image from Apple.com

Introduced at Macworld 2008, the newest member of the Apple MacBook line. Billed as the ‘thinnest notebook ever,’ which it was at launch, the machine lacks an internal optical drive, no firewire ports, and only one USB port. The battery is also sealed and not user serviceable. Nevertheless, the laptop packs a custom dual-core Intel processor, a full-size keyboard, a 1280x800 13.3” display, and is just 0.76” at its thinnest point.

To make up for the lack of an internal optical drive, Apple sells an external USB SuperDrive for it. Due to power requirements and the one USB port available on the Air, the SuperDrive works only on the MacBook Air. The machine also ships with a driver disc that can allow a Windows machine or another Mac to share its optical drive with a MacBook Air over Wifi (the Air does not include wired ethernet).

The machine uses a maximum 80GB, 1.8” drive. The larger 1.8” drive that is in the highest end iPod does not physically fit in the MacBook Air. The laptop is also available with a 64GB SSD (Solid State Drive) as a $999 upgrade.

Reviews

• The ArsTechnica Review
• ArsTechnica looks at the SSD option
• Anandtech takes a peek inside
• The Anandtech Review
• Kirk McElhearn gets one for himself