Valhalla Island

My original Macbook Air reactions were made about 10 minutes after I’d first heard about it. The buzz around the internet is telling me to look deeper, so, here we go.

First of all, what does the Macbook Air sacrifice when compared to the standard Macbook.

• A USB port
• An ethernet port
• An optical drive
• Audio In
• FireWire
• 1200 RPM of HD speed
• The ability to upgrade to a larger HD
• The ability to upgrade RAM
• The ability to carry a spare battery
• 0.4ghz or 20% less processing power
• $700 in price

Let’s look at what you get for suffering these sacrifices.

• A thinner profile
• A 2 pound or 900 gram weight reduction
• A extra gig of RAM as standard

I can’t see the value. RAM is so cheap you could buy another gig for less than $50, that leaves the thinness and weight reduction. I’m not going to argue that it’s not impressively thin, it’s a great piece of engineering but for what?

Not once during the school semester did my computer stay on my desk. I carted it between every full time class, to work, meetings, friend’s houses and home. I am the definition of a portable laptop user. Not once did the weight of the Macbook bother me, it’s easily picked up and put in a bag with one hand and carrying a bit over 2 kilos on your back or shoulder is certainly not a chore.

In the latest episode of The Talk Show John Gruber mentions that the major reason people tell him they’re pre-ordering Airs is the weight alone.

People are spending $700 more and suffering a long list of sacrifices for the sake of 900 grams?… Really?