Apple Introduces MacBook Air

On January 15, 2008, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the MacBook Air. With so many notebooks on the market, the first question that came to mind was ‘what makes the MacBook Air different?’ The answer was effortlessly within reach. Apple bills the MacBook Air as the world’s thinnest notebook, small enough to fit inside an interoffice mailing envelope. It will be available before the end of January 2008 with a starting price of $1,799.

A brief look at the list of MacBook Air features include a 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display that has a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution. The backlighting saves power and provides “instant on” response from the moment you turn it on, according to Jobs. The device has a slightly wedge-shaped profile. It weighs about 3 pounds, and sports a thickness of 0.16-0.76 inches. It’s 12.8 inches wide and 8.95 inches deep.

After spending less than an hour with the MacBook Air, Jason Snell, Editorial Director of MacWorld writes, “The best news I got about the MacBook Air was its video-out prowess. It seems to have the same skills as the MacBook, namely that it will drive a 23-inch Apple display as a secondary display. For someone like me, that’s a key feature—speaking as a guy who uses his MacBook at work hooked up to a 23-inch display, robust video-out features are important. Aside from Remote Disc, the other big new software addition with the MacBook Air is the modifications to the Keyboard and Mouse preference pane to support the new multi-touch enabled trackpad. In our demo, we saw the gestures at work in both iPhoto and Safari, though presumably these are features that third-party developers will be able to add to their applications as well. Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the MacBook Air’s tiny .16-inch thin front side still has room for two pieces of actual hardware: an infrared receiver and the ubiquitous pulsating sleep light.” See his full review.

On the other hand, Harry McCracken of P.C. World is wondering about the list of features missing from Apple’s wafer-thin lap-top and whether or not the “missing” list is almost as long as the list of what it’s got. For instance, the Ethernet. McCracken considers this as a “seriously annoying omission”. He continues, “In the old days no notebook had built-in ethernet. Then it became standard equipment. The fact that the Air lacks it makes the machine a throwback. Jobs spoke of the Air as a machine built to be used wirelessly. But most of the hotels I stay in assume that my computer has ethernet.”

A commentator on McCrackens negative article rebounds with,

“I find it humorous that people are concerned with what the MacBook Air is missing. I recall the same arguments and concerns when Apple removed the floppy drive from it’s systems. Nobody is going to care about the omission of an optical drive. If you really want one, Apple sells a thin external drive. As for ethernet, I haven’t plugged my MacBook Pro into an ethernet port since I bought it. I have wireless in my home, and have found that most hotels, restaurants (including my local McDonalds), and even car washes all have wireless connectivity. As for the battery, I seem to recall the same complaint about the iPhone… Of course that hasn’t seemed to hurt sales on that front either.”

NFi’s Derek Bender comes forward with his opinion of MacBook Air.

“This is the computer you would buy if you didn’t want to buy a computer bag. Just tuck it inside a manilla envelope and go. Other than the size, which if you ask me isn’t really that impressive, there are a few features that I’m really glad to see. The multi-touch capability from the iPhone is being used. Another cool thing is the wireless capability that Remote Disc brings and also wireless backup with Time Capsule. Another thing I thought was interesting is that the screen is the first mercury and arsenic free display. Apple also tried to go green with the packaging which is 56% smaller, but the Air is smaller than anything before so of course it will require less packaging. In the end I’m not a laptop kinda guy. But I really like what I see in the MacBook Air and maybe in a couple years I’ll switch but for now I still plan I buying an iMac.”

There we have it - initial pros and cons. It seems that the old line “time will tell” is applicable to the MacBook Air. So to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, NFi Studios says, “congratulations”. Some will find the MacBook Air a work solution and recommend it to all. Others may not. In any event, NFi Studios simply says, thank you for your new product .. thank you for being a leader who paves the way through today’s jungle of technology. We wish you all much success with the MacBook Air!

Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”