iPod in and when you receive it back, you'll receive a new iPod, not a repaired one (for me, it'll get get rid of the scratches I have). Your new iPod will probably be 1.13 and if your lucky, you might have the apps without having to pay for them.

So if I'll buy a iPod Touch now, do I get the 1.1.3 update? or will that take a while?

 

[Urza]

It'll probably be a couple weeks before the current stock has been cycled through at retailers.

 

[Urza]

This can probably be unstickied now.

 

[ImperialX]

It seems to me that everyone is missing the real point of the MacBook Air.

This computer was not released to be a great laptop. It wasn't released to sell in large volumes and it wasn't released to give you everything you currently get in a MacBook or MacBook Pro.

The MacBook Air was released to remind the world that Apple is way ahead of the rest of the industry. It is to plant in the minds of the consumer today the seed that will sprout into a visit to an Apple shop for a new laptop in 2010.

Apple have always been deeply involved in the development and progress of portable computing and they want to stay at the cutting edge.

In 1989 they broke new ground with the Macintosh Portable, setting the basic design for modern laptops. In 1991, (to quote Wikipedia), "The Apple PowerBook series, introduced in October 1991, pioneered changes that are now de facto standards on laptops." In 2001 we got the Titanium Powerbook - that machine set the basic standard in design (both stylistic and technical) for laptops for the next 7 years (and still counting).

So sure, the MacBook Air of early 2008 has limitations, is missing heaps of stuff we all think is essential and probably won't sell that many. To me, I would still go for the MacBook Pro. But when you go to buy your next laptop, and the one after that, it will likely be an upgraded version of what we have seen released today.

 

[BakuFunn]

Kind of off topic, but the touch and iphone now have increased capacity (16GB iphone, 32GB ipod touch)

 

[notnarb]

It seems to me that everyone is missing the real point of the MacBook Air.

This computer was not released to be a great laptop. It wasn't released to sell in large volumes and it wasn't released to give you everything you currently get in a MacBook or MacBook Pro.

The MacBook Air was released to remind the world that Apple is way ahead of the rest of the industry. It is to plant in the minds of the consumer today the seed that will sprout into a visit to an Apple shop for a new laptop in 2010.

Apple have always been deeply involved in the development and progress of portable computing and they want to stay at the cutting edge.

In 1989 they broke new ground with the Macintosh Portable, setting the basic design for modern laptops. In 1991, (to quote Wikipedia), "The Apple PowerBook series, introduced in October 1991, pioneered changes that are now de facto standards on laptops." In 2001 we got the Titanium Powerbook - that machine set the basic standard in design (both stylistic and technical) for laptops for the next 7 years (and still counting).

So sure, the MacBook Air of early 2008 has limitations, is missing heaps of stuff we all think is essential and probably won't sell that many. To me, I would still go for the MacBook Pro. But when you go to buy your next laptop, and the one after that, it will likely be an upgraded version of what we have seen released today.

The mackbook air isn't much of a technical innovation, apple was just the only company to decide to try for such a crappy idea. Of course it goes well with the traditional Apple philosophy of stylizing technology as rationale behind price increases. A great example is the macbook air vs the eeepc (yes the OLPC came first, but for an entirely different purpose), where the eeepc combines low price and portability, both being better then normal laptops in both areas, while the macbook air just made a laptop thinner, hardly increasing the portability. Computer manufacturers are going to go in the direction of the eeepc (and already have with the cloudbook and that one with the touch keyboard) due to it's overall practicality. The macbook air is apple proclaiming to the world that practical solutions to computing needs are unnecessary and there will be people who stupidly enough agree with apple's irrational 'statement'. Innovations in style aren't really innovations at all, they are just distractions from a device's true purpose that just promotes lust of one type over another. Oh well, if people want to pay more for a device for pure aesthetic reasons (not just a 5% prince markup for something like a change in case material, but a whole 100% markup like in the instances of the gen3 shuffle and the MBA), it's their money and may darwin have mercy on their soul

 

[ImperialX]

The mackbook air isn't much of a technical innovation, apple was just the only company to decide to try for such a crappy idea. Of course it goes well with the traditional Apple philosophy of stylizing technology as rationale behind price increases. A great example is the macbook air vs the eeepc (yes the OLPC came first, but for an entirely different purpose), where the eeepc combines low price and portability, both being better then normal laptops in both areas, while the macbook air just made a laptop thinner, hardly increasing the portability. Computer manufacturers are going to go in the direction of the eeepc (and already have with the cloudbook and that one with the touch keyboard) due to it's overall practicality. The macbook air is apple proclaiming to the world that practical solutions to computing needs are unnecessary and there will be people who stupidly enough agree with apple's irrational 'statement'. Innovations in style aren't really innovations at all, they are just distractions from a device's true purpose that just promotes lust of one type over another. Oh well, if people want to pay more for a device for pure aesthetic reasons (not just a 5% prince markup for something like a change in case material, but a whole 100% markup like in the instances of the gen3 shuffle and the MBA), it's their money and may darwin have mercy on their soul

As I already said, the MacBook Air wasn't released to sell in large volumes and it wasn't released to give you everything you currently get in a MacBook or MacBook Pro. If you want a practical computer like I do, you would go for the MacBook or the MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro is the Fastest Windows Laptop out there.

The MacBook Air is designed to make a pathway for the future. I find it hard to believe that the EEEPC is leading towards the future more than the MacBook Air. The innovations in the MacBook Air like the Multi-Touch Trackpad and Remote Disk are all going to be de facto standards on laptops in a few years. It's just the Macintosh Portable again. Back when that was just released, people were going on about how useless it was too, but it was in fact laying a pathway for all the modern laptops we use today.

I agree that the MacBook Air is not worth the money now but give it a few years, and our views will change.

 

[Urza]

If you want a practical computer like I do, you would go for the MacBook or the MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro is the Fastest Windows Laptop out there.

I would have read the rest of your post, but these statements is so laughable that I just couldn't make it any further.

EDIT: Turns out the hysterical mockery died down sooner than expected.

QUOTEI find it hard to believe that the EEEPC is leading towards the future more than the MacBook Air.

Right, because a networked DVD drive and two-finger twiddlepad are more significant advances than opening up an entire new market for small, portable, usable computers that almost anyone can afford.

 

[ImperialX]

EDIT: Turns out the hysterical mockery died down sooner than expected.
What's that supposed to mean?
QUOTE(Urza @ Feb 7 2008, 10:57 AM)Right, because a networked DVD drive and two-finger twiddlepad are more significant advances than opening up an entire new market for small, portable, usable computers that almost anyone can afford.

Personally I don't see the EEE as a laptop at all. It's more of an upgraded PDA/organizer to me. The EEE is NOT meant for everyone. To tell you the truth, I would rather spend my $399 on an iPhone than a EEE PC 4G. It has more memory. It has N Standard W-fi, it's more portable, it's the same price and it is more practical than the EEE PC.

I don't see where the EEE PC fits into the Consumer Market. If you want to game you can get a desktop for the same price and it would do a better job. If you want to surf the internet listen to music and watch movies on the go, the iPhone is a by far better choice. It's got more storage too.

Multi Touch not very useful? Wait until the software makers have had 3 or 4 years to explore it's potential.

If you think the Wireless DVD Drive is useless, how may I ask do you get DVDs working on the EEE? Wouldn't you have to purchase an External USB one just for it? That is another 99 dollars down the drain.

 

[Urza]

Personally I don't see the EEE as a laptop at all. It's more of an upgraded PDA/organizer to me.
Just shows how little you know about it.

I don't see where the EEE PC fits into the Consumer Market. If you want to game you can get a desktop for the same price and it would do a better job. If you want to surf the internet listen to music and watch movies on the go, the iPhone is a by far better choice. It's got more storage too.
Several counter-points here.

- While the web browsing experience is better on the iPhone than any other mobile phone by far, it still doesn't live up to actual computer web browsing, which the Eee provides.

- This may come as a shock to you, but some people like to... type things and get work done on the go. Who knew?

- While the iPhone is more "portable", I can't stand to watch more than a few minutes of video on something as small as 3.5". The 7" screen of the Eee provides very nice viewing for me.

- SDHC cards makes the unexpandable 8GB of the iPhone (16 now I suppose) not even comparable.

In addition, almost all Windows and Linux applications can be run on the Eee. Recently I've loaded Visual Studio on here and have been doing some debugging in the free pockets of time while out and about.

Multi Touch not very useful? Wait until the software makers have had 3 or 4 years to explore it's potential.
Its useful, just not so much in a laptop trackpad.

QUOTE

If you think the Wireless DVD Drive is useless, how may I ask do you get DVDs working on the EEE? Wouldn't you have to purchase an External USB one just for it? That is another 99 dollars down the drain.

More like 30, and they'll just get even cheaper as time goes on. I happened to already have one. Hardly ever use optical media anymore anyways. Just for installing operating systems and other pre-boot tasks, at which it becomes less and less used to due the advancement of software for USB flash drives.

 

[Veho]

Multi Touch not very useful? Wait until the software makers have had 3 or 4 years to explore it's potential.

If you think the Wireless DVD Drive is useless, how may I ask do you get DVDs working on the EEE? Wouldn't you have to purchase an External USB one just for it? That is another 99 dollars down the drain.

So you're saying the Air will become useful in three to four years? Because if the only advantage the Air has over other laptops is the multitouch touchpad, and that will only become useful in three years or more, that means the Air will gain an advantage in three years, minimum?

As I said before, if we disregard the price, the Air is a great ultraportable, a good second computer for some light work on the go. Factoring in the price, it's ridiculous.

It can't be a primary computer. No denying it. Not enough functions, not enough expansion options. It can only be a second computer, the ultraportable (it's far too expensive to be a second computer, but I'll get back to that later). The "wireless everything" idea that the Air is supposed to illustrate is still just a pipe dream; the only thing you can effectively do with the Air's connectivity options is transfer your work to and from your "work" computer more easily. Which is just as well, because all the Air can really do is light office work.

As for the "wireless DVD"? You said, and I quote: "How, may I ask, do you get DVDs working on the EEE? Wouldn't you have to purchase an External USB one just for it? That is another 99 dollars down the drain."

And how, may I ask, do you get DVDs working on the Air? Wouldn't you have to purchase a wireless drive just for it? That is another 99 dollars down the drain. How is it that the EEE sorely lacks an optical drive, while the Air somehow doesn't? Or, to approach it from a different angle, the EEE plus an external DVD drive still costs three and a half times less (do the math) than the Air without a DVD drive.

And we're back at the price here (because, ultimately, that's what it's all about). In order to be justified, a price tag of $1800 for the base model demands every slot/port/drive/feature that the Air left out. On the other hand, if it were to cost $1000 or less, all the shortcomings could be ignored. As an added bonus, if the Air were to cost $1000 or less, people wouldn't have to bend over backwards making up phrases like "wireless everything", "concept computer", "pathway to the future" or the like to try and justify (rationalize) the insane amount of moneyz one has to cough up for one. Yes, the EEE has its flaws, and on the other hand, the Air is not actually a bad device, but why are we comparing a $400 device and a $1800 device here? And what is worse, the $1800 one only wins by a small margin? Wait a minute! What are we even talking about?

The price tag of $1800 is insane. I'm not saying there aren't any people who will buy it even at that price, based on design and "coolness factor" (Bang and Olufsen make their living off of people like that), but asking that much for a laptop that can be compared (on equal terms) to a $400 one is really a stretch.