On January 15, 2008, the then CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, showed the world the MacBook Air. The presentation was marked in the company’s history by the fact that the executive removed the device from a yellow envelope to highlight its thickness.
The MacBook Air was announced during an Apple keynote at the Macworld Expo. In addition to the laptop, the company also showed other news, such as the launch of the Time Capsule, updates for the iPhone and iPod touch and much more.
However, the MacBook Air stole the show with its introduction by Steve Jobs:
“We built the world’s thinnest notebook without sacrificing a full-size keyboard or a full-size 13-inch display. When you first see the MacBook Air, it’s hard to believe it’s a high-performance notebook with a full-size keyboard and display. But this is,” said Steve Jobs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwCNFK43RCU
the presentation of MacBook Air starts from the 49 minutes of the video above.
technical specifications
Check out, below, the specifications of the first MacBook Air announced by Steve Jobs, which became available for purchase on January 29, 2008:
- 13.3″ LED-backlit widescreen display with 1280×800 resolution;
- 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4 MB L2 cache;
- 800 MHz front side bus;
- 2 GB SDRAM DDR2 667 MHz;
- 80 GB hard disk drive with sudden motion sensor;
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100;
- Micro-DVI port (includes micro-DVI to VGA and micro-DVI to DVI adapters);
- Built-in iSight video camera;
- Built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- 1 USB 2.0 port;
- 1 headphone jack;
- Multitouch TrackPad with support for advanced multitouch gestures, including tap, scroll, pinch, rotate, and swipe;
- 45 watt MagSafe power adapter.
economy and market
14 Jan
economy and market
13 Jan
These were relatively decent specs for the time, but the MacBook Air was clearly limited by its thin and light form factor. After all, it was the “thinnest notebook in the world,” according to Jobs, measuring 0.16 inches at its thinnest point.
Overall, the first version of the MacBook Air received mixed reviews, with praise for the design, and criticism for performance and battery life. Many reviews recognized, however, that the MacBook Air was the first step towards the future of the MacBook line.
The future of the MacBook Air
After the initial introduction of the MacBook Air in January 2008, it became a mainstay of Apple’s laptop lineup and received several versions with hardware enhancements, but nothing as innovative in terms of notebook design.
In 2022, the MacBook Air was redesigned to ditch the iconic design. In addition, the device also saw the introduction of the M2 chip insidefor yet another boost in performance and efficiency, as well as the return of MagSafe for charging.
Looking to the future, it is likely that the MacBook Air can reach higher levels of performance and battery life, without compromise. There are rumors that Apple may even expand the lineup to include a new 15.5-inch model.
In any case, the MacBook Air has come a long way over the last 15 years, despite some neglect from the company on the design front. Thankfully, Apple learned its lesson and the MacBook Air will follow in the Mac lineup for years to come.
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