Fantastic! They should look the same. It's an excellent, flexible, elegant and functional template for a professional laptop; as are Apple's Pro series laptops.

I've carried a company issued Thinkpad for the last 12 years and used Apple laptops and desktops for personal use for almost the same period.

I just picked up a new T61 from work and would, and am planning to, do anything to get an X300 or other smaller machine.

I would've most likely have bought the MBA on my recent travels through the US as well, but the darned things weren't on the shelves.

I had the chance to fondle one locally yesterday. I would definitely travel with it, meaning I need to think through how it fits into my personal computing framework or pull the miracle and make it my primary travel machine.

*GAG* You're right. There was a profile shot on Gizmodo the other day and there it sat, awkward jagged black plastic latches sticking out in all directions, exposed screws, and a design inspired by Soviet-era wheat thrashers. It is the anti-MBA. Some people like that, evidently. Paying an extra grand for something slower with smaller battery, though, doesn't make much sense to me, but it does have an available internal optical drive for all those times you have to reinstall Office!

I wonder if it's available with OS/2?

Actually, CPM-86 is available as an option

Just got back from my first (short) trip with my MacBook Air and it worked great. Next week I'm off to Belgium for a week and that will be a truer test.

Never used OS/2 thankfully. IMHO, the TP and Apple laptops have historically shared a common "keep it essential and practical" design ethic. Lenovo is moving away from it. Apple may be carrying it a bit far.

My previous TP, a T42, traveled extremely well for 3+years. I don't like XP, but it was reasonably stable except for the last 3 months. The CD/DVD was seldomly used. I don't think I'd miss it.

The new T61 is a pure Lenovo product. It still uses the basic Thinkpad design principles but doesn't feel as well constructed, and it's big and heavy and the battery (extra cells) discharges and charges seemingly too fast. I'll try to get an X300, but the MBA felt like a work tool the first time I picked it up and opened it. I'd be able to use it as compared to dealing with it. And OS X is so much nicer.

Cmon, stop comparing the X300 w/ SSD to MBP with regular hdd. This annoys me to no end. If you dont want an SSD, fine, wait till Lenovo release a regular hdd model (they said they would be coming), at which time ill consider buying it. In the mean time, ill be sticking w/ my lovely t60p (15" S-IPS+ Flexview UXGA...droool)

When did the MacBook become a ThinkPad?

Returning to MacBook discussion (if 'MacBook Air' is still the place for it), I recommend michswiss, if in Australia now, visit a JB Hifi to get 10% off the MacBook Air.

(Also for Aussies: did you know Apple also offers a 10% discount for govt. employees? Only heard of that today.)

OS/2 was a great OS. It was advanced compared the alternatives at the time. OS/2 2.0 was one of the first OS that ran in protected mode on PC hardware. Each process got its own address space, and that made it much less likely to bring each other down along with the OS. DOS, Windows 3 and even Mac OS 5 and 6 at the time were prone to system crashes.

MacBook Air and ThinkPad X300 are similar in specs and were released around the same time. It is inevitable they will be compared head to head.

Oh no, better call Steve. He hates stores selling at a discount.

Has anyone loaded Fusion or Parallels on their Air? My question is whether you can use the Air's virtual DVD utility inside Fusion or Parallels? Any problems?

I have Fusion on my Air. When I got it from our IT people, they did the install, it wouldnt start Fusion. It would just blink at me and then disappear. I found a setting in Fusion that tells it that there is an optical drive available. It if isnt plugged in it aborts the start up. I plugged the optical in, started Fusion, unchecked the box regarding the optical and now it works fine without the optical. I havent tried the virtual DVD utility yet.

I have had my MBA for about two weeks now, and it has been pretty good to me so far. I got a stock model, no external HD but with an ethernet dongle (which sits in my kit bag with my modem dongle). I was sick and tired of carrying around a MBP (size, weight), and once I had a chance to feel the computer in the store, I was sold.

First thing, the form factor is great. Fits inside my existing bags no problem, well, mostly fits in the small side pocket of my main travel bag, instead of the main computer pouch The computer *feels* solid. Not flimsy at all. I don't worry about damaging it by breathing on it.

The power adapter is small, 45W, which means I will finally be able to power and use my empower adapter properly (the MBP was 80W, which overwhelmed some airline systems). Same problem using AC's normal power port, as it is recessed and the Apple designed bricklet doesn't fit properly. I have a small 5$ extender I use in this situation. This is something you need for any Apple computer, and is not an MBA issue. When traveling on AA or UA, my Empower magsafe adapter works fine.

Haven't missed the optical media drive yet, and only missed the lack of 2 USBs once. I use a 3G network adaptor via USB, and I wanted to read a memory stick. Deal breaker? Not so far.

Power? I get on average 3.5-4 hours of use. Standard settings. Bluetooth is off, WiFi is on if no 3G card in use. I find power is sucked down by my 3G internet connection (it was in my MBP as well). It charges slowly.

Much cooler on my lap than my MBP.

The keyboard is nice, but I find the effort to press the keys is harder than I am used to - reminds me in that respect to the old school IBM keyboards of decades past. But there is surprisingly good movement on the keys.

First time ever I have moved to a slower computer from a faster - it mostly is the HDD I think. It is noticeable from a MBP, but I was playing around with a MB, and it felt the same. Given that the MBP is one of the fastest notebooks out there this is of no surprise!

I run on this computer a customized install of Adobe Master Collection, Lightroom, MS Office 2008, my iTunes library, and some small work based apps. I have about 30Gb left on the HDD.

My office computer is a new iMac 24", which runs a full meal deal of the apps above plus VMWare (usually running 2 VMs). I do not have a reason to run VMWare on my MBA.

This is the right computer for me. For you? Not for me to tell you. But this is my primary computer at home, and outside of the office. I do more than just Word on it. I edit photos, make podcasts, design websites, maintain web applications, and make presentations all on my MBA.

I have found myself replacing my PDA in meetings with it. It is easy to carry around the office, and is so much easier to plan or work with than any PDA I have ever used.

So so far, so good!

I was gone for almost a month overseas and left before apple stores had demo units to touch and play one. I was at a store earlier this week and after playing with MBA for 10 minutes, decided to pick one up shortly.

I've had a G3 iBook for 4 yrs, company purchased and so plan to get them to buy me a new traveling notebook. Coming from G3 iBook, this will be plenty of firepower for my simple needs.

My questions:
1. What other goodies should I get? I will get the external superdrive and the usb ethernet adapter - what else what you all suggest. It's the company's nickel.
2. What's the most painless migration method - moving my data from old iBook to MBA. No firewire and I read connecting them by CAT5 cable will work?


Btw, feels a lot lighter than 3 lbs. I notice the weight of my iBook when I put into my tumi pc bag, along with all the chargers, camera, files, paperback book when I travel. Will the 2 lb difference be noticeable?
Thanks

I found the migration utility very simple for moving over my data - though I would do fresh installs of your applications. Given you will want to update them to Universal Apps if you can (esp. MS Office if you use it) it makes even more sense.

I think you have all you need in the way of peripherals - in fact I did not pick up an external DVD drive - haven't missed it yet!

I have noticed the difference in weight over my MBPro - a kilo is a kilo!

I would get an airplane power adapter, an extra power cable (standard one) and an extra dongle for for video out. Those are all from Apple. I would also get a USB hub. I have the one from Hawking Technology. I got it from Amazon and it works great both to add multiple USB devices and as an extender to get devices that are two wide to fit in the small USB port hooked up. Ive been routinely using it with a Novatel USB modem (Verizon) and USB drives.

I have had my airplane adaptor from my MBPro - totally forgot to suggest it. You will find yourself hanging your MBA over the edge of the tray (or your knees) when you use it tho - it is not low profile like the adaptor. If you have a projector, just get the right video out for it, the MBA comes with both (VGA and Digital)

-Brian

Thanks all for the suggestions. The usb hub and extra power adapter are now on my list.

Brian - not sure what you mean by above: airplane adaptor?