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I have never owned a Mac before, mostly because I didn’t see the value in owning one over a PC. I get that they may be “nicer”, but so are Porsche’s and you don’t see me driving one of those. I have no intentions of “going mac” and foregoing all of my PC’s. I have a desktop PC at home and one at work. My wife has a laptop PC. I use all of these machines almost every single day.

80% of my work is done via the cloud using tools such as Google Apps, Dropbox, WordPress, Wufoo, and Hootsuite. Therefore I don’t need “one computer” that stores my tools and files. I can access most of them from any machine in the world. I do not intend to stop using these PC’s. They are functioning perfectly on Windows 7 and are fast enough to meet my computing needs.

So, why did I buy a MacBook Air?

As you can see from my list above, I am missing a mobile computing device. I have been borrowing my wife’s for some time now. Plus I felt that if I had a mobile computer, then maybe I would migrate more to the cloud and truly become a mobile worker. There were 4 key factors in why I chose a MacBook Air over a netbook or laptop PC.

Battery Life: the goal is to be mobile all day long without having to pull out a huge power block and cord to connect to electricity.

Instant On: sitting down to meet with a client or work in a mobile environment should happen quickly and I’m tired of waiting on a 2 to 4 minute boot time.

MultiTouch Trackpad: i have really enjoyed the user experience of multi-touch on my iPhone and felt this would be awesome to have in a laptop

High-Res Display: this one is just reality slapping me in the face. you see I got reading glasses 2 months ago because my eyes are being strained every day reading computer screens. I’m 36 years old and never had a problem with my vision until this year. High-res matters to me, wish it didn’t.

Many have asked me, why didn’t I just get an iPad?

Because I create more than I consume. I think iPad’s are fantastic devices for consuming information and sharing experiences. However, I think they suck at creating things. The Air gives me lightweight portability in addition to the benefits listed above and includes a full keyboard. I realize I could have bought an external keyboard for the iPad, but I also need a fully functioning OS and not just ‘apps’ and a browser.

But what about the cost factor?

I bought the 13″ Air base model because I have plenty of raw computing power on my PC’s and just needed a solid mobile device. I did consider the 11″ version, but size matters and the extra bulk and weight were minimal. It cost $1299. However, I recently won a national award that included $1000 gift card. This MacBook Air I am typing on is my prize, literally. I doubt I would spent the money had I not won it, but given that it was a technology award – I felt I should buy some technology with it.

I’ll keep you posted on what I think of my new mobile computing device.