MacBook Air is full of hot air. (Pun intended)

Reading through Paul Thurrott’s Windows Supersite blog I was actually surprised to find I feel the same way about Apple’s new MacBook Air. Originally I was impressed, then I started reading through the specs and found that it lacks a LOT of features, even for an ultra-portable.

My boss at my last employer had a fetish for ultra-portable devices and he usually had 3 or 4 on hand. What this meant was that I was always aware of the newer ultra-portable notebooks on the market. I’ve seen much better notebooks than the MacBook Air, with a smaller footprint and a lighter weight. Toshiba’s Portégé series of notebooks are lighter, have more features, and don’t skimp on the necessary things. I feel Apple went a bit too far with the Air.

As Paul mentions in his blog post, the Air relies on wireless for just about everything. I see this as a shortcoming unless you a) don’t care about secure communications, or b) you don’t DO any secure work on your laptop. They allow you to buy an ethernet adapter so that you don’t have to rely solely on wireless, but it’ll cost you $29 extra. Oh, and it’ll take up that one, lonely USB slot. That’s right, you’ll use your one USB slot almost immediately if you have to do any serious work. Apple also offers the nifty new Solid State Harddrive option for the Air, but they don’t tell you it’s going to add $999 onto the price tag.  If you find out that you need an optical drive you can add one on to your order, for $99 extra. Uh oh, you already have your USB slot taken up by the ethernet adapter you bought. No worries! Buy a USB hub and now you’ve got a few more slots. But wait, you want to bring all these things on the road with you? Worry not, my friend… Many laptop-case manufacturers would be ecstatic to sell you an oversized and overpriced laptop bag to carry all your MacBook Air accessories.

Now, reading through the comments on Paul’s site, many users stated that all the things the MacBook Air does not have are things they wouldn’t miss. Though most of these users admitted they don’t have an ultra-portable at the moment. Let me tell you folks, I’ve used ultra-portables before… Not having a CD drive is annoying, and in the case of the MacBook Air you won’t even have an ethernet port unless you buy it, that’s more than annoying. And get this… No. Removable. Battery. Yes, you read that right. The battery is not removable. So what happens if you’re out on a flight, or the road, and your battery dies? Well, if you’re smart you’ve also bought the car charger, portable diesel-powered generator, and hand-crank adapter. Oh, you didn’t buy those? Well then, you’re out of luck.

My overall feeling about the MacBook Air is disappointment. Apple comes out with all these sleek new “innovations” but in this department they fall short of what’s already out there. Even the price isn’t that great compared to similar offerings by other manufacturers. Generation 1 of the MacBook Air is definitely not on my want list. I guess I’ll wait for Gen 2.