What I think the next solid leap will be the dropping of optical drives, external and internal storage is getting cheaper, its getting smaller, better, faster, stronger, and honestly I feel like we are going to drop out dependency on disks soon enough. This is big news for the laptop world. Personally I have literately used maybe 2 disks in the course of a year now (not with the Thinkpad, much like the AirBook it doesn’t have an optical drive) , I’ve converted any physical disks I might need into virtual disks to be stored on my hard drives. The one cool think about the Air that I liked was its use optical drives of other computers wirelessly, thats something I would want the rest of the computer base to have available as a good step to ween ourselves away from disks.

Overall I’d say the Airbook as a one-up in regards to style (though I love the boxy solid feel and look of my 61x tablet), and I am defiantly a major proponent of the ultraportable idea, especially considering these days more and more people are opting for laptops over desktops simply because they really don’t need much more power or open customization. I still love desktops, but even I’m using just laptops now, one ultralight and one behemoth (for gaming and 3d model and photo editing).

I would say that the new MacBooks (with the 13″ screens) are perfect for most of the apps in Final Cut Studio. If you go for the $1299 MacBook, you will have the same processor as the lower-end MacBook Pro. Now this is fine for work in Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro, and DVD Studio Pro, however Motion and Color (an animation and color correction app) will not run well, because they use the GPU (and the MacBook doesn’t have a GPU).

If I was you, I’d go for the $1299 MacBook, or look for a refurbished MacBook Pro. You can probably find a refurbished MacBook Pro for about $1500, and that would be ideal. Otherwise, go with the MacBook – it’s an awesome machine.

(From sad pc owner- Trisha)

As for it being the future, if by making a product smaller it becomes the future, than ya, I guess. Unfortunately without being able to give it a new battery or even add any ram it won’t be too useful by next year. The iPhone, on the other hand, I imagine will still be awesome 3-4 years from now with a few software updates. Enable the damn video recording already!

@Arthus – professionals aren’t the only people who will consider buying a $1799 laptop … what about all of us entirely unprofessional people bewitched by anything with that little Apple logo?

I agree. The Air is much like the iPhone at this point. It is overpriced and underpowered. But really I think it’s just the beginning of a new generation of devices where people account for more than just features when buying a product. Prices will go down, and technology will improve. We’ll see where devices like that Air and the Eee PC will be in a year’s time.

~Proud owner of a MacBook Pro