Want.

Just to annoy John Gruber... you can't change the battery?

To be honest, that does annoy me. I understand why but it doesn't mean I have to like it. This is a notebook built for lightweight travel - you've got a home machine, and you'll have access to a machine where you're going, but you need something on the train/bus/airplane/car. You've got only minimal ports. It's not a speed demon - but you'll be able to get your work done... as long as the battery lasts, at least.

Laptop batteries don't last forever. After 2 years, your battery is probably on its way out. On my Powerbook, new, my battery lasted for about 3 hours. After 2 years, 1 hour. After 3 years, I got about 30 minutes of battery life, typing in MS Word. I currently get about 20 minutes of battery life.

When I buy a laptop, it's not like a cellphone or MP3 player - something I half expect to break, or replace, in a year or two. It's an investment in mobility. And for mobility, I need good battery life (or at least the ability to swap batteries) when an outlet isn't available. And let's face it - Apple sucks at providing peripherals for their own laptops - they never provided a car/airplane power adapter for Powerbooks, and the car/airplane adapter for current Macbooks/Macbook Pros is supposedly a rather unreliable piece of hardware. So, batteries are where it's at, and where the Mackbook Air falls short.