• 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.
ilovemymac: Sure, you’re not going to be able to do major graphics work on a MacBook Air, but this isn’t for the graphics whiz who’d be better off with a MacBook Pro. This is for someone who wants to do some major writing but doesn’t want the hassle of an external computer attached to an iPad, or who wants more storage than is available with an iPad. That doesn’t really require a heck of a lot of processor power or RAM (though you can get a build to order model with 4GB if necessary). It gives the convenience of the iPad, but with the full Mac OS X interface for those who aren’t all that crazy about iOS.
ilovemymac: Sure, you’re not going to be able to do major graphics work on a MacBook Air, but this isn’t for the graphics whiz who’d be better off with a MacBook Pro. This is for someone who wants to do some major writing but doesn’t want the hassle of an external computer attached to an iPad, or who wants more storage than is available with an iPad. That doesn’t really require a heck of a lot of processor power or RAM (though you can get a build to order model with 4GB if necessary). It gives the convenience of the iPad, but with the full Mac OS X interface for those who aren’t all that crazy about iOS.
@Ilovemymac
put linux on it and watch it really move
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@Ilovemymac
put linux on it and watch it really move
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@stephen
I believe you’re trying to say a decent file system marks the sectors as bad and hence doesn’t write to them (unlike fat32, fat16, etc,).
However, a small ‘hard disk’ is going to suffer more read/write to some sectors than a large one, based on an equivalent amount of work. Therefore given equivalent r/w lifespan, a larger hard disk is probably going to last longer. Of course moving parts complicates this. Also if you have small amount of ram, and your OS uses your ‘disk drive’ as virtual memory then your r/w usage will go up significantly, hence exhausting your lifespan sooner.
@stephen
I believe you’re trying to say a decent file system marks the sectors as bad and hence doesn’t write to them (unlike fat32, fat16, etc,).
However, a small ‘hard disk’ is going to suffer more read/write to some sectors than a large one, based on an equivalent amount of work. Therefore given equivalent r/w lifespan, a larger hard disk is probably going to last longer. Of course moving parts complicates this. Also if you have small amount of ram, and your OS uses your ‘disk drive’ as virtual memory then your r/w usage will go up significantly, hence exhausting your lifespan sooner.
I would buy one of these instead of an ipad. I just don’t like touching the screen. Speed, schmeed. 90% of us just surf the web, download I tunes stuff, watch a Netflix movie, do low end spreadsheet and word processing, and presentations pay our bills on line, and tweak a few photos. When you say relatively slow, I really don’t know what you mean. College and mobile professional. This is all you need.
I would buy one of these instead of an ipad. I just don’t like touching the screen. Speed, schmeed. 90% of us just surf the web, download I tunes stuff, watch a Netflix movie, do low end spreadsheet and word processing, and presentations pay our bills on line, and tweak a few photos. When you say relatively slow, I really don’t know what you mean. College and mobile professional. This is all you need.
Apple came up with what could be a worthy successor to the 12″ powerbook? BFT!
And I can see some overlap between a top of the line 3g ipad and the new MBA if you’re a mobile professional.
Both are thin, light and have enough battery life to throw in a briefcase and pull out as needed without a lot of thought or prior preparation. The MBA’s usb slot can accommodate a usb 3g drive like from cricket for some fairly cheap all you can eat mobile broadband. If you throw in a BT keyboard the cost for either is roughly the same. Probably has enough horse power to make quick work of web pages that are a bit laggy on the iPad. Interesting.
The iPad has completely changed the way I thought about mobile computing. Before my decision making process was “Eh, I’m only going to be in court for an hour and a half, gotta throw the MB in a case, frak it.” I carry my ipad with me everywhere, and use what was sitting in a courtroom downtime to check my email, look up statutes, text clients and manage my productivity using iCal and omnifocus. I got down notes on it instead of using a legal pad. I listen to podcasts on it in the car while I’m topping off the charge. My defender case sufficiently protects it to lug it around without a briefcase.
Before the iPad, I considered the MBA to be an overpriced toy or a CEO status symbol. Now if my iPad or home laptop breaks, I’d probably get the base model to replace it. The only downside is that omnifocus on the mac is a step or two down from the ipad version. Get with it, omni soft!
Apple came up with what could be a worthy successor to the 12″ powerbook? BFT!
And I can see some overlap between a top of the line 3g ipad and the new MBA if you’re a mobile professional.
Both are thin, light and have enough battery life to throw in a briefcase and pull out as needed without a lot of thought or prior preparation. The MBA’s usb slot can accommodate a usb 3g drive like from cricket for some fairly cheap all you can eat mobile broadband. If you throw in a BT keyboard the cost for either is roughly the same. Probably has enough horse power to make quick work of web pages that are a bit laggy on the iPad. Interesting.
The iPad has completely changed the way I thought about mobile computing. Before my decision making process was “Eh, I’m only going to be in court for an hour and a half, gotta throw the MB in a case, frak it.” I carry my ipad with me everywhere, and use what was sitting in a courtroom downtime to check my email, look up statutes, text clients and manage my productivity using iCal and omnifocus. I got down notes on it instead of using a legal pad. I listen to podcasts on it in the car while I’m topping off the charge. My defender case sufficiently protects it to lug it around without a briefcase.
Before the iPad, I considered the MBA to be an overpriced toy or a CEO status symbol. Now if my iPad or home laptop breaks, I’d probably get the base model to replace it. The only downside is that omnifocus on the mac is a step or two down from the ipad version. Get with it, omni soft!
A great product Apple Inc. BUT when you spec. this puppy up to a desirable level with AppleCare etc. $2000.00+ (AU) … sorry not this time … too expensive!!
A great product Apple Inc. BUT when you spec. this puppy up to a desirable level with AppleCare etc. $2000.00+ (AU) … sorry not this time … too expensive!!
“So the new Airs include relatively slow Core 2 Duo processors (1.4 to 1.8 GHz), low-end Nvidia 320M graphics as well as a paltry 2 GB of memory. Clearly, these are not performance monsters.
What can you do in this day and age with 2gb ram?”
these aren’t meant to be “performance monsters.” they’re for people who need to surf the internet, check email and use productivity software, e.g. students and businesspeople.
“So the new Airs include relatively slow Core 2 Duo processors (1.4 to 1.8 GHz), low-end Nvidia 320M graphics as well as a paltry 2 GB of memory. Clearly, these are not performance monsters.
What can you do in this day and age with 2gb ram?”
these aren’t meant to be “performance monsters.” they’re for people who need to surf the internet, check email and use productivity software, e.g. students and businesspeople.
Love the unregistered trolls, all spouting the same complaints. Is RIM paying you by the word, because I know they’re not paying you for original content.
The Airs are a balancing act; their size and weight are a major constraint. Low-clock C2Ds, limited RAM and flash memory is the trade off for instant-on and excellent battery life in a sub 3lb package.
As several others have pointed out, there are myriad other options when it comes to Mac portables. If you don’t understand the niche the MBA fills, you’re not part of that market.
Love the unregistered trolls, all spouting the same complaints. Is RIM paying you by the word, because I know they’re not paying you for original content.
The Airs are a balancing act; their size and weight are a major constraint. Low-clock C2Ds, limited RAM and flash memory is the trade off for instant-on and excellent battery life in a sub 3lb package.
As several others have pointed out, there are myriad other options when it comes to Mac portables. If you don’t understand the niche the MBA fills, you’re not part of that market.
Apple is perpetually falling behind the curve with notebooks. MBP’s are dying on the vine. When they do a refresh (early Spring ’11, most likely) the “upgrades” will merely be keeping pace.
There has been zero innovation on the overpriced MBP’s since the unibody came out two very long years ago. All their R&D is clearly going to the iPhone and iPad. The MBA “upgrade” is merely emulating what they already accomplished with the iPad – there’s nothing innovative about it.
Also: wouldn’t be surprised if they begin to skip announcing new MBP’s and just quitely “upgrade” them with more RAM, etc. Jobs probably hasn’t even seen a MBP since mid-2009. MBP’s are most likely seen as a dead end for Apple. Hang on to the one’s you’ve got – they won’t be getting any better any time soon, if ever.
Apple is perpetually falling behind the curve with notebooks. MBP’s are dying on the vine. When they do a refresh (early Spring ’11, most likely) the “upgrades” will merely be keeping pace.
There has been zero innovation on the overpriced MBP’s since the unibody came out two very long years ago. All their R&D is clearly going to the iPhone and iPad. The MBA “upgrade” is merely emulating what they already accomplished with the iPad – there’s nothing innovative about it.
Also: wouldn’t be surprised if they begin to skip announcing new MBP’s and just quitely “upgrade” them with more RAM, etc. Jobs probably hasn’t even seen a MBP since mid-2009. MBP’s are most likely seen as a dead end for Apple. Hang on to the one’s you’ve got – they won’t be getting any better any time soon, if ever.