MacAddict magazine had an ad-disguised-as-an-article in their Sep ’06 issue where they listed a MacBook Pro as a must-have for business travelers.
Perhaps MacAddict editors travel in business class all the time, but the fact is that since Sep 11 2001, it has been impossible to use anything like a 15″ notebook in an airplane in an economy seat. At least without resorting to bodily contortion.
You can use at most a 14″ notebook. And this is after making sure that the passenger in front of you has already pushed his seatback rearwards : you don’t want the seatback crushing your LCD.
My current job requires me to travel and I use my 12″ HP notebook for that. During my travels, I have seen business people use Macintosh notebooks : one 12″ iBook and two MacBooks. Yes, the 13.3″ ones.
These make a lot more sense for the business traveler in terms of size.
However, am I tempted to buy a MacBook? Not really.
I like my 12″ HP and my 12″ Powerbook. They are small and compact. And not too hot.
The one thing that turns me away from the MacBook is the heat.
Perhaps this is what Apple needs to do : come out with a 12″ wide screen MacBook Pro with aluminium case and really great power and thermal management to stretch out battery life.
Can that be done?
Well, HP has the NC2400 which is a 12″ wide screen notebook. It comes with a built-in optical drive and weighs just 3.6lbs. A 6-cell battery provides more than 5 hours of productivity. The downside? A slow 1.2GHz core solo processor.
Can Apple do better? Probably. An ultralight may not need overwhelming processing power. Current Windows notebooks are still being sold with 1.66GHz core duo processors. This will reduce heat and battery size. Being a Mac, this theoretical notebook may still weigh in at more than 4 pounds, but hey! It will at least fit in an economy seat!