The internet’s ablaze with talk of the the freshly-announced MacBook Air, so naturally I’ll speak my mind.

The MacBook Air is definitely a step in the right direction. Like almost everything else Apple touches, its industrial design resembles perfection. Smooth, curvey, and paper-thin; the thing looks slick as hell.

Also akin to everything Apple touches, it’s obscenely priced. Starting at $1800, it’s definitely the bank-breaker of the sub-laptop class. Asus’ EeePC is like $400, for comparison’s sake.

What’s amazing is that if you want to swap out the stock 80gb 4200rpm hard drive for a 64-gb solid state drive (ZOMG NO MOVING PARTZZ!!1one), it’ll cost you $1300 more. (see Apple store) I know solid state drives are new and shiny, but seriously, Apple? $3100? Sigh.

Another minor gripe, at least for some people, is that it lacks a user-replaceable battery. Not necessarily a deal-breaker, but something to keep in mind, knowing how wonderfully stable Apple’s history with batteries has been.

So, in a nutshell, the MacBook Air is, like the iPhone before it, a definition of “overpriced,” but exactly what the industry needs.

Hear that, Dell, HP, Sony, et al?