iPad 2

Back when the new MacBook Air came out I said to myself that it was exactly what I wanted from a laptop - enough power to view the web, watch movies, and not a whole lot more in the lightest package available. Truth be told, my current MacBook from 2008 still more than meets the first two requirements, and at 4.5 lbs. (according to Wikipedia) isn't too bad in the third (compare to the venerable Lenovo T410 at a bit more than a pound more). I didn't get one since that current MacBook is still under warranty until Thanksgiving, and runs like it was brand new. A bit better, actually, after doubling the system RAM. I got to thinking and realized that an iPad would actually meet my needs almost as well as the MBA while being cheaper. I'd lose a bit on power, but it's still enough to do what I want from it. By that point, I was well past the halfway mark of Apple's product cycle, so I decided to wait it out for the second version.

It was worth it.

I'm not going to bother to explain the differences, since any tech blog out there has done that to death and probably better than I can. I will say that since I bought it on launch day, I haven't touched my laptop. It's become a 4.5 lb. paperweight. Web: check. Music: check. Videos: check. It's there. Except Flash, of course, but since overuse of Flash is one of my biggest pet peeves on the Internet, I'm not really put out by it. (Virtually any web developer can tell you that what people use Flash for can very often be done by other methods that aren't anywhere near as system intensive. The quickly gaining HTML5 standard only improves that.) Granted, I can't play Flash games, but with the rather enormous App Store, of which many apps are free or cheap enough that I don't care, it's barely a concern.

Oh, and about launch day. I spent the morning running some errands, after which I started checking Twitter to see what the line was like. By 2:30, there was 50 or so people for the 5 PM on-sale time. I left home a little after 3 and got there around 3:30, by which time I would estimate that that number had tripled. That said, it wasn't a big deal. About an hour later (by which time the line had almost doubled again), the store's business manager came by and assured us that anyone in line at that point would be able to get one, although she didn't make any promises about which configuration. I wanted the top of the line - 64 GB, black, with Verizon. White looks cheap. All the while, they had people bring hot coffee, cocoa, and cider to anyone who wanted it, which was a godsend on a slightly chilly, windy afternoon. At 5 on the dot, the doors opened, and they started letting people in and they sent out a couple associates to hand out vouchers for the specific units people wanted. By the time they got to me, black AT&T models were gone at both 32 GB and 64 GB capacities. The one I wanted was still available, and I got my voucher. From there, it was another short wait until I got to the front of the line where I got my own associate to help me. He took me to the rack of Smart Covers (I went for black leather), of which they had many, although they were down to the last orange one. It's a shame the poly covers aren't better colors. I would have gladly taken an attractive shade of orange or royal blue (Go Gators!) rather than the Dreamsicle orange and UNC blue colors they were selling. I was given the option to set it up in the store, but I declined, preferring to take it home and deal with it there.

Setup was a breeze, especially since I had my iPhone backup to install to it. My desktop's USB ports even offer enough juice to trickle charge it, which it gets done overnight from around 50% charge, which is convenient. One major problem, though, is some ugly light bleed showing through the screen when it's dark. Looks like it's fairly common, too, so I'm hoping Apple acknowledges it and offers replacements under warranty. It's not as bad as some photos and videos of other units I've seen, but it's enough that my $900 purchase probably shouldn't have it at all. If not, I'll be unhappy, but not too much. All in all, it's a really amazing piece of tech, and as more and more apps are built specifically for it, I can see it become all that much more amazing. As it is, I don't see myself buying a new laptop in the near or even distant future. Not that I wouldn't take a free MacBook Air. (Anyone?)