It’s not even announced yet, Apple’s most recent MacBook refresh. The long neglected Air, overpriced and underpowered but the best writing machine ever (as in EVER), is rumoured to get a second chance on Wednesday.
The Wednesday event is the annual MacBook event, back the Mac after quite a focus on iOS devices. We’ll get a refresh across the line of course, processor bumps and things like that, but my bet is that the focus will be on the next OS X, featuring a lion it seems. That, and a new iLife, the current one is a bit dated, and these are things that add to the Mac platform value overall.
And the Air, that’s the sole truly new piece of hardware we’ll see, is my bet.
I’ll buy it. I don’t care what it costs (cheap, says the rumour, which I think means cheaper than the current Air but still somewhat pricey – hey, it’s Apple after all!) because it fits me perfectly.
Why?
The current Air is underpowered, but it is by far the best writing device out there, no question about it. The keyboard is just marverlous, it is light and there’s no bulky DVD drive.
I feel 13,3″ is a bit big for a truly portable laptop. Today I use my iPad when on the road, only bringing the Air when I need to work one of my technical books since they need code editors and localhost. When I just need to write, the iPad suffices.
An 11,6″ Air would fit me perfectly. Light, a solid state drive (or flash drive, which is my bet)” preferably with 3G built in, great keyboard (please please please don’t mess with that, dear Steve Jobs) and decent power. I’d like to be able to do some minor image editing on this thing, and please make it powerful enough to roll HD video without hassle.
Or, to put it simply: With a decent processor, 4 GB RAM, and a smaller form factor than the current Air, this is my dream computer.
I’d still use my iPad, just less for serious writing.
I’d still use my 17″ MacBook Pro monster, when working with graphics and coding websites.
The rest of the time, the bulk of my day, an 11,6″ Air would be the perfect companion to someone as addicted to words like me.
Please give it to me on Wednesday, Apple. Thanks.