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Apple introduces MacBook Air

By | January 15, 2008, 10:12am PST

At Macworld 2008, Steve Jobs introduced what he called “the world’s thinnest notebook”: MacBook Air. The sub-notebook uses a special slimmed-down version of the Intel Core 2 Duo, but a full-sized keyboard. And while it doesn’t have an optical drive it can use one wirelessly from a nearby PC or Mac.

Apple introduces MacBook Air

Photo credit: REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

The new notebook is 0.16″ thick at its thinnest part, and 0.76″ at its thickest. It’s so small it can fit in a manila envelope. Other features include:

  • 13.3″ 1280×800 LED back-lit display
  • 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo with 4MB L2 cache
  • 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
  • 80GB 1.8″ hard drive, or optional 64GB SSD
  • Multi-touch trackpad with pinch-zoom
  • Lighted keyboard with ambient light sensor
  • Built-in camera, microphone, mono speaker
  • 1 USB 2.0 port, audio out
  • Micro-DVI output (with converter to VGA or DVI)
  • 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
  • Environmentally friendly mercury-free enclosure and display
  • 45 Watt MagSafe power supply
  • 37-watt-hour LiPo battery, 5 hours battery life

MacBook Air

Since the MacBook Air doesn’t have an optical drive, it comes with software to let it wirelessly use a drive from another machine:

“We have a new feature built into the MBA called Remote Disc. You’ll see in the finder–it will show you all the Macs and PCs that have some special software on them, and you can pick one of those machines and ask to borrow its optical drive. Once they’ve accepted your request you can see what’s on their optical drive–a PC can read a Mac disc and send it wirelessly over to your MBA and it’s just as if you had a local optical drive.”

The new MacBook Air will start at $1799, according to Jobs. Apple is taking pre-orders now, with shipments in two weeks.

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Topics

Ed Burnette is a software industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience as a programmer, author, and speaker. He has written numerous technical articles and books, most recently "Hello, Android: Introducing Google's Mobile Development Platform" from the Pragmatic Programmers.

Disclosure

Ed Burnette

Ed Burnette is a Manager of Mobile Development at SAS. However the postings on this site are his own and do not represent the positions, strategies, or opinions of his employer.

Biography

Ed Burnette

Ed Burnette has been hooked on computers ever since he laid eyes on a TRS-80 in the local Radio Shack. Since graduating from NC State University he has programmed everything from serial device drivers and debuggers to web servers. After a delightful break working on commercial video games, Ed reluctantly returned to business software. He currently develops enterprise software for Android phones and tablets.

In his copious spare time, Ed writes and speaks about all kinds of technology and software. His most recent books include the Eclipse IDE Pocket Guide from O'Reilly and Hello, Android: Introducing Google's Mobile Development Platform from the Pragmatic Programmers.

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RE: Apple introduces MacBook Air
msalzberg 15th Jan 2008
"Steve Jobs introduced what he called ???the world???s
thinnest notebook???"

Is there a thinner one?
0 Votes
+ -
ehh!
5ri 15th Jan 2008
being thin is amazing, sexy, hot.

BUT,

Mono Speakers??
4200RPM disk??
1 USB??
$1799??

nah! Not Interested.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Apple introduces MacBook Air
msalzberg 15th Jan 2008
"Steve Jobs introduced what he called ???the world???s
thinnest notebook???"

Is there a thinner one?

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