At the Apple iPad launch back in January, Steve Jobs took a brief moment to rant about netbooks. He called them "cheap laptops" that aren't better than a laptop at anything. He then went on to announce the iPad. One would assume that when a CEO of a company such as Apple bashes a product like that, they would never release one. Right? Meet the new MacBook Air.

The lowest end model has an 11.6" display at a 16:9 1366x768 resolution. It starts at a 1.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor with 2GB of RAM. For full specs, see here. Can somebody please tell me how this isn't a netbook? Netbooks generally have displays that are 12 inches or under, 2GB of RAM or under, and at the most I would say a 1.8 GHz processor. Sure the MacBook Air has flash memory and a higher resolution display but does that really mean anything to the consumer? Of course not. Most don't even know what flash memory is.

I love the concept of the MacBook Air. It's sort of like a whole new beginning for notebooks that really brings the best of the iPad into a very slim portable computer. It's almost guaranteed that flash memory and that instant-on display will make it into the rest of the Macs as soon as Apple's ready for a refresh. But aside from those features, I'm convinced that the MacBook Air can fall into the category of a netbook.

The only thing that makes the MacBook Air stand out from the rest of the netbooks is its price. It starts at $1000. That's cheap for Apple, but on the pricey side for the rest of the world, especially if you consider what you are getting. If you want to spend $1000, I don't understand why someone wouldn't just get a regular white MacBook that adds on a bit of thickness to pack more power in it. Or if you are 100% sure you need portability as a priority, why not get an iPad?

So while Apple is not calling the MacBook Air a netbook, I think it seems more proper. Some netbooks really do suck, but they don't all have to. The MacBook Air certainly doesn't, but in terms of its form factor and general capabilities, I think it fits in as a premium netbook, if you will.