How I must resist the temptation to buy one of these still. So far Apple finally raised the RAM on the minimal model because 512 MB RAM was painful on it along with other models that sacrifice RAM for the video. I experienced it firsthand with an Intel-based iMac at work; when the RAM was doubled to 1 GB, the iMac rocked. The hard drive increase and the speed bump to the processor are gravy, especially with the price remaining $1100. Definitely something I’d recommend over the MacBook Pro if cost is the biggest factor now.
Next stop with portable computers? LED-backlights instead of a lamp! This will save energy, be less likely to burn out or decline as lamps do and the display could be made thinner. The other step is Flash-based-only storage as the iPod Nanos have but I think that will be farther down the line since getting at least 40 GB’s worth into one spot may be trickier and more expensive than it sounds. It’ll definitely save energy and be faster too since my wife’s iPod Nano can go 20 hours between charges, sometimes longer when it’s not using my FM tuner. Meanwhile, my iPod Mini is 10 hours if I push it and don’t flip around in the playlists due to the internal hard drive having to spin.