Sam Oliver
Checks conducted by analyst Brian White with Ticonderoga Securities have indicated that the new MacBook Air has seen "very strong" demand thus far in the U.S. He said there have been instances of temporary stock-outs of certain models at some locations.
"Overall, we sense a bit more of a preference for the higher-end 11-inch models but the 13-inch also seems to be popular," he wrote in a note to investors on Monday. "Netting this out, the MacBook Air has truly redefined the laptop computing market, in our view, and we expect this momentum to continue."
Further evidence of constraints with the MacBook Air can be found with Apple's own resellers, many of which do not have hardware in stock. Some resellers found in the AppleInsider Mac Pricing Guide (included below) do have some custom configurations currently in-stock, such as the 13.3-inch model with a 1.8GHz processor and 256GB of flash storage, available for $1,614.08 from MacMall.
The new MacBook Air models, with Intel's latest-generation Sandy Bridge processors and the new high-speed Thunderbolt port, were released last month. Like the previous-generation models, the MacBook Air starts at $999, but the discontinuation of the white MacBook makes the 11.6-inch MacBook Air Apple's only sub-$1,000 notebook.
White said the timing of the release of the new MacBook Air models is key for Apple because it will keep the company in the minds of consumers even without a new iPhone available for sale. He believes that Apple has the hottest lineup of products for the back-to-school season and holidays.
"In our view, successful Apple launches are key in driving the halo effect that drives incremental demand for other Apple products," he wrote.
Apple does not break out the MacBook Air as a percentage of total Mac sales, but White would not be surprised if the MacBook Air is the best-selling Mac product at many Apple stores. With the latest IDC and Gartner estimates pegging Apple's total share of worldwide PC sales at less than 5.1 percent, Apple has plenty of room for growth in Mac shipments.
While the new MacBook Air has found immediate success, White expects adoption of the new Thunderbolt connector to take more time. The $49 Thunderbolt cable and lack of available accessories are seen as barriers to adoption at the moment, though he expects that to change over time.
White also sees Apple releasing a new iPhone in the September timeframe, and expects a so-called "iPad 3" to arrive "ahead of the holidays" this year. He has a buy rating for AAPL stock, and has maintained a 12-month price target of $666.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
35 Comments
To make matters worse for the competition:
Haha! $666 is what the Apple I cost originally. If Apple hits this price, they should just issue Apple I's instead of stock certificates.
To make matters worse for the competition:
I'm one week into using my new top-of-the-line 13" i7 MBA. I'll be putting my late-2010 MBA up on craigslist this week.
All-in-all, a very solid laptop just like the 2010. I have to admit, I do enjoy having the backlit keyboard again. Performance-wise, that i7 does make VMware/Windows7 a bit snappier but not by much IMHO. The i7 does run a bit warmer, especially when Flash is running.
Had to have the thunderbolt port when I found out their new 27" LED monitor supported a dock configuration. Having a wired-ethernet port at the office will make a huge difference. Just waiting for the darn monitor to show up!
Amazing that Apple was able to squeeze that much performance out of the Core2Duo machine. Still was faster than a dedicated Windoze iX PC in everyday stuff.
I give it a solid thumbs-up. No surprise it's selling out.
I’m on day two with my new 11” Air i7. I won’t lie: the “automatic” process of migrating from my old Mac was no picnic (actually, it wouldn't migrate at all during initial setup—but it worked fine via Migration Assistant AFTER the setup, so that’s my current recommendation for migrating Mac-to-Mac).
But that step is done, and the machine is great!
VERY fast. It amazes me how well it performs in Quake Wars (medium settings) and other apps, compared to my old iMac. Spotlight really is instant, finally, and Lion’s early quirks are very minor compared to all the new stuff I really like having. Also, the backlit keys are much brighter than the original Air—and also easier to see (bolder letters) even with the backlight off.
And now it looks like an external Thunderbolt GPU will, before long, make this micro-thin ultraportable also serve as a high-end gaming “tower!” Complete with standard upgradable card slot.
I can’t find anything like this in the PC world without spending a LOT more, and still in the end accepting a MUCH thicker and heavier machine (and no Thunderbolt or Lion). I guess PC makers don’t want you to have SSD speed in a sub-$1000 ultraportable. They’re always out to make more money and limit your options!
By the way, if you have an iPad, give yourself a 21” Air instead: DisplayPad and other apps will give you a (slightly slow) 10" external screen for your Mac. I find it doesn’t hog the iPad’s battery much at all, either. I’m loving the dual-screen wide workspace, and an Air+iPad is still thinner and lighter in my bag than many netbooks! Plus I can grab either “half” of the setup alone, depending on what I want at the moment. (And I believe if you add an external monitor or projector, the iPad still works—as a third screen!)
I'm not surprised. The higher-end 11" MacBook Air defines the "ultrabook" category, and with the new processors, the last major purchase objection has been addressed. It is no longer underpowered in terms of CPU, storage, or ports. Optical storage use has declined in the last 3.5 years, and graphics performance, while not stellar, is mainstream. And the prices are right.
The conspiracy theorists can have a field day with the analyst's $666 price target for Apple, though.