16 January 2008

Apple announces MacBook Air: How Does It Make You Feel?

Yesterday, Apple chief executive officer Steve Jobs (above) announced all of what is new and exciting in the world of Apple computers for 2008. This included deals with Hollywood studios to make movie rentals available via iTunes, some expanded features on current products and services, and the "big" announcement of the day: the 0.16 to 0.76 inch thin, 3.0 pound, MacBook Air. Why would anyone need a computer so svelte? To be able to dance around and blog at the same time?

Jobs has recently made a habit out of wowing audiences at Macworld Expo keynotes by dramatically ending his presentations with an over-the-top “oh, and one more thing” before launching into the big product reveal of the day. Not this time. After he announced the MacBook Air there simply wasn't anything else. The audience waited for it but all they got was a politically charged musical rant from Randy Newman.

Reaction to the keynote was immediately mixed as Apple's stock price fell more than 10 points during the course of the keynote. Still, this isn't necessarily indicative of whether Apple's new MacBook Bradford Cox will be a success with consumers the way that just about everything else they release into the marketplace is (other than, say, the Apple Cyberdog, Apple Pippin, and Apple Newton, among others - but who's keeping track?). The price (starting at $1,799) and design are both very classically Apple: expensive and awesome. A few of the drawbacks of the computer are, however, not so awesome. Having no optical drive and no ethernet connection might not be that big of a deal (they're not, not since 1999), but with the computer having no FireWire and having a battery which, just like those in the iPhone and iPod, can't be replaced by the user; well, the MacBook Bradford Cox might not exactly be the next "must have" from Apple.

Then again, Apple is quite a powerful cult of consumerism. I currently own two Apple computers, one of which is a perfectly fine laptop, and still the allure of being able to dance and blog at the same time is pretty much more than enough to make me want a MacBook Air. Look, I love blogging and dancing, and I love Apple computers. How about you? The MacBook Air: how does it make you feel?

Listen:
"How Does it Make You Feel?" by Air

Watch:
Steve Jobs Macworld 2008 Keynote

*above photo from HERE

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

for $1800? how does it make me feel? poor, for a start.

Anonymous said...

It makes me feel like buying one :P

-Free iPod Touch

Anonymous said...

makes me feel.....

Fitter, happier, more productive,
comfortable,
not drinking too much,
regular exercise at the gym
(3 days a week),
getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries ,
at ease,
eating well
(no more microwave dinners and saturated fats),
a patient better driver,
a safer car
(baby smiling in back seat),
sleeping well
(no bad dreams),
no paranoia,
careful to all animals
(never washing spiders down the plughole),
keep in contact with old friends
(enjoy a drink now and then),
will frequently check credit at
(moral) bank (hole in the wall),
favors for favors,
fond but not in love,
charity standing orders,
on Sundays ring road supermarket
(no killing moths or putting boiling water on the ants),
car wash
(also on Sundays),
no longer afraid of the dark or midday shadows
nothing so ridiculously teenage and desperate,
nothing so childish - at a better pace,
slower and more calculated,
no chance of escape,
now self-employed,
concerned (but powerless),
an empowered and informed member of society
(pragmatism not idealism),
will not cry in public,
less chance of illness,
tires that grip in the wet
(shot of baby strapped in back seat),
a good memory,
still cries at a good film,
still kisses with saliva,
no longer empty and frantic
like a cat
tied to a stick,
that's driven into
frozen winter shit
(the ability to laugh at weakness),
calm,
fitter,
healthier and more productive
a pig
in a cage
on antibiotics.

Anonymous said...

Nice blog. I will keep reading. Please take the time to visit my blog about Bass Guitar Lesson

Unknown said...

The macbook Air is really STUNNING. But it has too many drawbacks for now