Adventures in Nomadic Serendipity
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Macworld Disappointment 
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User: [info]radven
Name: Chris Dunphy
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15th-Jan-2008 02:54 pm
face
Steve didn't have any big shocking surprises for us this year, and overall I am rather disappointed.

The iPhone updates were leaked weeks ago, movie rentals were known to be coming, and the MacBook Air was expected. It is pretty sad when the biggest surprise of Steve's keynote is a new wireless router with an embedded hard drive for backing up to. *yawn*

The new MacBook Air is an incredibly sexy little laptop, but other than the amazing package it comes in, there is nothing revolutionary about it. I was hoping Apple would do something a bit more radical - like ditching the spinning hard drive for flash as a standard feature (and not as a $1000 extra), or perhaps integrating in WAN networking technology like EVDO or even WiMax.

Instead we get a super slim laptop with a slower CPU, a small and slow HD, just a single USB port, no firewire, a mono speaker, a non-removable battery, and no expansion options. A great choice for some, but it would actually be a pretty significant downgrade for many.

Movie rentals in iTunes is the much more significant news, and has the potential to finally make the Apple TV compelling. I am curious though if Apple will now support purchasing HD content (or is HD just for rental?), and whether Apple will allow HD viewing on laptops and not just on the Apple TV?

Things I had hoped to see, but which did not make an appearance:

  • A MacBook Pro refresh. When will Apple embrace Intel's new mobile CPU's???

  • BlueRay DVD Support. Apple could have been first to make this a standard feature!

  • A sneak preview of what will be possible with the iPhone SDK...

Ah well. Maybe next time...
Comments 
15th-Jan-2008 11:00 pm (UTC)
[info]datan0de
No arguments here. It's a beautiful machine and I'm sure it has its niche, but the trade-offs are just too steep. You didn't even mention that it has no Ethernet port or internal optical drive. These are deal-breakers in my book (not like the tiny hard drives weren't already).

I hope they're not making a mistake.
16th-Jan-2008 02:43 pm (UTC)
[info]radven
The lust factor and fondlability will be key.

But I got to spend some time with my old 12" PowerBook G4 this weekend, and that remains such a perfect design.

I am still wishing Apple would come out with another true no-compromises super-small Pro-caliber machine. That would rock my house.
16th-Jan-2008 12:04 am (UTC)
[info]allyn
although a preview of the iPhone SDK might have been nice, that's more for WWDC than for MacWorld. so i wasn't really surprised that we didn't see it
16th-Jan-2008 02:41 pm (UTC)
[info]radven
There is no WWDC between now and the announced SDK release next month - so it would have made sense to give a bit of a preview at MacWorld.

I know several developers were expecting it.
17th-Jan-2008 06:05 pm (UTC) - Still no internet streaming support in AppleTV
[info]andrewkoransky
I was happy to see the AppleTV upgrades, but still no internet radio streaming support in AppleTV? At least, not announced... I'll have to test it when the upgrade gets released later this month. How hard can this be?? I want my Radio Paradise!

Maybe I can find a friend with a mac to help me hack it. ;-)
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