Last week, Apple held the MacWorld Convention in San Francisco, California. This is a yearly event where Apple “Fan-boys” and “Fan-girls” flock to see what the almighty Steve himself will release. This year was no disappointment.

Tech Blogs like myself have been speculating about new computers at a Apple Special Event for some time now, and we have finally gotten it right. Steve appeared on the stage holding a small, and conventional Manilla Folder that gets passed around the office on a daily basis. When Steve opened the folder, I do not think anybody was ready for what was going to happen next; Steve pulled out a computer, and dubbed it the MacBook Air because of it’s thinness, portability and next generation wireless capabilities.

Ultra-Portable:

At first glance, the MacBook Air does not look like an ultra-portable machine, because of it’s generous 13″ display and full sized keyboard, but at it’s weight and size it fits into the category. The Macbook Air is Apple’s first ultra-portable laptop in a very long time. It weighs in at 3lbs. and is 0.76″ at it’s thickest point (all the way down to 0.16″ at it’s thinnest). To accommodate for it’s small size and portability, Apple had to do a few things differently with the Air. It uses a LED Display (Like the Macbook Pro), which allows for full-screen brightness the moment you open the lid and also results in longer battery life. Copying from it’s older brother, the MacBook, the Air uses the same magnetic latch to close the lid. The MacBook Air also uses a flip-down door that reveals all of the ports and connections that it has to offer (not many). Even the MagSafe Power Adaptor was considered and slimmed down for the ultra-portable computer.

Ports & Connections:

The Macbook Air is not very generous in the area of Ports and Connections. It comes standard with one USB 2.0 Port, one Audio Input Jack and one Micro-DVI port. There seems to be a pattern here… But not all is lost. Apple has followed it’s design guidelines and included a few extras that all Mac Users have come to expect from the company. There was room for an embedded iSight Camera & Mic, as well as an IR Port for the included Apple Remote to run the included Front-Row Software. There was also room for a back-lit keyboard that was before only available for the MacBook Pro model. Thank-you Apple!

Multi-Touch:

Since the release of the notorious iPhone, there have been speculations about the next device Apple released having oh-so-popular multi-touch capabilities. We were right! The MacBook Air is Apple’s first computer to include a multi-touch trackpad. It allows you to pinch, swipe, rotate and zoom through the use of finger gestures. Pretty cool, eh!

Wireless Capabilities:

The MacBook Air probably has the most advanced wireless set-up of any consumer laptop in the world! It comes standard with Wireless 802.11n networking and Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR, and it does not stop there! In order to reach their target weight and size, Apple was forced to throw out the built-in optical drive; something that almost all consumers look at as a disadvantage, but not Apple. Apple sees the future of computing as being wireless and has come-up with two solutions for people that need a optical drive for those odd occasions. You can either purchase the new portable Superdrive from the Apple Store for $99, or you can use Remote Disc. What’s that? It is a new concept that Apple has designed that allows you to “borrow” the optical drive of another computer on your network (Mac or PC), and use it on your MacBook Air. It even allows you to install software and “migrate” your old computer to your new one.

Options & Configurations:

As with Ports & Connections, options for the MacBook Air are scarce. The standard configuration comes with a 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (or 1.8 GHz for $300), 2GB of memory (RAM), an 80GB Hard Drive and built-in wireless n & Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR for $1,799.00You can also option for the 1.8 GHz Processor with a 64GB Solid-State Drive for $3,098.00 This increases the battery life above the 5 Hours (with WiFi + Bluetooth on) that Steve Stated in the Keynote.

Before I can make a true review of the MacBook Air, I will have to see it in person, so until then I hope you enjoyed the read! If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I will answer it. Remember, if you want to ask something, someone else is most likely thinking the same thing as you so help them out as well as yourself!