• faster—solid state flash storage is up to twice as fast as hard drive storage
• more reliable—hard drive crashes are eliminated
• lighter and smaller—solid state flash storage is up to 90 percent smaller and lighter than hard drives
Available in 11-inch and 13-inch models and weighing as little as 2.3 pounds, the new MacBook Air is Apple’s lightest and most portable notebook ever. MacBook Air uses the same solid state storage technology as iPad to deliver instant-on responsiveness, up to seven hours of battery life and up to 30 days of standby time.* Starting at $999, the affordable MacBook Air defines the next generation of MacBooks.
“MacBook Air is the first of a new generation of notebooks that leaves behind mechanical rotating storage in favor of solid state flash storage,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the press release. “We’ve taken what we have learned with the iPad—solid state storage, instant-on, amazing battery standby time, miniaturization and lightweight construction, to create the new MacBook Air. With its amazing responsiveness and mobility, it will change the way we think about notebooks.”
With its precision aluminum unibody enclosure, the new MacBook Air measures an incredibly thin 0.11-inches at its thinnest point and 0.68-inches at its thickest, and weighs just 2.3 pounds for the 11-inch model and 2.9 pounds for the 13-inch. Like iPad, MacBook Air was designed from the ground up to use flash storage exclusively. Apple’s custom-designed flash storage is 90 percent smaller and lighter than a conventional notebook hard drive, contributing to MacBook Air’s mobile, featherweight design. MacBook Air’s flash storage also provides faster data access and is more reliable than notebook hard drives due to its solid state design.
MacBook Air features a full-sized keyboard for typing comfort and productivity, as well as the highly acclaimed glass Multi-Touch trackpad found on Apple’s MacBook® Pro, so you can scroll through web sites, flip through photos, and resize or rotate images all from the trackpad. The built-in FaceTime camera, mic and stereo speakers are perfect for video calls with iPhone 4, iPod touch** and other Macs.
Flash storage combined with power-efficient Intel Core 2 Duo processors and NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics delivers an ideal balance of mobility, battery life and performance. MacBook Air features an 11.6-inch or 13.3-inch high-resolution LED-backlit display and Mini DisplayPort to connect your 27-inch Apple LED Cinema Display, projector or HD TV. Ultra-fast 802.11n Wi-Fi networking allows you to download music and movies from iTunes, back up data to Time Capsule and store or share files with MobileMe and iDisk. MacBook Air includes Bluetooth 2.1+EDR for wireless peripherals and two USB ports making it easy to sync and charge an iPad, iPhone or iPod while using another device. The 13-inch MacBook Air also includes an SD card slot.
Apple makes the industry’s greenest notebooks and the MacBook Air is the latest Mac notebook to achieve EPEAT Gold status and meet Energy Star 5.0 requirements.*** Each unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. Mac notebooks contain no brominated flame retardants, are PVC-free and are constructed of recyclable materials.
Apple uses advanced chemistry and Adaptive Charging technology to create a MacBook Air battery that delivers up to seven hours of wireless productivity on a single charge and up to 1,000 recharges.**** The built-in battery design results in less waste, and depleted MacBook Air batteries can be replaced for $129, which includes installation and disposal of your old battery in an environmentally responsible manner.
Every Mac comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for creating and sharing great photos, movies and music. Snow Leopard builds on more than a decade of innovation and includes multiple features for portable computing such as Multi-Touch navigation, advanced wireless networking, easy file sharing, automated data backup and intelligent power management. The new iLife ’11 features iPhoto with stunning full screen views for browsing, editing and sharing photos; iMovie with powerful easy-to-use tools to transform home videos into fun theatrical trailers; and GarageBand® with new ways to improve your playing and create great sounding songs.
The 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air are immediately available through the Apple Store® (http://www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The 1.4 GHz 11-inch MacBook Air with 2GB of memory and 64GB of flash storage starts at a suggested retail price of $999 (US) with a 128GB model for $1,199 (US). The 1.86 GHz 13-inch MacBook Air with 2GB of memory and 128GB of flash storage starts at a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US) with a 256GB model for $1,599 (US). Configure-to-order options and accessories include faster processors, 4GB of memory, MacBook Air SuperDrive and a USB Ethernet Adapter.
Additional technical specifications and configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at http://www.apple.com/macbookair.
*Battery life and standby time vary by use and configuration. See http://www.apple.com/batteries for more information.
**iOS 4.1 required.
***EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit http://www.epeat.net.
****A properly maintained MacBook Air battery is designed to retain 80 percent or more of its original capacity during a lifespan of up to 1,000 recharge cycles. Battery life and charge cycles vary by use and settings. For more information visit www.apple.com/batteries.
Find out more about Apple new MacBook Air here.
flash memory starts to get dodgy after about 10000 r/w operations. So what happens then?? Probably puts you outside the warranty period….
flash memory starts to get dodgy after about 10000 r/w operations. So what happens then?? Probably puts you outside the warranty period….
This is a joke…. i was holding my breath for something better. Turning my mac workhorse into a toy is not my idea of an upgrade. Greed is the backbone of this “upgrade”…. app store on my mac , no thanks unlike the “toy like” ipad/iphone I can go and buy direct from an developer with out apple A: approving the application B: holding there hand out and C: keeping records of all I do on my mac. They need to leave my mac the way it is. I dont care what they do with the iOS its for the average user but leave it there. They are steering this company of a cliff but its just far away and with all the hype *cough MDN* hard to see the danger ahead……
This is a joke…. i was holding my breath for something better. Turning my mac workhorse into a toy is not my idea of an upgrade. Greed is the backbone of this “upgrade”…. app store on my mac , no thanks unlike the “toy like” ipad/iphone I can go and buy direct from an developer with out apple A: approving the application B: holding there hand out and C: keeping records of all I do on my mac. They need to leave my mac the way it is. I dont care what they do with the iOS its for the average user but leave it there. They are steering this company of a cliff but its just far away and with all the hype *cough MDN* hard to see the danger ahead……
Ordering the 13″ tonight. This is a sweet upgrade. I already have the decked out Mac Pro and an iPad; this MBA will fit in perfectly. Another hit for Apple!
Ordering the 13″ tonight. This is a sweet upgrade. I already have the decked out Mac Pro and an iPad; this MBA will fit in perfectly. Another hit for Apple!
@Brulek
magnetic storage (floppys, hdds) do the exact same thing (in fact I think I heard it’s i/o limit is smaller then flash)
but both hard-disks and flash drives already come with bad bytes (that’s why theres always less space then it says on the box) as this number grows (due to different bytes randomly dying) your computer atomagicly moves things around so you can continue to use it
@Brulek
magnetic storage (floppys, hdds) do the exact same thing (in fact I think I heard it’s i/o limit is smaller then flash)
but both hard-disks and flash drives already come with bad bytes (that’s why theres always less space then it says on the box) as this number grows (due to different bytes randomly dying) your computer atomagicly moves things around so you can continue to use it
Overpriced and overblown.
C2D 1.4!?! Can that even drive the graphics demand!?!
2 gigs of ram!?! Seriously!?! If it was running iOS, yeah, but…
Never has Apple’s greed been more apparent. Guess Job’s gotta’ get that profit margin back up to 42%.
Overpriced and overblown.
C2D 1.4!?! Can that even drive the graphics demand!?!
2 gigs of ram!?! Seriously!?! If it was running iOS, yeah, but…
Never has Apple’s greed been more apparent. Guess Job’s gotta’ get that profit margin back up to 42%.
The tech-heads here are getting really boring. Apple are making consumer products. Things that people want, not self-obsessed, self-nominated ‘experts’. There is a stunning truth in Apple’s sales figures. People want what they make.
Listen to what was said. Instant on. Can you understand that? Because the rest of humanity can. An end to the completely inexplicable wait for a machine to work. My TV comes on NOW. My washing machine comes on NOW. My iPad comes on NOW. My MBA comes on NOW. Forget computing. This is consumer durables.
Think outside the box, or you become as becalmed and redundant as the USB dinosaurs.
The tech-heads here are getting really boring. Apple are making consumer products. Things that people want, not self-obsessed, self-nominated ‘experts’. There is a stunning truth in Apple’s sales figures. People want what they make.
Listen to what was said. Instant on. Can you understand that? Because the rest of humanity can. An end to the completely inexplicable wait for a machine to work. My TV comes on NOW. My washing machine comes on NOW. My iPad comes on NOW. My MBA comes on NOW. Forget computing. This is consumer durables.
Think outside the box, or you become as becalmed and redundant as the USB dinosaurs.
Bravo on the new MacBook Air. I like the 13.3-inch screen version better. At 1440×900, it has the same resolution (number of pixels) as the screen on my 17-inch white iMac. The 11.6-inch screen at 1366×768 does not have enough vertical resolution for me.
Obviously, this new MacBook Air is a “prototype” for future MacBook Pros, that will incorporate many of the same technologies while keeping their more powerful processors and graphics hardware.
AND, (thankfully) no touch screen.
Bravo on the new MacBook Air. I like the 13.3-inch screen version better. At 1440×900, it has the same resolution (number of pixels) as the screen on my 17-inch white iMac. The 11.6-inch screen at 1366×768 does not have enough vertical resolution for me.
Obviously, this new MacBook Air is a “prototype” for future MacBook Pros, that will incorporate many of the same technologies while keeping their more powerful processors and graphics hardware.
AND, (thankfully) no touch screen.
@childermass
Less we forget that the ” tech heads” were what helped build apple to what it is. Selling out will eventually make you Microsoft. Most dedicated Mac users don’t need our hands held…. That’s what the iPad is for
@childermass
Less we forget that the ” tech heads” were what helped build apple to what it is. Selling out will eventually make you Microsoft. Most dedicated Mac users don’t need our hands held…. That’s what the iPad is for
From Mac Rumors “Several outlets have commented on the snappiness of the new MacBook Airs when waking from sleep”
… the presumptuousness of some people.
From Mac Rumors “Several outlets have commented on the snappiness of the new MacBook Airs when waking from sleep”
… the presumptuousness of some people.
My only hesitation:
Core 2 Duo.
Why such a slow chip?
My only hesitation:
Core 2 Duo.
Why such a slow chip?
Depend on the technology. Not all SSDs use the same scheme and some are better than others.
Depend on the technology. Not all SSDs use the same scheme and some are better than others.
No backlit keyboard on the new MacBook Air?
No backlit keyboard on the new MacBook Air?
How much do you want to bet that Apple’s screen strategy here is to keep competitors from being able to purchase anything over a 7″ display? With the iPad and now these new MacBook Air flavors, I think Dell, Samsung, RIM, HTC and everyone else is going to be hard pressed to be able to buy anything but a 7″ or under screen size… brilliant.