apple-history.com / MacBook Air

apple-history / MacBook Air

# MacBook Air

Essentials

Family: MacBook Air

Codename: ?

Gestalt ID: 406

Minimum OS: 10.5.1

Maximum OS: 10.7.5

Introduced: January 2008

Terminated: October 2008

Processor

CPU: Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo (P7500)

CPU Cores: 2

FPU: integrated

Bus Speed: 800 MHz

Register Width: 64-bit

Data Bus Width: 64-bit

Address Bus Width: 64-bit

Level 1 Cache: 32 kB data, 32 kB instruction

Level 2 Cache: 4 MB on-processor

ROM: EFI

Onboard RAM: 2 MB

Maximum RAM: 2 GB

Video

Screen: 13.3" LED-backlit TFT

GPU: Intel GMA X3100

VRAM: 144 MB shared (see notes)

Max Resolution: 1280x800

Video Out: micro-DVI

Camera: iSight

Storage

Hard Drive: 80 GB 4200 RPM (w/SMS)

ATA Bus: Parallel-ATA

Optical Drive: optional external

Input/Output

USB: 1 2.0

Audio Out: stereo 24 bit mini

Speaker: mono

Microphone: mono

Networking

Wi-Fi: 802.11a/b/g/n

Bluetooth: 2.1+EDR

Miscellaneous

Power: 45 Watts

Dimensions: 0.16-0.76" H x 12.8" W x 8.94" D

Weight: 3.0 lbs.

Notes

The MacBook Air's graphics chipset used a portion of main memory as VRAM. Though reported as a 144 MB graphics system, the chipset actually used up to 160 MB of RAM, resulting in a maximum of 1888 MB of RAM available for system use in the base system.

Announced in January 2008, the MacBook Air was the thinnest Apple laptop yet released. It was positioned as a high-end ultra-portable system, and Apple had to make some sacrifices to get it there: At 1.6 GHz (1.8 GHz BTO), it was slower than other contemporary Apple laptops, its 2 GB of RAM was non-upgradable, it had a smaller, slower hard drive, no firewire ports, no ethernet port, a single USB port, no optical audio output, no audio input, and, for the first time since the PowerBook 2400, no internal optical drive.

There were sacrifices Apple did not make: the MacBook Air included a full-sized keyboard and screen, and an oversized trackpad, which supported many of the same multi-touch gestures introduced by the iPhone. To mitigate the connectivity and hardware tradeoffs necessary to make the MacBook Air so thin, Apple offered various accessories: an optional external 8x SuperDrive, a USB-to-ethernet adaptor, a USB 56kbps modem, and various micro-DVI adaptors.

The MacBook Air shipped in a single retail configuration, with a 1.6 GHz dual-core processor, 2 GB of RAM, and an 80 GB hard drive, for $1799. BTO options included a 1.8 GHz processor ($200), and a 64 GB solid-state drive ($999, later dropped to $599). The MacBook Air was replaced in October 2008 by the MacBook Air (Late 2008).

Picture Credits:
Apple, Inc.