More on MacBook Air ... Laptop power connectors ... Dial-up account

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Letters, we get letters, stacks and stacks of letters.Q: I read your review of the MacBook Air and it's pretty clear you just don't get it. You've always been a Windows and Microsoft fanboy and some things just never change. The Air wasn't made for you and you are just not the target market. So why can't you say something positive about an Apple?A: Well, as I write this on my Apple Powerbook, I can pause to reflect that I was positive about many parts of the MacBook Air in the review. And I do believe I am the target market for the MacBook. My current business laptop has a 14-inch screen (and no optical drive) by choice; my current pleasure laptop is an Apple with a 12-inch screen.I have logged, at last count, more than 400,000 frequent-flyer miles, a lot of that on business, so I think I am exactly the market for the Air. I do think they got a lot of it right. But they got a lot of it wrong, especially for business travelers, who need a removable battery. (I even missed one downside that Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal reminded me of; there's no PC card slot so I can't use my cellular card to connect. It's either Wi-Fi or nothing.)I think you misread the review if you thought I slammed the thing. I liked it. I just think they took too many things out so it would fit in an inter-office mail envelope. Put some things back so it fits in a FedEx pouch.We'll still be happy.Q: I heard that some laptop power connectors are so faulty that class-action lawsuits are filed and the makers have to fix them for free. Mine you have to hold a certain way or the laptop battery won't charge. How can I tell if they will fix it? I have called and called the manufacturer and they won't do anything about it.A: You are correct. Some models are so prone to this issue that lawsuits or other consumer initiatives have forced warranty extensions, repairs or other actions. In your case, Google (extensively) your model and the terms "warranty extension," "power jack" and "class action" and you will be interested in what you find. Several current models are under recall or warranty extension for power-jack issues like you describe. You will find several repair companies on the Web (mine is not one of them) that specialize in these repairs and will fix these for a reasonable flat rate.Q: I heard that I can keep my AOL dial-up account for free now. I don't plan to use it much but would like to keep it in force when I travel or for emergencies. How do I keep it in force?A: You can keep your AOL account but not your dial-up account. AOL is doing this to encourage Web traffic among people who switch to high-speed Internet.Basically, you can connect to the Internet via your high-speed connection, and then fire up AOL via a TCP/IP connection. However, AOL has some basic dial-up plans that you can consider for emergencies if you wish. Contact AOL for details.(James Derk is owner of CyberDads, a computer-repair firm, and tech columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim(at)cyberdads.com.)