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  • MacBook Air

    03 Aug, 2011

    Apple MacBook Air

    The future of the notebook. Available now.

    Designing MacBook Air came with one goal: Create an incredibly thin and light notebook computer that's every bit as powerful and capable as one twice its size. With flash storage, durable unibody construction, Multi-Touch technology, and a long-lasting battery, MacBook Air not only achieves that goal, it sets a new standard for what every notebook should be. Perfected down to the millimeter.

    The future of the notebook

    Thin, light, durable. Thank you flash storage.

    Even at less than an inch thin, MacBook Air sets a pretty high standard — by making flash storage standard. Flash chips are very small, allowing MacBook Air to be incredibly thin and light. Flash is also solid state, meaning there are no moving parts. Which makes it reliable, durable, and quiet. And because we place the flash chips directly on the logic board, they take up much less space — about 90 percent less, in fact. That creates room for other important things, like a bigger battery. So you have a notebook that weighs almost nothing and runs for hours on a single charge. That's mobility mastered.

    Thin Design

    The best way to Multi-Touch on a notebook.

    Multi-Touch technology is part of practically every Apple product. It's the best and most personal way to interact with your devices. And the optimal way to experience Multi-Touch on a notebook is through a trackpad. That's precisely the case with MacBook Air. The trackpad's spacious, all-glass surface doesn't have a button because the whole thing is the button. And with new Multi-Touch gestures in OS X Lion, you can interact with MacBook Air in ways that feel more intuitive and realistic than ever before.

    Multi-Touch technology

    See your QWERTY in lights.

    Anyone can try to make a notebook that's thin and light. Success comes in doing it without cutting corners. That's why MacBook Air features a full-size keyboard, not a condensed version of what you're used to. When you type on the MacBook Air, it's just as comfortable as typing on a desktop keyboard. And now the keyboard is backlit, so you can type comfortably even in low-light conditions. A built-in sensor detects changes in the ambient lighting and adjusts the keyboard and display brightness automatically, giving you the perfect illumination in any environment.

    Backlit Keyboard

    A battery that can get you through the day. And the month.

    If you looked inside MacBook Air, you'd see something remarkable: how much space we devoted to the battery. That's thanks to smaller components such as flash storage. And when the goal is to design the perfect notebook for everyday use, giving priority to the battery just makes sense. With MacBook Air, you can get up to 5 hours of battery life on the 11-inch model and up to 7 hours on the 13-inch model. Put MacBook Air to sleep for more than an hour, and it enters what's called standby mode. That means you can come back to MacBook Air a day, a week — even up to an entire month later — and it wakes in an instant. Time is on your side, courtesy of MacBook Air.

    A thing of beauty. And durability.

    MacBook Air features a unibody design for both the main enclosure and the display. Unibody construction means a higher-precision, less complex design with fewer parts. And that translates to a notebook that's exceptionally thin and light, yet durable enough to handle the rigors of everyday use.

    Unibody construction

    Expect everything. From a notebook that weighs almost nothing.

    With the latest-generation Intel® Core™ i5 and i7 processors, high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology, and all-flash storage, MacBook Air isn't thin on features.

    Intel® Core™ i5 and i7 processors.

    Both the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air now feature the latest generation of Intel® processors, the Core™ i5 and i7. With speeds up to 1.8GHz and faster memory, the new MacBook Air gains up to 2.5x the processing performance over the previous generation. MacBook Air also features the Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor, which includes an on-chip engine for video encoding and decoding. That means you experience video playback and FaceTime calls that are smoother, more responsive, and more true to life.

    Processors

    Thunderbolt I/O.

    With one port, MacBook Air gives you access to a world of high-speed peripherals capable of transferring data up to 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and up to 20 times faster than USB 2.0. Or use the Thunderbolt port to connect the new Apple Thunderbolt Display and transform your ultracompact MacBook Air into a complete desktop workstation. Power over 4 million eye-popping pixels while enjoying some major benefits: Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, an additional Thunderbolt port, three USB ports, a FaceTime HD camera, 2.1 stereo sound, and a built-in microphone. The display even charges your MacBook Air, so there's no need to unpack and unravel your power adapter. With two quick connections — the MagSafe power cord and the Thunderbolt cable — you're up and running in seconds. Unplug them, and you're on your way just as fast.

    Thunderbolt

    All-flash storage.

    Devices like iPhone and iPad have already demonstrated the advantages of flash storage: reliability, speed, and efficiency. So the decision to use flash storage in an ultracompact notebook like MacBook Air made perfect sense. With flash, your computer starts up in almost no time and accesses data quickly. Flash also gives MacBook Air the astonishing ability to remain in standby mode for up to 30 days.3 Which means your MacBook Air snaps to in an instant, whether you open it tomorrow, next week, or next month.

    Flash Storage

    Backlit keyboard.

    As incredibly compact as MacBook Air is, it still manages to fit a full-size keyboard that makes typing as natural as it is comfortable. And now the keyboard is backlit, so you can type with ease in even the dimmest light. A built-in ambient light sensor detects changes in lighting conditions and adjusts the display and keyboard brightness automatically. From a seat in a sunny café to a seat on a cross-country red-eye, you'll always have the perfect lighting for any environment.

    Backlit Keyboard

    Multi-Touch trackpad.

    The Multi-Touch gestures in OS X Lion make everything you do on MacBook Air more intuitive, direct, and fun. And the spacious Multi-Touch trackpad is perfectly designed for them, whether it's a three-finger swipe to activate Mission Control or a four-finger pinch to see all your apps in Launchpad. Gesture responses in Lion are smooth and realistic. So when you're scrolling up and down a web page or swiping from one full-screen app to another, it's almost like you're touching what you're seeing.

    Multi-Touch trackpad

    Click
    Press down anywhere to click. Or, with Tap to Click enabled, tap the trackpad.
    Double-click
    Press down two times anywhere. Or, with Tap to Click enabled, double-tap the trackpad.
    Tap to zoom
    Double-tap the trackpad with two fingers to magnify a web page or PDF.
    Two-finger scroll
    Slide two fingers up or down the trackpad to scroll through documents, websites, and more.
    Swipe to navigate
    Flip through web pages, documents, and more like thumbing pages in a book.
    View Mission Control
    Swipe up on the trackpad to get a bird's-eye view of everything running on your Mac.
    ClickDouble-clickTap to zoomTwo-finger scrollSwipe to navigateView Mission Control

    The new speed of light.

    If a notebook is thin and light enough to carry with you everywhere you go, it should be powerful enough to handle everything you do. The new MacBook Air is more than up to the task — whatever the task may be.

    The new speed of light

    Intel® Core™ i5 and i7 Processors.

    Now with the latest Intel Core processors — a Core i5 up to 1.7GHz or an optional 1.8GHz Core i7 — and speedier DDR3 memory, the new MacBook Air is up to 2.5x as fast as the previous generation,1 yet it weighs next to nothing. Applications run faster and more efficiently than before. So everything you normally do on a computer you can do even quicker. Send email, write reports, create presentations, touch up photos, edit home movies, and all the little (and big) tasks in between. And since the Core i5 and i7 processors feature a graphics processor with an on-chip engine for video encoding and decoding, you'll notice longer battery life when watching iTunes movies or making FaceTime video calls.

    11-inch MacBook Air Application Performance13-inch MacBook Air Application Performance
    11-inch MacBook Air Application Performance
    Up to 2.5x faster than previous-generation MacBook Air
    13-inch MacBook Air Application Performance
    Up to 2.5x faster than previous-generation MacBook Air

    All-Flash Storage.

    "Wow, that was fast." With MacBook Air, you'll find yourself saying that a lot. Because flash storage is up to two times faster than a conventional hard drive,2 everything you do is more responsive and immediate — starting up, browsing a large photo library, launching applications, and opening files, for instance. When you combine the speed of flash storage with a fast dual-core processor and power-efficient graphics, your entire MacBook Air experience feels turbocharged. And flash storage doesn't have any moving parts, which means it's more reliable and quiet. Lightning fast, durable, silent — qualities that make sense in a notebook tasked with keeping up with you.

    High-Speed Thunderbolt I/O.

    The breakthrough I/O technology pioneered on MacBook Pro and iMac now comes to MacBook Air, letting you connect multiple high-performance devices — such as external hard drives — through a single port. With two 10-Gbps data channels, Thunderbolt lets you transfer data at rates up to 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and up to 20 times faster than USB 2.0. Thunderbolt technology gives MacBook Air capabilities it's never had before. Like attaching FireWire peripherals or connecting to Ethernet networks at gigabit speeds — two big gains from one tiny port.3 You can also use the Thunderbolt port to connect MacBook Air to the ultimate docking station: the new Apple Thunderbolt Display. When you do, your MacBook Air transforms into so much more. That's because the Thunderbolt Display includes Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, an additional Thunderbolt port, three USB ports, a FaceTime HD camera, 2.1 stereo sound, and a built-in microphone. Together MacBook Air and the Thunderbolt Display create a powerful setup for work or play.

    High-Speed Thunderbolt I/O

    OS X. It's what makes a Mac a Mac.

    Built on a rock-solid UNIX foundation, OS X is engineered to take full advantage of the technologies in every new Mac. And to deliver the most intuitive and integrated computer experience.

    Hardware and software made for each other.

    Since the software on every Mac is created by the same company that makes the Mac, you get a fully integrated system in which everything works together perfectly. OS X works with the processor in your Mac to deliver the best possible performance. The Multi-Touch trackpad on every Mac notebook gives you more than enough space to pinch, swipe, and tap your way around most of the apps on your system. OS X gives you long battery life by dimming the screen in low-light conditions and even regulating processor activity between keystrokes.

    Hardware and Software

    Interact with your computer in a whole new way.

    Tap, scroll, pinch, and swipe using Multi-Touch gestures, directly controlling what's on your screen in a more fluid, natural, and intuitive way. When you scroll down on your trackpad or Magic Mouse, your document scrolls down. When you scroll up, your web page scrolls up. When you swipe left, your photos move left. And there are many more gestures that make all you do on your Mac the best experience you can have on a computer. Hands down.

    View Mission Control
    Swipe up on the trackpad to get a bird's-eye view of everything running on your Mac.
    Switch between open apps
    Swipe three fingers to move from one full-screen app to another.
    Two-finger scroll
    Slide two fingers up or down the trackpad to scroll through documents, websites, and more.
    Tap to zoom
    Double-tap the trackpad with two fingers to magnify a web page or PDF.
    Pinch to zoom
    Zoom in and out of photos and web pages by moving your thumb and finger in a pinch gesture.
    Swipe to navigate
    Flip through web pages, documents, and more like thumbing pages in a book.
    View Mission ControlSwitch between open appsTwo-finger scrollTap to zoomPinch to zoomSwipe to navigate

    Apps that are ready for anything. So you are, too.

    It comes with apps for sending email, managing your schedule, making video calls, and backing up your Mac automatically. It even comes with an app for shopping for new apps. With OS X Lion, your Mac is more than full-featured, it's fully loaded.

    iPhoto

    iPhoto

    The best way to organize, edit, and share your photos.

    iPhoto is an easy-to-use photo application that makes it fast and fun to organize and find your pictures, as well as make them look their absolute best. With features like Faces, Places, and Events, iPhoto helps you keep track of your photos by who's in them and when and where you took them — all in an immersive full-screen view. Use quick and simple editing tools to make so-so shots picture perfect with just a few clicks. iPhoto even lets you share your photos with the world with beautiful photo books and letterpress cards or online via Facebook and Flickr.

    iPhoto

    iMovie

    iMovie

    Turn your home movies into home blockbusters.

    Don't settle for boring home movies. With iMovie, you can transform the videos you shoot into your very own indie flicks. Create a Hollywood-style trailer that'll make your audience laugh, cry, and cheer for more. If you know how to drag and drop, you can make a movie in iMovie. It comes with Apple-designed themes that look fun and professional. Just choose one and iMovie does the rest, adding animated titles and sophisticated transitions automatically. Customize your screen gem further with your own words and audio.

    iMovie

    GarageBand

    GarageBand

    Creating great-sounding songs is as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4.

    Whether you're musically gifted or mostly curious, GarageBand is the application for you. Plug in your electric guitar or USB music keyboard and get ready to rock with virtual replicas of the most revered amps and stompboxes in the world, as well as over 100 software instruments. Just because you didn't grow up learning your A, B, and C sharp doesn't mean you can't. Basic Lessons teach you just that: the basics. Choose from 40 lessons that cover blues guitar, rock guitar, classical piano, pop piano, and more. Or get a private lesson from one of your musical heroes, like Sting or Death Cab for Cutie, with Artist Lessons. GarageBand even tells you how well you're playing in real time with a feature called “How Did I Play?”

    GarageBand

    Mac App Store

    Mac App Store

    Get great apps for your Mac, from your Mac.

    Just like shopping the App Store on iPad, the Mac App Store offers endless possibilities to browse and purchase apps. New apps install in one step right to Launchpad. And the Mac App Store lets you know when app updates are available, so you always have the latest versions.

    Mac App Store

    Safari

    Safari

    The world wide web. Now wider.

    Designed with the Mac in mind, Safari emphasizes browsing, not the browser. In new full-screen view, the browser frame is only a pixel wide, and you can hide almost the entire interface if you choose. So there's nothing to distract you from an article, video, or photo album. Navigating web pages is easy with new trackpad gestures; flip through web pages with a swipe, and double tap or pinch the trackpad to zoom in on text or images. Safari also features Reader, which lets you peruse articles sans annoying ads. Or save articles for later with Reading List. And since pages render fast in Safari, you won't miss a minute of the web.

    Safari

    Mail

    Mail

    An inbox full of great features.

    Mail makes it easy to manage all your email from a single, ad-free inbox. It features powerful search capabilities, with search suggestions and tokens built in. It works with most email standards — including POP3 and IMAP — and popular email services such as Gmail, Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, Cox, Yahoo! Mail, and AOL Mail. Mail supports Microsoft Exchange 2010, too. If you have more than one email account, no problem. Add your accounts to Mail and you'll be able to access all your email from one place.

    And Mail looks as great as it works. It makes full use of your display with a gorgeous widescreen view featuring a full-height message and a message list that includes snippets. With Conversations, messages from the same thread appear in an elegant timeline showing each communication as it was sent while hiding redundant text.

    Mail

    iCal

    iCal

    A calendar that's ahead of its time.

    Keep track of your busy schedule and share it with others using iCal. Create separate calendars — one for home, another for school, a third for work, and so on. See all your calendars in a single window or choose to see only the calendars you want. iCal lets you create invitations using contact information from your Address Book, update your guest list, keep track of responses, and receive the latest status information. When you or another Mac user receives an iCal invitation via Mail, it's automatically added. iCal works with Yahoo! and Google calendars too, and syncs to iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, so you'll always be up to date on all your devices.

    iCal

    iCal

    Address Book

    Great with names. And faces.

    With Address Book you have a flexible and convenient place to store contact information for everyone you know. You can import names, numbers, addresses, and photos from other applications; create smart groups for clubs, activities, and business purposes; print address labels and envelopes; and more. It syncs to iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch so there's no need for duplication. And since Address Book is built on vCard, an industry standard for storing contact information, your friends can send you cards that you can add simply by dropping them in — no typing required.

    Address Book

    Time Machine

    Time Machine

    Built-in backup.

    Time Machine works with your Mac and an external hard drive or Time Capsule. Connect the drive, assign it to Time Machine, and start enjoying some peace of mind. Time Machine automatically backs up your entire Mac, including system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents. But what makes Time Machine different from other backup applications is that it not only keeps a spare copy of every file, it remembers how your system looked on any given day — so you can revisit your Mac as it appeared in the past.

    Time Machine

    FaceTime

    FaceTime

    Make your smile go further.

    FaceTime for Mac makes it possible to talk, smile, and laugh with anyone on an iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPod touch, or another Mac from your Mac. So you can catch up, hang out, joke around, and stay in touch with just a click. And when someone tries to reach you, the call rings through on every Mac you own, even if FaceTime isn't running. So you never have to worry about making yourself available. If you don't want to receive calls, just turn FaceTime off in preferences. FaceTime is integrated with your Address Book so you can initiate chats easily.

    FaceTime

    Photo Booth

    Photo Booth

    Say "cheese," then smile.

    Take photo snapshots and video clips with your Mac using Photo Booth. Send them to your friends, use one as an iChat icon, add them to your Address Book, or organize and edit them in iPhoto. The real fun starts when you use the effects and backdrops in Photo Booth. Snap a photo of yourself at the Eiffel Tower or in outer space. Choose from nine new effects that use facial tracking technology so effects look great whether you're front and center — or left of center. Snap single photos or shoot multiples in a four-photo burst. You can even shoot video clips, complete with effects, then trim them right in Photo Booth and send them to friends and family. And since Photo Booth can be viewed full screen, you'll enjoy every detail down to the last pixel.

    Photo Booth

    First Look The 11-inch MacBook Air Video by CNET

    First Look The 13-inch MacBook Air Video by CNET

    MacBook Air MC968LL/A
    MacBook Air MC968LL/A
    MacBook Air MC969LL/A
    MacBook Air MC969LL/A
    MacBook Air MC965LL/A
    MacBook Air MC965LL/A
    MacBook Air MC966LL/A
    MacBook Air MC966LL/A
    Display11.6-inch (diagonal) high-resolution LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with support for millions of colors13.3-inch (diagonal) high-resolution LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with support for millions of colors
    Supported resolutions
    • 1366 by 768 (native), 1344 by 756, and 1280 by 720 pixels at 16:9 aspect ratio
    • 1152 by 720 and 1024 by 640 pixels at 16:10 aspect ratio
    • 1024 by 768 and 800 by 600 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio
    • 1440 by 900 (native), 1280 by 800, 1152 by 720, and 1024 by 640 pixels at 16:10 aspect ratio
    • 1024 by 768 and 800 by 600 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio
    Processor1.6GHz dual-core Intel® Core™ i5 with 3MB shared L3 cache1.7GHz dual-core Intel® Core™ i5 with 3MB shared L3 cache
    Memory2GB of 1333MHz DDR3 onboard memory4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 onboard memory
    Storage64GB flash storage128GB flash storage256GB flash storage
    GraphicsIntel® HD Graphics 3000 processor with 256MB or 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memoryIntel® HD Graphics 3000 processor with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
    Video Support and Camera
    • FaceTime camera
    • Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors
    Connections and Expansion
    • Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
    • Thunderbolt port
    • Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
    • Thunderbolt port
    • SD card slot
    Battery and PowerWireless web: Up to 5 hours
    Standby time: Up to 30 days
    • 35-watt-hour
    • 45W MagSafe Power Adapter with cable management system
    • MagSafe power port
    Wireless web: Up to 5 hours
    Standby time: Up to 30 days
    • 50-watt-hour
    • 45W MagSafe Power Adapter with cable management system
    • MagSafe power port
    Wireless
    • 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking
    • IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible
    • Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
    Audio
    • Stereo speakers
    • Omnidirectional microphone
    • Headphone port
    • Support for Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic
    Included Software

    OS X Lion

    • Mail
    • Address Book
    • iCal
    • the Mac App Store
    • iTunes
    • Safari
    • Time Machine
    • FaceTime
    • Photo Booth
    • Mission Control
    • Launchpad
    • AirDrop
    • Resume
    • Auto Save
    • Versions
    • Quick Look
    • Spotlight
    • QuickTime
    • and more...

    Lion Recovery

    OS X Lion includes a built-in set of tools for repairing your Mac in the Recovery HD, a new feature that lets you repair disks or reinstall OS X Lion without a physical disc.

    iLife

    • iPhoto
    • iMovie
    • GarageBand
    Electrical and Operating Requirements
    • Line voltage: 100-240V AC
    • Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz
    • Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
    • Storage temperature: -13° to 113° F (-24° to 45° C)
    • Relative humidity: 0% to 90% noncondensing
    • Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet
    • Maximum storage altitude: 15,000 feet
    • Maximum shipping altitude: 35,000 feet
    DVD or CD SharingWith the Mac App Store, getting the apps you want on your Mac has never been easier. No more boxes, no more discs, no more time-consuming installation. Click once to download and install any app on your Mac. But if an app you need isn't available from the Mac App Store, you can use DVD or CD Sharing. This convenient feature of OS X lets you wirelessly "borrow" the optical drive of a nearby Mac or PC. So you can install applications from a DVD or CD and have full access to an optical drive without having to carry one around.
    Size and Weight
    • Height: 0.11-0.68 inch (0.3-1.7 cm)
    • Width: 11.8 inches (30 cm)
    • Depth: 7.56 inches (19.2 cm)
    • Weight: 2.38 pounds (1.08 kg)
    • Height: 0.11-0.68 inch (0.3-1.7 cm)
    • Width: 12.8 inches (32.5 cm)
    • Depth: 8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
    • Weight: 2.96 pounds (1.35 kg)
    Limited Warranty and ServiceYour MacBook Air comes with 90 days of free telephone support and a one-year limited warranty.
    Price$999$1199$1299$1599
    Best PriceBest PriceBest PriceBest PriceBest Price
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