The MacBook Air is a Macintosh notebook computer produced by Apple Inc. It is part of the MacBook family and features an optional solid-state hard drive. Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed the MacBook Air at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 15, 2008. It is 0.76 inches (1.93 cm) thick at its thickest point and 0.16 inches (0.4 cm) at its thinnest. Weighing 3.0 pounds (1.36 kg), it is Apple's thinnest and lightest laptop.An Apple press release calls the MacBook Air "the world’s thinnest notebook" and says it "measures an unprecedented 0.16 inches at its thinnest point, while its maximum height of 0.76 inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks"[11] — such as Sony's TZ series, Jobs said in his presentation.[12] Laptops thinner than the MacBook Air's maximum height when closed have been manufactured in the past, including the Toshiba Portégé 2000 (a maximum of 0.75 inches thick)[13] in 2002 and the Mitsubishi/Hewlett-Packard Pedion (a maximum of 0.72 inches thick)[14] in 1997.
Remote Disc
The MacBook Air can wirelessly access the optical drive of another Mac or Windows PC that has the Remote Disc program installed, allowing the installation of applications from a CD or DVD.[15][16] It can also reinstall the system software from the included installation DVD.[17] Remote Disc supports netbooting, so the MacBook Air can boot from its installation DVD in another computer's drive.[
User-serviceability
Unlike the rest of the MacBook family, the MacBook Air has no directly user-replaceable parts. Its hard drive, memory, and battery are enclosed within the casing, with memory soldered directly to the motherboard.[19] The hard drive is not soldered and can be replaced through a non-trivial disassembly procedure.[20] Relatively expensive solid-state drives (SSDs) are commercially available, although single-platter laptop hard drives are not generally available to consumers.[citation needed] As part of out-of-warranty service, Apple offers to replace the battery for a fee.[21] It may be possible for the end user to replace the battery, though it's unclear whether this process would void the notebook's warranty.[22] Users looking to replace batteries through third-party vendors will need to wait until replacement batteries are made available for this model.[23]
Environmental impact
The MacBook Air has an all-aluminum case, a mercury- and arsenic-free LCD glass substrate, PVC-free internal cables, and circuit boards free of brominated flame retardants.[11][24] Greenpeace, which had previously criticized Apple for its ecological practices, stated that the "greener" MacBook Air is a step towards what it considers necessary improvements.[25]
source: http://www.wikipedia.org
