Nothing but air

I was expecting a scaled down MacBook like the old Powerbook G4s. I was itching to buy an ultraportable that had at least as much power in it as similar offerings from Lenovo and Sony. For something that costs somewhere in between a MacBook and a Pro, I was expecting a bit more features.

But no, Jobs had to give us air.

The MacBook Air is thin, but that's basically it. It ain't lighter than your basic ultraportable, it has even less features than the Sony or Lenovo equivalent, and it's still wide.

The last one misses the point. No one who carries a laptop on his back says, "gee, if only this were thinner." We look for lighter and smaller. The footprint is important because a smaller one means we can carry a smaller bag. A smaller form factor means we can plunk it down on a coffee shop table and still have space for food and drink.

I do understand what Apple is trying to do. Losing the optical drive and playing with Flash memory is the direction of mobile computing. Heck the DVD installation via wifi (included in the firmware, IIRC) is semi-revolutionary in itself. But having only a single USB port, no LAN jack, and an internal battery (plus the exorbitant price of the SSD version) is a dealbreaker for me.

Ah, but expect decent sales nonetheless. Jobs's RDF is still working. As for me, for PhP20K that Eee PC is starting to look good.