MacWorld 2008: Part Two "There's Something in the Air"

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• 4. "There's something in the air..." We have our ultra portable laptop!

The 'MacBook Air' - Jobs, "In a word, it's the thinnest notebook in the world".




Thickness: from 0.76in to a microscopic 0.16in it's stunning! Magnetic latch, 13.3in 1280 x 800 resolution display with LED backlight, built in iSight camera and a full size backlit notebook keyboard "the best keyboard we have ever made".


Multi-touch is in there too! The large trackpad has a range of definable guestures including:


Double tap moves window around
Two fingers, pans around photos
Rotate photo by twisting two fingers
iPhone-esque flicking through photos
Pinching zooms them in and out.




80GB HDD is standard with the option to upgrade to a 64GB SSD (Jobs: "pricey but fast"). Air has a complete Mac on board the size of a pencil, yet uses an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU in a new 60 per cent smaller form facto (Montevina? No one will say). 1.6GHz will be standard and a 1.8GHz optional upgrade. Cue Intel CEO Paul Otellini. He reveals Apple made the request for the smaller CPU form factor for the MacBook Air one year ago.


There's a super small 45W PSU too, but connectivity is limited with just one USB2.0 port, a headphone jack and mini DVI - no HDMI is a downer. Still, there's 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR. No optical drive, it's an optional extra called the 'SuperDrive' for $99.


Jobs' claims the drive is unnecessary with Time Machine for backups, iTunes and iPod for music and video and 'Remote Disc' for software installs. This latter feature works with a second computer and uses its local drive as if it were native on the Air.




Battery life with WiFi enabled is an impressive five hours. Default RRP is also just $1,799 with shipping starting in two weeks. Wow!


Initial Qualms:


• Sealed casing could cause upgrade / component replacement problems
• It's called 'Air' and there's no SIM card slot for mobile broadband
• It's darn expensive (more than £2,000 for a fully specified MacBook Air with 64GB SSD)

Oh and by the way - Yes. That 'leaked' keynote speech was bogus - though it made a great stab at things.

That's All Folks!

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