Apple MacBook Air: Coming to an Envelope Near You

We’ve heard the rumors and have waited patiently. Apple finally announced a new line of notebook computers during Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at MacWorld 2008 today. The ultra-compact MacBook Air line is the new sibling to the existing MacBook and MacBook Pro lines.

Features include bragging rights for being “the world’s thinnest notebook,” at 0.16″ to 0.76″ - still thinner than the thinnest part of a Sony TZ series laptop. The screen is a 13.3″ widescreen backlit LCD with a magnetic latch.

The MacBook Air keyboard is familiar but now has an ambient light sensor. The new notebooks feature a multi-touch trackpad, allowing the user to double-tap and move, to rotate photos by pivoting your index finger and thumb, as well as the pinch & zoom goodness we all love from the iPhone and iPod Touch interface.

The MacBook Air also sports a Micro-DVI out, audio out, 802.11n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR and a 45 watt MagSafe power adapter, . There’s a 1.8″ hard drive for storage - either 80GB standard, or a 64GB SSD as an option. Intel reportedly shrunk the size of the Core 2 Duo chip by 60% to fit in the new machine.

Battery life is good at approximately 5 hours. No optical drive is available on the MacBook Air, but a SuperDrive accessory is just $99. Soon to be released software will allow the portable to “borrow” a Mac or PC’s optical drive. All models feature a respectable 2GB of memory standard.

The new MacBook Air sports some nice green features. The case is fully aluminum, the first fully mercury and lead free display, circuit boards are BFR free, and retail packaging are is said to be 56% less volume than a standard MacBook.

While we’re all giddy about the new addition to the Apple family, a few folks may see a downside in respects to a few missing things.

·% Much like the iPhone, there is no user-replacable battery.

·% No Firewire port. If your external drive or peripheral relies on a Firewire port, you’re plain out of luck

·% The recessed USB port may prevent using some peripherals. Again, like the iPhone, plan to spend too much on an adapter or hub of some sort to remedy the problem.

·% No Ethernet Port. If you really need one, Apple will sell you a spiffy white ethernet “dongle” for just $29.

The new MacBook Air starts at $1799. If you’ve got way too much money on hand and need to part with it, go for the 64GB solid state drive (SSD), that should put you at just a little over $3000. The MacBook Air is available for pre-order today and should be shipping in about two weeks.