Apple Macbook Air
“There’s something in the air” read the banners outside the convention
center where the Macworld Expo 2008 was to be held.
Fans of the Apple computer company were interested in what this catchphrase meant, and patiently waited for the Apple keynote speech, delivered by Steve Jobs on January 15, 2008.
When the speech began, Apple introduced the new time capsule, updates
for the Iphone and the Ipod touch, and the announcement of movie rentals
available through Itunes. 
Steve left the stage after that last announcement while someone from Sony was speaking. He returned, nonchalantly, with a manilla envelope, which looked to be empty. What happened next amazed everyone!
Steve opened the envelope and pulled out some silver device! It was the
Macbook Air! This is what was in the air! Apples’s new superthin notebook, the worlds thinnest notebook computer!
This notebook model fits in between the pre-existing Macbook and Macbook
Pro lines, with the base model starting at $1999 US.
This notebook features a 13.3 inch LED backlit widescreen monitor with a
standard resolution of 1280×900, a full-size backlit keyboard and weighs
just 3 pounds.
There are two options for hard drives. First, you can get the standard
hard drive, which holds 80 gigs, which is pretty good for a computer
this thin. But in the upgraded model, you can get a 64 gig SSD or Solid
State Drive. This is a new technology that allows for more information
to be stored within a smaller area and allows your computers CPU to
access the stored information faster.
Every Macbook Air comes with 2gb of onboard RAM. This is a very high
amount for this type of notebook computer.
There are a few problems with the Macbook Air, though. It does not
include an optical drive. There are two options for this - you can either
buy an external Superdrive which apple is offering that was built
especially for the Macbook Air, or you can use Apples new sharing
feature which allows the Macbook Air to share an optical drive with a
preexisting computer.
The next problem is the processor speed. The standard model comes with
an Intel core 2 duo chip with 1.6ghz. The upgraded model comes with the
same chip, but the speed is up to 1.8 GHZ.
These are significant downgrades from the Macbook Pro and even the
standard Macbook line.
The Macbook Air supposedly has 5 hours of battery time, but you will not
be able to get that length of usage with any intense computing.
The Macbook Air uses the same OSX leopard operating system that all
other Macs use, which is the best operating system around.
There is also only 1 USB port on the side of the computer, where the
standard Macbook Pro has 3 USB and 2 Firewire. This could be seen as a
disadvantage to some.
All in all, this would be a great computer for someone who is using it
in conjunction with a pre-existing apple desktop. This is by no means a
desktop replacement. While some of the features sound exciting, this
computer is not that much of a power machine, but more of a fashion
statement.
