Some Thoughts after Macworld 2008
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 | Journal
Tags: apple, ipod, macbook air
If you are outraged by the $20 charge on iPod touch users for the 5 new apps, sign this petition.
What a day! I just finished watching the entire Macworld 2008 Keynote minutes ago, and I am going to write down my initial reactions to some of Steve’s announcements. First, let’s talk about the main course of this year’s keynote, MacBook Air, claimed as the world’s thinnest notebook.
One has to admire Apple’s product design and the constant pursuit of perfection. Just by its appearance, it appears sleek, light, high-end and elegant. The design creates a strong appeal in consumers, it did to me when I first saw it. Besides, this notebook is really pushing the boundaries on how thin can an ultra-portable laptop can be, and I think Apple definitely achieved its goal on setting a new record and a new standard. However, it is not all praises for MacBook Air, I found John Gruber and Paul Stamatiou‘s posts echoing most of my thoughts.
Personally, I don’t see myself attracted to MacBook Air at this point, especially with its price set at $1799 and $3098. One thing for sure, after buying this notebook, your wallet certainly will be thin. Similar to John Gruber, I currently use my PowerBook as my primary machine, and when it comes to the time of upgrade, I would probably buy a new MacBook Pro, because portability and weight are in my considerations. As a primary machine, I value performance and storage capacity for than anything else, also the price difference is very small.
The announcement about the software update for iPod touch certainly got me excited. I mean these 5 new applications should have been there since day one, so I am glad to see Apple decided to offer these in the 1.1.3 update. But, wait, what was that?! You mean I have to pay $20 for this software update?! That’s like a slap on the face for all the early iPod touch owners. It just does not make sense. A new owner will pay the same price as I did, which mean getting 1.1.3 for free; but because I bought my iPod touch earlier, now I have to pay extra 20 dollars just to get a software update?! Somebody please explain the logic here to me! Therefore, I certainly won’t update my iPod touch.
What do you think of MacBook Air? Are you planning on getting one in the near future? What about the $20 charge on 1.1.3 for iPod touch? If you are an iPod touch owner, have you purchased it and updated?
January 16, 2008
11:34 am on Wednesday
I’m an iPod Touch early adopter, and I refuse to pay $20 for the 1.1.3 update. That’s ridiculous, and I hope enough people complain to make them offer it to us at no cost.
January 16, 2008
6:54 pm on Wednesday
Actually the 1.1.3 update itself is free, but 5 apps will cost you $20.
:-/
January 16, 2008
7:34 pm on Wednesday
Really? How you done it? If so, what is the procedure? So, you update your firmware to 1.1.3, then iTunes prompt you to ask whether you want to purchase the extra 5 apps?
January 17, 2008
3:03 pm on Thursday
I don’t have an iPod Touch so I don’t have that same problem but on the other hand I’ve purchased an Airport Extreme router. If you remember a while back when Leopard was announced, Time Machine was heavily publicized especially the fact that it could be used on any hard drive including an Air Drive (which is an USB hard drive hooked up to the USB port of the Airport Extreme).
A few weeks before Leopard’s release, every mention of the possibilities to sync to an Air Disk disappear for no reason & now this very feature reappears as…
Time Capsule!
Thank you Apple.
January 17, 2008
4:30 pm on Thursday
That sucks! Sometimes, a consumer really feels getting screwed by companies.
So, now that Time Capsule is released, do you have any plans?
January 17, 2008
11:26 pm on Thursday
I don’t have any plans on purchasing Time Capsule that’s for sure. ;-)
The Airport Extreme gets quite hot especially when using it in 802.11n mode so having a hard drive right next to it might not be a great idea as far as reliability goes. I’ll see what users say once it’s been out for a few months.
For now I have a LaCie Ethernet Big Disk & am quite happy with it. For Time Machine I use a regular USB drive to backup once a day (I don’t really need the hourly backup for now).
January 18, 2008
12:34 am on Friday
Nice setup! I am looking forward to finally migrate to MacBook Pro when my financial situation allows me, and only then I will be able to play with new features in Leopard. For now, I can only envy you.
January 18, 2008
1:39 am on Friday
Well I had been saving for it for a while now. I’ve changed jobs recently & had loads of overtime hours from my previous employer. Instead of having them paid in cash (which would be very taxed), I was offered to do a professional purchase which would then be put to my name.
Since it’s professional, it’s tax free therefore the price I was prepared to pay for the MacBook Pro ended up being 21% cheaper (that’s the VAT rate in Belgium). The remaining overtime hours ended up paying for the LaCie drive & a few more things (Mighty Mouse!). :-)
January 18, 2008
1:55 am on Friday
Wow, 21% cheaper! That’s an insanely good deal! Over here, at the university I work for, we only get about $200 cheaper as an educational discount. However, I do get some software really cheap, for instance, Adobe CS3 bundles.
January 22, 2008
10:22 am on Tuesday
Hi there, will you feel interest in MacHeist Bundle 2008?
January 22, 2008
12:10 pm on Tuesday
Interested, but I don’t like the idea of the bundle, since I only want to buy few pieces of software in the bundle.