I need a small, light laptop with a good display, primarily for writing and coding with the occasional browsing (though I mostly use an iPad for that). I need excellent portability, high resolution, modest cpu, good battery life and ease of docking and use.
When I am on the move, I want as few openings collecting dust as possible. I want no fan sucking dusty air through the machine. In the past I needed USB for memory sticks, but these days that is rare as I send material over email or dropbox instead, or just check it into git. And I don't want to stick a foreign USB stick into my machine. Lack of USB1/2 is a bonus. I also have no need for external screens when on the move.
If I dock it, I want one connector to the laptop which goes to a hub connecting to all my desktop peripherals and power; I have no desire to click in lots of different connectors, power and other stuff. One cable, or a "click in" dock. Not two cables. Absolutely not three cables (power, display, USB). That's just nuts. Why should I need to plug all that cruft in when one cable could do it all? As to keyboard and mouse, those are bluetooth and need no cables.
The Macbook Air is a different model than what I want. It has unnecessary ports I would not use - and worse, no port which can do everything for docking. It has a needless fan sucking dust through the machine, and a low resolution screen, all in the name of getting more cpu power I have no need for. It's not aimed at the same needs. Merging those lines would leave some users out. And yes, my need is not the typical (although it is a lot more common than people on /. seem to realize). A lot of people still believe they need all those ports, even though they can't recall when they last used them. That is why the Macbook Air still exists, and will for a while longer. And yes, this is where Jobs would have simply killed it and told people to deal with it.