My first machine was the late the 17-inch G5 powered iMac. A year of blood, sweat, and effort was put into obtaining this machine. Countless lawns were mowed each week as I put money toward the large (for a 13 year old child) purchase. This G5 introduced me to the Macintosh culture, while helping me begin a writing career and giving me an outlet to showcase my creative work online from an early age. I kept the machine for 24 months before progressing forward and beginning my journey through the product line.

The Second iMac

Next came the iMac Core Duo 17″. I sold the G5 and progressed to my first Intel based machine. I don’t remember much about this machine, however whilst owing this iMac my photography hobby continued to expand, and I moved to Aperture for image processing and cataloguing which the machine amply handled.

The First Portable

My introduction to portability came with the MacBook Core Duo 13.3″. This laptop was purchased to run alongside the iMac Core Duo.

Once I started using this laptop I began using the desktop less and less. I found writing to be a much more enjoyable experience in comfort. Blogging volume and quality went from strength to strength as I was able to blog while away from home, on the couch, and in the backyard. I’d been positively introduced to the portable world.

The Pro Workstation

After my introduction to the portable world, my next purchase was set to be a 15″ MacBook Pro and a 23″ Apple Cinema Display, however the fanboy in me took over and purchased the holy grail of Apple products, the Mac Pro 2 x 2.66Ghz and a 30″ Apple Cinema Display.

As a self proclaimed Apple fanboy, the thought of owning a Mac Pro was a distant dream I thought about from time to time but nothing I ever thought would come to life. With a large wad of cash in hand, I pulled the trigger on the baseline Woodcrest Mac Pro.

Packed with a quad-core processor, 10GB of RAM, two large hard-drives, and attached to a 30″ Apple Cinema Display the Mac Pro flew through any task I threw at it. For the first time Aperture felt snappy, not lagging on export or when making adjustments on RAW files. Yes – it was more power than I required or could put to use 90% of the time, but the sheer experience of power blew me away.

The Pro Portable

Whilst still owning the Mac Pro, I received a MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 15″ which I planned to run alongside as a writing and browsing machine I could use while out of the office. After a few weeks with both pro machines in my armory, I began using the MacBook Pro more than I had planned, the majority of my work moved from the office to the couch.

I made the decision to see rid of the Mac Pro to free up my cash flow. I was sad to see it go, but I was more than happy with how the MacBook Pro was coping with the light Aperture work, and day-to-day tasks. I still had the option of hooking it up to the Cinema Display when I needed to get some serious work done. However, after a month collecting dust I also sold the Cinema Display and made use of Spaces for virtual screen real estate rather than the cumbersome, quickly aging Cinema Display.

The Current Machine & Plans

12 months on I received an offer I couldn’t refuse for the 15″, I picked up the Unibody MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 13.3″.

For the past 18 months I’ve been settled using a MacBook Pro as my primary work machine. The 15″ was running on 4GB of RAM whilst the 13″ has been running stock since it arrived.

I’m playing more of a focus on photography in my free time once again I’m beginning to feel the constraints of both the power and limitations of the 13.3″ display. I’ve thoroughly thought out the logistics of adding a 27″ iMac to my office, however I’ve loved having all my data accessible in one location. The ability to simply pick up the laptop and move my work anywhere is invaluable, making a move to a desktop machine unattractice.

Instead of adding a second machine, I ordered 8GB of RAM for the MacBook Pro. In regard to display constraints I’m waiting for a larger Apple Cinema LED Display. The 24″ looks very attractive, however the extra resolution a 27-inch panel offers would be invaluable whilst editing in Aperture and viewing documents side by side. I wait in patience.

Notable issues included reports of far less than the advertised battery life/expectancy, and extremely noisy system fans which could have been easily mistaken for the sound of a small desktop fan. Not what you’d expect from a computer, let alone one manufactured by Apple.

All issues aside, the second revision of the MacBook Air corrected both of these issues, and further more in the third revision introduced at WWDC 2009, bumped the speed of the machine considerably. In the 18 months since the machine was first introduced, the base CPU has been bumped from a lowly 1.6Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Merom chip to a more than acceptable 1.86Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn.

Memory limitation is still 2GB, soldered to the logicboard. However the latest inception of the laptop is powered by 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM, rather than slower 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM. The stock 64GB SSD which was available in the first generation can now be had in a 128GB SSD variation. Specifications wise, the MacBook Air has come a long way in its first 18 months on the market.

Most complaints regarding the heat issues, poor battery life, and less than adequate storage limitations have ceased.

The current lineup of portable Apple machines runs in three lines. The MacBook, the MacBook Air, and the MacBook Pro.

Not so long ago the MacBook was updated to feature the same unibody design as its older sibling, the MacBook Pro. Less than two months later with the Pro line was expanded to include a 13″ option, the unibody MacBook was discontinued in favor for a single cheaper plastic bodied laptop.

The current line leaves us with a choice of either a 13″ MacBook, two variations of the 13″ MacBook Air, and three sizes of the MacBook Pro.

The direction we’re heading in makes it quite clear that the merging of the MacBook and the Air lines would make sense, and is certainly possible. The Air becoming the MacBook whilst the Pro line remains as is in three excellent size choices.

This merge would make things much more simple for those out to buy an OSX-based laptop. A 0.16-inch super thin, design conscious yet powerful for everyday tasks MacBook. Or the MacBook Pro for those who want a little more expandability or screen real estate in their system, in 13-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch variations.

The only way I see it making sense to have the plastic MacBook in the lineup is when bought in bulk for education faculty and students due to their cheaper build cost. In that case, why not just offer it in the educational store only?