Sony says their stuff is better than the MacBook Air. Quelle Surprise.
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Posted January 17th, 2008 at 8:12pm
by Corey Tamas
Two things you gotta know about Sony’s responses for the record about the MacBook Air:
1. The day that Sony says “Apple did it better than we did, and sooner as well” is the day Coke says Pepsi is just plain more refreshing.
2. Just because Sony is only ever going to say that they do it better than Apple doesn’t necessarily mean they’re wrong.
As for the topic at hand, Gizmodo is reporting that Sony has a few (extremely predictable) things to say about the MacBook Pro. Then again, fair’s fair; Steve Jobs compared the MacBook Pro against the Sony TZ Ultraportable during his keynote. What kind of things was Sony saying?
Mike Abary, senior vice president of VAIO product marketing, thought the engineering to get a laptop that thin was extremely impressive. But Sony had a similiar vision for an ultraportable once, a carbon fiber notebook in 2004 called the X505 (above) that eschewed the optical and was 0.3 inches thick (compared to 0.16 of the Air) at its thinnest segment. It wasn’t that well received, and research later pointed out that “Thinness is not the holy grail”. Making something that thin and sexy cost it too much usability. (Many of you agree in the comments on Giz.)
Gizmodo goes on to make the excellent point that dropping the optical drive in 2004 wouldn’t have been such a smart move, but in this day and age it might not be such a scandal. especially with broader internet connections, bittorrent, greater storage capacity, thumbdrives, and Apple’s Remote optical drive tech which works over wireless N.”
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kees
January 20th, 2008 at 10:41 am
oh Corey, how far thou has strayed. Now you’re even getting the name of Apple products wrong…;)
As for Sony’s comments on the MacBook Air, I think they have a point. Anything with 13.3″ footprint just isn’t an ultraportable. No matter how thin or light, it won’t fit in some bags that I can slip my 12″ PowerBook into.
And I would miss the optical drive too. I’m sure I’m not the only one who picks up some DVD from the bargain bin 15 minutes before the plane leaves. The infrastructure to do something similar wirelessly or with data sticks or however won’t be there for a good while longer.
Had they just released a 12″ MacBook Pro, with discrete graphics, I’d be all over it, but this thing is neither small enough nor versatile enough for my needs.
It sure is pretty though…
Bootes
January 22nd, 2008 at 3:40 am
It’s MacBook Air, not Pro.
Corey Tamas
January 31st, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Kees: I know. I can’t believe I keep getting the name wrong. “MacBook Air” Just hasn’t sunk into my head enough yet.
I think that it’s a really, really good solution for a small sliver of the public. I can imagine the sort of person it would appeal to as well; lightweight internet user who likes to be able to cart their laptop around the house with ease (someone who also seems to be Apple’s favorite kind of consumer). Maybe a university professor or a retiree with a few bucks.
But when Sony or whomever says that the MacBook Air can’t cut the mustard as a flat-out replacement for most people’s work/leisure machine, they’re right. What’s more, I think that as long as options like the Eee exist in the market, the price Apple is charging doesn’t come close to recognizing the MBA’s limitations.