MacBook Air

I'm sure most of you have seen the commercial for the ultra-thin MacBook Air. I just felt that as a computer geek I needed to let you know that is probably the least functional laptop I've seen in a long time.

I'm not even sure who would find the MacBook Air useful. Obviously people who travel often would appreciate the smaller size, but those are usually people who are traveling for work. The small screen, wimpy hard drive, lack of CD/DVD drive and ethernet port would seem to make it less than ideal for business users. I didn't even realize they made 4200 rpm hard drives. 5400 rpm would be what I would consider the low end. My laptop at work has a 7200 rpm hard drive and I would never go back to a 5400 rpm drive. It would be like going from high speed internet access to dial-up. Maybe not quite that bad, but you can definitely tell a difference.

For only $1800 you can own a MacBook Air that weighs 3 lbs with a 1.6 GHz Intel Dual Core processor, 2 GB of RAM, 802.11n wireless adapter, 13" screen, and an 80 GB 4200 rpm hard drive.

You could purchase an upgraded MacBook Air for $3100. The upgraded model includes a 1.8 GHz Dual Core processor and a 64 GB solid state hard drive. I admit that the solid state drive is nice, but not worth an extra $1300.

The MacBook Air does not have a CD/DVD drive or ethernet port built in. Of course you can purchase an external DVD burner for $100 and an external ethernet adapter for $30.

A quick check of bestbuy.com gives me a Compaq Presario T2330 for $600.

The Presario has a 1.6 GHz Intel Dual Core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 802.11g wireless adapter, 15.4" screen, 120 GB 5400 rpm hard drive, dual layer DVD burner, modem, and ethernet adapter. It weighs 5.7 lbs.

I think I can handle the extra 2.7 lbs the for a savings of $1330 (MBA plus external DVD burner and ethernet adapter).