One thing that really surprised me about the recent Apple laptop update was the lack of love for the MacBook Air. It could be that Apple is expecting the iPad to take over as the ultraportable workhorse, but I think this is the wrong way of looking at the Air. It isn’t so much the end result as it is a direction for the future of the whole MacBook line.

People love netbooks because of their portability. But if you’ve ever used a netbook, the main problem is space. The keyboard is cramped, the screen is cramped, the storage is cramped, and the performance is cramped. With a device not much faster than an iPad trying to run a full modern OS, the experience isn’t going to be ideal. With the MacBook Air, however, you get a full-sized screen, keyboard and trackpad, on top of a decent amount of computing power. As I see it, the trend will be towards ultraportables like the Air rather than netbooks as a mobile productivity solution.

Many people accept the Netbook’s weak performance because of its small size. However, most Netbook makers are so overly obsessed with the width of their devices that they end up ignoring their thickness. I’m sure some people will disagree with me, but I think the thickness of an electronic device is much more important than the other dimensions. Anything you might use to carry a Netbook in (messenger bag, backpack, etc.) is easily large enough to hold my laptop. The limiting measurement of most bags is the depth. In that sense, something like the MacBook Air is more portable than a thicker Netbook. And with the extra keyboard and display real estate, there’s no doubt in my mind that a person would be more productive on an Air than any given Netbook.

Of course, another big draw for Netbooks is their price: you can get any Netbook on the market for a fraction of the price of an Air. However, your productivity takes a huge hit by saving that money. The size and performance of the Air, in my mind at least, makes it worth much more than any Netbook. Also, advances in chip and memory design will surely reduce the cost premium for thin notebooks like the Air in the near future.

Even if the Air is more powerful than a Netbook, performance still needs to be addressed before it can be taken seriously. While an ultraportable laptop should not try to take the place of a 17” MacBook pro with dedicated graphics, it’s reasonable for it to have parity with mainstream 13” portables on the market. Productivity would be seriously hindered without this level of power. Fortunately, processor technology has been moving towards cooler and more efficient models rather than simply faster speeds. This will make it easier to put the same processor that’s in a MacBook Pro into a smaller case. As this becomes more possible, the Air form factor will take over as a mobile computing solution.

Many people feel that the future of portable productivity lies with devices like the iPad. I don’t think this is a viable solution, however, because I still think you need a good deal of power, a standard operating system and a full keyboard. Apple hasn’t stood behind the Air as much as many would have liked, but I think its future looks bright.