wishing the macbook air would have been 13" mbp

i was peripherally listening to the macworld keynote today waiting for something that would interest me.  i read all the rumors about a sub-compact laptop and was hoping for the best.  i am not a lover of widescreen laptops.  i love my 14" lenovo and all other standard sizes before that.  i've always felt that when you get into the widescreens, it no longer becomes a notebook, but a portable...i want the lightweight but powerful notebook.  to that end i use a lenovo thinkpad and a macbook pro (15").  i like them both...a lot.  for my daily typing i find i'm more comfortable on the lenovo keyboard...it has that tactile response akin to a 1985 ibm keyboard...for me it works.  but i love the overall industrial design, display and weight of my macbook.  at macworld, i was hoping for the announcement of the 13" macbook pro.  i like the macbook current design, but wanted a more powerful machine and an aluminum case (maybe even colored like their ipod lines).  but alas, steve seemed to be catering to the super lightweight class of design.

at a cost of USD $1800 as a base price, i feel they introduced something cool and priced it out.  for me it isn't even compelling enough to look at for that price (the solid state one is over USD $3000).  i know people say that the lack of an optical drive is no big deal because you rarely use it.  i used to think that too until i tried to use a laptop without one.  especially being ultra portable, i would have considered macbook air for a travel machine, but would want to watch DVDs, etc. (why not itunes movies you ask -- well, because i have my own DVDs and i like DVD extras and the ability to get new releases).  also the lack of ethernet is a bit troubling.  i use wireless all the time and i think rarely plugin, but i look to the times when i do plug in and would be frustrated that i would have to carry an ethernet dongle there.  when it is all said and done, the macbook air is cool looking and i can't wait to stop by an apple store and mess around with one, but for me, the features aren't there to make it worth the investment.  maybe i'll wait 3 months for jobs to screw the early adopters and reduce the price.

i wish it was a 13" macbook pro.  i love a lot of my macbook pro now, just wish that power was harnessed in the size of the macbook.  is that so hard?  if that would have been the announcement, i would have snuck out to a 'meeting' and gotten one today.