So tonight as I'm riding against a stiff headwind and my back is getting sore from my overstuffed messenger bag, I was thinking about ways to lighten the load.

I hadn't paid much attention to Apple's announcements earlier in the day but tonight I checked out the Macbook Air and associated discussion.

Nice and light.

Lots of drawbacks.

My work supplied Dell is on its last legs and I've been bringing my personal 12" powerbook into work for the last year now so I'm pretty sure I could get one. For my purposes, it would probably work OK. The biggest drawbacks would be the small hard drive and lack of a user replaceable battery. Apple will replace the battery for $130 but it takes 5 days. Five days is unacceptable for a business computer.

Then there's the less than stellar performance compared to other Mac notebooks, the lack of a built in optical drive and no Gigabit Ethernet.

Still, taking a pound and a half out of my messenger bag plus 1/2" less bulk would make my commutes a bit more pleasant, - and it's quite a bit faster than my old powerbook.