During the Keynote, Jobs compared the Macbook Air to Sony’s TZ ultraportable, implying it had a small keyboard and screen, was too thick, and was not that good. Here’s what Sony thinks of the Apple MacBook Air:
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 fibre 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.)
To be fair, dropping an optical in 2004 made no sense, but it makes more sense in 2008, especially with broader internet connections, bit torrent, greater storage capacity, thumbdrives, and Apple’s Remote optical drive tech which works over wireless N. But since the X505, ultra portables from Sony have evolved into the TZ, complete with LED backlight, a small but usable keyboard, plenty of ports and built in 3G data. So it is possible that Sony believes they are in many ways 4 years ahead of Apple in their understanding of what consumers want.
When the NYTimes pushed Jobs on the issues of limited storage, he responded, “Maybe this isn’t the computer for you.” I asked Mike who they thought the computer was for. “Beats me” was the initial reply, but came up with an answer: The extremely design conscious. I asked what feature he’d bring back to the Air, and without hesitating, he thought it should have for 3G.
I wish I could dismiss all of this as competitive trash talk, but too many of you feel the same conflicting feelings about where the Air fits into your collection of machines. At Giz, we’re only tormented inside because we still want to buy it, despite it being not all that practical.
jack bauer
Friday, January 18, 2008 at 12:13 AMI have not used the apple yet, but overall it does not seem like its that impressive when up against the sony
Cheryl
Friday, January 18, 2008 at 8:07 AMi love apple, and i love what they have to offer. however, the Air is, of the lot, the most impractical for me. slightly more expensive than the macbook, but less so the mbp, it boasts little to nothing more impressive than the macbook.
Sure, it’s slim, but i remembered my times with the first and 2nd gen ipod. I know we have come a long long way from then. However, the idea of everything important being soldered together… i shuddered at the thought of how much i might need to utilize my warranty, or how much i have to extend it.
so no, it’s not for me. i would rather something smaller in size (like an umpc) that may be thicker, or uglier, but is less frightening in that sense of practicality.
Charlie
Friday, January 18, 2008 at 4:31 PMgadgets are shrinking but my hands are still the same size :(