Macbook Air: Worth the $1799 Price Tag?

Steve Jobs unveiled the newest member of the MacBook family at the 2008 MacWorld Expo. At $1799 is it worth the price?

As an IT professional, I have to weigh several factors in deciding whether the new MacBook Air is worth it's hefty price tag.

Technical Specs First

CPU - 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache
LCD - 13.3-inch LED-backlit WXVGA display 1280x800 max resolution
RAM - 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Drive 80GB hard disk drive
Video - Intel X3100 GMA 144MB shared Memory
Optical Drive - Optional $99 External USB DVD burner SuperDrive
built-in iSight video camera
built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking + Bluetooth 2.1
Micro-DVI port (includes Micro-DVI to VGA and Micro-DVI to DVI Adapters)
one USB 2.0 port
one headphone port
multi-touch TrackPad
45 Watt Power Adapter
Physical Dimensions - 12.8" x 8.94" x 0.16-0.76 inch
Weight - 3.0 pounds

The MacBook Air is a decent laptop as far as the specs go. But head to head with available laptops on the market it comes up short in several areas.

Compare those Specs with the Thinkpad T61 from Lenova, which lists for $899, and the Thinkpad beats it hands down in CPU, Hard Drive capacity, LCD Screen size and most importantly price.

CPU - Intel 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo
LCD - 14.1-inch WXGA
RAM - 1 GB DDR
Hard Drive - 100GB Hard Disk
Video - Intel X3100 GMA
Optical Drive - DVD/CD-RW Combo
VGA Port
Modem, Gigabit LAN, WLAN + Bluetooth
1 x Microphone jack; 1 x Headphone jack
ThinkPad UltraNav Touchpad
Physical Dimensions - 13.2" x 9.3" x 1.2-1.37"
Weight 5.3 lbs.

Comparisons with the $799 Gateway M-6755 makes it even worse for Apple.

CPU - Intel 1.66G Core 2 Duo
LCD - 15.4" WXGA max 1280 x 800
RAM - 3GB DDR2
Hard Drive - 250GB
Optical Drive - Dual Layer DVD Burner
Video - Intel X3100 GMA
Modem, LAN and WLAN Card slot
1 x Express Card
USB ports x 3
VGA Port
1 x Microphone jack 1 x Headphone jack
Dimensions - 14.0" x 10.0" x 1.1-1.5"
Weight 6.29 lbs.

Of course, Apple would prefer you compare it to the previous World's Thinnest Laptop by Sony, but I'm not going to. It was overpriced as well.

So what exactly are you paying for with Apple's MacBook Air?

Size, Weight, and Style.

Size: Apple is proud of the thinness of the Air. In all reality though, I can not think of a single time I have needed to fit my laptop in a manila envelope. Personally .5 inches is not worth an extra $1000 to me.

Weight: To get the Air as slim as Apple wanted, many parts were shaved in order to squeeze every spare micron out of it. Going so far as asking Intel to design a new smaller processor just for the Air. In so doing weight was also reduced. 3 lbs was the reference point in this design and Apple just made it. Again, if weight were the motivating factor, I could buy four 2lb Asus eeePCs for the price of the Air.

Style: This is actually Apple's strongest suit. As shown with the iPhone, iPods and the MacBooks before it, Apple knows how to make us drool over the most mundane technology. There is no denying that the super slim notebook is sexy. Adding the unique multi-touch capability to the standard laptop touchpad is a stroke of genius worthy of Steve Jobs. There are two more things Apple's MacBook Air has that none of the competition has. OSX and iLife. The ease of use and beautiful simplicity of Apple's OS and application suite make even your grandmother comfortable with editing photos, videos, and music. Tasks like photo manipulation, music editing, purchasing music and then transferring it to your music player, tasks that seem all but impossible to the uninitiated on a Windows system, are a breeze to master under Leopard.

One more factor to take into consideration is the Geek Status Symbol this new Macbook will give to it's owners. With the iPod before it, everybody who was anybody had a pair of white earbuds visible on their person. College students across the country filled classrooms with their MacBook Pros. Expect the Air to take their place next semester.

For people who care about these things, the Apple MacBook Air is worth the $1799 price tag. For the budget conscious, or people not already dazzled by OSX, there are better, cheaper and heavier options. After watching Steve Jobs deliver his keynote address, I'm forced to say, I want one. I'm fairly certain I could never intellectually justify the high cost, but some part of me, I'm ashamed to admit, doesn't even care.

What about the Upgraded Version?

At $3098, I cannot make a good argument for the upgraded MacBook Air. It apparently has only a slightly faster 1.8Ghz Core Duo and a smaller but faster 64GB Solid State Drive(SSD). Neither of which is worth the additional $1300.