13.3" MacBook Air 1.86GHz, 2GB RAM, 128GB Solid State Drive - $1,299.99
When the MacBook Air (MBA) first came out, I told myself that I would never ever buy it. I mean just look at those specs: One USB port? No disc drive? Only 2GB of RAM? No way to upgrade the hard drive down the road?? All of that for $1,299.99?? Are you kidding me??
Pathetic!
But these days I travel a whole lot more than I used to. I'm constantly going to shows, taking road trips, flying, broadcasting from open mic at It's A Grind...I actually have a social life that takes me to places. And when I'm on the go, I don't need a full-on computer; I just need to be able to do some AIM, Skype, BlogTV, Tokbox, emailing and casual web browsing.
I need a mobile setup that can keep up with me.
So, my original plan was to scrap my 17" MacBook Pro (MBP) + 24" Cinema Display in favor of a 13" MBP + 30" Cinema Display, which would be an epic setup because it gives me the ability to have the power of a desktop computer with a (very) large screen plus the ability to be mobile. I even did the math to calculate the benefits and I realized that a 13" + 30" would give me more screen real estate overall than my current 17" + 24" setup. WIN.
Problem is, buying a completely new setup would cost over $3,750. FML.
Then it hit me: the MacBook Air may be a terrible primary computer...but if you understand its limitations, it can be an awesome secondary computer:
- Just one USB port? -- That's fine, this is just for doing stuff on the internet.
- No disc drive? -- I'll just use the disc drive wirelessly from my 17" MBP.
- Only 2GB of RAM? -- Web browsing and chatting doesn't take up too much memory.
- No way to upgrade the hard drive? -- No worries, my 17" is my main computer anyways.
- Isn't it expensive? -- Very. But this is the only netbook out there that will run OSX.
And to top it all off, I could still get another two solid years of mileage from my 17" MBP.
So after serious thought (and rationalization), I concluded that it'd be better for me to spend just $1,299.99 to add a complimentary computer than to drop over $3,750 for a completely new setup.
I couldn't be any happier.