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Why the MacBook Air sucks

In the spirit of PC Magazine, here are thirteen reasons why the MacBook Air sucks.

1. $999 SSD option.

Crazy-but-true, the 64 GB solid state "disk drive" option costs $999. I'm sure I could buy a 64+ GB solid state drive for much less. Although I haven't shopped for one, they should cost about $200, right? So Apple, why $999?

2. No Vista

That's right, you buy this thing for $1799 (or more), and it doesn't come with the ultimate Vista - a $600 afterthought? If I want to spend money on a laptop, PLEASE include the Ultimate!

3. No MS-Office

Again, you buy this thing, you can't even edit MS-Word documents - its an extra piece of software that wasn't included!!! This is getting painful!

4. No replaceable battery.

My Olympus digicam used readily-available AA batteries. This thing uses a built-in weirdo battery.... that can't be replaced by normal users! What's the deal??? I want to use AA batteries, so if my battery runs dead on the airplane, I can just pop in new ones from my camera!

5. Almost zero ports

Sure, it has USB2 port, but it only has one. And I hate hubs! Also, there is no Ethernet - what if I want to plug it into a Hotel network? And no FireWire! Totally lame!

6. Too thin.

It looks too thin. I want a little workout with a laptop. This thing will get lost or broken. Give me my IBM T21 any day.

7. Too expensive and attractive.

A Dell laptop can easily be found for under $1200. This one, the lowest end version, is $1799! Can you say "high profit"? And knowing Apple, they'll likely drop the price like a rock soon, just like they did with the iPhone. And it will be stolen or scratched. That'll really blow.

8. No OS9 support.

Everyone remembers how awesome OS9 was... but it won't run on this Mac! The only reason for a Mac is to run OS9 applications like Hypercard and IE5. Now it is an impossibility.

9. No audio in

This blows. There is no way to get audio into this thing. How am I going to rip LPs with this??? And Bluetooth? That'll never take off.

10. No 3G support

Yep, this one isn't compatible with Verizon. It doesn't even have analogue backup.

11. Not enough RAM

Everyone knows that 2 GB isn't enough these days. This is a huge limitation that will prevent work from being done. That's why business would never go with the Mac - 2 GB just isn't enough - a serious business always goes with at least 4 GB of RAM on desktops.

12. Not upgradeable

My desktop PC has 5 - count them - 5 PCI slots, plus a parallel port, floppy drive, and three DVD burners. This one has just one USB2 port. HA! It has zero memory slots, and no IDE ports. There isn't even a port for a Centronics printer! At least they finally unloaded Firewire.

13. Too big.

A 13-inch "small" notebook? PLEASE! I want a small laptop like the 10 inch Sony Vaio, not a huge ship anchor! Apple, PLEASE make a small laptop, under 2 pounds.

Conclusion
Clearly, as I and other industry experts have shown, the MacBook Air is fatally flawed. I'm sure other trade magazines will agree that the PC industry is going in the exact opposite direction, and for good reason - Vista deserves a Power Platform.

I'll let you know when my MacBook Air comes in.
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