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The Ideal Mac Notebook For Road Warrioring

In this week's The Road Warrior Mailbag, a reader going by the Web handle of Colorado, submits a well-argued case advocating his ideal spec. for a MacBook for road warriors, noting that the MacBook Air is definitely not it.

"It's footprint & weight that counts, not thickness," says Colorado, "So, the main feature of the MBA was to solve a problem that didn't exist. While the unit is nice and light, because thickness was the overriding design goal, too many required features needed to be removed."

I pretty much agree, although I could live with the footprint necessary to accommodate a 13.3" display as long as I had enough I/O ports including FireWire and Ethernet, a replaceable battery, and RAM upgrade potential - all missing in the Air.

As Colorado puts it, "Almost all of my camera/video technology revolves around that 1394 port, as does every external hard drive I own. When in a hotel without wireless (and there are a lot of these, everywhere), how does one connect to the Ethernet network while simultaneously plugging in a software dongle?"

Colorado also included a 16-point outline of his idea of the perfect Mac laptop for road warriors. Here is his wish list with my comments and observations interpolated:

1. High impact, lightweight non-glare plastic case for superior WiFi broadcast and reception.

CM: I've pretty consistently been of a mind that high-strength polycarbonate plastic is the ideal material for laptop cases, and nearly 2 1/2 years as an aluminum PowerBook owner hasn't changed my mind. The aluminum case is OK; I don;t really mind it, but I don't really like it either. I prefer the tactile "feel" of my Pismos and other plastic laptops to the metal PowerBook. THe WiFi range issue also makes the choice of metal as a housing material illogical in a portable computer.

2. 12" non-glare LCD, LED backlight with MacBook-style hinge, lowering the height factor of the laptop to better fit in airline seat back trays (15" is untenable; 13" is almost too tall and is a problem quite often).

CM: This is a point where I part company with Colorado, but then I don't fly much, but I do detest scrolling, and like to have as much vertical pixel-depth as practical. As for screen type, I can't decide whether I like matte or glossy displays better. the ideal solution to that would be to offer both as options as with the MacBook Pro. LED backlights are definitely the future, and one of the factors that makes the next revision or redesign of the MacBook worth waiting for.

3. External, optional DVD player/recorder.

CM: Fine by me, but I want a FireWire (1394) interface as well as USB 2.

4. 2 USB 2.0, 1 1394a, 1 mini-DVI, 1-10/100 Ethernet, 1 headphone, 1 external speaker ports (obviously, power port required).

CM: That I/O array is pretty much what I would choose. Three USB 2 ports would be even better, but no need to be greedy in a subnotebook oriented toward lightweight road warrioring.

5. 1 security port.

CM: Check.

6. Easily replaceable HDD & RAM, just like the MacBook design.

CM: Yes and yes. The MacBook Air's 2 GB of RAM is borderline these days for anything more ambitious than the most basic computing on an Intel Mac, and the lack of provision for upgrading to more is a deal-breaker (one of several) with the Air for me. While I would be delighted for any laptop to have as easy and quick access to the hard drive as the MacBook, I would settle happily for just reasonable access without a major teardown, a provision that actually is satisfied by the MacBook Air.

7. Easily swappable battery. I would carry 3 or 4 on long trips.

CM: That's a lotta batteries, but an easily-swappable battery in any laptop intended for serious use on the road is a no-brainer. So, what were the MacBook Air's designers thinking?

8. Two-button mouse (it should not take two hands to do in OS X what it takes one finger to do in Windows).

CM: Good point. I can get along with the single trackpad button on my Apple laptops, but it does get tedious having to use the Control Key for right-clicking.

9. Optional iSight camera & built in microphone.

CM: Neither of these is a major priority for me. I use mics a lot for dictation software, but have never encountered a built-in mic that was even close to being satisfactory for that purpose. An analog sound-in jack is convenient to have, but all of my modern mics are USB. I can live happily without an iSight camera, since no computer of mine has ever had one (perhaps I don't know what I've been missing). A decent built in still camera, however, would interest me in a road 'Book

10. MacBook-style keyboard, possibly re-design slightly to provide more room (does the CAPS LOCK key need to be that HUGE, really now?).

CM: The MacBook-style keyboard is OK, I guess It's felt fine in my brief encounters, although I'll reserve judgment until I have one in hand for a few days production work. However, on my dream laptop, the keyboard would be like the PowerBook G3 Series models. Also on my wish list wound be a forward-delete key, which I miss when I'm using my PowerBooks away from my workstation keyboard.

11. 250 Gig fastest HDD available.

CM: Yesssss! Well, I could get along with something less than 250 GB, but faster drives are obviously nicer to work with, and make sure it's a real, 2.5" notebook drive and not a 1.8" iPod drive as used in the MacBook Air.

12. 2-4 Gig RAM.

CM: Pretty much covered this in my comment on item 6.

13. Best in class mobile Intel processor.

CM: Which currently means the Intel Montevina (or Centrino 2 in PC-speak), which Intel is scheduled to have in production by the end of June.

14. Optional graphics upgrade to drive high quality presentation equipment and monitors.

CM: Since this would mean going with a real graphics processor unit (GPU), why not just make a decent video support specification standard.

15. Work on the power adapter to further reduce the weight, if possible. Think of the system as a package. The current power adapter needs some thought.

CM: Also license the MagSafe technology to third-party manufacturers.

16. Low profile (height - with LCD open), lightweight (think of the current MacBook with a few ounces saved using a 12" LCD plus maybe 1 to 1.5 lbs saved with the DVD drive removed), and a small footprint - instead of worrying about the thickness, worry more about the length x width.

CM: As I said in my comments on point 2, I'm not necessarily onside with the low-profile and small display. I think a 13.3 inch, 16:10 screen is a reasonable compromise even in a roadgoing laptop - one thing Apple got right in the MacBook Air. However, the industry scuttlebutt out of the Far East is that a wholesale migration to 16:9 ratio displays is forthcoming, so Colorado is likely to get his low-profile unit.

He summarizes: "What I want is a MacBook with a 12" screen (it's all about footprint), better graphics to drive display technology for presentations, and a separate DVD drive (it's all about weight). Keep all the ports."

The MacBook Air has been a reasonably successful product launch for Apple, and it's not turning out to be a notebook analog of the G4 Cube as some lugubriously predicted. The Air has its place, but there is still a sizable cohort pining for a subnotebook MacBook with serious working computer capabilities - something in the tradition of the 12" PowerBook and PowerBook 2400c with Intel inside - smaller and lighter than the MacBook, which is, let's face it, nearly as large and heavy as a full-sized 15" Titanium PowerBook ( MacBook 5.2 pounds/12.78 inches wide; TiBook 5.4 pounds, 13.4 inches wide)

I think the MacBook Air is a cool little machine, but I would never buy one because of its many limitations. I would consider buying a 'Book like the one described above.



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cmoore@macopinion.com


Provisionally, you can access The Road Warrior Archive to Jan. 16, 2006 by clicking here.

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