MacBook (Lotta) Air?

I'd have to say I'm kinda disappointed that Apple chose to introduce the MacBook Air as the rumors indicated that they would (hmm, is apple slipping in keeping its lids tight? Lately, the leaks have been spot on mostly) but stopped short of going the entire length.

I agree its an engineering marvel - its sleek, very light weight and extremely well built. I'd have to agree with Apple about dropping the integrated CD/DVD drive. I hardly use mine in my laptop other than that occasional time when I have to re-install my OS and/or install an app that comes on a CD (like MS Office etc).

But, who is it exactly targeted at? Regular consumers - not really? MacBook was already thin and small enough to be carried around. So its clearly aimed at people who are extremely mobile and absolutely must check email/write long emails while waiting in the boarding line in the airport, namely the Business minded folks and executives on the move. Although I wonder how many of those "suits" would really "switch" to a mac? Ofcouse you can run Windows Vista on a MacBook Air, but what's the upside for Apple in that?

Instead I'd have liked to see a complete refresh of the notebook line - MacBook Pro design is almost two years old and is looking like its "old" when compared to MacBook. I'd have also liked to see more "multi-touch" screens (multi-touch touch pad doesn't really do justice) a la Microsoft Surface in MacBooks.

Anyways, the most exciting news that came out of MacWorld atleast for me is the fact that you can now rent movies right from your couch using Apple TV (which if you remember, Steve Jobs said is just a hobby :-)). Not just Standard definition (DVD quality) movies but real High Definition movies. And they've got all the major studios on board. That's gonna be game changing. Netflix which was driving Blockbuster out of business, is now going to be driven out of business by Apple. Ofcouse, the studios and Apple have to put in crazy limitations such as a) once you start to watch a movie, you have to finish watching it in 24 hours b) HD movies can only be viewed from Apple TV and c) You can only rent HD movies not buy them. Arghhh. Also, apple should have really refreshed Apple TV hardware to support 1080p output. Oh well, next MacWorld I guess.