OK, I'm exaggerating, but really, that was my first thought when I took my new 11 inch MBA out to a restaurant for real world use.
Keep in mind that for the past 2 years I have used a Dell Mini 9 nearly daily. It goes with me everywhere since it fits in my purse. I've long since adjusted to its small keyboard. The MBA is my new new upgraded netbook. Some thoughts:
The MBA has the same weight as my netbook but its footprint on the table is bigger than the Mini, so on small tabletops at cafes it can be harder to find space for it where it's not in danger of being splashed with food or getting knocked by a neighboring elbow. Still much better than a 13/15/17" laptop.
And its funny, but I also found the keyboard too big at first. I even took out my measuring tape and made sure it's no bigger than my regular size desktop keyboard. Spacing is identical. I don't know why it seems different. I have a MS Arc keyboard at home. Maybe the curve fits my hand better than the flat MBA one even though the key distances are the same? What I do love about the MBA keyboard is the shallow key depth. I prefer extremely easy to depress, low travel keys (I'm a fast touch typist) and the keys on the MBA are great.
What I don't like: the effort to click on the trackpad -- it's just way more effort than key presses and seems unnatural and thus unbalanced. I'll have to investigate options since I do love the other features of the trackpack -- and have already installed BetterTouchTool for more options.
I also find the lack of either a gigabit ethernet port or USB3.0 (to allow the option of a gigabit ethernet dongle in the future) disappointing. My NAS supports time machine and my NAS is dual gigabit to a gigabit switch. It would have been nice to not have the initial full backup limited by wifi bandwidth and instead give the MBA a full gigabit connection to my NAS for backup.
Other than those few niggles, this is a fantastic upgrade for me. The screen is a big improvement over my Dell Mini and startup is quicker (even though with an SSD itself, the Mini was already pretty fast). I haven't tested Picasa yet on the MBA -- I would use it from time to time on the Mini and there were periods of sluggishness, I'm looking forward to improvement.
Keep in mind that for the past 2 years I have used a Dell Mini 9 nearly daily. It goes with me everywhere since it fits in my purse. I've long since adjusted to its small keyboard. The MBA is my new new upgraded netbook. Some thoughts:
The MBA has the same weight as my netbook but its footprint on the table is bigger than the Mini, so on small tabletops at cafes it can be harder to find space for it where it's not in danger of being splashed with food or getting knocked by a neighboring elbow. Still much better than a 13/15/17" laptop.
And its funny, but I also found the keyboard too big at first. I even took out my measuring tape and made sure it's no bigger than my regular size desktop keyboard. Spacing is identical. I don't know why it seems different. I have a MS Arc keyboard at home. Maybe the curve fits my hand better than the flat MBA one even though the key distances are the same? What I do love about the MBA keyboard is the shallow key depth. I prefer extremely easy to depress, low travel keys (I'm a fast touch typist) and the keys on the MBA are great.
What I don't like: the effort to click on the trackpad -- it's just way more effort than key presses and seems unnatural and thus unbalanced. I'll have to investigate options since I do love the other features of the trackpack -- and have already installed BetterTouchTool for more options.
I also find the lack of either a gigabit ethernet port or USB3.0 (to allow the option of a gigabit ethernet dongle in the future) disappointing. My NAS supports time machine and my NAS is dual gigabit to a gigabit switch. It would have been nice to not have the initial full backup limited by wifi bandwidth and instead give the MBA a full gigabit connection to my NAS for backup.
Other than those few niggles, this is a fantastic upgrade for me. The screen is a big improvement over my Dell Mini and startup is quicker (even though with an SSD itself, the Mini was already pretty fast). I haven't tested Picasa yet on the MBA -- I would use it from time to time on the Mini and there were periods of sluggishness, I'm looking forward to improvement.
$29 
