Comments on: MacBook Air: Not the thinnest notebook ever

Apple's new notebook is 0.76 inch thick, which is probably the second thinnest ever.

[RadioPictures]

Toshiba R500

This machine comes within .01 in to the ludicrously overhyped Air.

[RadioPictures]

PS

The R500 weighs less, also!

[Thomas, David]

Wrong ... I just checked it out

You got me all excited over nothing.

This is the link to the data-sheet of the least expensive R500:

http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/product/pdf_files/datasheet/portege_R500-S5001X.pdf

[ecoeccentric]

Thinkpad 560

The Thinkpad 560 came out in 1996, two years before the Pedion, and also had a 12 inch screen and full-size keyboard and was 1.2 inches thick and weighed ~4lbs. I believe the Thinkpad 560 was an earlier ancestor to modern subnotebooks, which includes the current Thinkpad X61s.

From the article:
"Although the Pedion died a quick, ugly death, some of the ideas behind it linger on, and one of those ideas is the thin notebook with a medium-size screen. Back then, most mini-notebooks came with small screens and keyboards. The Pedion had a 12-inch screen, big for the time, and a relatively normal-size keyboard. In other words, it had normal X and Y dimensions, but a small Z. The formula has been popular ever since."

The Thinkpad 560 had all of these attributes two years earlier.

[jrm125]

Intel Mobile Metro?

I guess it doesn't count since it hasn't actually hit the market yet (or has it?). But it's 0.7" thick and only 2.25 lbs.

[Kricke242]

Toshiba Protege 2000 "limboes under"

Wrong in article: "Others have come close but not limboed under".

Toshiba Protege 2000 (From product PDF).

Dimensions (WxDxH): 11.4? x 9.0? x 0.6/0.75?
Weight: 2.6 lbs (with Primary Battery)

http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/product/pdf_files/detailed_specs/portege_2000.pdf

[Llib Setag]

Reality Check C|NOT

1. Steve Jobs NEVER said that the MacBook Air was the thinnest laptop of all time during his keynote.
When he did say this was the thinnest notebook, he was stating the obvious as to the CURRENT market of laptops available...NOT SUB-NOTEBOOKS, of which the MB Air is not, nor was it ever said that is was a Sub-Notebook.

2. splitting hairs over some laptop that was made in the past, that failed to remain in the market of TODAY who was a few millimeters thinner is just drawing at straws to put Apple down like C|NOT gets paid to do by it's sponsers & masters, Microsith & Dell.

3. 0.46" thick is the overall AVERAGE thickness of the MB Air if you take into account that it is a TAPERED base notebook ( 0.76 inch at its thickest and 0.16 inch at its thinnest )

4. Get a clue C|NOT.

[jc364]

harsh

Wow, strong reaction.

1. Pretty sure that we already know that Steve Jobs never said the MacBook Air was the thinnest laptop of all time. The article mentions that. Also, how do you know the MacBook Air will not be a sub-notebook? I don't think that the makers of the Pedion expected the problems that they ran into. For all we know, the laptop could be one of the worst products Apple has ever put on the market.

2. I don't think the author is trying to put down Apple. After all, he does mention that no other current laptop comes close to the thinness of the Air.

3. You are probably right about the average thickness. However, do you know for sure that other laptops do not have an AVERAGE thickness of less than .46" thick? There may not be any, but its hard to find any specifications that list AVERAGE thickness.

4. Strange that a submitter with the name of a well known Microsoft employee is such a fan of Macs.

[hlywd217]

uhm...

Fanatical Apple fan much?

[robmclean]

Lack of optical drive

Go to apple.com com and check out their guided tour of the MacBook Air. The guys at apple obviously thought about the lack of an optical drive. There is an included program that allows one to share an optical drive of another computer (PC or mac) over the WiFi. It is pretty slick. One can mount the disk drive onto the desktop of the MacBook Air and watch movies, install programs, etc.

[hlywd217]

Wrong

You cannot watch DVD's through the other computer's optical drive.

From the Review on CNET:
"You won't be able to stream DVD movies or music CDs via remote disc, but it's fine for getting files and installing apps."
http://reviews.cnet.com/macbook-air/?tag=prod.txt.1

[hlywd217]

Wow

That's brilliant!

[Frank In New York]

Portege R100 , 0.7" thick , 2.4 lbs 07/10/2003

Where have you been? CNET reviewed the Toshiba Portege R100 on 9/12/03. This is a great machine. And before that there was the Portege 2000.
The dimension and weight statistics of recent released ultralights or ultra thin notebooks have not improved on those of the predecessors I have mentioned.