Apple just announced the release of its newest notebook, The MacBook Air. I’ve watched the commercial and I’ve watched the little walk through, and I think it’s really cool. A little overpriced, but cool.
As usual, Apple gets an “A” for superior design and cache, but I think I’m going to have to hand them a “B-” for the lack of an optical drive. I actually would have scored them lower, but they do have the fairly slick ability to load off other Mac and PC optical drives. But what happens if you don’t have another computer in your house? Well, you’re esentially boned unless you go ahead and buy the external Super Drive they offer (which, by the way, plugs into the ONE usb port this machine has on it). While it’s truly an awesome piece of hardware, I think I’d tend to shy away from it when factoring in that hefty $1799 retail price.
Note to Apple: The trend is to lower prices of your hardware, not increase it. And yes, we Mac users/lovers/enthusiats expect to pay more for superior design, but $1799 for what is essentially a souped up consumer level computer does not make me feel I’m getting the best value for my money.