Macsimum News will be doing a hands-on review as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we thought we'd look at the reactions to the "world's thinnest notebook."

Following are some comments from a [url=http://www.crn.com/hardware/205901784?cid=CRNFeed]ChannelWeb Report[/url]:

The MacBook Air will attract a completely different type of customer than the typical business user, says George Swords, marketing manager at PowerMacPac, an Apple solution provider in Portland, Ore.

"The MacBook Air isn't meant to replace a full-featured Macbook Pro, and the first adopters will probably be people that already have a MacBook Pro or tower," he said. "It could also appeal to some business users as a device that's bigger than a PDA, but isn't a Tablet PC."

Michael Oh, CEO of Tech Superpowers, a Boston-based Apple specialist, says the lack of built-in Ethernet and FireWire ports shows that Apple isn't positioning it as a PC notebook killer.

"For general business users, I don't see the Macbook Air taking off in huge quantities because of the limitations and sacrifices Apple has made," he said. However, "we've seen tremendous interest in the Macbook Air from people who already have laptops and who are looking for a second laptop. It's similar to the way people think about a sports car they buy as second car.

At least one of Apple's competitors in the notebook PC market doesn't expect the Macbook Air to make much of a dent in their share of the business traveler market.

While the Macbook Air appears to be a solid product, it's "somewhat surprising" that it doesn't come with integrated wide area wireless, says Kyp Walls, director of product management at Panasonic Computer Solutions Company, the Secaucus, N.J.-based unit that makes the Toughbook line, told ChannelWeb.

"If Apple missed the mark with anything about the MacBook Air, it's that they didn't put a big emphasis on wide area wireless, or in building a machine that's going to hold up well being used outside the office for extended periods of time," he said.

The ability to swap a spent notebook battery for a new one during plane trips is "pretty critical," and the Macbook Air's non-removable battery could be off-putting to some business users, Walls added.

"It's a bit surprising to see that there are companies making notebooks with batteries that aren't easily removable, especially in a country the size of the U.S., where it's not unusual to find yourself on a six to six hour flight," Walls told ChannelWeb.

But according to a Friday report by [url=http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/01/18/sources_macbook_air_battery_replacements_take_only_minutes.html]AppleInsider[/url], changing the Macbook Air's battery is a trivial process that takes as little as three minutes and only requires a size-0 type philips screwdriver.

Despite the limitations imposed by its thin form factor, the Macbook Air does allow for the optical drive in another Mac, or even a PC, to function as its own optical drive, notes Swords.

"The majority of people who will buy [the Macbook Air] already have a system. It may take a while for some people to realize it, but like all Apple products, there is some pretty revolutionary technology in here," Swords told ChannelWeb.

Here are some comments from the [url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/19/BUSHUH4AU.DTL]SFGate[/url]: The MacBook Air could force other computer manufacturers to roll out slimmer, lighter laptop computers. "The design sets a new standard for thinness in the industry," says Roger Shim, research manager at IDC.

It could make over the notebook industry in other ways as well. Just as few computers come with floppy disk drives today, the MacBook Air does not come with an optical disc drive for CDs or DVDs. "We don't think most users are going to miss the optical drive," Jobs during his Macworld keynote.

Instead, consumers are backing up their data wirelessly, downloading movies and music from the Internet and transferring them to their cars using their iPod, he said. And to install software, the MacBook Air's Remote Disc feature can wirelessly connect to another computer with an optical drive and borrow from it.

Is this the computer of the future? Certainly other laptopmakers such as Dell already build computers without optical disc drives, but it isn't clear that consumers are ready to sacrifice it, not to mention FireWire and additional USB ports, something else that the MacBook Air lacks, notes SFGate. It also assumes that the owner lives mainly in a Mac world.

"It's forward-thinking, but there are a lot of assumptions he's making," Shim said. "In the scenario that Apple is banking on, it's a very Apple-centric galaxy, but there's another universe around them."

Here's some thoughts froom [url=http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/006314.html]PC World[/url]:

A 13.3-inch screen but no optical drive? Thin but not that light at three pounds? Maybe a boardroom or flashy sales-force machine, but no user-replaceable battery? And Intel custom-designed the CPU to fit, but Apple is not even using a energy-miserly 45nm Penryn chip (with its deep power-down technology to squeeze more battery life out).

Here's some comments from [url=http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/141457/macbook_air_lacks_features_analysts_say.html=]IDG[/url]: The Air's novelty value could attract buyers, but the US$1,799 starting price tag is too heavy for a machine lacking features.

The MacBook Air is a mismatch with Apple's price-sensitive customers, such as educators and those who do creative work and require significant storage for music, photos and video, Citigroup said in a research note. What's more, ultraportable-laptop users are generally Windows-based PC users, not Mac users, Citigroup said. While the product could be a long-term success, Apple will produce the laptop in small volumes until more features are added, Citigroup said.

Unlike Asus' Eee PC, the MacBook Air may sell slowly because of its high price point and overlapping functionality with the existing MacBook and MacBook Pro lines, said Shaw Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research, in a research note. However, Apple is adept with product placement, as shown by the iPhone and iPod, where there has been minimal cannibalization despite overlapping functionality, Wu said.

The MacBook Air may be niche, but Apple could be pioneering the adoption of future technologies like wireless communication between devices, Jim Ritz, a Mac user and member of the Apple Pi user group in Rockville, Maryland, told IDG. Users were concerned when Apple got rid of the floppy drive, and now Apple is now betting that the time for wireless networking has come by removing the Ethernet port and including wireless storage, Ritz said.

So what do you think? Send us your comments at daseller@earthlink.net

And don't forget to take our Macsimum Poll (on the right side of the home page) regarding the MacBook Air.

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