MacBook Air

Sadly Steve Jobs did not pay heed to my comments below, although announcing an update to Pages so early in the year might have been a bit odd.

What he did announce was the MacBook Air, which has come in for a fair bit of criticism. There are a couple of things that are remarkable, and indeed which are signs to come. The multitouch trackpad will eventually be standard on all MacBooks, and something for other manufacturers to follow. It is entirely possible that the death knell of the optical disk has been rung. This would not be the first time that Steve Jobs has done this, the Original Bondi Blue iMac was very controversial in lacking a floppy drive, and who uses floppies now??

A lot of people aren't really sure who would want one. I know I wouldn't want one, but I can see who would. I am a user of a Laptop as my primary computer, so it has to have an optical drive, because I watch DVDs on it, and because I want to be able to rip CDs into iTunes. BUT if I had an iMac, and I had the money (e.g. if I had my fathers set up), I would certainly go for an Air. If I needed to load a CD, I would just use the iMacs drive. I wouldn't need to be able to plug all my peripherals into it, because I would just use them with my iMac, etc etc etc. The Air is not meant to be a first computer, it is meant to be a second computer for people who already have all the power they need on a desktop, but who want to be able to take stuff away with them, onto the train, in an ultra portable format. Thus: MacBook Air.