IMO, this is not the way the MBA is going to be perceived nor affect its success.

If I were in the market for a new laptop for work, the MBA would definitely be on my list as a replacement for my MacBook Pro. I don't want a sub-notebook's toy screen, and I don't need a massively capable video card to write code. Nobody using Photoshop professionally is doing any serious work on a laptop, and the only time I use an optical drive is when I install new software (rarely, and usually all at once), watch DVDs on my Mac (almost never), or back up files in bulk (probably once a quarter, since most of my work is document based and can be "backed up" via email). A single USB 2.0 port is clearly not an issue from either a portability or expandability perspective.

As I stated earlier I'll be closer to buying as the performance ratio increases. For now, I'll look forward to the early adopters making that possible for me.

I agree mostly with Shipley (thanks to Sica for the link).