Is the MacBook Air a traveler’s dream come true?

by Jerry Guo on

Here’s the short answer: nope. On the upside, its form is absolutely revolutionary. At 3/4th of an inch at its thickest and just 0.16 inches at its thinnest, the MacBook Air is skinnier than anything manufactured by its competitors (such as Sony’s Vaio line).

But here’s the rub. You might as well just get an iPhone. An iPhone will let you do essentially the same tasks: watch videos, check email, browse pictures, and listen to your music.

And there’s one critical feature the iPhone has over the new MacBook for travelers. With the iPhone’s AT&T data line, you can get unlimited Internet from anywhere in the world (but outside of the states prepare to pay for costly roaming fees). That’s something you can’t do with the MacBook. As mobile as its form is, the MacBook is still tethered to those WiFi networks–which are soooo 2003, wouldn’t you say?

Having said that, Apple, I’d love to promote the Air if you’d just send me one. Please?

What’s your travel laptop?

by Grant Martin on

With my professional and personal careers both on the move, I have recently discovered the virtues of traveling with a laptop. I hate burning three hours in a random airport terminal with nothing to do when I could be blogging, writing grants or at the very least playing old-school video games. That’s why I’ve invested in a decent, small notebook, capable of running on batteries for 3-4 hours at a time and fulfilling my basic internet/office/DOS needs.

If you’re thinking of investing this year, check out Laptop Magazine’s Top 10 Notebooks of 2007, where the best units in a variety of categories are detailed. While the uber-media-ultra-expensive hepta-core Dell XPS blasto-station might not be up your alley, a variety of budget and portable laptops caught my eye and should be great for the savvy traveler.

My weapon of choice? The Thinkpad X31 running Ubuntu 7.04. Small, secure, fairly powerful, integrated wireless and none of the corporate chaff that slows down Windows computers. It’s kind of like the 1984 Mercedes Benz 380D that you converted to bio-diesel of computers, but I’ll tell ya, it’s a workhorse, doesn’t lock up and is chronically virus free.