Into Thin Air – The New Macbook

Yet another year has come and gone. Babies are born, people die, and Steve Jobs makes another speech. Welcome to Macworld 2008, where Apple’s CEO slipped his blue jeans on (one leg at a time) and threw on black turtleneck to address thousands of enthusiasts, journalists, analysts, and bloggers.So, what did Santa Claus Steve Jobs bring us this year? Well, we found some updates to a series of products. The iPod Touch has some new web features, the iPhone now has Karaoke, and the Apple TV can deliver HD movies to your living room. Steve was also packing some heat.From left field came the Time Capsule, a wireless backup system that comes in 500GB and 1TB options. Pretty cool, if you’re into that sort of thing…The Hail Mary, Walk-off grand slam, hat-trick, WMD, what have you, was the MacBook Air, which comes packaged in it’s own manila envelope (recycled, of course)! The “world’s thinnest” machine measures only .16″ at one end and gains weight toward the other, tipping the scales at .75″ near the hinge. So what other goodies can fit into this minuscule box you ask?

• Intel Core 2 Duo processor (Intel cut their old ones down for this)
• 2GB memory (standard)
• 80GB 4200-rpm PATA hard drive (same as iPods)
• Built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi2 and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Fullsize / Backlit keyboards, Multi-touch trackpad
• 13.3-inch glossy widescreen LED (1280×800) – (same as MacBook)

So, yes, this is cool. Very small. 5 hours of battery life, neato. Somewhat environmentally friendly. So is walking. Apple’s latest release seems like it may just pan out to be one of those neat toys and not actually very marketable to a given segment. Here is my breakdown of traditional Apple/PC users and their outlook on life and the MacBook Air:

• SuperMac Users: “1.8GHz max? you are kidding me, right? No way it can handle me!”
• Business Travelers: “Wow! That looks really cool, but I’m stuck with what Corporate IT gives me – Dell…”
• General Business Users: “Hey man, we’re on a budget, man”
• Students (self-funded): “I’m paying for it? no way! I can get a faster, bigger macbook for cheaper that will rip my cds and dvds and my dorm doesn’t support wireless.”
• Students: (parent-funded): “Mom/Dad, I there is no way I can lug a heavy laptop to class – the MacBook Air only weighs 3 pounds!” Response: “When I was a kid, we didn’t have laptops and walked to class in the snow & barefoot. Besides, you’ll lose or break a laptop that small. Here is a five pound PC laptop for half the price, now deal with it!”
• Families: “We’ll stick with the iMac…”

Apple has targeted almost every audience with their Mac lineup before this hit San Francisco today. So the question is, who would buy this? My guess is that yes, it will have decent sales, but not because of the new features, but more for the shiny metal and the little piece of fruit that lights up on the back. Most people who would spring for the basic MacBook Air might find the MacBook or iMac more appealing. Those who would make the leap to the advanced MacBook Air might spend their $3,000 elsewhere on MacBook Pro or Mac Pro. And that is if they choose the fruit at all…Apple is really targeting the fluff market – a group of folks who have some extra cash laying around and don’t really need a computer. Also falling into the fluff market are the Apple enthusiasts whose life hangs in the balance until they have the latest toy from Steve.

Yes, this laptop is small and slick.Yes, it would be fun to play with one.But I would never buy it.356 days til Macworld 2009, I can’t wait.