MacBook Air or MacBook Fizzle

The newly announced third member of Apple’s ever popular MacBook series, the MacBook Air, is clearly the highlight of MacWorld 2008, but many are wondering if Apple can wow stock prices and customers with this new venture into the ultra-portable notebook market.

The Air, if you have not already discovered it is Apple’s new 13.3” widescreen sub-notebook that weighs in at only 3 pounds , has an Intel 1.6 or 1.8 Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2 gigabytes of RAM.

“It reminds me of the PowerMac G4 Cube,” said Tony Miles, a Flight Instructor and Mac owner from Colorado, “it’s not very expandable and it is limited, but it’s in a neat package.”

A week later and the notebook is still the talk of the web log community, with a mixed emotion among bloggers and commenters alike on exactly who and what kind of customer the Cupertino team is after with this MacBook.

"Say what you will about Steve Jobs, but when he pulled Apple's latest laptop out of a standard inter-office envelope I stood in awe - of both his showmanship and of the laptop's remarkably slim design," says CNet.com’s Michelle Thatcher.

Is the Air aimed for the consumer, no as simply an average customer would not spend $1800 on a MacBook with less specs then a slightly more expensive MacBook Pro or even the almost half the cost MacBook, and the professional users will not sacrifice the loss of processing power, expandability or input/output devices in such a light notebook।

“The MacBook Air, the only thing we didn’t shrink was the price,” said Superfresh a commenter on Engadget.com’s website.

But for whoever the Air is meant for, one thing is clear is that the purchase of a MacBook Air has some influence in the design.

"Every element is super sharp, the hidden ports are a thing of beauty, and the backlit keyboard is certainly a nice touch," says Engadget’s Paul Miller. "It's almost silly how light it is, and multitouch is smooth as butter. With the dimensions and curves Apple is playing with, we can almost forgive the lack of removable battery - almost."

Minutes after the Air was announced by Jobs on stage in San Francisco the blogs went live with announcements that Steve didn't mention. The onboard memory is soldered to the motherboard as well as the battery being no replaceable by the consumer, all features that one would like in a sub-notebook.

"Has Apple turned the PC into a throwaway commodity? Absolutely, says The Inquirer "Also missing is the ability to do anything about the spec once it's arrived. The Macbook allows you to upgrade the hard drive and memory very simply indeed - not so on the Air. The all-in-one aluminum shell precludes not just upgrades but battery replacements, too. This is starting to become a worrying trend for Apple - first the iPhone, now the Air."

Only time will tell with Apple’s first jump into the sub-notebook category as many predict a price drop as well as newer faster models in the future.

“Time will tell. The iMac wasn’t all that popular when it first came out, but look how that turned out,” said Logical Extremes a commenter on WebWorkerDaily.com. “People have to realize that not every product is targeted at every user. And, as always, a year from now there will be a newer, faster, better version that will increase its appeal over whatever this one gets.”