More Book for Your Buck

Apple just rolled out new and improved MacBooks (and Pros) but the form factor and materials remain unchanged. The new "low end" MacBook Pro, at 2.4 GHz and with 256MB of VRAM, is a scorcher, and for everyday general purpose use, I really don't see why anyone would feel the need for (even more) speed (famous last words, I know!). It's an incredible value at $1999 and makes you wonder about that $200 price gap between the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air; well, that difference, it just got more pronounced. The MacBook Pro is about double the weight but it's also (almost) twice as fast. Throw in a removable battery, built-in Ethernet, built-in Firewire, built-in optical drive & a hard drive that is more than twice as large and you're making a very compelling argument for ditching the MacBook Air and going back to a regular form factor computer. Now you may be wondering: how I can pen this after saying, not even 2 weeks ago, that I was a MacBook Air believer? The answer is that I'm still a believer, but I just don't move around (with my laptop) that much that I need this ultra-portability. Still, the keyboard and the ultra-quiet nature of the MacBook Air is keeping me Air-bound. For now... And therein, as the Bard would tell us, lies the rub: when the MacBook Air 1st came out, it compared quite favorably to the existing MacBooks, both in terms of speed and looks. While the MacBooks were bound to be speed-bumped (and as technology marches on, so will the MacBook Air get speed-bumped one day), what about design-bumps for the MacBook and MacBook Pro? The major appeal of the MacBook Air has got to be its sleek form factor, just like those models on the runways in Paris and Milan: slim & sexy (though the similarities don't end there, since both have been accused of being perhaps too slim!). The debate about the pros and cons of the MacBook Air will get more pronounced when the form factor of MacBooks changes. Can't wait to see what Apple does at that time to retain the MacBook Air's value...