James

Kizorblade:

Go run in a circle with a diameter of 10 ft. Then go run in a circle with a diameter of 100 ft at the exact same speed. Which one takes you longer? Exactly.

Most 12" Powerbooks shipped with a 4200 RPM drive. I know because that's what mine has. Everybody conveniently "forgets" this fact when pretending the 12" was some perfect machine.

A 4200 rpm 1.8" should be faster than a 4200 rpm 2.5".

It think there are two kinds of people that will be happy with a Macbook Air. You hit one of them: those using the MBA as a secondary computer. These people, already having a primary machine are usually focused on one thing and one thing only: I want the smallest and/or lightest laptop Apple makes. The MBA is now that laptop.

But the 2nd population is probably at least equal if not greater in size than the first: I think there are is a large population of Mac users (and even Windows users) that simply
a) never buy or use a 2nd battery, ever.
b) never use more than one USB peripheral at a time, ever.
c) never actually install any software on the computer beyond what originally came with it.

To some of us, those facts may boggle the mind but it's plenty true for a lot of people. These are probably iPod converts who do basic iTunes/iPhoto/internet use. They probably have less than 10GB of music and less than 10GB of pictures.

So this computer is for the extremely casual user (for lack of a better term) or for the "pro" user who is using it as a secondary computer. When your laptop IS your secondary computer you end up using it a lot like a casual user, except you do install software. This is why that remote disc was developed: it's obviously something that an advanced user would have no trouble with.

I think these two markets give the Air enough of an audience, sort of like the mini: it will sell okay, but nothing to write home about, but the people for whom it "fits" will love it.

(BTW, this computer "dock" is a really lame, clunky idea)

Well, in that case you should add "YouTube" and "Flickr" browsing to the AppleTV side, no?

As long as there is an option to use the digital file without requiring "PlaysOnNothing" then it's all good.

DVD and VIDEO GAMES are not features of *XBOX LIVE*, champ. They are features of the XBOX 360.

You were basically comparing XBOX LIVE to ITUNES as used by an XBOX 360 and APPLE TV. Now you've screwed it all up.

The maximum *native* video size is 720p. The AppleTV itself can run in 1080 and will thus upconvert the 720p to 1080. I know because I'm doing it right now.

Superberg, that's exactly what it is: VC-1 vs. h.264. Those are the codecs used.

So for somebody who hasn't seen an ethernet cable in years, only used the optical drive to install software (which can now be done with another computer using that new feature), and hasn't purchased or needed a spare battery, ever, is it safe to say that the the Macbook Air is right on target?

Yes it is.

Why do people assume that every computer should meet every user's needs... that's why they make different models you know.

But this ethernet port/optical drive thing really isn't going to matter much to the vast majority of normal people. College kids don't know what CDs and ethernet cables even look like.

Resistance was an incredibly underrated game. Okay, scratch that, Resistance was rated fine but most other shooters are overrated. Resistance still does things better than shooters released a year later.

So yeah, if Insomniac learns from the first one and implements all these promises Resistance 2 will be a very big deal.