Macworld 2008 The Good, The Semi Bad and The Semi Ugly
January 15th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
With all the great things in Macworld, there are a few things that might be overlooked.
The Good
Time Capsule - A great way to have a wireless backup for laptops without hooking a external drive to another machine, but also a great wireless N router for those who didn’t get one yet.
The Semi Bad
Macbook Air - I just preordered one for my wife for $3,098. As much as I love the design, there are a few really bad things such as only one USB port. My wife and I both hate trackpads and use mice so that leaves zero USB ports open.
The Macbook also doesn’t have a superdrive built in, which isn’t a huge problem because we can rent movie now in iTunes and watch them on the plane. We can also install software by sharing superdrives on other macs in the house over wifi.
According to Apple, the Macbook Air will have 5 hours of battery life, which usually means 4. 4 Hours is still amazing, but I have a feeling thats the SSD version only (less moving parts in the machine). I ordered a SSD anyways for speed, but it’s something to think about.
The Semi Ugly
iTV - I’m semi glad I didn’t have to buy another iTV, but I wish the specs had 1080i or 1080p output. Right now the iTV can output a maximum of 720p which is a low grade HD format.
iTunes Rentals - About freakin time, now I can dust off my iTV. This is much better than having to buy a movie, but in all honesty this will be no blockbuster killer. We have to wait 30 days after blockbuster gets them to rent..
When Netflix and LG start there streaming devices for TVs, this will hurt iTunes rentals badly. As of right now, iTunes will be one of the better online video rental solutions, but not for long.
There also isn’t any incentive to watch an iTunes movies Vs a cable box On-Demand movie, except if you own a Tivo series 3. Yes Tivo has Amazon Unbox, but the quality is horrible especially on my 70 inch screen!
January 15th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
“simi”? WTF? the word is semi.
anyway, I’ve already ordered a Time Capsule - the Airport is awesome, and the Time Capsule adds easy backing up - should be great for people with multiple macs - and it’s well priced too! It’s actually exactly what I wanted for once
the MacBook air seems good, but I don’t know how anyone could justify the SSD version. Sure it’s faster, but it’s smaller, And it’s a huge extra cost… I’m thinking about replacing my iBook, but I have to try it out before I buy.
As for the TV, I’d never use it, so I don’t really have much to say about it. Though it seems as though there’s far too much emphasis on purchasing content, rather than what you already own.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
lol thanks for the catch, spellcheck ftw!
January 15th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I bet I can get this 1.8 ghz SSD laptop to go faster than my 2.4ghz 17 inch Macbook Pro (with most operations)
You be amazed how much a hard drive can slow down a computer. I’ll do some testing when I get it.
I have 3 ssd machines at work and there’s night and day differenced between that and a HD
January 15th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Seriously? Wow - I’d always thought that the way computers used RAM made the difference between drive speeds negligible if you have a decent amount (of ram)… I’d love to see some benchmarks of this – if it’s even equally fast as my current Core 1 Duo 2 GHz Macbook, I’m selling & replacing it straight away.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
found a good video for ya, ssd vs hdd. God I just read my post again, so many mistakes. Should be good now
January 15th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
I wouldn’t mind dropping $229 for an AppleTV … if it did Tivo like recording. The fact you have to buy everything to populate it (to me) limits the device. if they had a way to record broadcast/cable in addition to everything it does now … man, they’d move some devices! Especially if the TV information was free thru Apple’s site instead of paying Tivo the sub. fee.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
I think the next take of appleTV would be successful if it also included a blu-ray slot loading drive. Then I’ll get one.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
I was disappointed with the price of the MacBook Air. I may get a iPod touch now seeing the WebApps and rest of the iPhone applications added (except the phone!). Might also think about investing in an AppleTV in the future.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
As I watched the slick presentation, I was thinking, “man, that’d be awesome to have. I want me an shift+option+K TV” Then reality set in, and I realized just how little I would use such a thing.
Movies aren’t music. People can live without movies. And the Flickr stuff and the podcasts just don’t make much sense at all. People do have short attention spans, but they don’t want to keep clicking buttons every 3 minutes when they’re supposed to be vegetating.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t see the point of a set-top box.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:18 am
The ATV can output 1080i just fine. Mine is currently doing so.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
are you sure? The specs say 720p
January 16th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
“Apple TV works with widescreen, enhanced-definition, or high-definition TVs capable of:
* • 1080p/i 60/50 Hz
* • 720p 60/50Hz
* • 576p 50Hz (PAL format)
* • 480p 60Hz
”
The video resolution UI has a 1080i setting.
On the other hand, maybe it’s up-sampling or something, as the specs do list “maximum resolution 1280×720″.
January 16th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
ya 1280×720 is 720p
1920 x 1080 = 1080i /p
January 16th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
You could save your usb port by using a bluetooth mouse. What else would you be plugging into a ultra portable notebook? iPod maybe? Even if you had to unplug a wired mouse to sync your iPod it wouldn’t be a big deal to use the track pad for an iPod sync.
January 16th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I agree, I just cant find that perfect bluetooth mouse yet. One thats good on fabric (on the couch).