MacBook Comes Up for Air
In addition to unveiling a movie rental service for iTunes and an updated version of Apple TV (with a lower price), Steve Jobs in his Macworld keytnote today announced the MacBook Air, which at a maximum thickness of 0.76 inches (and 3 lbs), is the world’s thinnest notebook.
It sports both a full-sized keyboard and a 13.3-inch widescreen, LED-backlit display, and five hours of battery life. The Air will sell for $1,799 (for 1.6 GHz standard version) and $3,098 (for 1.8 GHz version, ouch) and will start shipping in two weeks. Additional specs include: a built-in iSight camera; built-in multitouch gesture support; 1.8-inch drive; USB 2, micro-DVI and headphone via a flipdown door; 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR.
The machine was built to be wireless, Jobs said. There’s no optical drive. There’s a “remote disc” feature built right into the operating system that will show all Macs or PCs in the vicinity — you can just click on a machine and ask to borrow its optical drive. That’s pretty cool.
Head over to Earth2Tech for a rundown of the Air’s green qualities.
(thanks to Carolyn for writing this up on my behalf)
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Hmm.. little disappointing keynote overall..what do u say?
Agreed. I think I might pick up the storage device because I needed one, but I’ll wait on the others.
yawn.
still waiting for:
iTouch or iPhone w/ 80GB storage, 3MP camera, better battery life
iPhone w/ faster data link
sub$1500 AIR w/ 15′ screen
Paying more than 1.500 US dollar for a notebook is too much in times we are heading to cheap offerings like OLPC and it’s spin-offs.
The $3000 version includes the 1.8Ghz processor PLUS the $999 solid state flash drive. You can get the 1.8Ghz processor for $300 more than the $1799 base price (so $2099).
However, the base 80Gb drive is only 4200 RPM (kind of slow), and I don’t understand why they’re not offering the 160Gb version of the drive since they sell it in the iPod Classic.
Sebastian, go buy an OLPC laptop and enjoy the experience. Feel the love of that user-friendly OS and ergonomic hardware.
The good news is that when you buy one for yourself, some underprivledged student in a third world country will get one too. And they definitely can’t afford one of these.
So, I’ll have to wait for some of this technology (small stuff and greener components) to make it into the Macbook Pro line. I was hoping it would be today. This machine is tempting (not @ $3K for only 65Gb), but it is not a full performance machine. Probably just a matter of time:-)
And that’s what’s most interesting about these keynotes. It’s an indication of what’s coming. Today’s announcements may not be your cup of tea, but they show you where we’re all headed (Mac or OLPC or TV).
No removable battery like an Ipod…they are nuts!!!
I work with a couple folks like Alejandro.
Yup. The iPod flopped too. Right?
Yes, the lack of removable battery sucks hard. I’ve gone through 3 batteries for my 12″ Powerbook, and the thought of not having it user replaceable turns me off permanently. The 13.3″ screen (and a bezel as fat (or fatter?) than the Macbook) means the footprint is more or less the same. I want small, not just thin. Thin is good, but I would have been much more excited by an 11″” screen with a super thin bezel. As it is, I’m really more interested in the next 9-10″ iteration of the eeePC. For now, I’m sticking to the G4 powerbook for a little longer
[...]Apple introduced the world’s thinnest notebook: MacBook Air. It measures an unprecedented 0.16 inches at its thinnest point while its maximum height of 0.76 inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks.[...]
I’m still waiting for an apple product where a weakness isn’t packaged as a (premium price) strength.
No 3g in iphone.
No 3g in their “ultraportable” – with no optical drive and only one USB port?… Wtf.
This is not the worlds thinnest laptop.
This is not worth the (more than 17″ MBP) price it’s costing.
This is not what I wanted apple.
Give me a proper touch screen device already.
Something that isn’t a gimmick.