Hands-on with Apple MacBook Air, Time Capsule, Apple TV, updated iPod touch & iPhone and iTunes rentals

By Nate Lanxon on 15 January 2008, 8:55pm

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Last but, as the highly appropriate saying goes, not least, came the big boy. The true Mac-inspired mac daddy. It was the MacBook Air -- the thinnest laptop ever made. At its fattest end it's still thinner than the nearest competitor's thinnest.

We've played with it and if anything deserves a round of applause, it's the MacBook Air. Even if you hate Apple, you should give a round of applause for the engineers who built it. It's truly unbelievable.

At its thickest edge (towards the rear) it's a mere 19.3mm, while at its thinnest its just 4mm. It's got a 13.3-inch glossy screen, a full-size backlit keyboard, built-in iSight Web camera, microphone and stereo speakers, and -- oh yes -- a multi-touch trackpad. This lets you squeeze and pinch things like photos just like on the iPhone and iPod touch. You can even zoom into areas of the MacBook's desktop environment with multi-touch and navigate with two fingers -- again, just like on the iPhone.

The standard specifications are as follows:

1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU with 4MB of L2 cache

2GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM

80GB 1.8-inch hard disk with Sudden Motion Sensor

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100

Built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking

Bluetooth 2.1

Should you want it, you can upgrade the hard disk to a 64GB SSD alternative -- something Apple fans were almost bleeding over in anticipation. The CPU can be upgraded to the 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo should you require the extra power.

Now, you may have noticed the lack of an optical drive. When it comes to ultraportable laptops, optical drives are rather cumbersome. So Apple got rid. Instead, a piece of software inside the Air -- along with a bundled app for Macs and PCs -- lets you connect to another computer's drive wirelessly. Or you could buy the MacBook Air SuperDrive -- a tiny USB-toting external DVD R/W drive. It costs £65.

Wired connectivity comes in the form of a single USB 2.0 socket, a single Micro-DVI socket and a headphone socket. Although there's a built-in microphone, there's no socket for plugging in your favourite, podcast-friendly condenser mic.

Prices in the UK start at a rather steep £1,199 for the standard model. The fully tripped-out SSD-boasting, 1.8GHz clocking version costs a breathtaking £2,028. They're available to order from today.

Expect further hands-on with this product tomorrow morning and a full review as soon as we can get this new kit into our labs. -Nate Lanxon