Macworld 2008 was an exhausting, but great nonetheless, week. The keynote met expectations and the new products are nifty indeed. The only bummer for me was that I wasn’t able to attend the keynote itself for the first time in a few years. So, I watched it with everyone else online and on Twitter. Then, after seeing the product announcements roll by on my iPhone, I set up across the street from Moscone West and photographed the crowd streaming from the keynote to Moscone South for the opening of the Expo. The rest of the week, I was working the show floor around the Developer Pavilion and was even caught in the act by the Karelia guys.

As far as the keynote announcement go, I was really happy to see the MacBook Air and it’s optional SSD storage. Sure, the solid state storage is an expensive option, but that’ll come down in price soon enough. I can’t wait to see storage benchmarks of what it can do as well. After all, there’s no seek time and the speed of access won’t change as the hard drive fills up—both factors which should lead to decent performance. I also love the design of the MacBook Air. Picking it up and holding it in your hands is an experience in and of itself. I won’t be getting one immediately, however. I’m currently running a fully loaded MacBook Pro for processing photos on the road. If I were working mostly out of a studio, however, I’d be all over it.

I was happy to see all the media related announcements, including movie rentals. I think Apple’s on a good track with this and with the new AppleTV software. I do hope that they’ve sorted out whatever is heating the AppleTV up so much. Mine runs really hot and, while I’m happy to use the extra heat during the winter, it’s a sign of wasted energy.

What I was disappointed by, and I know many others were, is the lack of new monitors from Apple. Given that the MacPro refresh didn’t bring in a new case design, I don’t think the monitors need a new design. But they do need to go LED and maybe even wider gamut. Of course, we may see new Apple monitors in conjunction with an Aperture 2 announcement at PMA08. But, that’s all conjecture at this point. At this point, it seems more and more likely that my next monitor may be something else entirely, like an NEC or EIZO.

The best part of Macworld wasn’t at the expo, however. It was in the evening events. I enjoyed a lovely dinner with friends at Le Colonial, meet with both current and potential future clients, and attend a gathering at the legendary Tommy’s where Guillermo Sauza was showcasing his Los Abuelos Repasado tequila. All in all a good week.