Gizmodo
It's real. The fabled MacBook Air actually exists. It's ultra-thin, can have a normal hard drive or a solid state one and, except for a couple ports, it's all about wireless connectivity. It's a stunning .16 inches thick at the bottom and .76 inches on the top. The black keyboard (reminds me of some of those black-over-aluminum Braun designs) is LED backlit, sightly recessed MacBook-style, with rounded edges all around. The latch is magnetic and has a gorgeous 13.3-inch screen with ambient-light sensor and, get this, multitouch trackpad. Check the full specs, 20-image gallery and continuous updates after the jump:
The MacBook Air is all "green": bromide and PVR free, packaging is 56% smaller and mercury and arsenic-free glass. Looks like Al Gore will be getting one to fly in his private jet.
Amazingly enough, it's only $1,799.
Technical specs
• .16 to .75-inch thickness on top
• 12.8 x 8.94 inches
• 3 pounds
• 5 hours of battery life with everything running
• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor at 1.6 or 1.8GHz, motherboard the length of a pencil.
• 800MHz frontside bus.
• 2GB RAM 667MHz DDR2 standard.
• 13.3-inch screen, LED backlit.
• 1,280 x 800 pixels
• Micro-DVI adapter (for DVI, VGA, composite and S-Video output)
• Intel GMA X3100 Graphics processor with 144MB RAM shared
• 1.8-inch 80GB HD or 64GB Solid State Drive (no moving pieces, but for a stunning $1,300 price increase!)
• Multitouch trackpad with gestures. Pans, zooms, rotates, etc.
• 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1.
• Optional external HD for $99, USB-bus powered.
• Full backlit keyboard.
• One USB 2.0, one audio port, one Micro-DVI
[Apple]
Comments
I was kinda hoping for a smaller screen though
Pictures?
if it has an intel chip and i can put xp on it im sold
This looks like a bit of a letdown actually...
OH GOD..... *orgasm ensues*
How much?
ridiculous pricing too? will this cost even more than powerbooks?
Normal state HDD?
13.3" screen and 3 pounds is the sweet spot for me, but I imagine this thing is going to cost a helluvalot. Ultimately it's just not that much different than what I can already get in the PC world.
BTW it's manila envelope, not vanilla.
I see they have yet to mention anything about how hot it runs. With no active cooling and hardly even room for passive cooling, you could probably fry and egg on this thing.
Am I nuts or does it look like the RAM is soldered on the motherboard :(
I wonder if Best Buy Apple Stores are going to get this. My bet would be for the big NO... but i have a ton of customers that are asking for stuff like this.
@distantbody: @Improbable:
right off the bat, you guys are already hating. dont spoil this for the rest of us. keep your shameless hateful comments to yourselves
I'm sold. The Remote Disc feature sounds pretty sweet!
$1799, too rich for my blood right now.
I bet the battery is not replaceable.
and for 1799 that is not a bad price at all for a tiny little notebook like this.
hey! what about a ces-like prank?
@MacAddict21: Hear Hear. Keep the naysayers at bay.
remote disc makes all the difference they can count me in now
internet is disabled until future patch. cost: $20.00
cannot install applications until future patch. cost :$20.00
Raping sheeple: Priceless
no optical drive???
@pek: Steve is like a god to the Gizmodo crew. And as we all know it is not wise to piss off God.
Price seems a little outrageous for whats essentially a crappy, though tiny, computer.
WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!! Been waiting 3 years for this!!!
Isn't that an updated version of the Sony vaio x505 that came out 4 years ago?
I'll wait another three years for the price to drop!
@Improbable:
if you go to the liveblog and look at the shot of the inside, it does infact appear to have a fan.
that and c2d's don't get that toasty, being based on the pentium M evolutionary chain.
@NINTENBOY01:
the solid state hdd is just a BTO option, but normally it uses 1.8 ipod-style hdd's... which i think is a bad idea. don't those have something like a 10 hour mean time between failure? they aren't designed to be run non stop, i know that. just like the CF hdd's.
to ITSMRJP
why on earth would you buy a new mac to put a crappy old windows os on it?
why not just buy a new pc laptop?
I had a bad feeling when Apple got rid of my floppy drive in the iMac, now its like a badge of honor for them to do it again. Death to physical media!
No floppy drive, weak!
Seriously though, the ability to use any computer, even a PC, to read and install software wirelessly is pretty amazing.
Honestly, I use my optical drive like once a month tops, this makes perfect sense to me.
gpu specs?
@ItsMrJP:
ROTFL! so true :D
so many questions and specs left unanswered and undiscussed. We need a LOT more information...
And for all the Apple haters out there, I feel you. I really do. but lets be serious how can you hate on this thing when nobody knows anything about it aside the fact that it is super thin and light?
yawn
I know everyone's excited about this and not to piss in anyone's Cheerio's, but remote disc = sharing an optical drive on any network client. No special Apple software required.
An ultraportable laptop... so revolutionary. Haven't Sony and Toshiba been doing sub 3-pounders for a while now, and with DVD-R drives.
@Improbable: If you look at the inside shot from the liveblog you will see that there is active cooling used
Wow, a laptop that the wind could pick up. Sorry just give me a thinkpad.
1800 is pricy for mediocre hardware specs. Form over function
the price astronomical and unreasonable. to ask that for because of the weight is ridiculous..i'm off to get an eee
@hhaller: a floppy? really? wow.
uh oh, i forgot!
is there a mobile motherboard which is bigger than a pencil?
@Lavallee017: and probably crippled :-)
Like a beautiful woman with the soul of a demon. Shes only entertaining for so long.
That is awesome, but pricey.
what's remote disc?
Um whats the big deal about remote cdrom. whats so special about something pcs have had and macs forever. just map your cd drive like any networked drie.
I want; I want; I want... But not for $1,800!
Wayyy too expensive.
Wow 1,799? For 200 dollars more you can get a Macbook Pro with a hell of a lot more juice in it, and an optical drive, and 40 GB more space, and an actual graphics chip, and a 2.2 gHz as opposed to a 1.6.
Overall, thin form factor is not worth that much. A great looking product that will have to see price reductions to be beneficial.
Ooh...now I have to wait a year for the better, cleaned-up version to come out I guess. Let us never forget the lesson learned by all of those who bought the first round of ipods.
This would explain why the iPod line got softened edges (design-wise)...
MacRumors.com has a few more specs.
Honestly, who is this thing aimed for? What is the target audience? I'm going to graduate from college in about three months and I was looking for a new laptop - but this certainly isn't for me. I use my optical drive almost day-to-day. 1 USB port? Just a 80 gig hard drive?
I would understand if this was supposed to be a "travel" computer only for people - but then why make it so pricey? I would pay $1200 tops for something like this - I really want to pay a grand and that's it.
Wait until it bargain bins at 900. Let the apple get a little riper on the vine ala apple TV. Until then, Asus....
"Apple MacBook Air Looks Absolutely Amazing"
yay, more hyperbole
For an extra .97lb I got an Dell XPS 1330 with DVD-R, 3GB RAM, 2.2GHz CPU, choice of 3 different 3G cards, HDMI, remote control, Express Card, SD, LED LCD.
For only $1500 with a $200 gift card.
Its basically a Sony TZ with absolutely no 3G connectivity, which has been out forever - why do people get so excited?
@iDeadman: Hence the joke. See, what I was doing was comparing the people panicing over the lack of optical drive to people who paniced when floppies were abandoned.
See how much funnier it is once I've been forced to explain it!
Why not just replace the whole Macbook 13" line with this thing?
It's in the Apple Store now.
@MacAddict21: Improbable raised a very valid concern with this product in his post...I don't see how that is hating. Wouldn't knowing a bit more about whether or not the Macbook Air is likely to melt itself allow you to make a more informed purchase?
They compromised too much on the functionality for the admittedly beautiful form. How hot is thing going to be? Plus I think for the serious road warrior the lack of an optical drive is going to be a huge minus for on the go transfers. Wi-Fi spots aren't as ubiquitous as you'd like them to me. There'll be an oohs and aahs but I think only the most fanatical Mac fanboys (nothing against Apple) will spring for an essentially crippled and weak computer.