Macworld 2008
Author: Gtown Monkey
I have to confess to being a complete Macgeek.
Every year I tune into Steve Job's Keynote address
to hear and see what new Apple offerings I won't be able
to afford for 6-12 months or more.
Sometimes there's drama or even horror- like the year when
a giant Bill Gates appeared on the screen behind Jobs,
announcing a deal between the two titans- which met
with boos and razzing from the crowd...
So there I was this afternoon... was it me or did this year's
offerings seem less plentiful and slightly less impressive.
Am I spoiled from years of seemingly MAJOR Apple
announcements as Job's speaks to the loyal and faithful Mac users?
Probably. ...but maybe I'm just not as into gear, as I used to be,
perhaps I'm content with what I can do with my current hardware,
at least until the next upgrade bumps up the processor
requirements on me.
Here's the short version:
1) in addition to the archiving functions called
Time Machine, already built into the Leopard OS,
there will now be a separate wireless hub appliance called
Time Capsule [digging on the HG Wells shit?]
with a built-in "server grade" harddrive that can
be configured to wirelessly archive you machine's business.
The thinking being that if you delete something important
or suffer a major meltdown of some kind... recovery is a snap.
2) the new Apple TV box now works to distribute
programming of HD movies and tv / cable series without
the need for a computer, just a broadband connection and
a monitor (HD or otherwise).
This is kind of a nice alternative if you don't have or want cable.
All you need is an iTunes Store Account or itunes credit
and are satisfied with selection of media available on the
itunes store... which is as good as any pay-view or
on-demand via cable that I've seen. It may even rival some
smaller video rental chains. Excepting NETFLICKS...
for the time being.
3) Some new updates are available for the iPhone.
Like, I know anyone can afford one
(well except for the Count that is).
Apparent there are a lot of ifags out there and Job's made
a point of saying how many billions of iPhones have been
sold to them. Yeah, I'd like one- but my Blackberry Pearl
will have to get me by until Tmobile offers them.
4) "The world's thinnest notebook (at this moment)"
or the easiest to break? Weighing in at about 3lbs...
a new feather -weight laptop called the Macbook AIR,
which is a very thin and stripped down laptop with a fast internal
hard drive and a (non-accessible) 5 hour [!] battery will be
available less than 2 weeks from now.
NIKE's lawyers apparently had no comment about the name...
after all you can't own air can you?
The idea here being most laptop activity is writing / email or internet /
wireless based- refer back to Time Capsule-like
wireless storage devices which I'm sure there will be plenty of soon.
A Superdrive optical disc reader/ burner is now separate device
as option ($99) on a USB 2 interface. The trackpad is improved
with a new figure gesture allowing you to zoom in and out.
There was something mentioned about wireless sharing of Apps
both Mac or PC... but I am unclear about this right now.
There is also the option for a 64GB Solid State Drive
with no moving parts. Something akin to memory cards or IC media
I'm guessing. All the available specs on Apple.com.
I think there is a market for this machine- somewhere
between the standard Macbook and Macbookpro.
I'm probably not the target audience with my Terabytes
of video storage, high sustained data rate and current bandwidth
requirements. As a second / traveling machine , maybe... although
portability is sort of why I've been using Powerbooks instead
of DT machines as my main device since 2001.
A second machine for me would either be a comparable
Macbook Pro (to replace my aging 1.67 PB 15") or
a 23" 2+Ghz iMac as an HD video machine to keep up with
growing speed requirements of pro apps like
Final Cut Studio 2, Photoshop, Aperture and After Effects.
I imagine most of the power users doing audio or graphics will
find this laptop of limited value right now, but fortunately
Apple still sells plenty of other machines to satisfy our needs
(esp last year's models).
It's funny, I've been waiting for Apple to come out with the
Cupertino version of the TOUGHBOOK... a laptop made to take
abuse, ash, orange juice and coffee spills (!), adverse conditions
and rugged enough for most humans. I would think there
would be a bigger market for that type of computer. Something
that, in a pinch, could stop most projectiles up to a hollowpoint.
I DO NOT NEED IT TO WEIGH LESS THAN 10lbs
So rejoice! If the Mac AIR is for you, your bag and your
wallet just got a little lighter.
The Job's 2008 Keynote can be found here. If link dies...
search Apple/quicktime...
KEYNOTE STREAM
"but maybe I'm just not as into gear, as I used to be."
ha! yea right!
i must say man, this macworld was WEAK.
let's start with the macbook air. i enjoy that the product line is diversifying, but no optical drive? let me tell you: in 2000 i bought a used, super thin vaio laptop and it too had no optical drive. i had to buy a separate drive and connect it to the...god i dont even remember what the connection is called anymore...the card slot laptop shit? it's defunct now. but anyway, it was a total pain in the ass.
apple's logic is: hey! you can install a little app on your other computer (cause everyone has two, right?) and stream your software install over to your macbook air.
pfft. and an 80 gig drive man? 80 gig??! do you know i can buy an arguably better Asus EEE laptop for $400?
http://eeepc.asus.com/global/product.htm
that macbook shit is like $1699! 1699!!!!
the apple tv shit? sounds good enough. i have a prettttty-pretty good, similar service on the xbox 360: download sd or hd movies and they begin playing relatively quickly after a bit of buffering. they're similarly priced as well -- at around $4 and i can keep them for 24 hours.
but you know what? fuck that. do you buy movies from your cable box? the technology is nothing new, just the method and hardware delivery. it was corny and expensive when it was called pay-per-view and it's still corny.
for $9.99 i get unlimited rentals from netflix every month. granted, it's 1 movie at a time but it suits me just fine.
media is becoming so disposable and instant. it's the inevitable future, but i disagree with the pricing. god, these media companies need to let it go. just let us download the fucking movie and keep it. i'm not even sure a digital movie is worth even $8.99 a flick? i think it needs to be even cheaper than that.
know what i paid to see "i am legend" in the theatre last week? $10.50...it's like $18 cds all over again. chill the fuck out.
iphone. well, what can i say...i want one. problem is, i know it will get better in a year. probably thinner and beefier hard drive. so i'll just wait.
what else was there? oh yea, the backup airport. $500 for 1TB was it? i dont know if the wireless shit is worth a $250 premium on a TB drive, imo...i'm not sure i want anymore wireless things going on in my crib anyway, quite honestly. it's too small a space to have all this shit zapping around. between two pcs, a laptop, nintendo ds, psp, xbox 360 and a fucking wii, not to mention cell phones, i should be fearing for my brain cells.
meh. i still look forward to the day i can install os x on any box i want. apple makes beautiful hardware, but you pay for it. i'm not really bout-it bout-it.
It did seem weak, at least from Apple's standpoint.
If there is good to be mined at Macworld this year,
it's probably on the exhibit floor, esp amongst the smaller, independent vendors and developers. I've been to two Macworlds- one in SF and one in NY.
It's like the NAB show in Vegas- It's a big silly toy
fair, that's kind fun go to and walk around at.
I'm prob not going to buy anything there, but I generally find one or two things very inspiring.
I think the release of Final Cut Studio 2 was the big news of the year for me. I managed to have a job pay for the full upgrade and it's damn impressive... even on my 3 year old Powerbook.
This machine, btw, is the longest I've gone without an intentional hardware upgrade. We'll see how long I can hold out before this baby slows to a crawl. I've also been debating upgrading to Leopard- but it still feels too soon.
Here-here, MacWorld was a sucker's game this year. While the Aiiiiiiiir (say it with me: Aiiiiiiiir is kinda neat, I guess, its not for hardcore tech-smashers like us and is waaaay to pricey. Also, while the streaming CD/DVD is is cool in concept, I feel flying cars proceed the disappearance of optical storage (at least on my Chart of the Future…). Weren't we having a discussion about this sort of thing last week, Schirm??
As far as Time Capsule (aka, just call it friggin' AirPort), yeah yeah, neato -- where's my AirPort mit FireWire 800? I'll tell you what's "server-grade"…
On the plus side, my iPhone is now 66% more dope thanks to the upgrade, even though some of the included fixes were for sending text messages to multiple people (oh, y'all shoulda seen my "Ba-What!?" when I found out you couldn't do that!).
I second the "500-lb Gorilla" MacBook, we should mod your PowerBook to meet specs! I'll sacrifice my MBP to a new mahogony casing with pearl inlay keyboard as well, as a show of good faith…
I don't understand the trend towards "thin" laptop computers either. If they had given it a touch screen and ability to rotate the screen and turn it into a tablet computer maybe....or if it came with a dock like the old duo...but in general I'm with ya on wanting a PowerToughBook...or 3.
No plans to upgrade to Leopard as everything is currently working, tho I did play around with it a bit over xmas on the imac that we got for my mom. It'll probably bog down the 17" PowerBook...I'm still kinda pissed about the speed hit upgrading to Tiger...but at least the finder stopped quitting randomly and ProTools is stable...
I did some hunting into various forums... to see
the reaction to Leop on PB G4's -now that a few months have gone by...
(and since a Leop install landed in my lap)
If you clone your existing HD and do a smart, clean install of Leopard it is supposed to work as well as
Panther on a PB.
The issue most ppl have is with a few apps not updated. The rest of the issues seem to be from knuckleheads doing an overlayed install
on top an old system.. which in my experience, is
never a good idea- no matter how much time it
saves you.
I'll second and third that Mac TOUGHBOOK concept. (How 'bout the Macintosh HardCore?) That might be what it would finally take me to give up my wayward PC-ing ways.
But in other computer news: check this out -- BUG labs is coming out with a line of fully modular computer parts so you can build your own rig like a Lego kit -- and then reprogram it, assuming you know Linux. Almost makes me wish I was a gearhead.
Almost.
random MBA thoughts-
Instead of the MacBook Air i was hoping for an updated Intel version of the 12" ibook/MBP. Possibly an Apple version of the Eee PC? Oh well.
The EeePc is nothing like the MBA. Different beasts. The EeePC has a 7" screen, the MBA has a 13.3". Linux versus OS X. The Air is pretty, but nothing i need. I will hold judgement about durability. The chicklet iBooks turned out to be significantly stronger than the larger clamshell ones. I can back that up because i still have one of the first chicklets (12" G3 500MHz) that i toss in a messenger bag on a daily basis. It's gone on a few tours with my band and i never brought myself to spend the money on any kind of sleeve or protective gear. It's pokey, but it still works.
Battery- i don't care that it takes more than 30 seconds to replace the battery, because i have never carried a spare. I hear the MBA battery can be swapped in about 20 minutes. Nothing i would fear doing myself, though obviously not while flying or in the back of a van. It's simple enough to replace a battery, but not quick enough to swap one out for a fresh one. fine with me.
Optical drive- I have not used the one in my iBook since 10.3 came out. I installed 10.4 over target disc mode because it is only a CD-Rom. I do have a desktop machine at home, which is why i can get away with the old ibook on the run.
multi-touch trackpad- i want this on their other laptops now. i know it will be there soon. fun.
As far as power, it's pretty darn on spec with the MacBooks. Gizmodo posted some benchmarks.
In a world where people pay an extra $200 for a black MacBook, i can see a few throwing down another $300 for something this small.
We do need a Mac version of the Toughbook..... I'm just not going to hold my breath.