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"Steve Jobs has railed against the netbook concept. Underpowered. Cramped keyboards. Tiny screens. In those respects, the 11.6” MBA falls well clear of Steve’s animosity."
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Air + Lion = Ultimate iPad?
By: Ric Getter, Senior Editor
In just under ninety minutes, Apple once again changed the world. This time around, the great paradigm shift results from a combination of what now is and what is soon to be.
\"What is now\" comes in several forms. First is the ever-evolving iOS with its instant on, App Store, Multi-Touch interface and full-screen computing. As the litany of sales figures from the past couple of days show, users love it. In fact, the only downside to Apple’s quarterly conference call was that they weren’t able to build enough iPads to satisfy the demand. And today, we discovered that iLife 11 will include full-screen workspaces (a feature coincidentally adopted by Office 2011, as well).
The “now” also includes a new ultra-thin laptop and what can arguably be called Apple’s first netbook in the form of the new MacBook Air(s). One model features a conventionally sized (but very high resolution) 13.1” screen. The new model is all solid-state storage and an interior that is almost all battery, supporting up to 7 hours of wireless surfing. It can remain in standby mode for up to 30 days (not hours, days). Without the fears associated with bouncing around a hard drive in standby, you may lack a good reason for actually shutting the thing down.
Steve Jobs has railed against the netbook concept. Underpowered. Cramped keyboards. Tiny screens. In those respects, the 11.6” MBA falls well clear of Steve’s animosity. It features a sprightly Dual-Core processor, adequate RAM, a full-size keyboard and large, Multi-Touch glass trackpad and is only an inch narrower than it’s full-size sibling. What Apple did was to offer a wide aspect ratio screen, reducing the depth by an inch and a half and shaving the weight by a healthy half pound. The footprint is a bit bigger than an iPad, but it’s a real, full-tilt Mac.
It All Comes Together
Lion, Mac OS 10.7 takes some of the most desirable iOS features and moves them to the desktop. If you like your Mac trackpad (Magic or otherwise) and know how to use an iPhone or iPad, you’ll love the Lion. With enhancements to Exposé and Spaces, the new Command Center and Launch Pad, new OS has an extremely “touchy” feel. It’s a wonderful way to interact with an OS without worrying about the greasy fingerprints on your screen or the accompanying muscle aches from keeping your hand and wrist upright all day. It may not happen overnight, but we’ll soon be mousing much less and gesturing far more. And we’ll probably love it and say that it\'s the way things should have been done all along.
Jobs’ keynote was, as always, exciting. And after a year full of phones, pads and other iDevices, it was most reassuring to see that Apple can bring some magic back to the Mac. Like the ending of a well-written thriller, there were some terrific surprises, but in retrospect, they made a great deal of sense.
For those who may have missed it, you can watch a rebroadcast of the October 20th keynote here.
For more info visit:
Apple, Inc.
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