Lessons From "Vintage Technology"

I've been reading with much interest all the early comments about the MacBook Air.  Some say it's underpowered or doesn't have enough ports or disk drives or whatever.  I'm looking forward to seeing them in Apple Stores so I can make my own call.  In the meantime, I've recently had a computing experience that reminds me to take all these comments with a grain of salt.

This weekend, my daughter came home from college to swap computers with me. She's been using a 12" PowerBook 1Ghz with 768 MB RAM. It has served her well for 2 1/2 years at college, but she's finally hit the wall. In her advanced Calculus class she's using Excel to write formulas and apparently she needs to use the Windows version of Excel.  So, I offered her my MacBook with Vista running in a Boot Camp partition.  I'm back to using the 12" PowerBook while I decide what my next notebook will be.  I say "back" to using it because this was my computer originally. I have had 3 others since then: a 15" PowerBook G4 1.67 Ghz that my wife uses, a white MacBook that my youngest daughter got when her iBook died, and the BlackBook that I sent to college with my daughter. 

I'm thinking about getting the MacBook Air but I'm waiting until I can hold it and decide for myself.  I don't do video editing. I mostly use Safari, Microsoft Office, and QuickBooks. My tax software runs on Windows and I also need to run both the Mac and Windows versions of QuickBooks. For the moment, I'm running all the Windows apps on my office iMac and connecting to it using gotomypc.com when I need to run a windows app on the PowerBook.  

Using this device is reminding me that my needs are simple.  I remember how much I enjoyed the form factor of the 12" PowerBook when I first had it.  I wish that Apple had not retired it and I was hopeful that the MacBook Air would be the reintroduction of the thinner AND smaller computer.   What I'm also realizing is that even with the slow processor and not enough RAM, Leopard runs great for small tasks and  all my stuff (except Windows) is fitting on 60GB with 21 GB to spare.  I've read a lot about the EEE PC and other small computers. If you can find a 12" PowerBook in good condition, it probably is more powerful than Asus EEE PC and has a more usable keyboard and screen.  It probably doesn't cost much more than the EEE PC either.  

What this computer tells me about the MacBook Air is that it is definitely not underpowered for my needs and I can probably make the 80GB HD work.  As much as I'd like to have the SSD, I just can't see dropping another grand right now.  I'm sure that my re-infatuation with the PowerBook won't last and as I keep reading about the Air my gear lust will take over. But, for now, at least, I'm enjoying the time spent with an old friend, my 12" PowerBook.  What's your favorite computer of all times? Leave me a comment or catch me on Twitter as Taxman45.