Non removable optical drive? I've seen those things replaced TONS! What gives?
You see, expandability isn't something Polly Prissy Pants is going to need for college! She needs speed, USB, the latest optical media, great wireless connectivity and more than anything, ruggedness and scratch/idiot resistant. The MacBook Air is the closest thing because it really relies on wireless connectivity for everything, but rugged? Speed? Hahaha, not! A student isn't going to baby their notebook, it's going to be a coaster for each of their "Let's play grown-up" drunken parties.
So a plastic rubberized shell would repel liquids, take bumps and drops a little better, be harder to gouge and would be incredibly easy to make in ANY range of colors, something every Biff and Kyson needs when they go off to school.
A cheap stripped rugged MacBook with actual power...I'd buy it to compliment my MacBook Pro! I swear!
"Mr-Cheetos-MacBook-Mini:~ MrCheeto$ say um, your peripherals are showing"
But seriously, I'd take one the day they came out! Since the turn of the century things like that have really disappeared. Remember those BIG hard rugged yellow Walkmen and Diskmen that EVERY Adidas-wearing jogger had clipped to the outside of their vertical-double-stripe sweat pants? They look as tough as they are, really. Remember the old rubbery sports watches when they became a fad? Talk about buff. And need I remind you the single item known to man that is deemed indestructible by any means by every scientist ever...
Come on! Who didn't stomp, smash and throw these things? Even chew 'em like an angry rabid dog? And yet they were always forgiving.
Why?! Because they were SIMPLE!!! And they sacrificed looks in exchange for thick hard solid plastic!
Now imagine if you will for just a moment, unibody RUBBER!! I'm talking almost tire-like...without the charcoal. There are rubber compounds that are very much like plastic in rigidness but still have that good ole bounce. And let's not forget a big buffer zone on the sides, like the iBook. *sigh* I can dream...
...just sayin