As a former MacBook Air owner, it looks like Apple solved the two most vexing problems with the original.

Memory

Two gigabytes wasn’t enough. Not then and certainly not now. If you are lining up to get yourself a new MacBook Air, pay the extra $100 for 4GB Ram. Forego Starbucks for a few months or sell blood. You won’t regret it.

4200 RPM

The original MacBook Air had a 4200 RPM hard drive. This was a remarkably slow hard drive. Sometimes I just wanted to reach in and start spinning it with my finger to speed it up. By making everything SSD, the new machine will feel like a screamer despite its lackluster CPU. My Apple spies are already telling me this is the case.

In addition to solving the above problems, the long life battery, instant on, and increased screen resolution don’t hurt either. It will be interesting to see who buys the 11” versus 13” models and how they get used. Regardless, those who thought an Apple sub-notebook was beyond hope (especially after the release of the iPad) can now rejoice (and go to their nearest Apple store). If I was in the market for a new MacBook, I’d be looking long and hard at those new MacBook Airs.