Macworld Details: The Ultra-Thin MacBook Air Laptop

Jobs today described Apple's new notebook, the MacBook Air, like this: "It's the world's thinnest notebook."

He's not kidding. The new notebook is 0.76 of an inch at its thickest point, and as thin as 0.16 of an inch(that's not a typo) at the thinnest part of its wedge shape. It's so skinny it fits in a manila envelope, which is exactly how Jobs presented it onstage at Macworld. Here's a photo:

Specifications:

3 lbs., 0.16"-.76" thickness, a 13.3" fullsize display, full size keyboard (backlit), multi-touch gestures, iSight camera, 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB of memory, 80GB hard drive (64GB SSD optional), 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and Magsafe connector, flip down door (with USB 2, Micro-DVI, and headphone jack), built in 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR.

The Air is silver, and has a small camera wedged in there somewhere. Its fullsize keyboard is black, and the widescreen display is 13.3 inches in size. The notebook's edges are more rounded, reminiscent of the old iBook display.

For full coverage of Macworld Expo 2008, go to the PCW Mac Info Center.

The display is LED-backlit, which saves power, gives off a bright image, and is instant-on the minute you open the book. The Air's keyboard also is backlit, with an ambient light sensor (previously a MacBook Pro-only feature).

The Air also sports multi-touch gesture support on the trackpad. There's a preferences pane that lets you turn on a bunch of different "gestures," and it gives you a video that shows you what things do and how to do them.

For instance, you can double-tap to drag the cursor around. You can pan around a large photo with two fingers. Three fingers lets you pan through photos, and of course there's a real pinch interface for zooming in or out. Pretty amazing.

The Air contains a 1.8" hard drive: 80GB is standard, but you have the option of ordering the machine with a 64GB solid-state disk inside. Its Core 2 Duo chip comes standard at 1.6GHz, with an option to bump it up to 1.8GHz.

Compromise for Size
The machine contains no internal optical drive, but you can buy a $99 USB 2.0 add-on drive. "We don't think most people will miss it," Jobs says.

The processors are a little slow compared to other MacBooks. But this is not a horrible compromise considering the amazingly small form factor of the notebook.

The $1,799 price is interesting. You're going to end up paying quite a bit for the size, because it's got a processor that's a bit slower than the MacBook, and of course the drive is smaller. So really, you'll be paying a $700 premium for the MacBook air's super-small size. (Makes that wallet a little thinner also!)