Goatberg smackdown on MacBook Air

See here. Gist of Walt’s article: Yes the Air is sleek and beautiful, but it lacks features most road warriors want, like an optical drive, removable battery and more USB ports. Money quote: “If you rely on spare batteries, expect the usual array of ports, or like to play DVDs on planes, this isn’t the computer to buy.”

Fair enough. Walt is pissed because we didn’t bring him in early on this one, and he only got to see the machine a few days ago.

As for the “lack of features” complaint, all I can say is you should have seen the machine I wanted to build. There were zero USB ports. Zero anything on the outside, actually. Also zero storage. The screen was virtual, and the keyboard was a hologram that floated in the air. All you had was a microprocessor and some RAM and a copy of OS X stuffed into a gorgeous little brushed aluminum case the size of a matchbox with a tiny projector to shoot out the virtual screen. Weight: One ounce. Our engineers said it couldn’t be done. Needless to say those guys are now gone, and a new team is working on it. We’ll get it done. Trust me.