Originally Posted by
Mr. Underbridge
Not only will the Macbook Air lighten your load, it will do the same for your wallet. No optical drive, no firewire? Sheesh. And if a small HDD is a problem now...I doubt it's 80GB drive will do much for you.
As others have mentioned, methinks the better option is ditching the messenger bag. I used a bag for a few weeks, and as you're finding, you feel every gram. I'm more comfortable with 20lbs strapped to my rear rack than with 5 lbs in a bag.
I won't put a laptop directly on the bike, but an option might be to keep laptop in the messenger bag or backpack and then put everything else (lunch, clothes, paperwork) on the bike.
For me though, the macbook is still tempting. The cost isn't out of line with with what we (the company) spends on other laptops, in fact we have at least 3 in use that cost quite a bit more. Firewire isn't an issue for a computer I use for work and only of limited use at home. I have another computer with firewire that will take care of those needs.
The lack of an internal optical drive sucks but again in my work I use an optical drive maybe every few weeks. A portable drive is not ideal but would do the job. I would have much preferred a slightly thicker notebook with a built in drive but that's not what they made.
An 80 Gig drive is smaller than I'd like and that may be worth waiting on. There are bigger drives in the same form factor that for some reason Apple isn't offering yet. It is enough, however, for my work needs. Home Video is the space killer on my personal laptop and I wouldn't use a work laptop for that purpose.