Why I will definitely buy a MacBook Air

[2/1] [Updated] Why I will definitely buy a MacBook Air

People are writing about why they won't buy a MacBook Air and most of the media is dwelling on features that the MacBook Air lacks which if it had, it would not be a MacBook Air but a MacBook "Lug". Others write that people who buy the MacBook Air must have more money than brains because of the price/feature ratio that they themselves concoct.

I recently wrote about my deciding on buying a MacBook Air. The article was somewhat inconclusive so I want to set the record straight--I will definitely buy a MacBook Air! But not just yet. Okay, so why is that.

First and foremost as a road warrior, weight has become my primary consideration in a notebook beyond meeting certain minimal standards. Sure, I can get a notebook that weighs less than the MacBook Air's 3 pounds but none, repeat none, run Mac OS X and have a decent-size screen, full-size keyboard, a fast Core 2 Duo processor running at 1.6-1.8GHz and decent graphics, my minimal standards. I traded in a fabulous 17" 1.5GHz PowerBook G4 for a 15" MacBook Pro, in part to shed nearly 2 pounds and some 2D inches. I'm looking forward to shedding another 2+ pounds and a few more 2D inches with the MacBook Air. While the MacBook Air is slower than my MacBook Pro, it is much faster than my previous 1.5GHz 17" PowerBook G4 according to Macworld's tests. That makes it clearly fast enough for the road.

In addition, every single potential deficiency seen by others in the MacBook Air has an acceptable solution, mostly using Bluetooth, WiFi or USB. Today, an iFixIt.com take-apart article shows that it will be relatively easy to replace the MacBook Air's internal battery, if one can deal with 19 very tiny screws.

In my previous article I worried a little about having to buy a new $29 airline seat power adapter because the MagSafe connector is different on a MacBook Air. But that does not seem to be a problem since the old MagSafe connector works according to Macworld and I use my Mac on Aviator stand during airline flights to avoid the problem of people reclining their seats in front of me.

Will the MacBook Air be my only computer? Probably not, but because it can drive a 23-24" monitor and connect wirelessly or via a USB/ethernet adapter to an external hard drive it could be my only computer if I didn't enjoy (addicted to?) 3D games. So, I'll probably keep my MacBook Pro or sell it and get a Mac Pro with an Nvidia 8800 GT graphics card and use the MacBook Air just for travel.

Okay, so what's holding me back from ordering a MacBook Air today?

First, I want to see if I must spend an additional $999 for the solid-state hard drive (SSD). I'm "gun shy" because a Sharp ultra-portable that I once tried had a similar micro hard drive to achieve its small size and weight under 3 pounds. But it was incredibly slow to boot, launch applications and use. Macworld's review partially alleviates my concerns with regard to the speed of the 80GB hard drive model but I want to compare the two myself.

Second, without a major sponsor these days, the cost of the bleeding edge has become more of a concern. I feel that I got burned on buying the first generation MacBook Pro (I'm now using a terrific third generation model) and I'm willing to wait for user reports on the first generation of the MacBook Air and maybe even for the second generation to come out. But the MacBook Air is definitely for me. [Bill Fox]