Inside the Macbook Air

[rob356]

Well Gizmodo is the first to bravely take apart their Macbook Air. Do you remember how Apple said that the battery was not user replaceable? Well it actually is very easy to do. Just simply remove 10 Philips #00 Screws from the bottom, painlessly take the bottom off. Then take out 9 Philips #00 Screws, and simply remove the battery. *Presses Easy Button* "That was Easy." Check out some pictures below.

 

The Battery Top.

 

Inside the Macbook Air.

 

Check out The original Story for more Pictures

[Colonel]

That is one big battery..

[macgirl]

not really, well only in square inches, but volume not.

[(MoC)]

Yeah, that thing is as thin as a paper.

[Maxintosh]

Do you remember how Apple said that the battery was not user replaceable? Well it actually is very easy to do.

Wouldn't Apple have to sell it to you first? Could be wrong but I don't think Wal-Mart will be selling these batteries

 

Hopefully, in time some 3rd party battery maker will see the light

 

BTW-great thread. Hope to see more pictures of those iGuts

[macgirl]

Also problably there will be some third party batteries (external of course, like those for PwerBooks).

[Former PC Fanboy]

I wonder how hard it is to replace the hard drive yourself also. If its pretty easy I am going to consider buying one on Newegg or elsewhere to get SSD for about 1/3 the price of Apple's price.

[Paranoid Marvin]

Looks like they had to pull the images

[CLiDE FTW!!1]

Or just buy a BlackBerry for 1/10th the cost... they both do the same thing, anyways.

 

Actually, I can make a phone call without Wi-Fi on my Blackberry. +1 Blackberry.

[Former PC Fanboy]

I guess I can do the occasional photo touch up or web graphic in Photoshop CS3 on a Blackberry, you're right. Do you have any benchmarks for how fast the blackberry can run Office or iWork?

 

I also took a look at some blackberry pics and I can't find a video out port for when I have to do a presentation, and its keyboard doesn't look like it'd be comfortable to write and edit reports for my clients.

 

In other words, quit being a jerk. The Air is far from useless and its far from slow for most tasks. Relatively to a macbook pro or macbook it may be a bit slower, but that's RELATIVE. Just because it will take an extra second or three (literally) to load a program doesn't mean its unusable. It also doesn't mean its a toy that is inadequate for business use (unless you fly internationally every week and absolutely must put in more than 4 hours of work on a plane or something).

 

There are people out there with computers with FAR WORSE specs who don't seem to think their computers are useless.

 

There are also new computers being sold out there which are much slower (cheaper too, granted, but spec-wise are far inferior to the Air) which are also not useless to the people who buy them. In fact, they work quite well given that most things a regular person would use a computer for don't require a cutting edge hypothetical super computer from space (I stole that line from Zero Punctuation; man those reviews are funny!).

 

I used to have a Dell Laptop (E1405) which I sold about a month and a half ago that had a Core 2 Duo 1.6Ghz processor and 2GB of RAM. It was definitely not slow. I ran Photoshop CS3 on it (despite it only having Intel 950 GMA) and I multitasked it with IE, Office, DreamWeaver, an FTP client, and messaging clients. It ran very smoothly and I was happy with its performance (had it not been for my recent Mac conversion I'd still be on it).

 

I can't imagine the MacBook Air, with virtually identical specs, yet a better video card, would be worse, "slow", or "useless" for business or personal purposes when my old Dell was just dandy and speedy and certainly offered much more functions than a blackberry or other non-computer devices.

[Special-K]

Yea but the thing is PC, that it costs more than the MacBook and has worse specs. If it were cheaper, that'd be one thing, but it's not. And the computers with far worse specs you mentioned, probably didn't cost $1800.

[socal swimmer]

Also problably there will be some third party batteries (external of course, like those for PwerBooks).

 

the whole point of a macbook air is to be ultra-portable. If you are carrying a battery, its not ultra-portable so you might as well buy a macbook.

 

yea 1.6GHz is fine for almost everything that most do on their computers. Word, email, internet, itunes, bittorrent, even video playing would probably be ok. hmm after looking through my dock, the only app I see that would cause problems is XCode. And even that would work ok!

 

its no macbook, but its not meant to be.

 

if you want to bash on it, talk about how its intended market is way to small for it to be useful. At least that is (debatebly) accurate...

[macgirl]

You are wrong because it is a ultraportable even with additional external battery, you can use it every day without it, but if you have a long trip you can use that external battery, 3 to 5 hours are enough even for some trips.

[Former PC Fanboy]

I guess the price does matter if you have a limited budget for tech products or you can't get a discount on it. I will admit its kinda pricey, though its competitive among other ultra portables. I will be getting it for a price close to the regular entry level model macbook, so for me it makes total sense, though I would be willing to pay more if I had to (in fact I had pre-ordered it only to cancel after I found out I could get a better deal on it).

 

Personally though, I value having something really small and light and am willing to pay a premium to get it.

 

But the price debate is different from the debate of how good of a laptop this is. Just because the specs aren't cutting edge (when compared to other Apple laptops) doesn't mean its useless, and just because its expensive doesn't mean its a non-starter.

 

Comparing this thing to a blackberry or a piece of junk not worthy of any serious use or consideration is completely OVER THE TOP. This is a pretty damn good laptop, has pretty damn good specs, and there are a lot of crappier laptops out there right now on the market. It can handle just about anything and do it quickly while its at it.

 

Yet so many people here and all over the forums on the net are acting as if the MacBook Air was a 500Mhz 32MB RAM machine in 2008 and would crawl like a turtle, choke, and die if anyone tried to do anything useful on it. Get over yourselves people, this is a pretty speedy/solid laptop on its own merits.

 

I also personally enjoy having longer battery life but 3-4 hours is sufficient to get work done on the go. If you have a job that requires you to take international flights in coach (with no place to plug in) that last more than 6 hours AND work while you are on the plane the WHOLE time, then you need to find a better job. And if you are taking trips somewhere, fly an airline that has a place to plug in if you MUST use your laptop the whole flight and get a car adapter for road trips.

 

And again, yes, its expensive, but that doesn't mean it sucks.

[Special-K]

I guess the price does matter if you have a limited budget for tech products or you can't get a discount on it. I will admit its kinda pricey, though its competitive among other ultra portables. I will be getting it for a price close to the regular entry level model macbook, so for me it makes total sense, though I would be willing to pay more if I had to (in fact I had pre-ordered it only to cancel after I found out I could get a better deal on it).

 

Personally though, I value having something really small and light and am willing to pay a premium to get it.

 

But the price debate is different from the debate of how good of a laptop this is. Just because the specs aren't cutting edge (when compared to other Apple laptops) doesn't mean its useless, and just because its expensive doesn't mean its a non-starter.

 

Comparing this thing to a blackberry or a piece of junk not worthy of any serious use or consideration is completely OVER THE TOP. This is a pretty damn good laptop, has pretty damn good specs, and there are a lot of crappier laptops out there right now on the market. It can handle just about anything and do it quickly while its at it.

 

Yet so many people here and all over the forums on the net are acting as if the MacBook Air was a 500Mhz 32MB RAM machine in 2008 and would crawl like a turtle, choke, and die if anyone tried to do anything useful on it. Get over yourselves people, this is a pretty speedy/solid laptop on its own merits.

 

I also personally enjoy having longer battery life but 3-4 hours is sufficient to get work done on the go. If you have a job that requires you to take international flights in coach (with no place to plug in) that last more than 6 hours AND work while you are on the plane the WHOLE time, then you need to find a better job. And if you are taking trips somewhere, fly an airline that has a place to plug in if you MUST use your laptop the whole flight and get a car adapter for road trips.

 

And again, yes, its expensive, but that doesn't mean it sucks.

That's the thing though, it's not small. It's just light. Same size as the MacBook, just thinner. I've never had a issue where I needed to shave off a quarter inch of my laptop to fit it in. The MacBook is small enough. The thing is that it doesn't look businessy. Well the black one kinda does. As for the specs, I'm not saying it's a bad computer, I know it's good. It's just that I don't see a real point to it. Alright yea, you get a little longer battery life than the regular MacBook, I'll give you that. But other than that, it's just for show. It's basically just for people to flaunt that they have lots of money and can afford this. Like someone can get a fully decked out MBP and flaunt money that way, but people might think that it's just the base model. With the MBA, you can tell they have money.

[macgirl]

Once again, the PowerBook G4 12 had some specifications below iBooks and some above, it was more expensive than the basic iBook, then there was not so many whiners like today.

 

Keep your hacktop and stop whining.

[glassJAw]

^ srsly.

[macgirl]

dvrs?

[Former PC Fanboy]

Yeah. I think there are many whiners now a days because we get nothing until the day the product is done. If Apple told us the specs of the Air 6 months ahead of time they would've gotten feedback and been able to make adjustments to please more people. Then again it would also take away the media coverage as it wouldn't be a surprise anymore.

[CLiDE FTW!!1]

I guess I can do the occasional photo touch up or web graphic in Photoshop CS3 on a Blackberry, you're right. Do you have any benchmarks for how fast the blackberry can run Office or iWork?

 

I also took a look at some blackberry pics and I can't find a video out port for when I have to do a presentation, and its keyboard doesn't look like it'd be comfortable to write and edit reports for my clients.

 

In other words, quit being a jerk. The Air is far from useless and its far from slow for most tasks. Relatively to a macbook pro or macbook it may be a bit slower, but that's RELATIVE. Just because it will take an extra second or three (literally) to load a program doesn't mean its unusable. It also doesn't mean its a toy that is inadequate for business use (unless you fly internationally every week and absolutely must put in more than 4 hours of work on a plane or something).

 

There are people out there with computers with FAR WORSE specs who don't seem to think their computers are useless.

 

There are also new computers being sold out there which are much slower (cheaper too, granted, but spec-wise are far inferior to the Air) which are also not useless to the people who buy them. In fact, they work quite well given that most things a regular person would use a computer for don't require a cutting edge hypothetical super computer from space (I stole that line from Zero Punctuation; man those reviews are funny!).

 

I used to have a Dell Laptop (E1405) which I sold about a month and a half ago that had a Core 2 Duo 1.6Ghz processor and 2GB of RAM. It was definitely not slow. I ran Photoshop CS3 on it (despite it only having Intel 950 GMA) and I multitasked it with IE, Office, DreamWeaver, an FTP client, and messaging clients. It ran very smoothly and I was happy with its performance (had it not been for my recent Mac conversion I'd still be on it).

 

I can't imagine the MacBook Air, with virtually identical specs, yet a better video card, would be worse, "slow", or "useless" for business or personal purposes when my old Dell was just dandy and speedy and certainly offered much more functions than a blackberry or other non-computer devices.

awesome, a 7 word sentence sparked a whole novel. how cute.

 

last time i checked, not everyone used photoshop on a daily basis (or at all), and I can edit any office document on my blackberry.

 

the point is -- that the macbook air is no different from the macbook, just overpriced and needlessly underpowered. its the notebook for gullible people. thats why apple likes to market to suckers like you.

[Former PC Fanboy]

Would you type a 10 page business report on your blackberry? Would you do heavy online research on a blackberry? Would you put together a presentation or spreadsheet on a blackberry? Sure it may technically be ABLE to do these things, but its not going to be a comfortable experience if done on a regular basis.

 

Hell, even editing / proofreading a large document on a small screen with a tiny keyboard would be a pain in the ass. I know, I used to have a Pocket PC with Pocket Word.

 

Its hardly underpowered. It does what it needs to do and it does it quickly. It has less power compared to some other products, but it doesn't mean its inadequate.

 

Next, I value weight as I do not like to carry heavy things around. 3lbs v. 5lbs DOES make a difference if that is the only thing you will be carrying. In my case it will be. I will be using a small sleeve (with a shoulder strap) to carry the Air and the Adapter for it and thats it.

 

I assume you drive the cheapest KIA, as it fulfills the requirements of a vehicle. I also assume by your logic you believe people who buy anything more expensive than the lowest end car are suckers, especially those who buy BMWs, Lexuses, or Accuras.

 

I am not gullible for buying something I will enjoy using more than something else especially since it fulfills all my needs. I'd rather pay more and be more satisfied with my product than pay less and be less happy with it.

 

Besides, "Gullible" has a different meaning than you imply, but since its not in the dictionary (go ahead, look it up) I guess we can't settle that question.

[CLiDE FTW!!1]

You're comparing apples to oranges.

 

Just because the Air is more expensive, doesn't mean it's better. Far from it. Nothing is "better" about the MacBook Air. It's just 2 lbs lighter. Oooooo. Don't throw your back out. I've been around the world and back. Believe me, 2lbs is negligible.

 

I'd say the MacBook Air is an overpriced KIA, and the MacBook is a BMW. Less options -- less balls.

 

Besides, "Gullible" has a different meaning than you imply, but since its not in the dictionary (go ahead, look it up) I guess we can't settle that question.

 

You must be using a dictionary from the 1700's, "Gullible" has been around for 200 years.

 

"easily duped or cheated"

 

Example of synonym: Apple duped and/or cheated it's sucker fanbase into thinking their lives would be better because their MacBook Airs can fit into the same envelope that the original MacBook just came out of.

[Former PC Fanboy]

You must be using a dictionary from the 1700's, "Gullible" has been around for 200 years.

 

"easily duped or cheated"

 

Haha I can't believe you actually fell for it.

 

(note: to be fair, I stole this joke from Family Guy when Stewy challenged his teddy bear Rupert to look up Gullible in the dictionary claiming it wasn't there)

 

Just because the Air is more expensive, doesn't mean it's better.

 

Totally agree. What is "better" is highly dependent on an individuals needs. For someone who needs a light, durable notebook the MacBook Air is better than the thicker, heavier MacBook.

 

A few other things one could consider are the LED backlit screen currently not present in any Macbook other than the 5.5lb 15.4" MBP, a multi touch trackpad which is not present in ANY other notebook, a backlit keyboard also only available on the bigger, heavier MBP, among other things.

 

The highlight/selling point is obviously the size/weight, which is huge for me. My first laptop was 15.4", then I went down to 14.1", so I am going to be happy going down to 13.3" especially with the thickness. My first laptop was humongous, my 2nd one wasn't THAT bad but still pretty big, and now I will finally have something super thin, which is something I've desired for a long time.

 

For some people certain features are more important than others. Just because you don't see the value in these features or may not think they are worth the price doesn't mean other people feel the same way. (Luckily for me the Air is actually a tiny bit cheaper than the entry level white MacBook)

 

Buying a product you like isn't being cheated. Everyone knows you pay a premium with Apple as all their hardware is overpriced and often underpowered when compared to some if not many PCs, yet we buy them cause we like them.

[macgirl]

Yeah. I think there are many whiners now a days because we get nothing until the day the product is done. If Apple told us the specs of the Air 6 months ahead of time they would've gotten feedback and been able to make adjustments to please more people. Then again it would also take away the media coverage as it wouldn't be a surprise anymore.

So you are complaining because Apple ever asked you about it's previous products and now you are angry at them because they don´t do it anymore.

 

Oh, that's why Apple put a slot loading drive in their PowerBooks years ago, thank you very much for your contribution.

[Former PC Fanboy]

Oh I am not angry, I am quite happy with the new Air. I am saying that a lot of complainers might have their concerns addressed if Apple released info ahead of time.