Apple unveils MacBook Air ultra thin laptop

Apple has unwrapped what it claims is the thinnest laptop in the world, the MacBook Air.

The Mac and iPod maker has once again delivered a slew of new product and service announcements to kick-off the annual MacWorld conference in San Francisco, with the full-size ultra light laptop the star of the opening keynote presentation.

The MacBook Air, which will fits into the MacBook range between the entry-level MacBook and high-end chunky MacBook Pro is just 1.94cm at its thickest point while closed, sloping down to just 0.4cm at its thinnest point.

Despite this it still features a 1280x800 pixel resolution 13.3inch widescreen display, the same size as that found on the MacBook. However the display used on the Air features LED backlighting, reducing power consumption, the same size keyboard as the MacBook, but backlit like a MacBook Pro, and boasts five hours of battery life in everyday use.

"The Macbook Air is the thinnest laptop in the world. It is an astonishing piece of technology and unlike other ultra lightweight devices we have not had to compromise on screen size, keyboard or performance," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, speaking to attendees at Macworld.

The announcement of the Air was widely speculated in the run up to the keynote, however, analyst and industry speculation of a tablet or ultra mobile PC (UMPC) using similar technology to the iPhone and iPod Touch proved wide of the mark. The MacBook Air does however employ some of the multi touch functionality from the iPhone, allowing users to rotate and zoom via the touch pad using the same finger movements as on the iPhone.

The aluminium cased Air ships with a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo that has been reduced in size by 60 per cent compared with a standard chip, 2GB RAM and a 80GB hard drive for £1,199 inc VAT. The laptop will begin shipping in two weeks time. Factory upgrade options include a processor bump to 1.8GHz, and a 64GB solid state hard drive. The Air does not have a built-in optical drive, but a matching external USB Superdrive DVD writer is available for £65 inc VAT. The external drive is USB powered and will only work with the Air, according to Apple technical staff.

"We really do believe you won't need an optical drive with the Air, but if you really want one its there. We are also introducing a new feature called Remote Disc that will allow you to use the optical drives in nearby Mac and Windows machines on your network," added Jobs. The Remote Disc feature will require a software utility to be installed on the Mac or Windows PC acting as the remote CD or DVD drive. The software is supplied with the Air, and there are no plans currently to release at as a software update for Mac OS X Leopard on other Apple machines.

Other products announced during the keynote include a wireless storage device called the Time Capsule, which combines either a 500GB or 1TB hard drive with an Apple Airport 802.11n wireless router. The Time Capsule is intended for use with the Time Machine backup application included in Leopard. The 500GB model will cost £199 inc VAT and the 1TB version priced at £329 inc VAT. Both will begin shipping in February.

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