MacBook Bore

A big part of me wishes I could be cool and minimal enough to be able to own a MacBook Air. It would impress all my friend and I’d feel better about myself. However, when I really think about it, I can’t, so I ordered a MacBook Pro instead, which I should get sometime next week.

Here’s what I use my PowerBook for when at home:

- Support Email
- Testing on different versions of Mac OS X
- NetNewsWire
- Watch DVDs and videos, listening to podcasts

And while travelling I use it for all the above, plus:

- Photo editing
- Video import and editing
- Software development – (i.e. bug fixing, etc)

On the Air, the following things would be difficult or impossible:

- Testing on different versions of Mac OS X
- Watch DVDs and videos, listening to podcasts
- Video import and editing

Yes, I could get a USB disk for the OS X testing (and I am keeping the PowerBook for PowerPC testing) or do it on the iMac and I could get the optional superdrive for the DVDs (wouldn’t you need this work OS updates too?), but I would be totally fucked on the video importing and editing, firstly without Firewire and even if I did have a USB-capable camera not with such a tiny HD (and only one USB port).

Sigh.

So, the irony is that the ultralight portable is decent enough when I’m at home, but kinda limiting when on the road. Oddly enough, my desktop Mac suffers the same problem. Of course, I don’t travel much but when I do, those are the things I really want to do with it.

And besides, I actually want the laptop to do all the fun stuff – photos, videos, etc, with the iMac just as a workhorse but the tiny hard disk affects all of that. I know because the PowerBook’s HD is the same size and bursting at the seams with a very limited selection of stuff on it.

Of course, if I was some computer bimbo like Miss Chick, I’d be happy to plug my USB camera into my MacBook Air to download photos of dogs-on-the-beach and forgo the DVDs for a damn good book.

But I’m not. I’m a demanding user, and that is exactly what the MBP is for. Or is it? Well, ahem, you can do all the above on a MacBook too, at half the price. That was an even tougher decision, made easier by a multi-touch trackpad (one day I’ll end up developing something for that), 20% ADC discount (vs. only 10% for the MacBook – look how much you save!) and the fact that I’ll drive it into the ground every day for the next 4 years, like I did the PowerBook, so it’ll be worth the money.

If the MacBook is the cheap option and the MacBook Air is for cool people, the MacBook Pro must be for dull geeks with money to burn.