A note about the MacBook Air
January 21, 2008
The new MacBook Air looks like an great machine, and I wish I had a need for one. I don’t have a desktop at home, and I doubt I would be happy with the Air’s performance as my primary workstation, so planning on sticking with my MacBook Pro for the foreseeable future.
What’s exciting to me (besides the multi-touch and other new features that should eventually make their way to the MBP) is that it seems like a great reason for Apple to push bluetooth data tethering on AT&T in a future software update or revision to the iPhone. Steven Frank mentioned this in a recent blog post, and I tend to agree. For a laptop that’s designed for portability, it makes sense to have some other option for network connectivity, and without an ethernet jack or ExpressCard slot, bluetooth tethering would fulfill that role nicely.
Bluetooth data tethering is one of the big reasons I haven’t seriously considered buying an iPhone yet. Although it’s slow and I rarely really need it, it’s invaluable when I need to get some work done and I can’t find a reliable WiFi connection. I’m sure AT&T won’t be quick to get behind it, but I still have my fingers crossed.