14 DAY TRIAL // After all the trouble Apple has gone through to cut down the weight and size on that MacBook Air, people now think it's too thin? Nigel Barker, a judge on Tyra Banks' reality show, America's Next Top Model, expressed his thoughts on the Air in an interview with Joanna Stern of laptopmag.com. Barker says the Air should "chunk up a bit," starting with an optical drive and some USB ports.
When asked "what about [the MacBook Air] laptop would push it to the next round?", Nigel praised Apple's taste in design, emphasizing its slim silhouette and the silver appearance: "I like the idea of this laptop a lot. I guess slim and skinny is always in. I think the Apple silver look is always really striking."
But then, Nigel got all fired up and and started mentioning its lacking features: "I don't like the fact that it doesn't have CD/DVD drive," he said. Barker believes this is what's holding the Air back from being a finalist. The photographer went on describing Apple's super slim laptop as "overkill," noting that "skinny is no longer so important; I don't think everything needs to be that tiny. I think they have gone a bit too far with it and she needs to chunk up a bit. She needs to eat something and put on a DVD drive and some USB ports for her to go to the next round. Eat something honey," Barker told Laptopmag.
We can't argue that Apple has compromised quite a bit to reduce the Air's proportions, leaving out some of the most important features a laptop boasts (USB connectivity and the optical drive of course), but the Air is thin AS a result to that? You'd think that if skinny wasn't so hot anymore, Apple would be the first company to know it.
Nigel Barker is currently a judge on Tyra Banks' reality show, America's Next Top Model. Barker was also an official judge for the Miss America Pageant in 2007. He is executive producer for the VH1 photography-based reality contest, The Shot, as well.