Apple Launches Two Crazily Skinny MacBook Airs

Is there a point were thin is too thin? I mean it feels like I would break it too easy.

Lol, I thought Apple wasn't interested in netbooks. Sure you could argue this is a laptop, but it's a < 12" laptop with no DVD drive and next to no expansion ports. I'd call it a netbook personally, regardless of the hardware it's packing.

Why didnt they just get AMD to hook them up with Fusion?

I'd probably not buy it regardless, but having an i3/i5 with Optimus would make these way more appealing.

Nice 2 USB ports and a mini display. Very convenient.

256gb ssd at 1599 is not too bad, like the illuminated keyboard on mac products and I like the sturdy feel of the aluminum chassis versus my current vaio z. Carbon fiber does not feel as sturdy compared to the unibody design at all. I similar equipped x201s can be had at 1499 with same screen res and everything except it comes with 4gb ram vs 2gb but hard drive wise 256ssd vs rotating drive is a good trade for me at least since I don't plan to VM or do any intensive tasks.

I wonder who's more to blame for the crappy CPU, Nvidia and Intel having a row over Nvidia making chipsets for the Core i series; or Apple wanting the Air to have the graphics muscle of a 320M(I doubt it).

It goes a long way towards being interesting but the main issues, for me, remain the same.

Lack of useful ports such as HDMI, USB3 and Gb Ethernet. I can can forgive the lack of VGA on a MBA despite competing ultra-portables having it.

C2D + 320M. I couldn't care less about the graphical capabilities of an ultra-portable, I'd gladly trade the 320M for an i3 or i5 ULV. A notebook being released only months before Sandy Bridge and Ontario/Zacate with this level of hardware is disappointing.

No backlit keyboard. I realize it's due to wanting to make it even slimmer but frankly a backlit keyboard is one of the few really compelling arguments in favor of Mac notebooks.

If there's any truth at all to the Apple/AMD rumors they should have waited for Ontario/Zacate. This enclosure with a Fusion chip, USB 3 and HDMI (both supported by the AMD chipset) as well as 4Gbyte of RAM standard would have been a killer ultra-portable.

That's Apple's main weakness in my book, they always seem to have some fatal flaws attached to what's essentially pretty cool tech.

I suppose that's why I've never been able to bring myself to buy any Apple product, despite looking long and hard at them every time I'm considering a purchase from one of the product segments in which they have a presence.

It's not a netbook. It's got core2duo, the 320m (an exceptional IGPU), and up to 4 GBs of DDR3

Only it's not an SSD, it's surface-mounted Flash chips, and it doesn't have an illuminated keyboard.

I'll not pass judgement until I see actual numbers but considering it's 'Flash Storage' rather than 'SSD' it's likely there's no advanced controller chip responsible and thus RW speeds might be closer to that of an Flash Drive rather than an SSD.

Without the USB 2 bottleneck mind you but still not up to par with an SSD.

Wait.. Didn't dell come out with a ridiculously thin note book with a stupidly high price already ?

It is too thin!

I do agree that CDs and DVDs are being replaced by thumb drives and streaming content so not a huge deal if an optical drive is not included. Would be surprised if a ext drive is not included though. The Air MacBook is study due to the materials used so dont worry about it being less fragile than a typical laptop. Gonna check one out =)

*sturdy not study...lol. Wish we could edit comments!

I think the M11x from Alienware is a better buy.

The $999 mac book air seems to be a nice choice for college students who is only focus is word process and web surfing... But i don't know... I don't want other students to think i am "rich-kid who doesn't know anything about computers who may have well spent his money on a cheaper windows." Then again i like clean, sturdy laptops, and apple usually makes good laptops. Five years on my iBook G4 and still going strong to this date, compared to an HP laptop i had two years ago and died in 14 months, and my friend's Dell laptop that died in two weeks...

That shows your general knowledge of PCs.
You shouldn't be ashamed though... there a lot of people that dont know squat about computers too...

I think it has to do with power usage and heat distribution. The new i3 are more power demanding and they also generate a lot more heat. You would not want to hold that Aluminum Mac Air in your lap with an i3/i5 in it...

this makes me feel happyer for getting the M11x R2. fater CPU faster GPU, and 4.5 hours off cord... These macs still look like they provide too little on the preformance front.

It's a netbook... right after they said netbooks are just a passing fad that would fall in favor of tablets.

Yes, it's a netbook. It may be more powerful than an average netbook, but that's not what defines a netbook vs laptop. I can build a laptop with a bigger/better screen and more features than my desktop. I can even set it on my desk top, and it's still a laptop, not a desktop. No matter what processor or how much memory they put into a netbook, it's still a netbook. I'm sure they'll give it some other name, just to save face from their stupidity, but oh well.

Personally I think that cramming all that power into something that small is simply not going to find a successful market... save for the Apple fanboys who don't really know much about computers, of course.

LOW PRICE???? are you being serious???? get real. they are way overpriced

it is a netbook

another question, does it use then 1.8 SDD? if its attached to the board I see problems for people down the road when the storage starts failing and they have no choice but to replace everything.

If you can switch out the storage though it would probably be some kind of mini pcie (like Eee PC) connecter in whitch case Apple could lock it and charge you an arm and a leg with some other organs thrown in to get a new SDD.

grrr >.< no edit ( i meant SSD not SDD..

Your paying for the thinness.

I'm just curious if there's a market for a "thin" notebook. With competition coming from netbooks (which also have no CD drive) and tablets along with our more computer capable phones,,, other than OS features, there's almost little need for a tiny surfing machine.

Now for a portable presentation computer, a place to dump my digital camera pics/vids on vacation without bringing a huge bulky laptop I can see.

OH!! airline travel.... I traveled with my 17" laptop which pretty much was its own carry on item leaving no room for other things like cloths. Going with a 11" full thin laptop can get most "work" done while leaving plenty of room to fit enough cloths in a carry-on bag for a weekend without paying the huge fees for having a piece of luggage

if you're complaining about the price... it wasn't made for you.

apple knows there's a market there, people will buy this.

May as well have an Ipad for half the price, or any decent tablet running ubuntu. (anyone know any good tablets?)

i agree with khimera2000. i hope the drive is not soldered in the motherboard

there are lots of optios for that tihng you are looking for in the market at half the price of this mac air 11". they are called netbooks and come from many companies.

you are rigth, its not for me. why? beacause im not presunctuos yuppy. I know enough about computer to know that apple does not make the best laptops and computers aout there. btw, i´m a graphic designer who constantly upgrade his system to be up tu date wiht the best hardware avaible, and that is just not possible with apple.

Very aggressive pricing considering what Sony wants for their 11.1" Atom machines. You do lose a bunch of ports, but you can play Crysis on it. M11's and other competitors are twice the thickness.