(Reportedly, the 160 GB drive found in the high-end iPod Classic – which uses two platters for storage – is too tall to fit into the MacBook Air’s svelte case.)Īpple claims 5 hours of battery life for the MacBook Air, even with wireless networking active Apple told us that battery life could be increased slightly by disabling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. However, Apple also offers, for the first time, a 64 GB solid-state drive, which is somewhat faster – especially compared to the relatively slow 1.8-inch drive – and enormously more shock-resistant, and has slightly lower power requirements (though at a significantly higher price). The standard configuration features an 80 GB, 4200-rpm drive. In order to save space, the MacBook Air uses a 1.8 inch hard drive (the same size found in some iPod models). The computer comes standard with 2 GB of RAM, which is not upgradeable.
It’s also slower, with the base model clocking in at only 1.6 GHz, plus an option to switch to a 1.8 GHz processor.
At Apple’s request, Intel created a special version of the Core 2 Duo CPU for the MacBook Air the processor is 60 percent smaller than those in Apple’s other laptops. The MacBook Air features a glossy 13.3-inch, 1280-by-800-pixel display with LED backlighting – the same physical size and resolution as the existing MacBook’s display. Another interesting omission is that of an Apple Remote, though users can purchase one for an additional $19. In addition, the MacBook Air is the first Apple computer since 2000 not to include any form of FireWire port, and it lacks even a slot for a security cable (a real pity given how tempting it will be to swipe one of these machines).
Notably absent is an Ethernet port, although Apple offers a $29 USB-to-Ethernet adapter as an option. The gestures can be turned off and on in the Trackpad view of the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane.Īpart from the power connector, the only physical interfaces on the MacBook Air (all hidden beneath a small flip-down door) are a single USB 2.0 port, a micro-DVI video port, and a headphone jack. Its “generously sized” trackpad borrows gesture support from the iPhone’s multi-touch display, meaning that with various combinations of finger movements you can zoom, pan, rotate photos, move windows, and perform other actions without having to worry about the exact location of your mouse pointer or manipulating tiny on-screen controls.
The MacBook Air offers many whizzy features that you’d expect from a new Apple laptop: a full-size, backlit keyboard with an ambient light sensor a built-in iSight camera 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) wireless support a magnetic latch and a 45 watt power adapter with a MagSafe connector (note that the MagSafe connector is slightly different from previous MagSafe connectors). The slightly wedge-shaped computer ranges in thickness from 0.76 inches (19.3mm) on the hinge side to a mere 0.16 inches (4mm) at the front. During his keynote address at Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs demonstrated the new machine’s slim profile by sliding it out of a standard interoffice manila envelope (a trick that also appears in a new television ad).