Here’s the eBay link to my MacBook Air sale.
In September of 2009, I wrote a review of the latest Apple MacBook Air after using it for over a month. In that review I said:
Apple’s MacBook Air is the best $1900 Netbook I’ve ever owned. Apple has managed to create a notebook that can go anywhere, do anything and satisfy 90% of my needs in such a small package that it makes me wonder what took me so long to get one. Yes, there are caveats but I’m the happiest Mac user ever with The MacBook Air.
My opinion of the MacBook Air hasn’t changed. It’s still the best notebook I’ve owned. It’s simply stunning and I can’t imagine living without it. Why am I selling it?
This rumor got me thinking. The current shipping Apple notebooks were all updated before mid-June 2009. I fully anticipate a MacBook update soon w/ new 32 nanometer processors and switching away from Core2 to Core i5/i7. Will the MacBook Air get these updates? I’m not sure and I can’t really imagine going back to a full size notebook after carrying the air around for 6+ months.
My new job at Brightkite provides a MacBook for me and it’s fast enough for all of my work tasks. It’s heavy compared to the MBA but I certainly can deal with the weight for the time being. This also means, for the past 10 days, my MacBook Air has been sitting at my desk at home gathering dust because I’m not about to carry two notebooks to work with me.
My philosophy of only owning things I use once a week applies to this. If I don’t use something at least once a week, I don’t need it in my life. That includes books, CDs, kitchen supplies and even electronics. It’s been one week and I haven’t used the MacBook Air once simply cause it’s not convenient.
Another factor is that, in less than a month, Apple’s iPad will be shipping and I was hoping that it would replace my MacBook Air for 80% of the time which means 6 out 7 days a week I grabbed my iPad instead of my MacBook Air.
So, in summary:
- New iPad ships in less than 30 days
- New Core i5/i7 Apple notebooks shipping within 60 days (based on rumor and past Apple product timelines)
- Work provides me with a MacBook that is better in performance than the MacBook Air but slightly heavier.
All of those factors lead me to the only solution which is to sell my MacBook Air. If everything aligns, I’ll enter the month of April with an iPad and Core i5 MacBook Air in my bag. The MBA for work (faster than the MacBook work provides for me) and the iPad for personal things, email on the train and books.
Right now, I have to whip out the full size MacBook on the train, plug in a 3G card (that I pay $65 a month for) and make sure I have battery life left when I arrive at the office 2 hours later. The iPad will serve book-reading, email and RSS while I make my way to the office w/ its included $30 a month 3G connection. I’m pretty stoked about the iPad and the MacBook Air w/ a new Core i5 would be terrific. I’m only hoping Apple can up the MBA memory from 2gbs to 4gbs of ram and I’ll be sold.
So, in anticipation of a new MBA and new iPad and with the fact I have a laptop right now that’s pretty darn fast, I’m selling the MacBook Air.