On January 15, 2018, ten years ago today, Steve Jobs introduced the MacBook Air at Macworld.
The first generation 13.3-inch model was touted as the world's thinnest notebook. It featured a custom 1.6 GHz (L7500) or 1.8 GHz (L7700) Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4 MB on-chip L2 cache, Intel GMA X3100 graphics, 2 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, a 80 GB 4200-rpm 1.8-inch PATA HDD or 64GB SSD, and ran Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. To achieve its level of compactness, Apple had to drop the disc drive, FireWire port, Ethernet port, line-in, media card slot, and security slot. This left the notebook with just a single USB port, micro-DVI, and audio out.
The end result was a compact three pound notebook that Jobs famously pulled out of a manila envelope. It tapered from 0.76 inches thick to just 0.16 inches. Although, it suffered from performance issues to start, the MacBook Air played a pivotal role in the transition away from the optical drive.
You can rewatch the MacBook Air's unveiling in the video below, starting at around the 49 minute mark!
The first generation 13.3-inch model was touted as the world's thinnest notebook. It featured a custom 1.6 GHz (L7500) or 1.8 GHz (L7700) Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4 MB on-chip L2 cache, Intel GMA X3100 graphics, 2 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, a 80 GB 4200-rpm 1.8-inch PATA HDD or 64GB SSD, and ran Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. To achieve its level of compactness, Apple had to drop the disc drive, FireWire port, Ethernet port, line-in, media card slot, and security slot. This left the notebook with just a single USB port, micro-DVI, and audio out.
The end result was a compact three pound notebook that Jobs famously pulled out of a manila envelope. It tapered from 0.76 inches thick to just 0.16 inches. Although, it suffered from performance issues to start, the MacBook Air played a pivotal role in the transition away from the optical drive.
You can rewatch the MacBook Air's unveiling in the video below, starting at around the 49 minute mark!