New MacBook Airs Get Hit With a Thunderbolt

Apple's brought both sizes of the MacBook Air band beeline up to what you'd apprehend from a laptop in 2011, abacus a Thunderbolt port, but added chiefly some candied Sandy Bridge i5 and i7 chips—and backlit keyboards.

The accession of the super-fast Thunderbolt anchorage will future-proof any Thunderbolt-enabled accessories you acquirement in the future, and the backlit keyboard? Well, that's so bloggers can see in the night (in Angel keynotes).

11-inch Air

Three 11-inch models are now on offer, with the starting point getting a archetypal with 64GB storage, 2GB of RAM and 1.6GHz processor. The next archetypal up has the aforementioned CPU speed, but doubles the RAM to 4GB, forth with the accumulator to 128GB. Lastly, the custom archetypal can be awkward to an 1.8GHz processor, 4GB RAM and 256GB storage.

13-inch Air

Obviously, the absolute ability belongs to the 13-inch models, with the abject archetypal advancing with a 1.7GHz processor, 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, and the next akin up accouterment abundant the same, alone with 256GB of storage. The built-to-order archetypal can be outfitted with a 1.8GHz chip.

The MacBook Air 11-inch archetypal starts at $999 (for the 2GB RAM model) and $1199 (for the 4GB RAM model), with the 13-inch models advancing in at $1299 (for the 4GB RAM and 128GB accumulator model) and $1599 for the 4GB RAM and 256GB accumulator model, with all models traveling on auction July 21st. If you're strongle because affairs one, Laptop mag has a analysis of the 11-incher and 13-incher here. [Apple]

CUPERTINO, California-July 20, 2011-Apple® today acclimatized the MacBook Air® with next bearing processors, accelerated Thunderbolt I/O technology, a backlit keyboard and Mac OS® X Lion, the world's a lot of avant-garde operating system. With up to alert the achievement of the antecedent generation, beam accumulator for instant-on admiration and a bunched architecture so carriageable you can yield it everywhere,* the MacBook Air starts at $999 (US) and is accessible for adjustment today and in food tomorrow.

"Portable, affordable and powerful, MacBook Air is the ultimate accustomed notebook," said Philip Schiller, Apple's chief carnality admiral of Worldwide Product Marketing. "MacBook Air appearance our a lot of avant-garde technology and is an ideal bout for Lion, abnormally with its new Multi-Touch gestures, full-screen apps, Mission Control and Mac App Store."

MacBook Air is accessible in 11-inch and 13-inch models that calmly blooper into a briefcase, purse or bag. The MacBook Air's abiding aluminum unibody asylum measures an abundantly attenuate 0.11-inches at its thinnest point and 0.68-inches at its thickest. Beam accumulator allows MacBook Air to about-face on instantly and bear fast abstracts access, bigger believability and absurd activity efficiency. The 11-inch archetypal weighs 2.38 pounds and provides up to 5 hours of array life, while the 13-inch weighs 2.96 pounds and provides up to 7 hours of array life.**

With the latest Intel Amount i5 and Amount i7 dual-core processors, the new MacBook Air is up to alert as fast as the antecedent bearing and has all the ability you allegation for alteration photos and movies, authoritative FaceTime® calls, arena games, and alive with abstracts and presentations. MacBook Air aswell appearance Intel HD Graphics 3000 and offers up to 4GB of faster 1333 MHz memory.

Thunderbolt I/O technology provides amplification possibilities never afore accessible to MacBook Air users. Through a individual cable, users can affix to top achievement peripherals and the new Angel Thunderbolt Display, the ultimate advancing base for your Mac® notebook. Thunderbolt can calmly be acclimatized to abutment bequest access such as FireWire® and Gigabit Ethernet.

MacBook Air comes with a abounding admeasurement backlit keyboard and an avant-garde bottle Multi-Touch™ trackpad. Designed for abundance and affluence of typing, the backlit keyboard uses a sensor to automatically ascertain a change in ambient lighting and adjusts the keyboard accuracy for any environment. The Multi-Touch trackpad supports Lion's new Multi-Touch gestures such as drive scrolling, borer or avidity your fingers to zoom in on a web page or image, and annexation larboard or appropriate to about-face a page or about-face amid abounding awning apps.

MacBook Air aswell appearance a brilliant, top resolution LED backlit affectation that is amazingly attenuate yet has the resolution of a abundant larger, bulkier screen. With ultra-fast Wi-Fi, you can wirelessly download apps from the Mac App Store™, get music and movies from iTunes®, aback up abstracts to Time Capsule® and bound and calmly allotment files application AirDrop. MacBook Air includes Bluetooth for wireless peripherals and two USB ports for simple connectivity for the active and wireless accessories you use every day.

Apple makes the industry's greenest anthology calendar and the new MacBook Air meets Activity Star 5.2 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status.*** Anniversary unibody asylum is fabricated of awful recyclable aluminum and comes accepted with activity able LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and fabricated with arsenic-free glass. Mac notebooks accommodate no brominated blaze retardants, are PVC-free and are complete of recyclable materials.

Every new MacBook Air comes with Mac OS X Lion, the eighth above absolution of the world's a lot of avant-garde operating system, and iLife apps for creating and administration abundant photos, movies and music. Lion introduces added than 250 new appearance to the Mac, including Multi-Touch gestures; system-wide abutment for abounding awning apps; Mission Control, an avant-garde appearance of aggregate active on your Mac; the Mac App Store, the best abode to acquisition and analyze abundant software, congenital appropriate into the OS; Launchpad, a new home for all your apps; and a absolutely redesigned Mail app.

Pricing & Availability

The 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air are accessible for adjustment on the Angel Store® (www.apple.com) today and in Apple's retail food and Angel Authorized Resellers starting July 21. The 1.6 GHz 11-inch MacBook Air is accessible in two models, one with 2GB of anamnesis and 64GB of beam accumulator for a appropriate retail amount of $999 (US), and one with 4GB of anamnesis and 128GB of beam accumulator for $1,199 (US). The 1.7 GHz 13-inch MacBook Air comes in two configurations, one with 4GB of anamnesis and 128GB of beam accumulator for a appropriate retail amount of $1,299 (US), and one with 4GB of anamnesis and 256GB of beam accumulator for $1,599 (US). Configure-to-order options and accessories cover a 1.8 GHz Amount i7 processor, added beam storage, MacBook Air SuperDrive® and a USB Ethernet Adapter.

Additional abstruse blueprint and configure-to-order options and accessories are accessible online at www.apple.com/macbookair.

*Testing conducted by Angel in July 2011 application preproduction MacBook Air configurations. For added advice appointment www.apple.com/macbookair/features.html.

**The new Wireless Web agreement testing was conducted by Angel in July 2011 application preproduction MacBook Air configurations. Array activity and allegation cycles alter by use and settings. For added advice appointment www.apple.com/macbookair/features.html.

***EPEAT is an absolute alignment that helps barter analyze the ecology achievement of notebooks and desktops. For added advice appointment www.epeat.net.

Apple designs Macs, the best claimed computers in the world, forth with OS X, iLife, iWork and able software. Angel leads the agenda music anarchy with its iPods and iTunes online store. Angel has reinvented the adaptable buzz with its advocate iPhone and App Store, and has afresh alien iPad 2 which is defining the approaching of adaptable media and accretion devices.

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