MacBook Air 2012 -- Too little, too late . . .
Posted: June 21st, 2012, 3:38 pm
I travel for pleasure, around the world -- a lot! For several years, I have lusted over a MacBook Air, although it was hard to justify replacing a perfectly good Dell Latitude 620 that basically met all my needs (web browsing, answering emails, downloading/viewing photos). My issues with the Latitude were size, weight, and battery life. I decided my justification for a new computer would be USB 3.0, as it often took 20-30 minutes to download photos from memory card to computer after a day's shooting.
Having made the decision to replace the Dell, I was completely focused on Apple. The iPad would have been perfect, but there is no [practical] way to offload photos from a memory card, via the iPad, and store them on a separate external hard drive (necessary with 10-30GB of photos per trip!). I was eagerly awaiting the new MacBook Air 2012, hoping for USB 3.0, SDHC card reader built-in, and the [drool . . .] Retina display. Of course, the new MacBook Air does NOT have the Retina display. While I was disappointed, it wasn't a show-stopper for me, and I was all set to place my order in July.
The Microsoft Surface announcement changes all that. If Apple HAD "upgraded" the MacBook Air with a Retina display, I would make the leap and go in that direction. The fact that Apple did NOT raise the bar sufficiently on the MacBook Air to differentiate it from the 2011 model, I am unwilling to switch to a platform that weans me away from my familiar Microsoft applications without a compelling reason. Apple has under-delivered, and lost me as a potential new customer by so doing . . .
Having made the decision to replace the Dell, I was completely focused on Apple. The iPad would have been perfect, but there is no [practical] way to offload photos from a memory card, via the iPad, and store them on a separate external hard drive (necessary with 10-30GB of photos per trip!). I was eagerly awaiting the new MacBook Air 2012, hoping for USB 3.0, SDHC card reader built-in, and the [drool . . .] Retina display. Of course, the new MacBook Air does NOT have the Retina display. While I was disappointed, it wasn't a show-stopper for me, and I was all set to place my order in July.
The Microsoft Surface announcement changes all that. If Apple HAD "upgraded" the MacBook Air with a Retina display, I would make the leap and go in that direction. The fact that Apple did NOT raise the bar sufficiently on the MacBook Air to differentiate it from the 2011 model, I am unwilling to switch to a platform that weans me away from my familiar Microsoft applications without a compelling reason. Apple has under-delivered, and lost me as a potential new customer by so doing . . .