MacBook Air, it might still be a hit

In a recent post I wrote about how the MacBook Air was a great product, but might have come out at a bad moment. I still believe that that is the case, as I think that a lot of people who would have been drawn to the Air will be pulled to smaller and cheaper machines such as the Asus EEE PC, the Everex Cloudbook (which is not getting good reviews) or a similar machine there are rumors that Acer plans to introduce later this year. All around, this seems to be shaping up to be the year of the sub-sub-notebook.

I might be willing to reconsider my initial feelings towards how well the Air will sell, however. From a personal point of view, I love it. It is elegant and lightweight and seems like a perfect candidate for being carried around for on-the-go work, for which I'm currently carrying around a Dell Latitude 620. A great computer, not too heavy, but not half as sexy as the Air (or light for that matter).

Today, I came across a post from John Gruber, about the Air, where he makes the case that thought the Air is not as powerful as the other MacBooks (and Pros), it is indeed powerful enough, as it beets one of the best Mac notebooks from just two years ago. Well, you see, I'd already reached that same conclusion while contemplating if I wanted to buy an EEE PC, or not. That it was capable of doing what I wanted to do, there was no question. I used to work, full time on Celeron 600MHz, not that long ago. Not to mention everything that came before that.

I've spent a couple of days working with an EEE PC, which I was evaluating. I can clearly do a lot of my work with it. This means that a dual core MacBook Air is certainly more than enough. Its full sized keyboard and much larger screen is, also, much better suited for use during longer periods of time than the EEE's smallish, though usable, keyboard.

My final conclusion is that both of these computers are representatives of two groups of notebooks which have similar goals, but which will be chosen will be a matter of personal taste and and deeper pockets. Smallest possible size or more "style"? Inexpensive or full sized?

Take your pick.