Gizmodo
In case you haven't noticed yet, there's an eject button at the top right corner of the MacBook Air keyboard. There's no disc drive, but you push it, something pops out. Somewhere. Click. Schwing. Poop. Some people say this key ejects the optional SuperDrive, but after countless—or maybe just three—days of in-deep investigation in cocktail bars and going through the trashcans outside Jonathan Ive's house, we've compiled a list of potential actions:
• Ejects random F-15 Eagle National Guard pilot currently flying over the US.
• Activates road speed bump.
• Launches Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles while playing War Games with demented mainframes.
• Don't make war, make love and launch giant dildos instead. (NSFW)
• Fires up the farter-burner in jet-propelled toilet.
• Ejects Blu-ray and HD DVD players and turn TVs off at boring consumer electronics conventions.
• Launches space fighters in the middle of the desert. Then press again to see them self-destruct mid-flight.
• Kicks bad Imperial fake rock bands off the stage.
• Remotely makes Steve Jobs said "Boom!" at will during keynotes and events.
• Launches squirrels into oblivion.
• Activates self-destruction function in Manila envelope.
• Triggers portable secret RDF unit, making everyone 1.5 miles around you to fall in love and go to the store to buy one.
• Provokes fanboy orgasm. (NSFW)
• Provokes Slut Machine an orgasm. (NSFW)
• Provokes Slut Machine's fanboys an orgasm. (NSFW)
• Forces internal battery to self-destruct, eliminating the need to change it.
The SuperDrive eject thing? It's just a smoke screen I tell you, a smoke screen! So there you go, another rumor debunked. Got any other action? Post it in the comments. [Gizmodo Macbook Air coverage]
Comments
It's an eject button for the even smaller, thinner, Macbook Helium that slides inside the Macbook Air.
It ejects the last dollar in your wallet.
it ejects tradeshow schwag!
um ya. wow. they missed the eject key?
Maybe it handles the remote disk, but eesh. that's quite the thing to miss in their vaunted design
I don't see a Backspace key, Apple keyboards have Backspace keys right? (please don't laugh at me ;-( Either that, or my guess is it controls media, looking at where it's placed.
It ejects the buyers remorse that you feel when you suddenly realize that you spent 3 grand on a $1500 portable.
Hehehe, Macs don't have a Backspace key, just delete.
I believe its just that "delete" key ominously standing where the backspace would be.
it ejects the buyers brain!
Eject key causes the eject key to eject.
Gah! ninja'd
it ejects a black hole
it ejects a paper thin steve jobs!
it ejects your money as a refund for buying such an expensive machine
It Ejects the RIAA (from itunes)
It ejects that 4200rpm POS while switching it for a beautiful 200gig 7200 rpm happy-faced hard drive! Right, right?
@Mandatory_Field: Please show me a 64 gig SSD laptop (you quote me the $3k price, that's the 64G SSD model) that has a 13" screen, 2 gigs of ram and dual 1.8Ghz processors (or dual core) for $1500. Please. I'm sure everyone here would be putting down the credit card numbers in a heartbeat.
Now, I'm not saying that you might not be able to get pretty close to $1500 with the non SSD, and I'm not saying that with SSD you can't get something cheaper. I'm not even saying that there are not other ultraportables out there, and maybe even some you find as desirable for your particular usages, but saying that it's a $1500 laptop for $3k is disingenuous.
very strange… also…
when did the apple logo disappear from the command keys?
where did the ± key go [i don't use it, but my MBpro has one]?
Why is the fn key still in a terrible position, would be much better in the middle of the F[unction] buttons.?
Anyone else think the mouse button is too low down to be comfortable?
@MagnoliaBoy: That would imply that apple users make mistakes.
ejecting soul
Ejects cyanide for the macfanboys who bought this... thing.
Airbag for the 4200rpm drive.
Its probably to pop out the side ports.
Could it be to eject the Air form a not-yet-announced docking station of some kind? Specifically like the one that Apple has the application in for currently...I could be wrong.
@aphex: LMAO NICE
it might eject your external DVD drive...
In Soviet Russia, eject key pushes you!
@raleel: What I was thinking...
ATTENTION PLEASE!
Can someone who has the money who bought this already and also bought one of those external disc drives hook the two together, insert a disc, and then press the eject key?
My guess is that it ejects the external disc.
Well im guessing that it ejects the super drive
even if it is external which is kind of stupid to me because i'd rather burn discs without having to carry another mac air size component even tho it is .76"
If not then its goin2 eject the esata port so you can connect all of your Sata ext hdd's so you can stream all of your glorious porn onto its 13inch gorgeous MAC SCREEN!
LMFAO! jk'inq im guessing it'd be for a future piece. or maybe to change the keyboard layout or keys. How about so you can see the insides of the computer?
My wife the iPod addict suggests that it could be to release the connection with an iPod or some other USB-linked drive.
Anyone who's ever unplugged an iPod or USB drive too early can tell you that this is one area where Macs are notoriously fussy, and I could see how a USB eject or release button would be handy at times.
i was thinking it ejects your ipod or iphone
@raleel: Wow Raleel, Mandatory_Field really did get you riled up. I have to say, the Air is overpriced but uber sexy. I might like a super small form factor laptop to place in a random bag. And the Air would probably fill that need nicely. But I do have to say, I'd be super paranoid about breaking that thing. Thin + Wide = easy to break. I might prefer a laptop with a little more "junk in the trunk" to take the abuse that I may dish out.
...$1800 really is a lot of money.
It ejects your cum while you look at it. . .or it ejects your cat out of the window. .
its to eject more cash in to apple, and steves pockets. PS i want one kinda.
I'm guessing it ejects USB devices or ipod..
"safely remove" shortcut
hmm, airbag for the 4200rpm hyperdrive.
It ejects your dignity.
design oversight, they just forgot to take it off.
It ejects your purse wearing cat out of a random house window, into either your pool, or your neighbors' pool. While reciting Haiku poetry.
it ejects your dignity after you purchase that POS.
It's a secret feature.
Tiny robots are ejected from a hidden port.
"Ravage- eject, eject!"
@ACCORDION:
"when did the apple logo disappear from the command keys?"
I think that's recent, I think it happened at the same time the 'number lock' numbers embedded in the alpha keys disappeared from MB keyboards...
@bastewart: I'd have to say that's wrong. But only because if this computer EVER docks, you'd have to remove the Air from the larger docking computer to press the button.
it ejects every dvd drive in the vicinity ideal for gizmodo when playing pranks a conference.
@Townie: You are probably right. Has anyone who has seen the MBA Superdrive up-close-and-personal noticed an eject button on the drive itself?
or is it in preparation for a new macbook air with a dvd drive
I would imagine that it would serve to eject any media (camera, ipod) that was inserted via usb, if it doesn't eject the wireless external drive that they are also selling.
Side note, I truly believe that the Air is ahead of it's time. Apple removed floppy drives from it's computers long before the rest of the industry gave up on them but eventually everyone did and eventually, perhaps in 3-5 years, the majority of computers or at least laptops will be optical driveless.
I can definitely imagine having a home setup where all my computers share one wireless HD and data and all my media is digital.
It's a self-destruct button for those who finally realize it can't do more than email and surf the web.
They should have left it out and then charge more for it later as a hardware update.
@XAPPLEFAN:
explain to me the limitations of the AIR that render it so useless as to only serve as an internet browser?
Because it has no optical drive?
Please?
It causes a warning to come up on the screen to remind you the macbook air has no disc drive and auto-starts quicktime with a tutorial about how to use remote disc and auto opens safari to the apple store with the disc drive in the basket and ready to check out.
OR maybe more unreasonably it opens up the remote drives (quite cool for freaking people out) or it ejects memory keys/ hard drives
@perec:
great minds think alike! unfortunatly I can't type fast enough so I never saw your post until my browser refreshed.
It ejects the deadly neurotoxin that kills everyone... Would you like some cake??
@aphex:
Does the SSD model have this button too ?
If it does, it's really useless, as if you buy the SSD model you already don't have any $ left to eject.
It ejects Bill Gates?
The only purpose it serves is to use the keyboard combination "Command/option?eject" to put the little thing to sleep
@jsntrenkler: easy...
Function key [fn] + delete key = backspace.
It ejects little squirrel from catapult.
[gizmodo.com]
@MagnoliaBoy: dude its the delete key
@Windhawk: that's a good one. How the fuck did I forget about squirrel. Adding it.
everytime someone presses the eject button a drm encrypted mp3 plays iTunes, with Steve Jobs clamoring on on about how inovative it is to make a laptop "magically" fit in a Manilla envelope, despite not having an integrated optical drive. Also includes "Steve Jobs boom sound action".
it ejects the optical disc drive... wait a second!!
It ejects a $100 Apple Store Credit for early adopters, that way no posts are needed by Jobs saying that he feels sorry for dropping the price 88 days from now in a competitive ultra portable market, after the 88 days, the eject key will be removed from all MBAs produced from that point forward.
It ejects more usb ports. They have to be somewhere inside it.