Comments on: I've seen the future, and it's a MacBook

At the risk of adding to the cacophony of gratuitous advice directed at Apple, the company could bypass the Netbook and go directly to the inexpensive "ultrathin" category.

[skirmyst]

We all know that price-talks are meaningless to Apple, unless they are experimenting new gadgets.
We've seen what happened to iPhone prices.
But we all also know that Apple has always been able to "play" a convincing relationship "game" with their fans: the luxury market.
The average, or middle-class always don't get to buy the latest Apple products. Apple will never be fair. They can't afford to be fair.

[eadeguzman]

Nice tag-line... But the article does not live up to the title. Netbook or MacBook Air are the future? Pretty shallow... So your "future" is something like... next year?

I thought you would be something like a phone that when docked you can use a full-size keyboard and a large touch-screen monitor...

[dfwenigma]

I love PC users because they continue to sing from the same song sheet. What I loved was a friend at work who said she hated Macs. She said they were expensive. You couldn't 'do' anything with them. You couldn't customize them. She told me there was no software for them. She told me that they weren't business class computers. The list went on. I pointed out that I could run Windows on my Mac, that I ran OS X on it, that BSD Unix was already built in, that I could run Linux (nearly any flavor) and that she was wrong on almost every count. She was speechless. It was as if I were the anti-Christ. My experience with people who 'hate' Macs is that most haven't used them in at least ten years. Very few Mac haters have used a Mac for more than a few weeks. Even fewer bothered loading a second OS on their Mac. Most Windows people have no idea what's 'standard' on their PC (not much unless you buy bundled software) and they tend to not understand the unseen benefits of owning a Mac because it's just not part of their experience. Just the ability to generate native PDF documents from any application means a Mac pays for itself in nothing flat. They talk about 'add-on's so they can do this and that - and then I tell them that 'it's standard'. Grab is standard in the OS - to approach even its simple features - you have to BUY SnagIt - I know because I've used a Windows XP machine in work environments. WIndows users love to point to Windows 7 (before that it was Vista) and then once its in use you find Windows users bludgeoning each other to complain about it. Meanwhile Apple calmly works on its next major OS release. Microsoft is constantly plugging security wholes but seldom enhances functionality or fixes core problems - and when they do these are major releases and the impact is nearly always perilous. My Mac receives updates every couple of weeks. They're usually minor security patches with lots of fixes for really minor issues. Microsoft has made the worst possible version of Office they could for years and years. I would love to see internal memos because I can BET you that they have purposely created horrible iterations of Office because they serve their long term marketing needs. Most of their so-called 'applications' for business are only usable in the Windows IE browser. The DOJ should pommel them for being once again browser specific. The upcoming betas for Office cannot be used on older Macs because Silverlight is only available for Intel based Macs. WIndows users will keep talking about the 3 % of us that haven't gone away. They've talked about how Apple will go out of business - and have for 30 years. Microsoft has tried to put the nail on the Mac coffin as often as they can for as long as they can. But they just can't do it. Dell has played footsie for nearly 15 years and still can't make an OS / hardware combination that is virtually bulletproof - they just can't do it. I always remember the battle cry from Bill Gates quoted in Pirates of Silicon Valley, "Make it more MAC like". And they weren't talking about MAC addresses either! Windows 7 equals NOTHING. Microsoft has stolen ideas Apple stole from others years ago - difference is Apple is a good pirate - they turn flax into gold - Microsoft and Dell turn flax into fecal matter.

[jclifco]

I've also seen the future. In fact I'm looking at it now.
It's a whole new kimd of computer but don't ask.
Before I can show it I'll have to patten it. Sorry!

jclifco

[ryancw]

Netbooks aren't a fad, at least, not outside of the US. Lest we forget that the real rise of netbooks is due to the large number of sales of them outside the US, especially in developing countries. Netbooks popularity in the US is due to other reasons, so your conclusion may be sound in killing the netbook, but only in the US. That price is still to high in the developing world, where its more about getting a cheap laptop than a small one. Netbooks will still have a market either way.

[pendevous27]

Apple isn't really the future for everybody. They will never get cheaper because face it, Apple products and services are better than any laptops out there (See Tech Support Showdown: http://www.laptopmag.com/mobile-life/tech-support-showdown-2009.aspx?page=1)

However, this article is making me think that the writer is an Apple fanboy. I have nothing against Apple, but their fanboys get to my nerves.