Apple announcement recap

[Charles Dyer]

On 18 Jan 2008, at 10:38:26, John Musbach wrote:

> On Jan 18, 2008 7:33 AM, Darby C Lines <dlines at mac.com> wrote:
>>
>> Components fail, that's what AppleCare is for.  And in what way is  
>> that any different than the Macbook that you already own?
>
> Simple, you can easily replace the battery and hard drive and video
> card if you have a mbp. Whereas if either fail in a air you better
> have AppleCare or you're SOL.

And _that_ means that even if you _do_ have AppleCare, once AppleCare  
expires (three years, can't be renewed...) you'd better pray that  
nothing happens to it, 'cause then things get expensive one way or  
another. And it also means that the resale value of an MBA is zero,  
unless there's time left on the AppleCare _and_ you can transfer the  
AppleCare to the new user.

Let's see.. for $200 more, I get a MBP... larger screen, removable  
battery, larger, faster hard drive, an actual optical drive, the  
ability to add RAM, faster CPU, FireWire, more than one USB port,  
Ethernet. For $300 _less_ I get a black MB... same size screen,  
removable battery, larger, faster hard drive, an actual optical drive,  
the ability to add RAM, faster CPU, FireWire, more than one USB port,  
Ethernet. For $500 or $700 _less_, I get a white MB... same as above.

Exactly why would I buy an MBA, other than the 'cool' factor... which  
is worth a whole lot less than $500 or even $300 to me? Personally, I  
held off buying a new laptop so I could see what Apple offered at  
MacWorld. Now that I've seen, my two options remain a 2.2 HGz white MB  
(I am _not_ paying an extra $200 for the black one. See above, re  
'cool' factor...) or a 15" MPB. Probably the MPB. I _might_ see if the  
budget would stretch to the 2.4 GHz MBP, but that's not very likely.  
I'd _like_ the 17" MBP, but it's definitely out of my price range at  
present.

Yes, the budget could handle an MBA. No, an MBA is not a  
consideration. The lack of Ethernet and FireWire alone are sufficient  
to kill it.