What’s Not Inside Apple’s New Laptop

Posted by admin

March 2, 2009

There’s a great deal to like, even crave, about Apple’s new
MacBook Pro, the Intel-based laptop that replaces the Powerbook line. I’ll say more about that in a more detailed posting soon.

But there’s an bizarre omission on Apple’s part: It has taken out the modem that came standard with every previous laptop computer in memory.

OK, fine, you can go buy Apple’s external dongle-ish

USB modem for an additional $49 (and note that current customers have, at
best, mixed reviews of the thing). But this means carrying around one more
piece of gear, an annoyance at best.

Maybe you live in the world that Steve Jobs and other privileged executives
inhabit. They never, ever stay in a place that requires dial-up Internet
access, and their company doesn’t mind paying the $10-25 that hotels charge
(typically closer to the higher amount outside the U.S.).

The rest of us live in the real world. I try to stay in hotels that have
Ethernet or wireless connections, but I can’t always do that. And even when I
do, they sometimes charge so much that dialing up is far the better, or at
least more affordable, alternative for getting my email and other routine
chores.

The cost of having a modem on the motherboard is relatively trivial,
especially since today’s modems are much more software than hardware. Jobs and
company live two years, technologically, ahead of regular folks, something
that helps them create advanced gear. But they should not assume we all live
in their lifestyle zone.

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