Apple Announces New MacBook Air, World's Thinnest Laptop

by Joshua Fruhlinger — Jan 15th 2008 at 6:55PM

All the rumor-mongers were right: Apple announced the MacBook Air, the world's thinnest laptop. This beauty comes in at a ridiculous .16 inches thin -- so thin that it fits in a manila envelope. It features a full-size keyboard, so there are no compromises as far as usability goes. It also has a 13.3-inch display, built-in iSight camera, and a new, larger trackpad which does all the cool iPhone-like things like zooming, pinching, and scrolling. It has an 80-gig drive built in unless you want to upgrade to a 64-gig solid-state (no moving parts) drive.

Do we want one? Heck yes. It starts at $1799 and ships in 2-3 weeks. Go get 'em!

Gallery: MacBook Air

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Tags: apple, breaking+news, Laptop News, LaptopNews, macbook, macbook air, MacbookAir, top

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

John Crist said 11:16PM on 1-15-2008

The solid state hard drive is almost the best part. Looks like it might be small enough to actually be useable on present (cramped) air planes.

fin said 8:13PM on 1-16-2008

Very nice, but I'd break it before I left the store.

SKW said 8:31PM on 1-16-2008

I got a brand new laptop for Christmas and it's already out of date! This looks really good, I hope it's sturdy. I'd be afraid to snap it in half. It's really not that expensive, either.

Shannon said 8:43PM on 1-16-2008

While this is nice, I'm happy with the Compaq I received for Christmas. I would be terrified that I or someone else in my family would snap this laptop in half! Overall, I'm not sure of the durability of the product I'd be paying over a thousand dollars for.

Ken said 9:02PM on 1-16-2008

.16 inches is about as thick as the blade on your average kitchen knife. The word "Fragile" doesn't even begin to describe this I-only-had-it-a-week-before-it-broke-and-the-warranty-doesn't-cover-abuse gimmick gadget.

One more example of Apple sticking it to customers with more money than sense.

ilse said 9:20PM on 1-16-2008

Love the size. Too bad it's a MAC...I see that as a major negative so would never buy one.

Carol V. Stanger said 9:41PM on 1-16-2008

Where's the CD drive, connection for a printer, mouse? How do you load anything on it? Maybe the PC market will pick up the balance....

Mike said 9:53PM on 1-16-2008

Compared to this laptop, my laptop looks like it was built during the Stone Age.

mauiskychick said 9:58PM on 1-16-2008

Hot, hot, hot!! I want one NOW!

PJ said 10:14PM on 1-16-2008

Too bad this thing is a Mac . . . I would certainly like to have something this size-and-weight...but you are not going to be able to chase me hard enough to buy one a MacIntosh . . . or anything other than a windows-based unit.

mike said 10:24PM on 1-16-2008

let me step on it once and see how it works

Sarah said 10:28PM on 1-16-2008

Carol, this is from the Mac Book Air web site:

"The innovative now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t port hatch flips down to reveal (and closes to hide) all the ports you really need: a USB 2.0 port, a headphone jack, and a micro-DVI port that supports DVI, VGA, composite, and S-video output. Even the MagSafe power connection has been reconsidered and slimmed to fit MacBook Air"

I'm a grad student and I can say that one USB port is NOT enough. I use three at a time, depending on what I'm working on. In order to use this computer I would need a wireless print server and a USB expander.

TOM said 10:36PM on 1-16-2008

CANT WAIT

Maurice said 10:40PM on 1-16-2008

I love the Apple............have always found it to be very easy to use. (then again I always loved the Beta Max over VHS also - much better pic ad I still have one tha works and over 250 tapes - a lot of you don't even know what that is) The Compaq I have with Vista is fine, but like the commercial says, I am havig problems with it. My Compaq is sturdy, because I have dropped my briefcase a number of times and it has not had any issues. I have found Apple products to be fairly sturdy if you take care of them, and would love the mobility of this product. Only problem with Macs are the cost. After using one, everyone would switch if they could get it at the discounted price of many Windows machines today, I definately would. Now that it can run Windows the only hold back is the price thing. If they could resolve that, the Windows computer would die.

Lefty... said 10:52PM on 1-16-2008

I always loved Macs. They work better and are faster than any PC/laptop I've ever used. Unfortunatly, the drawback with the Mac is the lack of programs.

Chardanu said 11:07PM on 1-16-2008

This "new" computer is copied after the one found on board the downed space ship captured at Roswell, NM in 1947. So, it is actually 61 years old; from outer-planet design, that is. Being made of materials from an unknown galaxy, it is indestructable, allowing you to step on it all you want. Users claim the only glich found so far, is that occasionally a pop-up appears on the screen in bold green letters. It reads, "ET PHONE HOME."

Lynn said 11:13PM on 1-16-2008

It's a Mac? No, thanks. I'm happy with the one I already have.

mandee said 11:29PM on 1-16-2008

Apple...Pleeeeze had two macbooks, both pieces of junk, the infamous screen flicker strikes again. Called customer support, wont talk to you for free, just out of warranty, the 1-800# recording and website tells me they will kindly direct me to dealer, where i can pay for their mistakes myself. See for yourself by doing a google search for "mac screen flicker" DONT BUY A MAC!!!!

matt said 11:59PM on 1-16-2008

someday the lap top will be put in our brain?? human robot? like Bush...

Another non upgradable Apple said 1:00AM on 1-17-2008

Yup scurry you Apple lemmings scurry to buy the latest overpriced soon to be obsolete and super expensive to repair Apple product. quick buy into Apple's non Eco friendly planned obsolesence policy.
Scurry Apple Lemmings forgoting that apple gave up whatever marginal uniqueness it had when they used there own design motorola chips.
Sigh my heart goes out to Apple Lemmings. Hardly any software that is decent barely any games vunerable OS with no built in firewall or anti-spyware Ooopps sorry you have to download 156 add ons from Apples website to get the same protection Vista has built in. (Oh so sorry did I reveal Apples Dirty little secert?)
I feel for them if they want to add more memory or a faster graphios card OOOPPPS sorry you can't what you have when you buy the system is what your stuck with OOOPPPS another Apple dirty little secert.
I cannot wait for Apple to go under again and Bill Gates tells them this time ooopppps sorry your on your own this time . Oh yeah i guess Apple Lemmings forgot that micro soft owns a lot of Apple stock in excahnge fopr the bailout. I heard Gates lines his bird cage with them.

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