First of all, I'd like to thank all of you for this enlightenment of this topic. My revised list of what I'd like to see in a macbook air is as follows:
- Apple made processor (the macbook air is a high end test dumby for future computers, and would be a great way for apple to emerge into the CPU industry that would allow macs to become even more under the control of Jobs)
- I would also like to see 4 gigs of RAM, my imac has 4 gigs of RAM that I can barely get by on (some ppl might say that because this is an Ultra-Portable, it is not intendid to be used as a full graphics editing computer or multitasking unit, it is. The proof is the recently pushed 9400m nvidia graphics with 512mb of GDDR3 memory.)
- a trackpad without the bottom button for clicking, I really like the full trackpad click button thing, however if this is impossible, I would love if it was simply a tap to click pad. (don't hate me for this)
- More ports if they do introduce a 15 inch with 2 USB audio in and out, mini display port, and a firewire 800 I will buy one.
- A 256gb SSD preferably samsung.
I love the macbook air, but there are just a few things keeping me from the sexiest computer ever made.
I don't think Apple will make its own CPUs, at least not in predictable future. Any company trying to enter this market would have extremely hard time doing so.
There're at least two problems with tap to click only: many people hate drag and drop without button and sometimes (I don't know if anyone else has this problem) tap to click won't work after reboot from Windows, even though the box is still checked - using button to uncheck and recheck the option is the only way out of it.
15" would be sweet... a year ago I would have really wanted it, but now that I'm used to 13" screen, I think I'll stick to it.
You meant "preferably Intel", right?
3. And there is no full-featured ultraportable (like the 12in Powerbook was). Road-Warriors are unhappy.
Isn't it funny how a change of name from MB to MBP made many people immediately declare 13" MBP is exactly what they were waiting for, and now it's considered good enough for "pros"? Even though the only significant change was the return of FW. I think it's the best marketing decision Apple made this year.
I see at least two possibilities for MacBook Air - either it continues to be a premium product, first to get (and test) new technology, aimed at people who are ready to pay more for the best (not necessarily in terms of power), or it becomes cheaper and cheaper, finally becoming a consumer offering while MBP is (or pretends to be) professional.
At first it seemed improbable to me that Air could become as cheap as 13" MBP or more, but then most of Apple's original cost was probably R&D and overpriced SSDs. Since then Apple started using the same keyboard and similar aluminium casing for MBPs, so the production costs have probably fallen as well, due to quantity.
13" MBP with 128 GB SSD and 2 GB RAM is $1599, while MBA with similar configuration is $1799. It's only $200 premium, about $100 of which is probably CPU (Air has double the cache, which is a costly component). But Air doesn't have SuperDrive, card reader, FW ports... I think with time, especially if MBPs will be getting more power, Air's cost might be comparable if not less. Then it would make sense for it to be a basic offering - with its form factor and standard configuration featuring SSD (which will be cheaper at this point), it would be great for an average user who doesn't need all the features. It depends on the cost of SSDs, how quick they'll replace HDDs (at least for ~200GB and less storage), and the future of optical drives, but I think it's a possibility.
