Apple Launches 13-Inch Ultralight MacBook Air

[zippyjuan]

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/65163

Apple Launches 13-Inch Ultralight MacBook Air
Tue Jan 15, 2008 1:43PM EST
See Comments (120)
Steve Jobs took the stage to kick off the annual Macworld Expo today. As usual, he brought with him a crushing amount of buzz and a pile of new product announcements. Here's what we'll be seeing from Apple, starting today!


MacBook Air

As widely expected, Apple is launching an ultra-thin notebook called the MacBook Air. At 0.76" thick at its widest point, the three-pound Air has a wedgelike shape that tapers down to 0.16" thick at the front base. LED backlighting on its 13.3-inch screen, multi-touch trackpad (which offers some nifty features like rotating photos, all in the touchpad), and a backlit keyboard. Specs are decent: 1.6 or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (on a cleverly shrunken socket), 2GB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive (or 64GB SSD option). No optical drive (of course), and just one USB port. It'll set you back $1,799, which is on the inexpensive side for ultralight notebooks with specs like this. Ships in two weeks.

(By the way, as great as the MacBook Air sounds, calling this the "world's thinnest notebook" is hyperbole: The Sony X505 was 0.75" thick... and it was released in 2003.)

iPhone Software Upgrades

Apple isn't resting on its cell phone laurels; after selling 4 million iPhones, it's adding new features to the existing software package (including webclips, which will bookmark not just a web page but a specific zoom and pan and then let you place them on your home screen; multiple recipient SMS; and lyrics support for iTunes). Nothing major, but some nice, incremental upgrades to the existing software. iPod Touch gets the same upgrades as the iPhone, but it will cost you $20.

NOT announced: iPhone 2!

iTunes Movie Rentals

As widely rumored, Apple is launching a movie rental service to complement its TV and movie sales service as part of iTunes. All major studios are on board. Titles will be available 30 days after their DVD release and can be viewed on a PC or your iPod/iPhone. You have 30 days to start watching and 24 hours after that to finish. The price: $3.99 for new releases, $2.99 for old titles. Launches today. (Hey, that Netflix deal is looking pretty good!)

Also: The flagging Apple TV will get the same rental features, without the need for a computer. You'll also be able to get photos from Flickr and .Mac, podcasts, and YouTube videos via Apple TV. It will still sync with your computer via iTunes, but that isn't required if you just want to use it to watch web content. It also does high-definition... but rentals will run you a whopping $4.99 each. The Apple TV features will be a free software update to existing boxes (available in two weeks). New boxes drop in price to $229 from $299.


Also announced: A wireless external hard drive designed to be used as a backup solution (with Apple's Time Machine backup software). $299 (500GB) and $499 (1TB).


Photos at the link.

[mcs328]

Overpriced. I'm impressed with the size but from the looks of it just one USB port. No Firewire. You're hoping that all data transfers are over WiFi basically.

[Memo]

Too expensive. I think it's a nice preview of what the future shall have but for now I'm not sure they can justify the price.

[Airencracken]

Meh. Again overpriced. I have been looking at an ASUS eeePC though.

[bachviet]

P.O.C. with all the standard stuffs missing (non-replaceable battery by user/hard drive/RAM, slow processor vs. price, no Firewire port, no ethernet port, no optical drive, and one USB port)

[Kevster]

Yet another product aimed at the iSheep...

[Cheesypuff]

wow...i guess their main marketing aim is THIN...but the features arn't that impressive for the price. phew!

[gear02]

Yet another product aimed at the iSheep...

I'm going to get one.

Baaaa.

[InfiniteNothing]

I think it's cool! It seems like a new way of thinking: do everything wireless. If need be move the peripherals to other computers or network devices (ie network printer). I think the 64 GB flash drive interesting too.

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/guidedtour/index.html?size=small

I'm probably not going to get one though.

[nate el bueno]

well said, kevster.

[Markel]

Overpriced.
You're surpised? With 'Apple' in the name that's a given.

[eSDee]

Looks like a solid product. And I just spend $3200 on a Toshiba Portege with a 64 GB solid-state drive. The 64GB solid-state MacBook air is also right around there, making it expensive, but not overpriced.

The hating continues...

[Devhux]

P.O.C. with all the standard stuffs missing (non-replaceable battery by user/hard drive/RAM, slow processor vs. price, no Firewire port, no ethernet port, no optical drive, and one USB port)

I agree fully -- but the lack of a replaceable battery seals its fate for me. Whenever I buy a laptop, I usually buy a second battery just in case. I really don't know why Apple has a fascination with removing access to the battery on their products -- especially ones where most people EXPECT to be able to replace them (cell phones, now laptops).

No thanks. I'm also waiting to see how long it takes for Apple's infamous "1st-gen QA issues" to show up -- whether the display is faulty, or the notebook cracks and literally falls apart, I'm sure something will happen.

[ArkiStan]

I think people may not be getting the point. Yes it may be overpriced for its specs, but I don't think the lack of functionality or peripherals is suprising. There's a reason they called it the Macbook "Air" instead of the "All New" Macbook. It wasn't meant to replace anything. It is simply one more addition to Apple's laptop lineup for people on-the-go who need a minimal, ultraportable and fully connected alternative. Some ignorant Apple fanboys inevitably will, but most intelligent people (I would hope) will NOT buy this as their workhorse at home, but rather as their portable, second computer. I'd say it's a pretty smart move on Apple's part. They're not only targeting new converters and people who were looking to replace they're macbooks, but also people who already have a perfectly functioning Mac Pro sitting at home.

Concept-wise, as InfiniteNothing said, it seems like the product is aiming for complete connectivity through disconnectivity. It basically does for their laptops what the iPod touch did for the iPod lineup: a little less baggage, a little more connectivity. It's a totally new way of using an already existing product.

All that being said, no, it is not cheap, and actual productivity-wise, it probably doesn't do much a $400 Asus eee couldn't already do (kinda like the civic vs. ferrari analogy). It's not on my wish list.

.

[Jeffbx]

Wow, that's really thin. If nothing else, Apple makes GREAT looking hardware.

I predict it'll either have overheating issues or be slow as a dog. You can only do so much cooling in such a tiny space, and faster = hotter.

Stats indicate a 5 hour battery life, which is pretty darn good for a Core2 processor, but not externally accessible? Seriously? They're in for a WORLD of hurtin' if THIS battery gets recalled! Imagine sending out shipping cartons & paying for 2 way shipping on every machine, plus the cost of labor to swap it. Hope they did their research carefully!

I sure wouldn't turn one down if someone gave it to me, but I wouldn't spend $1700 on it.

[InfiniteNothing]

Non user replaceable battery kinda sucks but it seems like it's necessary to keep the form factor down. To be honest though of all the laptops I've used, I've never really bought an extra battery. Also, I'm one of those people that will tear apart a laptop to replace a hard drive so I'm not too concerned.

Overheating? the core 2 processors are very fast and stay quite cool. I imagine especially so at 1.6 GHz.

[Markel]

P.O.C. with all the standard stuffs missing (non-replaceable battery by user/hard drive/RAM, ..., no Firewire port, no ethernet port, no optical drive, and one USB port)
Nobody will ever need a mouse with more than one button.

[kame]

HA HA HA


This will loook soo good next to my iphone at starbucks....

[eSDee]

Here's a review from PCMag:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2249834,00.asp



Browsing through Apple's growing list of products, you'll find there's no shortage of lightweight yet still powerful laptopsthat rival, and to some extent surpass, many of their Windows counterparts. For instance, there are the MacBook Pro 17-inch and 15-inch laptops, arguably the lightest in their respective categories. But for quite some time now, Apple fanatics have been calling for something that can actually be classified as an ultraportable, something that breaks the 4-pound barrier. Finally, Apple has answered with the Apple MacBook Air ($1,799 direct).

The MacBook Air is a new class of laptop, even though it has a design similar to its MacBook Pro brethren. What makes this ultraportable different from the MacBook Pros and everything else in the industry is its thickness, or rather, lack thereof. It measures 0.76 inches deep at the back, tapering down to 0.16 inches as you move toward the front bezel. That's simply unheard of for a 13-inch ultraportable. The MacBook Air weighs in at 3 pounds and includes features that the rumor sites had long been predicting, including a 13-inch LED screen and an optional SSD drive. It lacks an internal optical drive, and the (very) limited number of connectivity ports will raise eyebrows, but the $1,799 starting price, standard-voltage processing parts, and full-size keyboard make up for its few limitations.

It goes without saying that the MacBook Air's design is absolutely gorgeous. The system is basically the length and width of the MacBook 13-inch, except it's more than 25 percent thinner in the back and almost 90 percent thinner near the front bezel. Although a 3-pound chassis is certainly nothing to sniff at, the light weight would have been more impressive if Apple had managed to integrate an optical drive. The Panasonic Toughbook W4, the Sony VAIO VGN-TZ150N, and the Toshiba Portege R500 all integrate optical drives at 2.7 to 2.9 pounds. None of these, however, even comes close to the MacBook Air's screen size. Its 13-inch LED screen is by far the largest on a 3-pound laptop and is just as bright as a MacBook Pro 15-inch(LED) when the two are next to one another. By contrast, the Panasonic W4 and Toshiba R500 offer 12-inch screens.

Going with a 13-inch screen lets Apple easily integrate a full-size keyboard, which is nearly identical to the one found on the MacBook 13-inch. The only differences are that the Air keyboard is illuminated, a feature brought over from the MacBook Pros, and it's black. I'm a little skeptical about the color scheme. The black keyboard may not be a complete design faux pas, but a white keyboard would blend in better with the aluminum chassis. Perhaps Apple chose to accentuate the keyboard as an aid to the user, along with the backlighting, in dimmer surroundings, or maybe the company wanted to move away from the design of the MacBook 13-inch. In general, the raised keyboard is comfortable to type on. It's larger than the raised-keyboard of the Sony TZ150N, which is only 91 percent of full size. The Portégé R500 and ToughBook W4 have traditional-looking, full-size keyboards. Still, I think the best keyboard belongs to the Lenovo ThinkPad X61.

The aluminum casing is completely recyclable, similar to that of the MacBook Pros. You won't find a trace of arsenic and mercury on the display or on the display's glass screen. All of the Apple-designed circuit boards are also PVC- and BFR (Bromide)-free. Apple is also touting the fact that, in addition to being rid of all these hazardous materials, the MacBook Air is Energy Star 4.0–certified and EPEAT silver–compliant.

The touchpad on the MacBook Air is the largest I've seen on any ultraportable. The single mouse button is narrower than the ones on the MacBook Pros, but responsive. The touchpad adds another unique feature in that it's gesture-based. In addition to two-finger scrolling, the same two fingers can now rotate photos, pan through photo thumbnails, pinch and enlarge Cover Flow images, and play with font sizes, to name just a few functions. Applying three fingers will let you browse backward and forward in a Web browser, though this works only in Safari. Touchpad gestures didn't work with videos, however, and certain instances in iPhoto didn't work very well. Also, not every application supports this feature. Apple is still working on some gesture kinks, which is one of the reasons why the MacBook Air is shipping in two weeks rather than immediately. If you haven't realized it yet, touch capabilities are restricted to the touchpad only. It would have been truly ground-breaking if Apple had added touch sensitivity to the MacBook Air's screen, as it did on the iPhone.

The rest of the feature set is underwhelming, for the most part. Granted, the omission of an optical drive is understandable—the thinness of the Air simply doesn't allow for even a slot-loading one—but what's up with the single USB port? Since the ultraportable doesn't have an ExpressCard slot or a card reader, the only way to use a WWAN card or grab images off your SD card is through an external USB device. In fact, only three ports total are available on the MacBook Air—headphone, the lone USB, and one mini-DVI port. Although meager by any standard, the ports are displayed in a clever way: Instead of using cheap rubber port covers, Apple added a port hatch that folds up into the aluminum chassis, completely hiding the ports from view. Another thing missing from Air is the Front Row sensor and the tiny remote. Again, the size of the laptop simply would not allow one, but frankly, this one of those features I can live without.

Although meager by any standard, the ports are displayed in a clever way: Instead of using cheap rubber port covers, Apple added a port hatch that folds up into the aluminum chassis, completely hiding the ports from view. Another thing missing from Air is the Front Row sensor and the tiny remote. Again, the size of the laptop simply would not allow one, but frankly, this one of those features I can live without.

Apple chose not to put in a cellular modem (Verizon's or Sprint's EV-DO Rev A networks would have been nice), even though the size of the MacBook Air was begging for one. By comparison, both the Panasonic W4 and SonyTZ150N offer built-in cellular modems. It's also apparent that Apple is not ready for WiMAX, Intel's next-generation wireless solution. This wasn't too surprising, though, considering the lack of WiMAX coverage in the U.S. You won't find an Ethernet port either, but a USB Ethernet dongle can be purchased separately for $29. The only way, internally, to get on the Internet is through your built-in 802.11n Airport Extreme wireless card or through a Bluetooth 2.0 device, such as a smartphone that can be used as a WWAN modem.

The Wi-Fi connection comes in handy, given the system's lack of an optical drive. The company also launched Remote Disc, a software upgrade that enables you to access an optical drive from any PC or Mac on your network. You simply go to the Finder search field and locate the Remote Disc icon. Clicking on the icon will give you a list of computers on your network, where you can then perform a function like installing software from a networked PC. You can grab content off the optical drive as long as it's not copy protected. For example, you can't watch a copy-protected DVD movie from another computer, but one that's not copy protected (such as a home movie) will work just fine. Ironically, the Remote Disc software comes on an install DVD when the MacBook Air ships. (Granted, you can download the software from Apple's site as well, but why include a DVD install disc with a system that doesn't have an optical drive?) You can also use Apple's Migration Assistant, wirelessly, to back up your Mac to a device like the Apple Time Capsule—a NAS device that serves as a wireless router and is equipped with up to a terabyte's worth of storage. If you still feel you need an optical drive, Apple offers an external USB SuperDrive for a reasonable $99.

Other recognizable features include the MagSafe AC adapter, now smaller to accommodate the Air's thinner profile; a 64GB solid-state drive option (in place of the spinning one) that would cost you an additional $999; a standard 80GB hard drive that spins at 4,200 rpm; and an iSight webcam with an adjacent microphone.

Happily, the lackluster feature set is salvaged by some impressive performance parts. The MacBook Air will not be using ultra-low-voltage (ULV) processors from Intel—the same parts that bogged down the Sony TZ150N, the Panasonic W4, and the Toshiba R500 over time. Apple and Intel aren't revealing processor models yet, but it's an Intel Core 2 Duo running at 1.6 GHz. You can upgrade to a 1.8-GHz processor for $300 more. Furthermore, the processor is using a new miniaturized packaging technology, operating at 20W TDP (Thermal Design Power), according to Intel. All fingers point to Intel's latest low-voltage (not ULV) Penryn processors, announced earlier at CES 2008, but nothing has been confirmed.

Regardless, it's safe to say that performance will rival that of the Lenovo ThinkPad X61—a 3.5-pound ultraportable that also uses low-voltage parts. The standard 2GB of RAM is a good move on Apple's part, as it's the minimum you need to run Parallels Desktop for Macs and Apple's BootCamp software. The battery and battery life is hit or miss at this point. On the one hand, Apple is claiming 5 hours on a rather small, 37-Wh battery, which sounds terrific on paper. On the other, it's a non-user-upgradable battery, similar to those on the iPods. Apple does say that down the line, if the battery fails, a replacement can be purchased for $129 with installation included, but Apple will have to perform the surgery. I'll be updating this preview with the latest benchmark test scores, so stay tuned.

Without a doubt, the Apple MacBook Air can be expected to sell like hotcakes. For one, the laptop debuts at $1,799, a compelling price point when compared with the $2,000 price tags on the Panasonic W4, the Sony TZ150N, and the Toshiba R500. Though Apple sacrificed an optical drive and certain connectivity options, it did so to make its profile significantly thinner than that of the competition. It also accomplished feats like adding a huge 13-inch display, a full-size keyboard, and fast processing parts—all on a 3-pound chassis. I'd say these are respectable compromises. That's not to say that there isn't room for improvement—because there is—but for now, the MacBook Air will captivate millions based on looks alone.

[kimchicowboy]

All that being said, no, it is not cheap, and actual productivity-wise, it probably doesn't do much a $400 Asus eee couldn't already do (kinda like the civic vs. ferrari analogy). It's not on my wish list.

.
i'm hoping to get the 8gig Eee and put OSX on it. :) saw some hacks with some bugs i hope get worked out.

[Thesifer]

I do need a new laptop, but a true geek still can't own a MAC :) I do like the Thinness of it all, but not the lack of goodies inside.

[kame]

Why not have both! Run XP on MAC!

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bootcamp.html

[InfiniteNothing]

One consideration: I don't think XP supports two finger right clicking so I'm not sure how you'd right click. External mouse would work but that's another thing you'd have to carry around.

[gear02]

One consideration: I don't think XP supports two finger right clicking so I'm not sure how you'd right click. External mouse would work but that's another thing you'd have to carry around.

The two finger right clicking works in XP.

[Airencracken]

One consideration: I don't think XP supports two finger right clicking so I'm not sure how you'd right click. External mouse would work but that's another thing you'd have to carry around.

Sure it does. I use that function all the time on my laptop. It works in Linux too. Which I use 98% of the time.

[InfiniteNothing]

Oops. Nevermind then!

[kame]

http://www.medscape.com/content/2003/00/46/01/460125/art-eid460125.fig3.jpg

I cant two finger right click... It hurts...

[ArkiStan]

In case anybody was curious.
Whether this voinds the warranty is not clear.

Sources: MacBook Air battery replacements take only minutes
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/01/18/sources_macbook_air_battery_replacements_take_only_minutes.html


Once flipped upside down, the MacBook Air's bottom cover is easily unscrewed and removed, providing immediate access to the battery cavity. From there, the battery can be unscrewed from the chassis with the same screwdriver and unplugged from the circuit board with a simple tug -- it's not soldered to the board.

[Devhux]

I cant two finger right click... It hurts...

Umm...... ew? (Was the pic really necessary?)

[gear02]

I think I'm the only one on the board who preordered it and I have to say I'm mostly doing it because of form over function. Yes, there are lighter and more feature rich laptops out there (including a Lenovo X300 ultralight that looks awesome) but for me, and only for me, this is the perfect laptop. I value portability and lightness over most things (I loved my old X40). It has just enough hard drive space and it has a iSight built in. I don't use my macbook pro's optical drive ever and I don't play games or use photoshop on it. So for me this is good. Don't kid yourself, this is a niche product which is not for everyone, and you do pay a huge premium for form. I just like it.

Btw anyone want to buy my macbook pro? ;)