Laptops

A commenter on Engadget wrote about the new Apple laptop:

I don’t really care about gen 1 of (the MacBook Air), I want gen 3 with a souped up proc, the new integrated graphics intel is working on, and zippy 128gb ssd. That’s when this device will get interesting. Someone hit the fast forward button please.

When I think about the MacBook Air, it’s clear to me that this is the first step of a long-term game of Apple mastering miniaturization. A thin laptop is a safe move to test the market as it helps shore up the MacBook product line and make the other models look more attractive. John Gruber recently pulled out a quote from a New Yorker article regarding an experiment done in the 1990s:

People were first asked whether they preferred a $110 microwave oven made by Emerson or a $180 oven made by Panasonic. Only forty-three per cent chose the Panasonic. But when a higher-priced Panasonic model, costing $200, was introduced into the mix, people’s choices changed in a curious way: suddenly, sixty per cent wanted the $180 oven.

In the book “The Paradox of Choice,” Barry Schwartz also notes of data from Williams-Sonoma [I’m quoting this from memory right now, so when I get my copy back, I’ll correct this if need be]. By adding a third, extremely-expensive espresso machine to their catalog, the company dramatically increased sales of its (now) second-most expensive espresso machine, which had previously been seen as “too expensive.” Change the landscape of comparison, and choices change.

I still believe that ultra-portables are still unproven as a mass-market device — the screen and size trade-offs don’t persuade Mom and Pop, and they don’t have the sexiness that’ll get Mr. Art Director interested in it. Besides, MIDs may kill that category off entirely, and evolution from the iPhone/iPod touch line is better prepared to tackle that.

However, if ultra-portables really begin to take off, Apple should be ready to swoop in and steal the thunder, as usual.

[Update] Just spotted this comment in reply to a user’s statement of why the Air was not an notebook for them: “Totally agree with you, It makes me love my MacBook even more.” Somewhere, someone at Apple is grinning.