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Apple Announces MacBook Air

Posted by kdawson on from the thin-end-of-the-wedge dept.

Apple made four announcements at MacWorld Expo: the new MacBook Air, new features for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and movie rentals via iTunes from a TV without a computer involved. The new portable gets most of the attention. It is 0.76" thick at the thickest part, tapering to 0.16". It weighs 3 pounds and has a 13.3" screen and full-size, backlit keyboard. Its Intel chip is the diameter of a dime and the thickness of a nickel. The MacBook Air will cost $1799 and up. Its storage is either 80 GB disk or 64 GB solid-state drive. 2 GB of memory. It has no optical drive (an external one is available for $99) and features a way to wirelessly use the optical drive of any nearby Mac or PC with the proper software installed.

3 of 1,218 comments (clear)

  1. Movie Rentals? by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I thought this was a pretty big part of todays Keynote:

    Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, Newline, FOX, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal, Sony all on board.
    Library titles: $2.99,
    New Releases: $3.99,
    HD rentals are $4.99.

    Rules: 30 days to start watching. 24 hours to finish
    Watch anywhere (Macs, PCs, all current iPods and iPhone

    Thanks MacRumors.

  2. Short on Options! by qwertphobia · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So, somebody's going to buy one, and when they foobar their OS and drop it off at the helpdesk, how do we fix it?

    • No Firewire - can't boot target mode!
    • No Optical Drive - can't boot from DVD!
    • No Ethernet - can't net-boot!

    Yes, there is USB, so we'lll need to keep a few USB CD-Rom drives around for these things. >p>ah well, it looks real nice.

    --
    Never ask for directions from a two-headed tourist! -Big Bird
  3. Re:Expensive by Penguin's+Advocate · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The SSD is a $999 upgrade. Have you looked at the prices for 64GB SSDs recently? They tend to run in the $1500 range. I know it's hard to believe, but the SSD from Apple is actually *cheaper* than retail at the moment. It's not something you usually see in BTO upgrades for a Mac.

    --
    Frag 'em all...