And Apple chief executive Steve Jobs says the company has been able to produce the super slim-line packaging without trashing useability or performance.
The MacBook Air measures just 0.4cm (0.16-inches) at its thinnest point, while its maximum height of 1.9cm (0.76-inches) is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks.
“We’ve built the world’s thinnest notebook – without sacrificing a full-size keyboard or a full-size 13-inch display,” Mr Jobs said.
“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.”
MacBook Air has a 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, a full-size and backlit keyboard, a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing, and a spacious trackpad with multi-touch gesture support so users can pinch, rotate and swipe.
The machine is powered by a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache, and includes as standard features 2GB of memory, an 80GB hard drive, and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi technology.
The MacBook Air is positioned to bridge the gap between Apple’s entry-level notebooks and its high performance machines. It is priced in the US from about US$1800, but will be released in Australia at the somewhat higher A$2,500.
The MacBook Air will be available in Australia through regular Apple resellers in February.
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