Gadgets and Gizmos

Apple MacBook Air Is World’s Thinnest Notebook

Apple has done the update Macworld with their notebook line and the star of the line is the new MacBook Air. This is another of those devices that needs to be seen to be appreciated. The battery issue should be a doubtful point. While we think that battery accessibility and battery life are two of the most underrated aspects of the consumer electronics business.

Apple’s clearly responding to what is an actual real trend right now, the popularity of the ultra-light laptop,” he continued. Barajin predicts that ultra light laptops will grow to 20 percent (of the laptop market) in the next three years and that the Macbook Air will play a major role in that growth.

Laptops are generally broken down into four categories that the industry keeps tabs on: All-in-ones or desktop replacements, which are usually 6-to-7 pounds; Thin-and-lights, which usually weigh in at 4-6 pounds; Ultra lights, which are 2.5-to-4 pounds; and that category everyone ignores: the ultra mobile PC or UMPC.

As for Apple’s iTunes Movie Rentals and the Apple TV update, “This one didn’t come as much of a surprise given the abundance of information that leaked over the last few weeks. The details for content are the entire major the studios with initial offerings are on board and 1,000 titles in the next month, 100 of those in HD and new releases 30 days after DVD.

Expect that to grow over time. Movies can be downloaded and watched within 30 days for 24 hours. Prices are $2.99 for catalogs and $3.99 for new stuff. Add $1.00 for HD. Overall this is a really good move. Let’s face it, you might listen to the song ten thousand times in the course of your life.

Technical Specification

• .16 to .75-inch thickness on top
• 12.8 x 8.94 inches
• 3 pounds
• 5 hours of battery life with everything running
• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor at 1.6 or 1.8GHz, motherboard the length of a pencil.
• 800MHz frontside bus.
• 2GB RAM 667MHz DDR2 standard.
• 13.3-inch screen, LED backlit.
• 1,280 x 800 pixels
• Micro-DVI adapter (for DVI, VGA, composite and S-Video output)
• Intel GMA X3100 Graphics processor with 144MB RAM shared
• 1.8-inch 80GB HD or 64GB Solid State Drive (no moving pieces, but for a stunning $1,300 price increase!)
• Multitouch trackpad with gestures. Pans, zooms, rotates, etc.
• 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1.
• Optional external HD for $99, USB-bus powered.
• Full backlit keyboard.
• One USB 2.0, one audio port, one Micro-DVI