Is the Macbook Air Worth the Cost?

At the 2008 Macworld Expo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the company's newest creation; The Macbook Air. This ultra-thin notebook weighs about three pounds and is only 0.76" thick at the base, and slims down to only 0.16" at the front of the base.

The Macbook Air features a 13.3 inch LED screen, along with a full size backlit keyboard and a multi-touch trackpad.

Although the Macbook Air is so thin, it still comes with some decent specs, with 2GB of RAM, which is plenty of memory for the average user, and an 80GB hard drive, enough storage space for most people.

There is also the option of upgrading to a 64GB solid-state drive, which has no moving parts, making the drive last much longer. Other features include a built in web cam, as well as an AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi for wireless networking. The one major setback is the absence of an optical drive, which most people use on a daily basis.

The biggest problem however is the cost, and buying the Macbook Air will cost you $1800. So, is it worth it? To answer that question, you must compare the Macbook Air to other notebooks.

Apple's regular Macbook, can be customized to have virtually all of the same features as the Macbook Air for about $500 cheaper, plus it has a built in optical drive. The regular Macbook weighs about five pounds, and is just large than an inch. So with the only main difference being size, is it worth it to buy the Macbook Air for an extra $500? In most cases, it probably isn't. It would be much wiser to spend that extra money upgrading the Macbook.

Until the Macbook Air comes with more features that sets it apart from other notebooks, it would be to your benefit to stick to Macbook or another regular notebook, instead of going with the ultraslim Macbook Air.