It’s about time for me to return the 13″ MacBook Air to its rightful owner – my boss – and I have come to some firm conclusions.
1) My next work computer must be a 13″ MBA. No ifs, ands or buts – I need the reduced weight in my bag and the speed and performance are outstanding, not to mention the battery life. Hell, the i5 processor and only 128 GB of storage are sufficient.
2) While I could sure use a portable of my own, right now the move is to wait for the notional iPad 3. Basically on the pretense that innovations seem to move back and forth between devices. Just as the iPhone 4 got the original iPad’s A4 processor, and the iPad 2 got the iPhone 4’s FaceTime camera, and the iPhone 4S got the iPad 2’s A5 processor, I’m hoping that the (wholly theoretical) iPad three will include a faster processor, support for Siri, and (most of all) the ability to go on AT&T or Verizon with the same hardware, which would mean I could use Verizon in the States and still get GSM service abroad. Hopefully by then, we’ll have versions of SBNation and WatchESPN that work with iPad and UVerse respectively – the presence of Prompt and Spaces on the iPad have been a real leap forward in terms of “good enough” viability in case I had to try to do work on the bloody thing.
3) In the meantime, the combination of the iPhone 4 (running iOS 5) and the Kindle 3 (keyboarded with 3G) make a fairly decent personal solution. The screen of the iPhone is no great shakes for watching video, obviously, and my battery may start giving out sooner rather than later, but the iPhone is still the indispensable device. And the Kindle (freshly warranty-replaced) still has the browser, which is perfectly viable for RSS and Twitter – with the ace in the hole of unlimited free 3G access. A great solution for those long winter walks around San Francisco when I need reading material whilst sat in the cafe or the dive bar, without having to carry a bag. In fact, I intend to try that combo this very night, albeit not in the city, because the temps are finally turning autumnal. It’s kind of a drag having summer last from August through Halloween, but that’s the price we pay for no mosquitos/hurricanes/tornadoes/Vols/etc etc.
All right. Two down, twenty-eight to go. I will make this work, you’ll see…