fresh ... air

I'll be the first to admit it. I'm an Apple acolyte. I'd be happy if my paycheck statement included a line item "PAID TO STEVE JOBS" with a cut of my hard-earned cash gone directly to padding Stevie's pockets in return for all the latest good stuff out of Cupertino.

So when I heard about the brand-spanking new MacBook Air, how could I say no?
A perfect super-ultraportable smallest machine in the world that doesn't even have a hard drive with moving parts.
It fit perfectly with my home computing strategy: a powerful Mac desktop that I'll use for my heavy-duty tasks like video editing, and a super-portable Mac tiny, thin notebook that I can take with me. Yes! Makes perfect sense, so get the MacBook Air as the super-portable!

... Have I mentioned, by the way, that I don't actually have a Mac desktop, I only have an older MacBook? Well, hmm.. I guess I can slightly change my plan to make the old MacBook the stationary desktop that's always plugged in and use the MacBook Air as the super-portable. Yeah.. yeah! That'll be the plan.
(I should probably also mention that I conveniently manage to change my plans every time Apple releases a product. Like swearing that I'd stay with Verizon Wireless for service..... until the iPhone came along, for instance).

As it turns out, this thin little machine that really does fit in a manila envelope is UNBELIEVABLY thin. unbelievably light. Most of my books weigh more and are thicker. Most of the magazines I read are even the same weight and thickness as this tiny thing! And it's fast! Snappy, a joy to use, doesn't crash, have I mentioned - light and thin - and honestly... a good consistent three to four hours of battery life! (okay, not the advertised five but... damn cool).

Is it for everyone? Absolutely not. It's a super ultra portable machine. Nothing else. It's not the machine you do video editing on, or the machine to watch dvd's on, or even the machine you hook up a printer to. It's a perfect machine to use like an "oversized iPhone" - surf, email, remotely login to work (if you have to), chat, blog... It's built for the ever-growing wireless world we live in. You actually need Ethernet, Firewire, USB, or the power to edit videos on the fly in a notebook? Then this machine isn't for you. Go get that big heavy lunch tray we call the MacBook Pro.

Is it for me? Absolutely. That little door on the side covering up the USB, headphones, and mini-DVI jack? I've opened it exactly twice - both times to just look at it. (it's sooo cute!) If all you need is a super portable little machine and you don't plan to use lots of hard drive space or processing cycles, this is a sweet little package.

And now (and thanks for reading as I go on and on...) is the part where I need your help, folks: What to name the machine. Being a finance geek, the MacBook was named fischer as a homage to Fischer Black (it's a black model). No more finance geek names, mainly for my wife's sake. I thought about "o2", _maybe_. Definitely not "mba" though. So, let me hear those suggestions!

And a couple of pictures -
First, sitting on top of the Sunday Times.
And, thickness compared to the Sunday Times, sitting on my lap.

Lots more to blog, plenty more other stuff going on, but so many of you have asked about the MacBook Air, I figured I'd post about it first...