All around me on this plane, guys are using laptops. In front of me, a guy is using a Gateway to create a spreadsheet doing an analysis of the Texas redistricting. He’s got it turned at an angle on the tray table in order to see what he’s doing. It looks like it weighs about 50 pounds. Across the aisle, a guy is using something that’s a little more streamlined and silver, but it’s still chunky and clunky, He can’t fit it on his tray table and it’s sitting half on the tray and half on his stomach so that he can angle the screen in such a way that it’s visible.
My Powerbook with it’s wide screen is sitting on the tray table with room to spare. The screen is angled back so I can see it, and it’s lightweight and very, very thin. The keyboard is set back from the front of the computer so you can stretch your arms to type – the PCs have their keyboards right up front. The Powerbook keys are very quiet, unlike the laptops around me which are clanking and clicking away. It’s just so elegant, and it seems to me that Jonathan Ive, the cutie who’s Apple’s design guru, probably spent a lot of time on planes when he was working on this one. How they managed to design such a powerful, lightweight, widescreen computer and put it into a 1 inch slim and convenient package is beyond me.
And, obviously, beyond the PC makers, as well. What’s amazing is that this Powerbook has been on the market for 3 years, and the PC makers still haven’t copied it other than to stick a wide screen in a 3 inch thick case.
I hope the new Powerbook I ordered serves me as well as this one, which is destined to be loved and nurtured by it’s soon-to-be adoptive family in Austin, the same family that adopted me for three days. I think my Powerbook will like it there.
