Sending this reply from my 2008 MacBook Air, the curvy one just like SJ pilled from his envelope, not the wedge. Apple replaced the swollen battery just before the 3-year Applecare expired, and the display together with its mangled hinges after Applecare expired, but for free because they still had stocks. Both old and new display were fine, just the hinges. The 80GB 1.8 inch hard drive died after a few years and I replaced it with a 128GB SSD. Mail and Microsoft Office still work fine, but web browsing is difficult. Most web browsers fail to work, especially with YouTube. I normally use Fox Ten Six, but right now I am using Safari.Let's see if it works ...
Today marks the 15th anniversary of Steve Jobs pulling the MacBook Air out of a manila envelope at the 2008 Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Apple advertised the MacBook Air as being "the world's thinnest notebook" at the time.
"We've built the world's thinnest notebook—without sacrificing a full-size keyboard or a full-size 13-inch display," said Jobs, in a January 2008 press release announcing the MacBook Air. "When you first see MacBook Air, it's hard to believe it's a high-performance notebook with a full-size keyboard and display. But it is."
The original 13-inch MacBook Air featured a flip-down tray on the right side of the machine that provided access to a single USB port, a headphone jack, and a Micro-DVI port for connecting an external display. It was Apple's first notebook with a multi-touch trackpad, no CD/DVD drive, and an SSD upgrade option. Pricing started at $1,799 in the U.S. with a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive.
Apple released a completely redesigned MacBook Air with the M2 chip last July and continues to sell an older version with the M1 chip. Given the power efficiency of Apple silicon chips, the MacBook Air is no longer equipped with a fan. While the original MacBook Air measured 0.16-inches at its thinnest point and 0.76-inches at its thickest, the latest MacBook Air has a flatter design with a uniform thickness of 0.44 inches.
Rumors suggest a larger 15-inch MacBook Air will launch this year, and the notebook is expected to be updated with an OLED display next year.
Article Link: MacBook Air Turns 15 Today: 'The World's Thinnest Notebook'
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MacBook Air Turns 15 Today: 'The World's Thinnest Notebook'
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That gasp as he pulls it out the envelope says it all. Years ahead of anything else when it was released.
I should say that the SSD improved performance amazingly, probably more than any RAM upgrade could, although think the other web browsers saw that 2GB RAM and screamed "unsupported". One more thing - typing on this keyboard seems so much nicer than any later Apple or Macbook keyboard.
I love my 2020 "wedgie" super light and very efficient. Unfortunately my display's gone a little south and I may get it replaced 2nd party. With a hub, any number of options go. Ethernet, HDMI, SD/MicroSD, USB 3 type 4, DVD Drive and I pack around a USB C external Time Machine drive that can run for hours and hours efficiently.
Today marks the 15th anniversary of Steve Jobs pulling the MacBook Air out of a manila envelope at the 2008 Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Apple advertised the MacBook Air as being "the world's thinnest notebook" at the time.
"We've built the world's thinnest notebook—without sacrificing a full-size keyboard or a full-size 13-inch display," said Jobs, in a January 2008 press release announcing the MacBook Air. "When you first see MacBook Air, it's hard to believe it's a high-performance notebook with a full-size keyboard and display. But it is."
The original 13-inch MacBook Air featured a flip-down tray on the right side of the machine that provided access to a single USB port, a headphone jack, and a Micro-DVI port for connecting an external display. It was Apple's first notebook with a multi-touch trackpad, no CD/DVD drive, and an SSD upgrade option. Pricing started at $1,799 in the U.S. with a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive.
Apple released a completely redesigned MacBook Air with the M2 chip last July and continues to sell an older version with the M1 chip. Given the power efficiency of Apple silicon chips, the MacBook Air is no longer equipped with a fan. While the original MacBook Air measured 0.16-inches at its thinnest point and 0.76-inches at its thickest, the latest MacBook Air has a flatter design with a uniform thickness of 0.44 inches.
Rumors suggest a larger 15-inch MacBook Air will launch this year, and the notebook is expected to be updated with an OLED display next year.
Article Link: MacBook Air Turns 15 Today: 'The World's Thinnest Notebook'
I hear you.
An amazing design and a stunning computer; and so reliable, and solid, and - above all, so wonderfully portable.
Precisely because the tech world is so male dominated, few people have commented on how loved that MBA design - that form factor - is by a large number of women, for whom it is a daily driver; you can carry it anywhere, - without effort - and it will still work perfectly.
A fantastic computer, and I still love it.
My own first Apple computer was a 15" MBP - which I bought (when I first "switched" to Apple) in 2008; a lovely computer, but, to be quite candid, it was too heavy and uncomfortable for me - a short, middle-aged woman - to carry with any real degree of ease, or of comfort, for any length of time.
Racing through an airport terminal, one of the large onees - Frankfurt, Istanbul - for example, to catch a connecting flight, and the 15" MBP was an uncomfortable companion. Sitting on a desk, it was wonderful, but I grew to dislike having to carry it from one place to another.
My MBAs - I'm writing this on a perfectly functional, maxed out CTO 11" MBA from 2014 - have, quite literally, travelled the world with me, working (flawlessly) in some of the most challenging, and difficult, places on the planet.
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Mine also (as in my favourite tech device).
And mine also - (as in schlepped around in a backpack or briefcase - daily - for the best part of a decade).
[pedant]
That isn’t a Manila Envelope, it’s a Transit Envelope. Apple must have had internal mail
[/pedant]
That isn’t a Manila Envelope, it’s a Transit Envelope. Apple must have had internal mail
[/pedant]
I remember Steve saying the SSD option was “pricey”! It was, but great!
This didn’t appeal to me at all, but then in 2011 I upgraded to the 11” MBA from my 12” PowerBook and I loved it.
I remember emailing Steve Jobs back in May 2008 asking for one for free.
He responded:
Sorry, but no.
Steve Jobs -
Sent from my iPhone
Besides that, I kinda lost interest in wanting to own one, even when they went retina. The 13 inch MacBook Pro Early 2015 turned out to be the right balance.
He responded:
Sorry, but no.
Steve Jobs -
Sent from my iPhone
Besides that, I kinda lost interest in wanting to own one, even when they went retina. The 13 inch MacBook Pro Early 2015 turned out to be the right balance.
I had a 2013 13” MacBook Air for most of grad school. That computer still stands in my mind as one of my favorite laptops.
It was the first version that made an (at the time) notable leap in battery life. I actually loved the screen and preferred the slightly less glossy design compared to the all glass 13” pro of that era. It also had a higher default resolution 1440x900 vs 1280x800 13” pro I had before.
At the time I used one laptop for EVERYTHING. From watching YouTube, to writing my thesis and doing some image analysis of microscopy data for my thesis.
Such a good computer.
It was the first version that made an (at the time) notable leap in battery life. I actually loved the screen and preferred the slightly less glossy design compared to the all glass 13” pro of that era. It also had a higher default resolution 1440x900 vs 1280x800 13” pro I had before.
At the time I used one laptop for EVERYTHING. From watching YouTube, to writing my thesis and doing some image analysis of microscopy data for my thesis.
Such a good computer.
I remember seeing those commercials back then and (being a poor student) not being able to afford one.
I also remember that I was firmly in camp Windows/PC back then but after the iBooks, this was the second time I was tempted to switch.
For some reason I still love watching that commercial, too, and then I won’t be able to get that song out of my head for days ♥️
It was early 2020 (when I started getting into The Ecosystem) when I bought my first Macbook Air - a 2014 one that I sold (which I could kick myself for). And now my daily driver is the M1 Macbook Air. I just love that laptop.
I also remember that I was firmly in camp Windows/PC back then but after the iBooks, this was the second time I was tempted to switch.
For some reason I still love watching that commercial, too, and then I won’t be able to get that song out of my head for days ♥️
It was early 2020 (when I started getting into The Ecosystem) when I bought my first Macbook Air - a 2014 one that I sold (which I could kick myself for). And now my daily driver is the M1 Macbook Air. I just love that laptop.
Mine from 2010 (right) still works:
Great!
Since everybody wants the same things you want, it is really nice that you are voicing your concerns. Thanks for your hard work! Really saving us all from that difficult independent thinking.
The whole point of the Air was to be significantly thinner and lighter than the pro. This was before days of smartphone and carrying a big heavy laptop around just to check email/browse the web was getting tired. It found a whole new type of consumer, it was not intended for the power-hungry or bargain consumer.
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True, but successful powered flight was the advance that built upon the aeronautic knowledge developed by much of teh glider flight and failed attempts at powered flight.
Sure. But building on existing products is not inventing. Apple did not invent to PC, smartphone, or tablet; any more then the Wright brothers invented flying.
I do agree those who successfully commercialize or put into widespread use something already invented get credit for inventing it because people forget where the idea originated.
The Treo, with PalmOS, was every useful device, not just a "feature phone." It had a very well designed UI, great HRW with Graffiti, and a wide selection of useful apps.
It would have been interesting to see how the market evolved had HP dedicated time and resources to developing PalmOS/WebOS and a line of phones and tablets.
Sure they do because that is what sells their products. If it wasn't for Apple's slick marketing, starting with Jobs, they would not be where they are today.
Improving is not inventing; even the walled garden existed before Apple adopted it.
Apple is very good at taking an idea and building on and improving it; resulting in disruption of the market. That is where, IMHO, their strength lies.
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One year after the iPhone, two years before the iPad. All of them underpowered in their first generations. But other thin and light laptops without internal optical drives existed years before the MacBook Air. Unlike today the technology wasn't there yet to handle the heat and performance issues of such a small laptop. And smart people back then knew not to buy a first generation device.
Not going to disagree. But you must learn to walk before you can run. We are lucky the consumer doesn't expect Apple to be absolutely perfect 100% of the time... as that would limit their ability to innovate.
Except the M2 MBA is not a new design it resembles the polycarbonate white MacBook of the day and the 2021 MBP resembled the TiBook. A few updated design and material tweaks and what was old is new again. There is a balance between aesthetics and engineering and Apple achieves this most of the time.
Most general consumers care about the aesthetics of a computer to then it’s something you and others see 100% of the time the internal specs is only experienced when using it and most of the time the light usage is capable by even an iPad it’s only when people decided that the machine is no longer capable to tackle the newest software to do 4K video for example that living with a spec limitation maybe manageable insofar the machine looks good.
Same reason people wear fancy but expensive clothes, shoes, accessories etc etc. A phone and laptop are an extension of this world unless one is a professional. Some call this shallow minded but it’s beauty in the eye of the beholder and a representation of oneself to others.
Great. So then the Wright Brothers didn't invent the airplane. And nobody ever invented anything, because everything is build on the work of others. If the word "invention" is supposed to mean anything, then it's credited to the last one, who puts everything together to create a new system that is more than the sum of its parts, because for the first time people could fly and steer a craft heavier-than-air independent from wind direction.
And if the Wright Brothers weren't slick marketers, who managed to sell their flyer to the U.S. Army Signal Corps as the first reconnaissance aircraft, maybe they would be forgotten today. Same goes for Carl Benz and the automobile. Uğur Şahin and the first clinically approved mRNA vaccine. How are you even an inventor, if you don't bring a product to the market? Who is Thomas Alva Edison, if he forgot to sell the lightbulb!
If you improve something as much that it becomes a new thing, which deserves to be categorized under a new name (smartphone versus dumbphone), then you invented the damn thing. Nobody said Steve Jobs invented the computer itself. Konrad Zuse and a few others fight over that title. But Apple invented a few new kinds of computers.
Some consumers, which we call early adopters, are stupid enough to buy the very first iteration of a revolutionary new thing and suffer through its inadequacy. I saw the iPhone keynote, I desperately wanted one and I went on to buy my first iMac. Only the iPhone 4 and the iPad 3 both with Retina displays were good enough to buy.
My first customer was a lunatic. My second had a death wish. − Karl Benz
I've never owned an original, but I've got a couple late 2008s and a 2009 which kept the same design but had the major benefit of 9400M graphics. A couple of them had the memory failure, but I do have a 1.8GHz booting Mojave and just for giggles installed Big Sur on my 1.6 machine. Replacing the iPod HDD was a must after Yosemite, but I really do think that if they had 4GB or more RAM, Big Sur and Monterey could be passable on them. That 2GB RAM really hurts badly.
Well now that town of 1 just became 2. I agree with everything you said. I absolutely love my M2 1TB 24GB 10GPU Midnight. Like you, it's perfect for me. Of course I understand others who have other requirements of a laptop. And some say to get the Pro. I traded a 2019 Intel Pro for this and I made a perfect choice. Yes, just MY opinion.
It’s the end of a tapered era with the m2 2022 air