For Me, A Disappointing Stevenote

Color me a bit disappointed in this year's Stevenote. It's not a surprise that I was hoping for a Mac mini media center, and I know I'm certainly not alone. The new MacBooks (meh...still getting used to the name) and iMacs are interesting and are a nice step for Apple into the Intel world, but neither machine fits my particular needs right now. What I want and need are two things, neither of which were released today by Apple:

1) a tiny, lightweight,
subcompact notebook capable of running Mac OS X. Something like the Sony Vaio U3, or one of the Toshiba Libretto models. Or better yet, a tablet PC that'll run something other than Windows Tablet Edition, or whatever they're calling it. The 12" iBook and PowerBooks are too big and too heavy and are the smallest things currently available from Apple. Go ahead and ditch the optical drive but include firewire, USB 2.0, Bluetooth, and Airport. I'm certain there's a market for these. Until Apple ships one, I'll be watching the hackers to see if anyone gets Mac OS X running on an ultralight. It might be a legal grey area, but I'm willing to buy an extra copy of Mac OS X and then install the modified version on the ultralight or tablet that Apple seems destined never to release.

2)
a media center computer that doesn't suck. Have you tried to use Windows Media Center? For lack of better language, it sucks. And I refuse to put at the center of my media center a virus and malware magnet. I've looked at MythTV, but don't have the time or Linux knowledge to build one. The Tivo Series 3 is looking promising, but it won't be out until mid-year. A Mac mini with an El Gato EyeTV device running hacked Front Row? That's another legal grey area, but I may find myself going that route.

I suppose, as far as Stevenotes go,  it wasn't too bad, but for me it certainly delivered less than I had hoped for. Current LiveJournal mood is disappointed.