Even if you narrow it down to the hardware options, Tariq, that’s never enough. The Nokia N95 has GPS and 3G, but some people wouldn’t want anything to do with it, all because it’s a little thicker than they’d like. You could recommend an iPhone, but if they want to tether, that’s then out the door. You can recommend a Blackberry, but sometimes the features are a little dicey when it comes to working with Macs, if THAT’S a requirement.

It goes on and on and on, as you know, and it points out the crucial flaws in finding the One True Device.

I couldn’t agree more. It’s the same reply I give to those who ask me what’s the best phone in the market. What’s the point of getting something high-end if all you need is one with Bluetooth to make handsfree call when you are driving. If you have no need for GPS and 3G, what’s the point of shelling out good money for it? It all boils down to your need. Tell me your needs and I’ll recommend you some devices.

>>>he doesn’t need a light, think device

A Think device would make sure mistakes like that didn’t happen.

Haw haw.

Really, if the MBA doesn’t suit his current needs, I don’t see what the big deal is.

I think why most people ask what device is best for them is because they don’t have the opportunity to test-drive them.

Here I am with a 1.8GHz Celeron and there are times I want to strangle someone for its slowness. And this is with XP and mainly being in *Firefox*. And even though I ditched SP3, MS has snuck some unknown “Updates” into it that make SP2 *slower*. So if other people have been experiencing something like this with their desktop, I can understand the hesitation in choosing a mobile device.

There’s an opportunity for someone sharp out there to hold Demo Nights with a bunch of hardware loaded up with requested software and people can come in one big group at one time and pass around different devices and try them the way they’d use them if they’d spent the $$$ on them. I don’t know how something like that can be done, but there’s a real need for it!

It is all relative. A loaded MacBook Pro can be hard to live with if you normally use a loaded Mac Pro. If a MacBook Air can run everything you need as well as you need it, then get one and do not worry about it. It does not have to be the smallest, fastest, blank-ist notebook to do the job. Plus, no matter what you get, there will always be something smaller, faster, blank-we available or out tomorrow.

As a happy owner of a MacBook Air, this is the first point I make when someone asks me if it’s the best machine for them. It depends. I’m more like Stevel Rubel, spending 80% of the time inside Firefox. I travel quite a bit, and the Air is perfect for that as well. Surprisingly, even on cross-country flights, I have found the air to be sufficient for my needs. Of course, I am not running Photoshop or anything overly intensive on the machine. When I’m not online, I’m busy preparing presentations, or presenting…not overly intensive stuff.

So your point is spot on Kevin. Of the dozens of people I’ve come across, on planes, in meetings, and amongst friends, I’ve only really recommended the Air to two people. the rest I have persuaded to consider a Mac over a Windows laptop, mostly because of how stable I’ve found my first Mac (this Air). If I could get this thing to tether correctly with my BlackBerry, this would essentially be my cloud computer.

Or in James’s case, many tools for the task! ;-)