Supermodel-Skinny computers all the rage, but is there any real point to it?

It’s not been 8 months since the January 15 release of the MacBook Air, the much-praised and equally maligned ultra-portable offering from Steve Jobs’ crew of catured alien computer designers from the future. The notebook was an historic first: a practical laptop that sported a large screen and a full keyboard, internet connectivity, and video conferencing capability, that measured a scant .16 inches thick (at its thinnest point) and weighed in at a feathery 3 pounds.

The thing sold itself…all Jobs had to do was pull it out of an inter-office envelope and the world went “Wow” and opened up their wallets, with Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer reporting that the MBA launch was “Successful…Our Mac channel inventory this past quarter did increase by about 60,000 in the March quarter, as the result of the MacBook Air launch and accelerated sales velocity.”

Of course it didn’t take long for the novelty of an ultra-thin, super-sexy notebook computer to wear off, because as quickly as everyone exclaimed “ZOMG I WANT ONE OF THOSE”, the more level-headed of us began asking questions along the lines of “…um…where’s the DVD drive?”

Now comes a little new competition, the Samsung X360. When compared side-by-side to the MBA, it is a strong competitor, but in the race to create the thinnest notebook in the world, I have to ask, really: what’s the point?

What the MBA possessed in sex appeal it lacked in functionality. In order to produce such a svelte machine, Apple stripped out virtually everything that makes a portable productivity machine productive. It is almost devoid of any IO, save 1 USB 2.0, a headphone jack and a Mini-DVI port. Still, the sex appeal alone has made it the “Ultra-Portable to Beat”, and it seems the quest to perfect the Ultra-Portable computer is on in earnest.

The most direct competitor up until now has been the Lenovo ThinkPad X300. Then HP gave us the Voodoo Envy. THIS computer has balls. But the price. Oh woe is the price. For all its features, the Voodoo starts out at a hefty $2099 and skyrockets to $3399, putting it out of range of, well, pretty much everybody.

And now Samsung has re-entered the fray with its new X360 Ultra-portable. You can see the tech specs here, in an article which was obviously written by a man who’s dog was killed by a Mac owner or something (I would hardly call OSX anything I’d ever have to “muddle through”, and indeed, would likely never call it anything but “vastly superior to Windows”), but suffice to say, the X360 would well serve just about every computing need (except the ability to play GTA 4 or Gears of War…I just about plotzed when I skimmed Google and incorrectly interpreted a post to read “Samsung to be producing Xbox 360s”). While it comes up short in the power department, it seems to cover all the other bases, even with its lack of Optical Drive. Its biggest selling feature is, of course, its size, which it claims to be “lighter than air”.

Samsung is obviously targeting the MBA with this device, so for giggles, I thought I’d throw together a quick comparison chart for you to reference:

And the winner is, as long as you’re not too too concerned with looks, the X360, by a landslide. With this one it’ll all boil down to price, which has yet to be announced.

The race to build the world’s thinnest notebook computer may be on, but IMHO, it’s not even a race worth running. This whole fascination with the thinness of electronics is pointless. Technology is always evolving, and components are forever getting smaller and more portable. It’s this whole “Wow, look how thin it is” mentality that leads to a press release every time some TV manufacturer shaves another 16th of an inch off the depth of an LCD TV. Honestly, who cares? Is it even news? In 2 years time, we’ll all be looking back at this “thin” period and scratching our heads over what all the fuss was about. If you want to really impress people, don’t follow: Lead. Create something truly innovative. Create a 12″ tablet PC that can access the Internet through my 3G Cell network and has a multi-touch interface that will allow me to freely interact with my OS without ever having to connect another wire or use another mouse. Figure out a way to cram all the components I actually WANT into a device without sacrificing what you have decided I NEED. And in Apple’s case especially, do it all and then get the HELL OUT of my device. (That’s hardly an innovative thought, but seriously Apple…get the hell out of my devices >:|)

If you’re a display manufacturer, and you seriously want to go off on a “Thin” tangent, then contact me when your TV behaves like THIS. Until then, I’ll stop what I’m doing and really take note, and possibly open up my wallet, when something truly groundbreaking comes along, like I did with this. And this. And this.