Fanboy reviewer has problems with MacBook Air
Denial
IF YOU ARE a Mac fanboy reviewer and you think that anything that comes from Apple must be great, what do you do when something clearly isn't?
Paul Venezia from InfoWorld seemed to have hit this crisis of faith when he came to look at Apple's MacBook Air.
The first thing he noticed was that he could not connect to his old MacBook pro because the Air didn't have a Firewire port. Since upgrading between MacBooks used to be a swift matter of a Firewire and Apple's Migration Assistant this lack of a Firewire would be something a reviewer would find annoying right?
Venezia fired up his very thin and nice-looking machine and discovered he could upgrade using Ethernet. All this required was to stick in his Leopard disk, install Air's CD Sharing application on that system. A doddle right?
After this installing he was prompted to select a wireless network, presumably to connect with the MacBook Air to perform the migration. Wait a minute, thought Venezia, he had 50GB of files to shift here and on a 802.11g Wi-Fi he would be collecting a pension before it was done.
Wow, lucky he had also purchased Apple's USB Ethernet adapter for the Air. Veneza plugged that in, ran a patch cable to his MacBook Pro, and tried again. So easy.
All that was required now was to enter the security key provided by the wizard on the MacBook Air, divide by his shoe size and the two systems began communicating.
Veneza composed a little hymn to Steve Jobs and was just starting to wonder how he was going to dismiss his difficulties so far when the Air crashed. Like many Apple fanboys he must have assumed he had done something wrong. He set it up again and behold it crashed again while calculating directory sizes from the MacBook Pro.
Then he discovered that he needed 40GB more space on the MacBook Air because the migration wizard doesn't allow detailed file and folder selection.
He had to move 50GB of photos, videos, and downloads that he didn't need to migrate to another location on the MacBook Pro's disk, then run everything again. This should be dubbed arsing about, but Veneza did not see it that way.
All up this glorious process took more than five hours and then his MacBook Air was ready to go.
Now, most reviewers would issue a stinging rebuff for five hours of wasted life. Veneza however does not seem to have experienced living because the remaining two paragraphs of his review are dedicated to saying that he has had no more trouble with the Air other than the fact he had to reinstall Microsoft Office 2004.
“So overall, it's a win,” he breathes enthusiastically.
One questions whether he would have been so nice if it had been a Dell, or HP laptop he had been running.
Obviously, Apple does not need to hire spinners when hacks are frantically trying to spin its products for it.
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Comments
What do you do?
"IF YOU ARE a Mac fanboy reviewer and you think that anything that comes from Apple must be great, what do you do when something clearly isn't?"Well, clearly you head over to the INQ site and wait for Nick Farrell to inevitably post an anti-Apple article.
Just curious - have you ever written a positive article about Apple? Personally, I'm not an Apple fan either, but you seem to harbor some genuine resentment.
about par for a review
That's about the level of uncritical commentary you get from reviews. The reviewers are so happy just to get a new toy, or so scared that any negative words will ban them from future reviews that rational thought and critical analysis goes out the window.I once saw a product review in one of the mags for a PCI card that simply didn't work - it still got 3 out of 5.
Pete's rules for getting the truth from reviews:
1.) the reviewer must have bought the product themselves - anonymously, with their own money
2.) they must use the product for 4 weeks before writing the review
3.) good comments count for nothing (we expect products to be good, right?)
4.) comments about the colour/style/feel count for nothing
5.) the reviewer should validate the specification of the product, in real-life use
As you can expect, I'm still waiting to see a review that is worth reading...
Lame...
Those problems are not small, or easy for someone of standard knowledge of Apple computers (and that is low), let alone other drawbacks and lack of parts...Old saying...
...a good Apple product, like a good landing, is one you can walk away from.Doesn't compare with Vista...?
What's Vista's data and application migration assistant like?Personally I'd rather set the new machine up afresh and enable file sharing on the old one and grab what I needed that way.
Apple Fanboys
Well, Apple always did market itself as "the computer for the rest of us". I always thought that meant that part of humanity that were bred with no semblance of technical competency, or objective thought processes. It's clear that Apple fanatics are fairly light in the cogitive department, tending to substitute emotion for thought.I guess that's why most Apple users tend to be smarmy, irritating, self-anointed elitists. You know, the kind the rest of us treat patronisingly; the pat on the head, the "there, there, that's alright now" comments.
I guess even people like that should have the opportunity to use computers, even if it's just to store their crayon drawings.
My kid brother is, unfortunately, a Mac adherent, but then I always attribute it to the fact he hit his head on a tree while sledding one winter when he was a lad. It wasn't a complete disaster, as he also likes Sun.
this article is microshaft covert publicity
so what's wrong with enduring some annoyances at the beginning, when one knows that better times are ahead?nothing is perfect, nobody is perfect. we all know. apple isn't perfect. it's just better.
apple and steve jobs are as despicable as any other global corporation, but at least , compared to microsoft, they use unix and make beautiful things which work a lot more and a lot better than microshaft shit!
AntiMac != Pro MS
I don't get why some people think that AntiMac comments are in any way pro MS. They are not. AntiMac sentiment is due to the fact that Mac people behave like spoiled fanboys and religious zealots. Sentiments like Macs just work, Macs are so beautiful, etc are examples of this. Computers are tools and shouldn't be couple to irrational, annoying behavior under any circumstances.Jesus, I mean Steve Jobs loves you, I mean he loves your money and your willingness to advertise his products for him.
erm
Thats a whole article slagging off the MBA simply because the reviewer had problems with the migration assistant, a feature the majority of basic users won't use anyway.I never use the assistant as I always prefer to start with a fresh install.
I'm sure there are various problems going to come to light about the MBA so if you are going to knock it at least do it on a something more important.
Typical
So much for an unbiased reviewer.Breathtaking
Well, I can see you read the sidebar, but did you read the review, or my secondary comments on my blog (http://weblog.infoworld.com/venezia/archives/015850.html)?Maybe you didn't even read the whole sidebar. The Air didn't crash, the Migration Assistant crashed. Of the five hours it took to migrate from my MacBook Pro, 4.5 of that was transferring 50+GB of files -- I was off doing other productive things during that time.
Yes, moving the folders out of the way was a pain, but that's why I wrote the sidebar to begin with -- it shouldn't be that way.
Oh, and yes, I bought the Air myself. No freebie there.
Anyway, I don't want to get in the way of your dogma, so carry on.
This guy is dumb or a hack
While I admit there may be a problem with the migration wizard this is a hack job.First off these things do not come with huge hard drives but this guy sounds like a HD pack rat anyway. I have crap-loads of stuff and don't come close to even 10Gb of stuff.
The migration wizard is for lazy dummies. You keep all your info in your home folder just like Linux. All he had to do was a simple select the folders he wanted drag them onto his Airbook where he wanted them and presto, done! No wizard and it would have worked fine. I know I have done it before!
As for the Address book and Safari just export the info and for mail just copy your freaking mailbox folder and quit winning!
This was probably the first time this guy ever touched a Mac and the one he was copying from was probably a loner from a friend.
Glenn
Don't insult us
Rich Wrote: "I guess that's why most Apple users tend to be smarmy, irritating, self-anointed elitists. You know, the kind the rest of us treat patronisingly; the pat on the head, the "there, there, that's alright now" comments."Please. I'm an irritating elistist, but I would never waste money on Apple's plasticky made-in-China junk. In fact, no one makes me behave more patronisignly than an Apple user (okay, maybe some "voodoo audiophiles" - but they are often the same people).
Anyway, these days Apple actually sells decent PCs. Still overpriced, but at least they're not a joke like in the G4 / G5 days. Now that the hardware is decent, they just need better users.
There,there, Rich....that's alright now.There, there, Rich, that's alright now
There, there, Rich, that's alright now.Soon Micro$oft will be as ubiquitous as Brawndo and you can rest easy that everyone is as 'technically, objectively and cognitively gifted' as you.
PS, I hope you are applying a quality sunscreen to your dear brother. Wouldn’t want him to get his hopes up….
Nick Farrell
I've appreciated everything you've had to say Nick. Applites wouldn't be so bad, if they came off the cider once in a while. Applites can always go back to punting from corporate press releases for their news.Your article is quite informative giving concise attention to another chap's labours from which we might learn or take something of an entertaining solace.
I wouldn't call myself an appltimist, but it gets right jolly good here at the INQ.
Missing the point.
Saying it ain't perfect is the understatement of the year.This has nothing to do with apples past or comparison with microsoft.
The air is a steaming pile of shit and they are asking a £1000 premium for it over other similar (and frankly better) laptops.
the issue is apple fanatics who will gladly suck up and fawn over whatever new "innovation" steve jobs squeezes out.
Waste of air
Sounds like your average Mac boy review, it's limited on how many connection ports you have, it can be lost in your filing system...or down the side of the window sill behind the heater, it has no CD drive, it's slower than a macbook pro yet almost as expensive. For all the negatives the air has...why did they still create it?Oh yeah, the Apple worshipers
Comprehension my dear lad
Re: joe on 12th February 2008Sadly, your comprehension seems to be on the level with MacFan objectivity.
The article is not, as you assert, blasting Apple; it's blasting it's diminutively-witted religious zealots.
Apple have made some excellent products as their technology has progressed from dark ages to enlightened forefront; which can't be said of their religious followers.
Perspectives
According to Nick, the positive review is suspect, due to a bias on the part of the reviewer. What does that say about a writer for the Inquirer blasting an Infoworld review? We all have our biases. Seems like pvenezia liked the product overall, and was critical where needed. Perhaps a rabidly anti-Mac reviewer can step in to offer their unbiased point of view, for some 'fair and balanced' opinion.no-problem computer?
Have you ever seen a computer with absolutely no problems with it? Very doubtful!There are lots of people, who experience some problems with the air, some articles here: http://www.maconair.com
But there are no perfect machines. Just stop hating so much!