Macbook Air

This week, Apple introduced the Macbook Air. I've been reading some of the articles, as well as the whining comments.

• It can't play DVDs!
• It doesn't have a removable battery!
• It doesn't have an Ethernet port!
• It doesn't have Firewire!
• It only has one USB port!
• It can't play DVDs!

That's true. But here's what a lot of people fail to consider:

It's a Macintosh. It has a full-sized keyboard and full-sized, color, 1280x800 screen.

It weighs 3 pounds.

Let me repeat that: It weighs 3 pounds. My 12" Powerbook G4 weighs 5.6 pounds. Rich's Macbook weighs 5 pounds.

The Sony VAIO TZ only weighs 2.65 pounds. That's not quite half a pound less. It also has only an 11.1" screen. Much more important to me, the VAIO runs Windows.

Yeah, I could install Linux. But, if I'm going to carry / use a laptop, it's going to run Mac OS X. End of discussion.

Back to the whiners:

• It can't play DVDs!
  Do you know what those things weigh? Losing the DVD drive was a given from the beginning.

• It doesn't have a removable battery!
  True. Unfortunate. Do you have any idea how much a standard removable battery weighs? Just putting it into a case makes it a heavy block.

• It doesn't have an Ethernet port!
  It has wireless networking capability. It's a laptop; it's supposed to be portable. Look Ma, no strings (I mean wires) attached.

• It doesn't have Firewire!
  True. What were you planning to attach? Surely not an external hard drive.

• It only has one USB port!
  There's this wonderful invention called a USB hub. Buy one.

• It can't play DVDs!
  Get over it.

It's a Macintosh. It has a full-sized keyboard and full-sized screen.

It weighs 3 pounds.

It's also really pretty. I so want one.

Macbook Air ( in category Random Thoughts , SciTech ) - posted at Fri, 18 Jan, 21:12 Pacific | «e»