Pleiades's Profile

  • Nov 17, 2008
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Latest comments made by: Pleiades

  • Since Apple's never been in the subnotebook market before, I don't think Mac users are used to the prices these types command. And no, the 12" Powerbook doesn't count since it's too heavy and thick for a subnotebook. The odds of seeing a decent subnotebook for $1000 from ANY computer vendor is about as likely as Steve Jobs buying a Zune for his personal music player. It's simply not the same market. R&D;expenses are not the same as they are for standard notebooks so a higher price must be charged to make it profitable. It surprises me how many people in the press or bloggers miss this point and wonder why Apple didn't make it cost less than a MacBook since it obviously has fewer features. Anyone who has looked at the subnotebook market will see notebooks with fewer features and far higher prices. If anything, Apple's price is on the low end of the market. It's being marketed to anyone who values portability over features. That's a larger segment than just the rich.
    United StatesPleiades had this to say on Jan 22, 2008 Posts: 3
    The Future of the MacBook Air and What it Will Become
  • I wouldn't be surprised in the least if the main buyers of the MBA are women. I've noticed over the years that women tend to value size, weight, and portability over everything and that includes performance and screen resolution. Men tend to have the belief that bigger is better and would trend towards the 17" MBP rather than the lightweight MBA. The women in our office almost all have tiny ultra-portables weighing three pounds or less while not a single man in our office has one. In fact some of the men in the office have huge 10+ pound Windows laptops with 17" screens. On of the primary requirements of the women are that the laptop must fit in their shoulder bags. The only problem I see with the MBA and its target audience is that it might be TOO big. Being only marginally smaller in dimensions than the MacBook, its weight and coolness factor may not be a good enough incentive. I think this is where Steve missed the mark. He's a guy so he made the choice of the bigger screen, not realizing that his target market considers that way down the list of priorities for the ultra-portable market. My wife, who is seriously considering a MBA made that comment to me that it's probably too big and that soured it in her eyes.
    United StatesPleiades had this to say on Jan 22, 2008 Posts: 3
    Improving the MacBook Air
  • I disagree with those who feel it should cost less than a MacBook. In the electronics/computers industry, the smaller an object is, the more expensive it is compared to others in its class. It takes a lot of engineering skills and a choice of expensive parts to make things small enough to fit into the form factor. As an engineer, I guarantee the cost of development for the MBA was far higher than that of the MB. So there's simply no way Apple could justify selling it for less than a MB. Compared to other subnotebooks, the market it is intending to hit, the cost is no higher than the cost of those notebooks. The Sony TX series has been THE subnotebook to get these days for size. My wife has one of those and it runs slow as molasses due to its crippled ULV processor. The MBA would run rings around it and costs less to boot. The MBA and MB just aren't in the same market so their costs simply cannot be compared just based on stats.
    United StatesPleiades had this to say on Jan 21, 2008 Posts: 3
    Improving the MacBook Air