Apple Updates The MacBook Air And I Want One

Call it a notebook, call it a netbook, call it what you want but damn you have to admit the two newly introduced MacBook Airs are sexy looking machines!

When Apple released the original MacBook Air even the biggest Apple detractors had to be a bit impressed. The sleek stylish notebook was nothing short of amazing. The starting price tag of $1,799 however was not!

Nearly three years has passed since the original MacBook Air made it's debut and today Apple has gone and wow'd us yet again. This time it's with the release of two even smaller, thinner, lighter (and whats more impressive) cheaper versions packing even more power than before.

First off is the new 13.3-inch device. This new model will pack a 13.3" LED backlit display, with 1440x900 resolution, an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, Nvidia GForce 320M graphics, 2GBs of DDR3 ram, an SSD drive for storage, full size keyboard, multi-touch trackpad, FaceTime camera and an 'instant on' OS. All this will be backed into a an aluminum unibody design that measures 12.8" x 8.94" is only .11-.68 inches thick and weighs 2.9 lbs. This model is currently priced at $1299 and $1599 with additional options for a 2.13 GHz CPU, 4GBs of ram and up to 256GB of storage.

The second device is Apple's new 'netbook' at least that's what I'd call it. It a new 11.6in MacBook Air which also packs an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, Nvidia GForce 320M, full size keyboard, FaceTime camera and multi-touch trackpad. The 11.6 inch model comes with a smaller 11.6" LED backlit display that features 1366x768 resolution. This model measures 11.8" x 7.56" and weights a scant 2.3 pounds. There are currently two price points $999 and $1199 with a 1.4 Ghz CPU and 64 or 128 GB storage respectively although Apple suggest you can upgrade to a 1.6GHz CPU and 4GBs of ram.

Both models are available today on Apple.com. More details via Apple "Apple Reinvents Notebooks With New MacBook Air"

Dell's Macbook Air Killer

Rumors have hit the web following a short lived post on luxury products website Uptownlife.net that Dell will be creating a new ultra-light, ultra-thin, Macbook Air killer called the “Adamo Thirteen”.

The rumors all began with a NY Times BITS blog post which showed an extract from UptownLife.net which read: “Rumor has it that Dell is coming out with a computer called Adamo that will rival the MacBook Air.” Uptownlife.net has since removed its reference to Dell’s Adamo product and marketing material.

Dell spokesperson Bob Kaufman latter made a confusing confirmation that the Adamo image used in the Uptown Life article was a genuine Dell advertisement. "We did this to wake up the personal computing category and create some buzz," Kaufman said of Adamo ad. Kaufman later indicated that Dell was only confirming the “Adamo by Dell” image and not the text confirming that Dell was working on a “rival to the MacBook Air” which is quoted in this post.

Dell has recently registered the trademarks of "Adamo" and "Adamo by Dell." The company has also set up the Adamo by dell website, which currently only bears a landing page. The trademarks cover computer hardware, including possibly desktops and notebooks, which may encompass the rumored Adamo Thirteen.

Over the weekend TG Daily dug through Googles Cached pages to gather an information on what they speculate might be the specs of the new notebook.

TG Daily suggests the Adamo Thirteen will feature an ultra-thin 3.5 mm (0.14”) 13” screen anIntel 45 nm Core 2 Duo processor. Optical drive options are likely to include a 8x slot-load DVD burner or an optional 2x Blu-ray/DVD-RW drive (with SATA interface). The option list includes Displayport-to-VGA, Displayport-to-HDMI and Displayport-to-DVI converters.

It is suggested that Dell will be offering solid state disk drives (SSDs) throughout the product line. The capacity is said to be (well beyond 100 GB), which suggests that Dell will be offering either 128 GB, Intel’s 160 GB or possibly Samsung’s 256 GB drive, which went into mass-production recently. Strangely enough, Dell has not listed SSDs for the Adamo, but included (external) 2.5” 5400 rpm hard drives with 250 GB and 500 GB capacity, as well as an 8 GB USB memory key.

At this point everything is pure speculation, however TG Daily cited sources saying that the new Adamo line is expected to be unveiled at CES. Reports on DigiTimes suggest the new Adamo could be priced upwards of $3,000.

MacBook Air Has a Few Problems

Apple Support has released a few documents outlying the issues facing would be MacBook Air owners.

Of the several issues outlined many are networking problems. These include a reduction of throughput for wireless networks that use the 2.4-GHz band, slow speeds when connected to multiple Bluetooth devices and routers that refuse to work the Remote Disc magic.

Recent articles from Computerworld.com, Wired.com and Yahoo! News cover many of the problems as well as a few solutions.

MacWorld MacBook Air Hands On

MacWorld throws the MacBook Air through its paces with some preliminary tests of the standard default-configuration. As you can see from the article the results are pretty much in line with what was expected. Thinner and lighter won't help with performance, but you've got to admit that the MacBook Air looks awesome.

MacBook Air Versus the Competition

PC World provides a little perspective on how the MacBook Air fairs against its PC/Windows based competition including products from Sony, Lenovo, and Fujitsu. And in a second great article "MacBook Air: How Incomplete Is It?" they point to some key features that are missing.

Eweek.com has a similarly impressive slideshow. I'll admit the MacBook Air looks impressive however with a starting price tag of $1,799 I won't see one sitting on my desk anytime soon.

For those that are willing to shell out the dough you'll get a very stylish notebook measuring 12.8″ x 8.94″ x 0.16-0.76 inch and weight 3.0 pounds. Powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor 1.6ghz, 80GB 1.8″ disk with a 13.3″ 1280×800 LED-backlit display. Other features include 802.11n draft wireless, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor, and 2GB of RAM standard. Apple also decided to pack in a full-sized keyboard, iSight webcam, and MagSafe power connector.

You'll be limited to a single audio jack, a single USB 2.0 slot, and Micro-DVI out. Unfortunately you do not receive an optical drive nor do you have the option for a wired Ethernet adapter.

Add-ons and upgrades include an optional $19 S-Video adapter, a $29 USB Ethernet adapter and for those willing to spend $3,098 you can opt for the upgraded model which will feature the 1.8GHz processor and a 64GB SSD for storage.