MacBook Air 2012 -- Too little, too late . . .

[OnTheRoadAgain]

I travel for pleasure, around the world -- a lot! For several years, I have lusted over a MacBook Air, although it was hard to justify replacing a perfectly good Dell Latitude 620 that basically met all my needs (web browsing, answering emails, downloading/viewing photos). My issues with the Latitude were size, weight, and battery life. I decided my justification for a new computer would be USB 3.0, as it often took 20-30 minutes to download photos from memory card to computer after a day's shooting.

Having made the decision to replace the Dell, I was completely focused on Apple. The iPad would have been perfect, but there is no [practical] way to offload photos from a memory card, via the iPad, and store them on a separate external hard drive (necessary with 10-30GB of photos per trip!). I was eagerly awaiting the new MacBook Air 2012, hoping for USB 3.0, SDHC card reader built-in, and the [drool . . .] Retina display. Of course, the new MacBook Air does NOT have the Retina display. While I was disappointed, it wasn't a show-stopper for me, and I was all set to place my order in July.

The Microsoft Surface announcement changes all that. If Apple HAD "upgraded" the MacBook Air with a Retina display, I would make the leap and go in that direction. The fact that Apple did NOT raise the bar sufficiently on the MacBook Air to differentiate it from the 2011 model, I am unwilling to switch to a platform that weans me away from my familiar Microsoft applications without a compelling reason. Apple has under-delivered, and lost me as a potential new customer by so doing . . .

[Turboladdade]

Sorry... I guess?

[unknown1]

Uh, Surface so far as consumers are concerned is pure vaporware. You should definitely not put off buying decisions for something Microsoft has not released yet. Remember Windows Phone? Zune anyone? Heck I would not put off a buying decision for something Apple may or may not be releasing.