Well, they’ve done it again. The new Macbook Airs are amazing. For the longest time, we have seen a steady improvement in laptops, but they had gotten a bit boring. I mean, sure, the newest laptops were always impressive, but they were just another laptop. These new airs are something else. Once again, like so many other Apple products, you have to get your hands on one and use it before you can really appreciate it. God, i love this company… For a while, I wondered if Apple had killed off the laptop market for casual users with the iPad. It has been a runaway success and I figured that it would simply take over the laptop space for a lot of folks. Well, I think they will capture even more sales with these new beauties. Other manufacturers are going to have a hard time matching the price on a comparable computer, let alone the design. They are going to end up ceding even more market share to Apple.
Laptops have been powerful enough for most people for years. The success of the iPad pretty much proves that. We really don’t need a very powerful computer for most things nowadays. These new airs are still more powerful, but the 11″ model isn’t all that different in size and weight than the iPad. The things that gets you are the overall responsiveness and the sexiness of the design. If you haven’t done it yet, check out the video and pictures of the new laptops…
But what about the iPad? These new laptops have really driven home the idea that tablets are just different than laptops no matter how much people want to replace one with the other. Even if there are functional similarities, you use them in very different ways. Laptops are best used when put onto a table. Yes, you can put them on your lap or use them in bed, but that’s really not very good for your wrists, and the heat is enough to make you sweat. Tablets work really well when you’re sitting or laying down. Because you can hold them and use them like a book, the ergonomic comfort is much better when away from a table. I think that when customers ask me which they should get, I’ll simply ask them where they will be using them.
I have been planning on getting a desktop computer (this one to be exact, the larger one) and an iPad for a while now. My first experience with these new Macbook Airs had me reaching for my wallet. Apple is going to have a ton of impulse purchases of these things, especially the 11″ models. After giving myself a little cooling off time, I think I’m going to stick with my original plan. The way I’m currently living, I am usually in my bed or on the couch for doing most of my web browsing and the iPad is an easy choice for those situations. When I’m sitting at my desk, the larger screen of an iMac is an easy choice. With my computer over 4 years old now, I think the desktop computer will be my next purchase. If I wasn’t in a cash bind, I’d own a Macbook Air, but for me, the iPad with the desktop makes much more sense… With the pricing on the Macbook Airs being what they are, I’m optimistic that the next generation of iMacs will also have flash memory in them. I’m waiting for that, then I’ll buy…