Scott Culley raises a good point.
As a business traveler, I can understand the appeal of a very slim MacBook, something like the long-ago PowerBook Duo. What’s crazy is the push to shave a quarter-inch and a few ounces off the laptop’s specs.
The MacBook Pro contains a slower DVD-RW drive (4x, single layer) so it would fit in a slightly-smaller enclosure — a difference so small that I doubt most PowerBook users can tell the difference.
I love Macs because they combine a brilliant interface with powerful, reliable hardware. The handsome enclosures are a nice aesthetic fringe benefit, but no more than that. I think it’s foolish to compromise performance for imperceptible changes in style.

Scott Culley raises a good point.
As a business traveler, I can understand the appeal of a very slim MacBook, something like the long-ago PowerBook Duo. What’s crazy is the push to shave a quarter-inch and a few ounces off the laptop’s specs.
The MacBook Pro contains a slower DVD-RW drive (4x, single layer) so it would fit in a slightly-smaller enclosure — a difference so small that I doubt most PowerBook users can tell the difference.
I love Macs because they combine a brilliant interface with powerful, reliable hardware. The handsome enclosures are a nice aesthetic fringe benefit, but no more than that. I think it’s foolish to compromise performance for imperceptible changes in style.