The MacBook Air Vs. The 12" PowerBook

It's the weekend, so indulge me as I engage in some more mathematical musings, this time with the MacBook Air vs. the relatively long-in-the-tooth but beloved 12" aluminum PowerBook.

Also, my earlier article on the Air vs. Eee has generated more than a few comments and emails and rebuttals, so I'll reply to a few of those issues as well.

Especially as they apply equally well in any discussion of the PowerBook.

So which is smaller?

In my previous article, I calculated the Air's volume at 52.63 cubic inches using the formula for a trapezoidal solid based on its dimensions of 12.8x8.94x0.16~0.76. Due to some comments I revisited those numbers, calculating the top and the bottom's back, front, sides, and midsection independently in order to account for the Air's complex curves.

Add them up and a more accurate number for the Air seems to be 56.81 cubic inches.

Four cubic inches larger, but still smaller than the Eee's 66.52.

In comparison, a 12" PowerBook, at 10.9x8.6x1.18, takes up a whopping 110.6 cubic inches of space in a bag or briefcase, or almost twice as much room.

While also being a pound and a half heavier.

Coffee, tea, or milk?

A large number of people seem to be concerned with airline tray tables.

The Air is only a third of an inch deeper than the PowerBook (8.94 vs. 8.6), so in terms of depth (and in screen height when opened) they're functionally identical.

And as tray tables are typically 16.5" wide by 9.5~10.5" deep, the Air's extra two inches of width has little impact. Still plenty of room for it and a cup of coffee.

Besides, I already see quite a few MacBooks flying around on tray tables, so an Air with the same footprint should have no problem whatsoever.

It not about volume...

Others have taken me to task for measuring the Air's volume, insisting that in the grand scheme of things it's a meaningless number.

Well, if it was completely meaningless I wouldn't have published it. But as I've said before, many bags and backpacks and briefcases only have a limited amount of internal space (volume). Once you fill them up, you fill them up, and the Air simply takes up less room in most of them.

Related to this is the "footprint" argument, but as I've indicated above, an extra couple of inches in width isn't going to make a significant different in any environment worth mentioning. Nor will it prevent it from fitting into any bag in which you can carry a standard 8.5x11 legal pad or file folder.

One guy said it wouldn't fit into his purse and an Eee would... but I don't think I'll touch that one.

Accessories...

Others have mentioned that by the time you add in the external drive and a hub and various cables and dongles and connectors, and all of the other things you might need on a trip or in a hotel room, you've have been better off with a larger notebook.

Which is a valid point, and worthy of consideration.

But most of the time when I travel I carry my iPhone and its cable, my notebook, and a single charger in my backback, and then I put additional USB chargers, dongles, cables, connectors, and other thingamabobs in a bag in the luggage, where a few extra ounces isn't going to be noticed.

You may want those things handy, but you don't always have to carry them.

And when they're not needed, you have the option of traveling light and leaving them behind.

Six of one, half-dozen of the other. Your call.

Ultra-portable? Sub-notebook? Notebook?

A few overly semantic types have insisted that the Air doesn't fit the definition of an "ultra-portable", or a sub-notebook, or whatever. This is usually accompanied by said individual then covering his ears, closing his mouth, and then holding his breath until he's blue in the face.

Personally, I don't care what you call it. I do agree with Steve, however, that day-in-and-day-out I'd rather work on a standard-size screen and keyboard than one with a miniscule screen and a cramped layout.

If size were the only consideration I'd be typing articles on my iPhone. Comfort counts here too.

Conclusion...

The Air is thinner, lighter, the same depth, and takes up less space than the PowerBook. And it's only a $100 off the 12" PowerBook's original $1,699 retail price.

Not bad at all.

Comments

[matt]

If the MBA was a solid rectangular box, I think we agree that the volume would be 12.8x8.94x0.76 = 87 cubic inches.

By your calculations, the beveled edges of the unit drop the volume of the unit from 87 to 57 cubic inches, a 35% reduction! I really doubt that.

Just by eyeballing the profile of the unit, I think a 25% reduction would be a still very charitable (but more realistic) estimate.

[ML: Look at the side profile and you'll see it's thickest about 2" in from the back. Due to the slopes and curves from that point to the front and back and sides, there's really only an area about 6.94x1 where it's a full 0.76 inches thick. Everything else is thinner, and from that spot to the front, quite a bit so.

But like the man said in the other post, when yours shows up you can wrap it in Saran Wrap and dunk it in water to your hearts content.]

[mark]

I think weight, volume, and shape/footprint are crucial. First, the MBA 13" when open is no taller than most subnotebooks because of the way Apple does the hinge, so the airplane tray with leaning seatback issue is so way overblown.

Next, when closed, the shape is perfect for briefcases and backpacks, and gadgets really either go in your pocket or in briefcases. Now there could be in-between in terms of purses, but maybe that's the next product. Once it fits into the briefcase shape, then being thin allows other items to fit in alongside.

Finally, the low weight and appropriate shape (including thinness) makes it easy to carry around the house or office building, when moving from meeting to meeting.

[Jim]

Oh well, so the MBA is thinner, more powerful in terms of memory & cpu and on and on. The 12" Powerbook is still a workhorse for it's vintage. It's still compact and light just the same too. 4.5 lbs is not a burden, to carry around.

See a few things you fail to mention the 12" PB has a dvd/cdrw internally, so now take the peripheral you'd have to carry around and attach just the same in the same notebook bag and where does the MBA stand ? Apple's superdrive is another 3/4 lb and 5.5x5.5x.7. Add you have a single USB port with the MBA and now you need a multiple connection usb hub to attach to use a mouse and the dvd/cdrw at the same time. Add the MBA doesn't have a 10/100 port and you need too many different connectors and peripherals to make the MBA as versatile as a Powerbook 12. Granted MBA relies on wireless, but the Powerbook 12 has that same functionality. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have the MBA, but I don't think I suffer much with my PB 12.

[Michael Long]

Jim -- If I needed to carry the CD/DVD player... which I don't. And If I needed the Ethernet port adaptor... which I don't. And if I ever used a wired non-Bluetooth mouse... which I don't, then I might need to carry the extra USB hub... but I don't.

Which illustrates the point that many are still missing. The Air isn't for everyone. If you need all of those things then buy a 15" MBP and be done with it.

If, however, in day-to-day use you don't need them, then why carry the extra weight?

[Andrew]

I own a MacBook (not air) and a 12" PowerBook. I'm on my second MacBook, a fairly current 2.2GHz Santa Rosa model, though I had the very first CoreDuo model as well, while my PowerBook is the most recent 1.5GHz model, which replaced a 2nd generation 1.0GHz model I bought in 2003. Suffice it to say, I'm very familiar with both designs and there are aspects of each that I prefer over the other.

I do not own a MacBook Air, yet. As a rule, and a lesson learned the hard way with my first MacBook, I won't ever, EVER buy Rev A of anything from Apple, and I believe what I've read of the Air bears out that wisdom. Once the Air gets its first revision, whether or not it is speed-bumped I could care less, I will pass the MacBook on to my daughter (her MacBook is rather thrashed) and use the Air as my primary computer.

I see the Air as the ideal portable Apple machine, and while an updated 12" would definitely make me think, the Air's backlit keyboard and large screen would likely win out.

Where the Air shines isn't in size, but in weight. Anyone who says that 4.6lbs isn't that different from 3.0 lbs needs to go back to school. Its a FIFTY PERCENT increase, and that is huge.

The Air is not perfect, and there are some aspects of its design that just might be deal-breakers for me, but none relate to its ports or lack of a dedicated GPU. The possible deal-breaker is the sealed battery. I travel frequently and have used my 2nd battery on the MacBook more than once (and the 3rd battery on the PowerBook). Being unable to change batteries in mid-flight is a serious disadvantage, and forget power ports on airplanes, most airlines save those for business class.

Right now, I consider the MacBook to be the best laptop I've ever owned. It is faster than any PowerBook ever way, is amazingly feature-packed, attractive, much more comfortable to look at and type on than the 12" PowerBook, and only .4 lbs heavier. When you consider that two batteries will cover a flight from Los Angeles to Seoul that used to require three batteries on the 12" PowerBook and the weight difference is more than cancelled, at least for long flights.

The MacBook fits comfortably on every single tray table that the PowerBook fits on, and vice-versa. The Air will fit equally well.

I will say, however, that I've kept my 12" PowerBook for the simple reason that it is more of a pleasure to use. There is just something about the design and construction that make these machines more personal, more satisfying. A certain jewel-like quality that the MacBook, even the Air, just doesn't match.

My PowerBook has seen better days, with a strange metallic click when I open the display (something on the left side of the screen), a DVDRW drive that sounds like a circular saw and some serious white spots on the underwhelming (compared to the MacBook) LCD. Still, I like the machine so much that I'm hunting down a replacement LCD on eBay and looking at replacement optical drives as well. Once the parts are assembled, I'll pay the folks at my local Apple-Certified repair shop for a few hours of labor to rejeuvenate this classic and then use it for three or four more years.