Thoughts on the MacBook Air

So the rumors turned out to be true after all! Yesterday, Steve Jobs announced the release of the MacBook Air, a new ultra portable laptop that Apple has allegedly spent the past two years developing. It’s a small little laptop that’s sexy only in the way that Apple can make a product.

Apple MacBook Air

The specs:
-13.3 inch LED display
-All aluminum case
-802.11n and Bluetooth
-built-in iSight
-multitouch trackpad
-1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
-2GB of RAM
-80GB 1.8-inch hard drive (64 gig solid state drive available as an option)
-1 USB 2.0 port

And all this can be yours for $1799.

There is no doubt in my mind though. It looks absolutely phenomenal and I can’t wait to see it in person. However, I’m still left with some reservations about it. $1799 for a rather sub-par laptop in terms of performance and features? We still need to see benchmarks on the mystery CPU that powers the device. The lack of an optical drive seems like an interesting trade off as well. I get the feeling that this laptop seems aimed squarely at business types and those who travel a lot. Yet there is no user replaceable battery! If you lose your charge (i.e., on an airplane) you’re out of luck until you can get back to a power outlet.

It will be interesting to see if / when some of the features on this make it into the rest of Apple’s lineup. The possibility of a multitouch trackpad excites me. In anycase, this laptop looks fabulous and if it was quite a bit cheaper, I’d probably pick it up in a heartbeat, regardless of my reservations.

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