So we’re cool with direct links to instructions on how to download and install pirate operating systems now?
That’s a good idea, maybe my wife can be the guinea p…I mean the first in the family to switch to Vista.
Sorry, didn’t think of that.
don’t misrepresent it. i run a hackintosh (along with real macs) and it’s not something to be proud of, it takes EXACT hardware and lots of hackery to get most of the things to work. it’s not ‘as easy as running bootcamp or vmware fusion/parallels’. stuff like this should have a secret shame and stigma attached to it.
Cause it’s so hard to google for that right? People who don’t know what torrents are wouldn’t understand anyways.
My MacBook “right clicks” just fine by using two fingers on the touchpad. I wouldn’t necessarily advise someone to get a MacBook if all they wanted was Windows or anything because yeah the touchpad and keyboard are a little odd to get used to (though they work), but in Supertanker’s situation it makes more sense to install Windows on the Mac than buy a whole new system at this point.
Do you just install the XP disks, or is there trickery involved? In my distant Mac days, it seemed that to get Windows working involved a whole series of rituals, up to, and sometimes including, ritual sacrifice. It sounds like things have improved significantly.
It’s fairly straightforward. You still need some form of OS X on there, but you run Boot Camp on OS X, tell it the size of the partition you want to create and put in your XP SP2 disc. You can then force it to boot off XP.
I don’t believe there’s a way to wipe the drive entirely since Boot Camp also installs the XP drivers for the hardware. I reserve the right to be proven wrong on this.
Current Macs ship with a thing called Boot Camp that’ll partition the disk for you, burn a CD of Windows drivers for all the hardware, and set things up so you just reboot into the XP installation disc and go.
As Windows installs go, it’s pretty painless.
This works in XP
Yeah, sure thing. When you run Windows on it through BootCamp it really is just a bog standard Windows machine. Plug any Windows USB device into the USB port, install the Windows driver and it works just like on any other Windows machine. This holds true for mice, webcams, printers, whatever… it is simply a Windows machine at that point, just one with sexier hardware design than most other Windows laptops, and an unfortunate (but not unworkable) bias towards a single physical button on the built-in trackpad and some oddness in the way the keyboard keys are laid out compared to a standard PC.
Had a chance to finally get hands-on with the Air at my local Apple Store, and I definitely have to say, wow. The cons are well known (not particularly high-spec for the price, no optical drive, no user-replacable battery) but given all that, its main selling point - the god-damn thin-ness of it - can not be overstated. It’s ASTONISHINGLY slim, moreso than it appears to be in the ads, and light as a feather. I was amazed that they fit what they did inside there.
Still not enough to make me fork over the exorbitant fee for one, but while I was skeptical about the validity of this product before I can now see it definitely finding a market among road warriors and other highly mobile computer users with money to burn. You’d barely know you have this in your bag when carrying it around.
Typing this on mine (Gary probably won’t be surprised). I love it. And it is easily the best meeting icebreaker ever (for the moment). I just carry it around like a notepad – no case.
I’m not that surprised, but boy ciparis, you are HARDCORE.
I was amazed that they fit what they did inside there.
Yeah, but… who cares? Thinness ain’t gonna help you one goddamn bit on an airplane when the guy in front of you reclines his seat. MEMO TO STEVE JOBS: the other dimensions matter, too, dumbass.
As much as I was looking forward to a Mac ultraportable, I think they went too far with this one. Kinda gimmicky the way it is now.
I’m thinking I might buy this just to make some friends. When it’s no longer the hotness, I can probably resell it at a reasonable price. I dunno.
EDIT: Send me a private message if anyone wants to get dinner. My treat.
It’s a good debate. The laptop definitely looks and feels slimmer because of the taper around the edges, but that’s also what causes the measurements to be higher in those dimensions. One adds to the appeal, and the other reduces the effective market. I guess the balance between those will determine whether it was a good or bad decision. I quite like it, though, the way it is, but I’ve long since given up flying anywhere where I’d have to worry about what the person in front of me did. Seatguru is a godsend.
The 2,5 hour battery life alone offsets any coolness factor of the MacBook Air vs a regular MacBook.
Real batteries are more than an inch thick, lulz (laughs).
I’d prefer a MacBook myself, but this article by Wil Shipley might be relevant here.
He also posted an actual review as well.
For a more interesting (and mainstream?) take, James Fallows of the Atlantic Monthly got one too and seems to really like it.