No no, this isn’t about the MacBook Air. Ultra-portability but no dedicated graphics? What’s that? A betrayal of the PowerBook pedigree? Remember, the 12″ PowerBook had a relatively high-end video card, courtesy of ATI.

Sure, there are no significant problems with the current MacBook Pros (except that the 17″ model is a wee too big). There’s a need for small yet powerful notebooks, which are filled by competitors like the Dell XPS M1330. Has Apple lost interest in this niche? It’s clear that, at least two years ago, people were hungry for a small-form-factor MacBook Pro.

And the MacBook Air? Does it fill the shoes of the old PowerBook G4 12″? Of course not! Any laptop that carries Intel graphics is decidedly not a performance product.

Again, the question: where are your 12″ MacBook Pros Apple? You’ve got the engineering expertise and the mainstream computing platforms on your side; what’s keeping you guys from cramming everything into a truly portable laptop? It’s been relative eternity ever since you came out with the original MacBook Pro, and its smallest variant is long overdue.

Post from: The Gadget Blog