Bingo. The computer isn't designed for the 'average' user. Period.I don't think it's designed to be a main computer
An optical drive for one.what specs do you guys all think the average user really needs?
It's certainly fast enough. Our primary home computer is still a Pentium 3 from 2000, and it suits us just fine. However, the complete lack of certain essential features makes the MacBook Air unusable as a primary computer. The optical drive is more important than Apple's marketing for the Air would like to convince people.
yea i remember when 16mb of RAM was well, A LOT! never imagined GB!You youngsters amuse me sometimes. I remember using as my primary computer a Toshiba Libretto, which was a 75Mhz Pentium with 32 megs of RAM and a 4 gig hard drive. It was a little bit bigger than a VHS cassette but not much bigger. It had a keyboard with sub-chiclet (that's a type of chewing gum) sized keys, and about a five inch screen. It ran Windows '95.
It did NOT have an optical drive of any kind, nor USB ports. You could get access to an optical drive via a PCMCIA card, also networking via the same mechanism. I'd still be using it had I not dropped it and cracked the screen.
I think users of today seem to be getting a little spec-happy what with all the advances in portable computing, and don't remember what it was like back in the day. Also gamers get on my nerves a bit since their games require obscenely high specs to run the WoW or Counter-whatever. My Macbook plays UT2004 quite nicely, thank you, and that's all I need for that kind of thing.
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So put me firmly in the YES category as to whether a MBA can be used as a primary computer. We all want more more more more but in reality we can certainly get by with much less.
yea i remember when 16mb of RAM was well, A LOT! never imagined GB!
ive said it before, and ill say it again... we have reached a point in time where specs are really just too much. 85% of users never even need 2GB of ram, let alone that C2D. Yes we all on here have to have this stuff, but 75% of the world is still running 3-4 yr old tech, with no issues and no need to upgrade. IN the USA, im willing to bet that we are the majority of the "MUST have the new tech" people in the world. We can get it , so we want it. We dont ask if we can justify it, we just do it
The second someone wants to reinstall or upgrade the OS, or even install major retail software, this becomes impossible with the Air. Of course, if you're buying the Air AND extra devices with it, like an optical drive, then that's a slightly different question than what I interpreted this thread as asking.
the air would be much better if they included the external Superdrive, for sure.
99$ is a little much when it should be bundled
They also should include the Network adapter for those who need to plug into a wired network. Since it's so cheap I am shocked they did not include it in the box with the MBA.