Rumors flying around on the day before Steve Job’s MacWorld Expo keynote suggested that there would be a new laptop, which had an AT&T cell connection for perpetual Internet access. It was a great idea, but it was wishful thinking on steroids. What Steve Jobs offered instead was a very thin MacBook, which costs $1,799 but can cost you an extra $1000 if you want it to be diskless.

The immediate gripe emerging from the ether was that the battery is not swappable by the user. Is that really a gripe? I’ve had the MacBook Pro I’m writing this on since the dawn of Intel Macs and I’ve never even thought about changing the battery.

I can gripe better than that: The MacBook Air is all form and no content. Yes, it’s a masterpiece of minimalist design and I see no reason why a MacBook Air shouldn’t immediately be put on display in the Tate Modern in London or the Museum of Modern Art in New York. But minimalism has its price. I’m not talking about Apple premium pricing (there’s nothing minimalist about that), I’m talking about the MacBook Air having just one USB port. I need two – for my wireless mouse and for a memory stick or to plug in my iPod or my iPhone or attach to a printer or to plug in a camera or to plug in my Skype phone. Did I say two?

Great design Steve, and we know that once the wireless world takes off USB ports will gradually go the way if the floppy drive, but you are a “little bit previous” here.

The Apple TV

For me the Apple TV v2.0 announcement was more interesting – the original AppleTV being dissed by Steve Jobs himself as a “hobby” – he now introduced one which is more of a day job. The old Apple TV was a kind of iPod/repeater which mimicked your iTunes library from your PC. This Apple TV can also be completely independent and download movies directly from iTunes to play on your TV.

To support this capability, Apple’s iTunes also is now selling more movies and will rent them to you for $2.99 for older titles and $3.99 for new releases. (and for a dollar more you can rent in High Definition). You can also play YouTube clips, if you want free content.

The iTouch

Finally the iTouch (the iPod that nearly thinks it’s an iPhone) has some new apps, which it should probably have had from the get go. They are Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes and Weather. If you already have an iTouch, you can buy them as an upgrade for $20.

If there’s a lesson here, it’s that Apple rarely gets it right first time – but it usually gets it right in the end. The next version of the MacBook Air will probably fill me with wonder, like this one didn’t.