Macbook Air

It shouldn't be too surprising that I have been seduced by the Macbook Air. While not being the top-of-the-line machine in performance, it is more than adequate, but when it comes to style, it wins hands down to any other laptop on the market. Previously, the trend in computers was to build something perfectly tailored and customized to your needs for a computer, with factors such as mobility, processing power, capacity, etc. The Macbook Air is a boutique laptop that maximizes on style and mobility, but is only about par across the other criterion that people use for buying a computer. It is more of a fashion accessory than a machine of brute computing power.

And yet, I was surprised to find that many of my more techy friends also drool over this machine. I had assumed that for the typical male techno-geek, the Macbook Air would provide too little in specs, and the extra sleekness over the Macbook Pro would be inconsequential being that the Macbook Pro was already small and light enough for them. How wrong I was. Here I am trying to dispel stereotypes of female techies, yet I was making stereotypes of the male techy! When asked for their reasonings for wanting a Macbook Air, the response I got was that it was something small enough to slip into a backpack for the unscheduled circumstances where it may come in useful, such as an unexpected trip to the girlfriend's place. Anything that would require mega processing power would be a planned event where they could make sure to be near their "real" machine, however the Macbook Air is still powerful enough to fire up an IDE to code up a quick fix to an urgent bug and test it.

When the Macbook Air first came out, I was surprised at the base price. Though it is less powerful than the Macbook Pro, I expected it to be a lot more expensive. Instead, it is in fact cheaper. My expectation was based on the Sony laptops, which I think was previously the most drooled over of the smaller notebooks. The 2-4 lb. VAIOs were always more expensive with less specs than their 6-8 lb. counterparts. I had been planning to buy a Macbook Pro around this time as my first Mac notebook, but with the announcement of the Macbook Air, I immediately knew that I wanted it instead.

Now a lot of fuss has been made about the SSD option, and I must say, that I find it extremely attractive. However, the Ars Technica article that was found its way to become a top Digg hit argues that the SSD is not worth the extra $1300. First of all, the SSD is an extra $999, while the 200 Mhz upgrade is $300. Second, for me personally, their benchmarks were not the ones I was interested in. Instead, I found this comparison to be more useful for myself. I find that the most frustrating thing about laptops, is the speed which it takes to boot up and come back from sleep mode. I am an impatient person. The $999 is certainly worth the frustration I save as well as the time. Meanwhile, $300 for 200 Mhz while processor speed is rarely the choke point anymore, I think is too steep.

The Macbook Air with SSD, while never the choice for a primary computer for a true techy, is certainly worthy of technolust. It is the newest in fashion for laptops, a must in the 2008 collection for males and females alike.