Apple MacBook Air MC234LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop Sale
MacBook Air continues to redefine what’s possible. Just 0.16 inch at its thinnest point, 0.76 inch at its thickest point, and a mere 3.0 pounds, it’s still ultrathin and ultraportable. And now, pushing the performance limits of ultraportable notebooks, it features a faster 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 1066MHz frontside bus, 2GB of DDR3 memory, and 6MB of L2 cache, so you can be as productive on the road as in the office. Offering ample storage, MacBook Air comes with either a 128GB solid-state drive that uses less power and provides enhanced durability. Its advanced NVIDIA processor brings you amazing, high-speed graphics, delivering a graphics performance boost up to 6x that of the original model. Unlike other ultraportables, MacBook Air doesn’t compromise on features users care most about: the display and the keyboard. It includes a bright, 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, a full-size backlit keyboard, a spacious Multi-Touch trackpad, and a built-in iSight camera. Engineered for the wireless world, MacBook Air also comes with 802.11n Wi-Fi,4 Bluetooth 2.1, and Remote Disc to deliver unparalleled wireless versatility.
Description
- Ships in Certified Frustration-Free Packaging
- 2.13 GHz Core 2 Duo Processor
- 128 GB Solid State Drive, 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Integrated Graphics, 13.3 inch LED Display
- Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard Operating System
Amazon.com has certified this product is Frustration Free. A Frustration-Free Package is easy-to-open and comes without hard plastic "clamshell" casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It's designed to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging during shipping. Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without the need for an additional shipping box. Learn more about Frustration-Free Packaging.
With the MacBook Air, Apple has created the world's thinnest laptop--measuring an unprecedented 0.16-inches at its thinnest point (and 0.76 inches thick overall). Apple brings its vaunted multi-touch technology, found on the iPhone, to its laptops with the MacBook Air, enabling you to pinch, swipe, or rotate to zoom in on text, advance through a photo album, or adjust an image via the oversized trackpad. And the MacBook Air embodies Apple's continuing environmental progress with its aluminum enclosure, a material highly desired by recyclers, a mercury-free LCD display with arsenic-free glass, and brominated flame retardant-free material for the majority of circuit boards as well as PVC-free internal cables.
Despite the its slender shell, the MacBook Air doesn't skimp on the specifications. It includes a 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, full-size and backlit keyboard, and a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing. This MacBook Air (model MC234LL/A) is loaded with a 128 GB solid-state drive, which has no moving parts for enhanced durability. It's powered by a custom-built 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, which provides an optimized, multithreaded architecture for improved multitasking performance. And it features the integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor, which delivers outstanding 3D game play with up to five times faster graphics performance than the previous generation. Other features include 2 GB of RAM, Wi-Fi connectivity via 802.11a/b/g/n standards, Mini DisplayPort video output (for DVI and VGA connections), and up to a 5-hour battery life.
Amazingly thin at just 0.16 inches at its thinnest and 0.76 inches at its thickest point, the MacBook Air weighs just 3 pounds. |
It comes pre-loaded with Apple's Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system--an operating system custom-designed for the advanced technology inside--and it also comes with the iLife '09 suite of applications, including iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, and iTunes.
With the trackpad's Multi-Touch technology, you can pinch, swipe, or rotate to adjust an image, zoom in on text, or advance through a photo album. |
The MacBook Air includes a vibrant 13.3-inch LED-backlit display and a full-sized keyboard (see larger image). |
Design The thinness of MacBook Air is impressive, but even more impressive is that fact that there's a full-size notebook encased in the 0.16 to 0.76 inch of sleek, sturdy anodized aluminum. This svelte, 3-pound laptop has a vibrant, energy efficient 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, and its spacious trackpad offers multi-touch gesture support for pinch, rotate and swipe--making it more intuitive than ever to browse and rotate photos or zoom into web pages in Safari. It also features a full-size keyboard that's backlit, making it ideal for dimly lit environments such as airplanes, studios or conference halls. It includes a built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the brightness of the keys as well as the display brightness for optimal visibility.
One of Apple's most celebrated innovations is the MagSafe power adapter connector, which offers a magnetic connection instead of a physical one. So, if you happen to trip over a power cord, you won't send the MacBook Air flying off a table or desk--the cord simply disconnects, without damage to either the cord or the system.
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Custom-built to fit within the compact dimensions of the laptop, the MacBook Air is powered by a 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a super-fast 1066 MHz front-side bus (FSB), and an enormous 6 MB of Smart Cache, an L2 cache that can be shared between the cores as needed. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance. The FSB carries data between the CPU and RAM, and a faster front-side bus will deliver better overall performance.)
The Intel Core 2 Duo's 128-bit SSE3 vector engine handles 128-bit computations in a single clock cycle, accelerating data manipulation by simultaneously applying a single instruction to multiple data. And its two execution cores are designed to share resources and conserve power, helping it to achieve higher levels of performance since it uses fewer watts. And with 4MB of shared L2 cache, the MacBook Air is a multi-tasking monster. With such substantial L2 cache, data and instructions can be kept close to the two processor cores, greatly increasing performance and allowing the entire system to work more efficiently. And, because the processor cores share the L2 cache, either can use the entire amount if the other happens to be idle.
Video Processing & Output
Whether you're working on a Keynote presentation or watching a movie before you catch a flight, every document, video, and photo on your MacBook Air will look sharp on the glossy 13.3-inch widescreen display. With the new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor, the MacBook Air changes the game and just about everything you do with it. The 9400M provides up to an amazing 4x performance boost over the original MacBook Air. Photos appear in iPhoto quickly, transitions in Keynote are seamless, games play more smoothly, and movie and video playback is better than ever before. The 9400M graphics processor shares 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM with main memory.
The MacBook Air now includes a next generation Mini DisplayPort, which delivers a pure digital signal that can drive up to a 30-inch widescreen display. The Mini DisplayPort is ultra-compact at just 10 percent the size of a full DVI connector, and is compatible with Apple's 24-inch Cinema Display. Adapters are also available for using VGA, DVI/HDMI and Dual-Link DVI displays
Hard Drive and Memory
For storage, this MacBook Air comes with a 128 GB solid-state hard drive. Faster and more reliable, solid memory provides a rapid boot-up and quicker access to applications while improving battery life. It's also more reliable than a hard disk drive because there are no moving parts. Since data is written to stationary memory instead of a spinning hard disk, you have less risk of hardware problems with the hard disk when you're on the move. The 2 GB of PC3-8500 DDR3 RAM (two SO-DIMMs of 1024 MB) has an industry-leading 1066 MHz speed, and it maximizes the capacity for this laptop.
Optical Drive
Because of the amazingly thin design of the MacBook Air, an optical (DVD/CD) drive was not included. To install software from a disc, you can wirelessly use or "borrow" optical drives on remote PCs or Macs using the Remote Disk feature. This allows you full access to an optical drive without having to haul one around. If you want to have an optical drive for burning CDs and DVDs, you can purchase the optional MacBook Air SuperDrive (sold separately). This multi-format CD/DVD read/write drive is powered by the MacBook Air's USB port, eliminating the need to carry a separate power adapter.
Networking
The MacBook Air doesn't include wired Ethernet networking, and instead relies solely on Wi-Fi to connect to your home network as well as wireless hotspots. The built-in 802.11n wireless networking provides up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g, but it's also backward-compatible with 802.11a/b/g routers, enabling you to communicate with the a wide variety of Wi-Fi resources. It works seamlessly with the optional AirPort Extreme base station as well as Apple's Time Capsule Wi-Fi base station/hard drive--both of which include 802.11n capabilities. If you don't have access to a wireless network, you can use an optional USB Ethernet Adapter (sold separately)
Use the built-in Bluetooth 2.1+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) wireless technology to connect to your PDA or cell phone, synchronize addresses, or download pictures from your cell phone. You can also use a wireless headset for iChat audio chats and VoIP calls as well as quickly share files with a colleague.
Video Conferencing with Built-in iSight
Artfully placed in the display bezel is an iSight camera, which enables easy video conferencing as well as allows you to snap pictures of yourself and create video podcasts. Using the iChat AV application, video conferencing is integrated into your iChat buddy list, so initiating a video conference is a breeze. iChat also lets you hold audio chats with up to 10 people and provides high-quality audio compression and full-duplex sound so conversation can flow naturally. For video podcasting, you can record a short clip using the iSight camera, then use iWeb to create a video blog entry or post your GarageBand-recorded podcast.
Other Features
- Mini DisplayPort compatible with DVI, VGA, and dual-link DVI connectors (all optional)
- Analog audio output/headphone out (minijack)
- Built-in mono speaker and omnidirectional microphone
- Integrated 37-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery provides up to 5 hours of battery life
- Built-in full-size keyboard with 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys, including 12 function keys, 4 arrow keys (inverted "T" arrangement), and embedded numeric keypad
- Supported resolutions: 1280 by 800 (native), 1152 by 720, 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, 800 by 500, 720 by 480, and 640 by 480 pixels at 16:10 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and 640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio; 720 by 480 pixels at 3:2 aspect ratio
Designed with the Environment in Mind Apple has worked hard to eliminate many of the toxins that are a common part of computer manufacturing. Apple engineers removed the majority of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from circuit boards, internal cables, connectors, insulators, adhesives, and more in the MacBook Air.
Because Apple makes both the hardware and the software for the MacBook, they're designed to work together to produce a smarter product that uses less electricity. For instance, to reduce energy consumption, the hard drive spins down automatically when inactive. MacBook Air also decides which processor--CPU or GPU--is best suited to efficiently perform a task. The processor even throttles down to save power between keystrokes as you type. The LED-backlit display in MacBook Air is another feature that plays an important part in conserving energy, consuming 30 percent less power than conventional LCD displays. And the display is designed to dim when you enter a darkened room.
The MacBook Air meets the stringent low power requirements set by the EPA, giving it ENERGY STAR certification. MacBook also meets the latest efficiency requirements of ENERGY STAR Version 5.0 Specification for Computers before its July 2009 effective date.
The MacBook Air has also earned the highest rating of EPEAT Gold. The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, or EPEAT, evaluates the environmental impact of a product based on how recyclable it is, how much energy it uses, and how it's designed and manufactured.
Pre-Loaded with Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iLife '09
Every Mac comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world's most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple's innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto, to easily organize and manage photos; iMovie with powerful easy-to-use new features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand which introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar.
Installed software
- Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard (includes Time Machine, Quick Look, Spaces, Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Photo Booth, Front Row, Xcode Developer Tools)
- iLife '09 (includes iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, iDVD)
What's in the Box
MacBook Air, 45W MagSafe Power Adapter, AC wall plug, power cord, Apple USB Ethernet Adapter, cleaning/polishing cloth, install/restore DVDs, printed documentation
Apple MacBook Air MC234LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop Customer Review
My wife purchased one of these and, as usual, I got to load it and make sure it works. Her win is that it works great, her loss is I don't want to let go of it.
Some background: iMac 24"/2.8 GHz on 10.5, Powerbook G4 12"/1.0 GHz, Powerbook G4 12"/1.5 GHz.
This is a very user friendly machine. I'd almost suggest don't get embroiled in the tech specs as its a lot more than that.
Some things I've noticed in using it (a lot) for a week.
4 to 4.5 hours of battery life.
Gorgeous ergonomics, light, solid, well balanced, great screen and the heat is no big deal (comparable to any MacBook I've used), virtually silent. Comment on the screen; I've read all sorts of badmouthing on the glossy screens and here's my experience with the Air as well as moving from a 22" Cinema display to the iMac. I no longer get eye strain. Anything that's on the screen looks great. Reflections are no big deal as, when they're there, you look right through them. I use Shades on the iMac to dim the display more than Apple allows, the Air does not require Shades. This screen will be the most significant reason why I finally retire my Powerbook and probably get an Air.
The lack of firewire is a consideration for those with multiple Macs all depending on FW for file transfers. I did a fresh install and needed access to multiple backup disks. You have to make sure you have everything you need in one drive (fat chance). Other than an OS install or a major load, I can't see an issue. The remote disk helps, I use wifi. As an only machine, or with a Windows box, the lack of firewire is not an issue.
The Air can be your only machine as long as disk space is not an issue. I've pushed this little thing and its just fine. Our impressions are its more responsive than any of the above machines in general use. Taxing the cpu, you get what you expect, the iMac (no speed demon) comes out on top and the Powerbooks slightly below. Start-up is comparable to our Powerbooks but quicker than the iMac (perhaps upgrading to Snow Leopard will fix some, or all, of this). Coming out of sleep and opening apps, the Air is tops by a wide margin.
Overall I'd say if you're contemplating a move up from a Powerbook or a MacBook, don't do it for speed as its not worth the price. That's why we still have 2 PB's in the family, every time there's a new Apple portable we take a good look at it and leave with the impression the PB's don't give up much. However, the Air is a joy to use. For us, that's why its worth the money. Its a unique blend of art, function and performance all rolled onto one.
Here's an update:
After being with us for 5 weeks now, the Air sits on a shelf. Both my wife and I prefer our old 12" Powerbook G4's and use them as opposed to the Air. In fact, as I sit here, the PB's are in the process of being updated to Leopard (can't run Snow Leopard) as the now announced iPad is too limited to be a laptop replacement and Apple is not supportive of smaller laptops.
I don't believe this is the Air's fault. We like small laptops and the Air has a MacBook/MacBook Pro profile. Its simply not as nice in the hand or on the lap as a 12" Powerbook. In every day use that's a very big trade-off. Otherwise, all of the above comments are still valid.
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