For $200 more, you can get a MacBook Air
It was January 2008, and Steve Jobs had just pulled the MacBook Air out of a manila envelope onstage at Macworld.
Within minutes, Windows PC executives everywhere lost their minds. They grabbed the nearest office envelope, tried to shove in their plastic laptops, and tore straight through the paper. Engineers were summoned. Assistants were dispatched for larger envelopes.
Okay, I have no proof that happened. But we all know what did happen next: imitation. Years of it.
Apple's history books all hail the iPod. The iPhone. The iPad. And then, somewhere between a sidebar and a footnote, the MacBook Air. But without the Air, the modern lapt …