New Apple MacBook Air launched
Apple unveiled a new MacBook Air, which they believe is the first of a next generation of notebooks which will replace mechanical hard disks and optical drives with Internet services and solid state flash storage.
According to Apple these next generation notebooks are:
- Faster, as solid state flash storage is up to twice as fast as hard drive storage.
- More reliable, since hard drive crashes are eliminated.
- Lighter and smaller, as solid state flash storage is up to 90 percent smaller and lighter than hard drives.
Available in 11-inch and 13-inch models and weighing as little as 1.06kg and 1.32kg respectively, the new MacBook Air is Apple’s lightest and most portable notebook.
MacBook Air uses the same solid state storage technology as iPad to deliver instant-on responsiveness, up to seven hours of battery life and up to 30 days of standby time (though Apple adds the disclaimer that these numbers are dependent on configuration).
“MacBook Air is the first of a new generation of notebooks that leaves behind mechanical rotating storage in favour of solid state flash storage,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve taken what we have learned with the iPad—solid state storage, instant-on, amazing battery standby time, miniaturization and lightweight construction, to create the new MacBook Air. With its amazing responsiveness and mobility, it will change the way we think about notebooks.”
Apple says that the MacBook Air’s aluminium unibody enclosure measures 0.3cm at its thinnest point and 1.7cm at its thickest.
MacBook Air features a full-sized keyboard as well as the glass multi-touch trackpad found on Apple’s MacBook Pro, so you can scroll through web sites, flip through photos, and resize or rotate images all from the trackpad.
Apple also introduced FaceTime video calling for the rest of their Mac product range. Apple has included a FaceTime camera on MacBook Air, as well as a mic and stereo speakers for video calls with iPhone 4, iPod touch and other Macs.
MacBook Air features an NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics output to 11.6-inch or 13.3-inch high-resolution LED-backlit display and Mini DisplayPort to connect your 27-inch Apple LED Cinema Display, projector or HD TV.
Wireless interfaces included on the MacBook Air are 802.11n Wi-Fi networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. This is in addition to two USB ports and an SD card slot for physical connections.
Every Mac comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Apple’s proprietary operating system, and iLife, Apple’s suite of applications for creating and sharing photos, movies and music.
The new iLife 11 features iPhoto for browsing, editing and sharing photos; iMovie for video editing; and GarageBand which allows you to record and create songs.
Pricing & Availability
According to Apple, the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air are immediately available through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The 1.4 GHz 11-inch MacBook Air with 2GB of memory and 64GB of flash storage starts at a suggested retail price of US$999 with a 128GB model for US$1 199.
The 1.86 GHz 13-inch MacBook Air with 2GB of memory and 128GB of flash storage starts at a suggested retail price of US$1 299 with a 256GB model for US$1 599.
Configure-to-order options and accessories include faster processors, 4GB of memory, MacBook Air SuperDrive and a USB Ethernet Adapter.
Local distributors of Apple products, Core Group, said that they were unable to provide pricing or availability estimates for South Africa for the new MacBook Air.
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