Macs As A Fashion Accessory

I was at the Coffee Bean branch in West Mall this evening. Looking around, I saw 5 notebooks on the tables. Nothing surprising, people do get some work done or just surf the web while they’re sipping their coffee. What was surprising, however, was that all 5 notebooks where MacBooks of some sort or other.

Actually, there was a sixth notebook. It was not a Mac, and it was in the outdoor seating area. The PC user probably felt uncomfortable being outnumbered by all the Mac users inside the air-conditioned seating area.

Of course, this observation is not really indicative of the true state of affairs. The sample size is too small. It is only an observation at a specific instance in time at a particular venue. But still, it is an interesting observation to find in a neighbourhood shopping centre.

Apple’s MacBooks have been extremely successful. Many people are switching to Macs. Some are doing so because of the total Apple experience (i.e. not just the hardware, but also the operating system and applications). Others are swoon over by the hardware, but still prefer to live in their comfort zone with Windows. Yes, I was watching one of the MacBooks booting up at Coffee Bean this evening into Windows XP. Of course, nothing wrong with that. MacBooks are extremely price competitive too, so even if you had wanted a Windows notebook, the MacBook would still be a strong contender.

At my workplace, I’m seeing more people being converted. Many years ago, when I attended LISA (Large Installation System Administration), I had also noted how a very significant percentage of the conference attendees carried a Mac notebook or some sort. I believe many LISA attendees love the UNIX foundations on which Mac OS X is built on. These are the people who are on the Mac because of its features and functionalities.

But how many people are toting around MacBooks simply because they look more cool? For example, I think for some people carrying the MacBook Air is like a status symbol. There are other notebooks similarly thin and light, but the MacBook Air is sexy. The ThinkPad X300 is not.

Apple’s marketing is definitely trying to drum home the Mac’s appeal on all fronts. Features and functionalities are good logical and rationale things to consider when selecting your operating platform. But they are also trying to tell you that, all other things aside, you’d look more cool with a Mac.

Oh, the Asus Eee PC and some of the other subnotebooks are pretty nice too. They are cool because they are tiny and light, and still work almost like a full-featured notebook. But they’re lacking in fashion sense.

Notice how Apple isn’t worried about being small and tiny. The MacBook Air is thin and light, but it is not small and tiny. Apple apparently doesn’t have any plans to launch subnotebook models at this time.

I wonder, why can’t anyone else design a really cool notebook? Surely there must be other talent in the world.