MacBook Air-ror

I penned an extensive rant yesterday and feel even stronger about the new MacBook Air after sleeping on it.

The Air is either an expensive and slow MacBook with no expandability, ports, optical drive, or replaceable battery. Or it is a large, not very well featured, and marginally faster sub-notebook. Neither is very compelling.

What Apple forgot:

- Sub-notebooks are about footprint not "thin." Anything with a 13.3" screen is not a sub-notebook. People who buy a sub-notebook know this and enter into the purchase knowing full well that their window into the computer is limited.
- The Sony TZ IS great sub-notebook hardware. It is a proven form factor. Comparing a TZ to an Air in all three dimensions shows the TZ to be the truly more portable device.
- Thin is fragile. The thinner a product the harder it is to minimize twisting and torsion stress on the components. I have my doubts about real world durability.
-Apple really needed something to come in under the MacBook, not between the MacBook and the Pro. Imagine if the Air was a $900 computer with an 11-12" screen and NO PORTS. People would be much less inclined to find fault with all of the compromises because of the size and cost.
-People with sub-notebooks also love docking stations. Throw a $300-400 docking station into the mix with a larger companion hard drive, a DVD burner, and a full complement of ports and you've got a great computer.

What's got me bummed about the MBA is that it is so close, even if only one or two of my issues were resolved (docking station being #1) it becomes a much more compelling product.