Is it just me or is the MacBook Air a little underwhelming? Its a marvelous technical achievement, I have no doubt, but over the last few MacWorld keynotes I've always come away yearning for the latest Apple release - this year I don't. Here's why...

So the more svelte Air should appeal to me, but while it has the obvious physical size/weight advantage over my MacBook, alas it has just too many compromises. The lack of a proper wired Ethernet socket, the single USB, the lack of an built-in optical drive and perhaps most importantly, the small hard drive all come together to make it a disappointment.

Already outgrowing my 160gb drive from in MacBook I was ready to pull it and replace it with one of the new Western Digital Scorpio 320gb laptop drives. Then a few weeks ago the Hitachi 500gb 2.5" hard drive was announced, so I may hold off for that now. Either way I couldn't go back to an 80gb drive like the one in the Air. Apple sell a 160gb iPod Classic with a 1.8" drive and I can only surmise that its a few millimetres thicker than the 80 and so won't fit in the skinny supermodel chassis of the Air. Don't even get me started on the Solid State Drive option. How much for 64gb? Maybe in another year or two when sizes and prices are a tad more realistic.

Yes, the Air has some nice gesture control taken from the iPhone (is there any technical reason why these gestures couldn't be added to my MacBook? I already use "multi-touch" like the two fingered click and scrolling drag).

Who wants to pay 70% more for a slower laptop, with less hard disk space? Not me. Of course there maybe some people who value those extra inches more highly than me. But then why not buy an Eee PC for £200 and spend the £1,000 left over on a nice holiday :)

Also - lets not forget here that the MacBook is no fatty. It's an inch high for goodness sake! Hardly the Rosie O'Donnell of the laptop world. And while MacBook Air maybe Kate Moss, I've always been a sucker for the curvaceous lady. I'll take the middle road. Give me the MacBook Marilyn Monroe any day!