This update is recommended for all MacBook Air computers, and addresses issues with video playback and processor core idling. Third-party software that modifies processor operating characteristics such as frequency and voltage is not supported and should be removed before installing this update.

Proceed accordingly.

(via Electronista)

The site reports that the external appearance will stay the same but the new MacBook Air will feature a Penryn processor at speeds of 2.0GHz and above. The new MacBook Air is also said to include a higher capacity battery.

the CPU will be able to dramatically increase, from 2.0 GHz and potentially beyond. As such however, power drain will increase. Apple will curb that constraint with a higher-capacity battery. However, we can confirm that the new MacBook Air will require a 60W power adapter to fully charge, much like the current MacBook family.

The site also notes that he MacBook Air hard drive will “likely” be upgraded to 120GB as standard and add an optional 160GB.

The lower-end model featuring a 1.6GHz processor and 80GB hard drive remains the same at $1799.

Apple has emailed those who currently have the top-end model on order:

To Our Valued Apple Customer:

Sincerely,
Apple Online Store Support

Last year Apple asked Intel to supply a small, thin processor for use in a very thin notebook.

“That was the first time they actually worked together on a custom project,” says Tim Bajarin, president of the Creative Strategies consulting firm. “Before that, everything was pretty much off the shelf. As a result, the relationship grew even further.”

Initially Intel said they couldn’t help but remembered that they had shelved a project a few years before.

Years earlier, researchers had dreamed up a similar chip in a tiny package, but the idea had been put on the back burner after PC makers gave it a ho-hum reception. The concept just had to be dusted off. “We had that small chip package pretty much sitting on the shelf,” Rattner recalls. Within a year, Intel had updated it to meet Apple’s needs and delivered it in volume.

Apple used the processor in the MacBook Air announced at Macworld 2008, Intel’s chief technology officer Justin Rattner says that Intel is working with Apple on more projects that are “equally aggressive”.

According to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) Apple plans to use back light unit maker (BLU) Kenmos Technology to help complete a promise Apple made last year to transition all notebooks to LED-lit displays.

Since Steve Jobs’ open letter declaring Apple’s aim to become “greener” the company made LED-lit display standard on the 15-inch MacBook Pro, and an option on the 17-inch MacBook Pro, but in a storming move for the industry introduced the MacBook Air with the brighter and more power efficient LED backlit technology.

The MacBook Air was long rumoured prior to its release to be an “ultra-portable”, but when Jobs finally showed off the Air at Macworld it became clear that Apple avoided the niche market of ultra-portables and instead headed for the ultra-thin notebook market. The Air lacks the power of the MacBook, has no optical drive and doesn’t contain a removable battery but instead is incredibly thin, features long battery life and has a full-size keyboard.

Read more…

Size comparison shots against the MacBook Pro and iPhone are also included in the gallery.

The MacBook Air review will follow in the near future.

No details provided

Pro Applications Update 2008-01 - 63.7MB

This update improves reliability for Apple’s professional applications and is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server, Logic Studio, and Shake.

Detailed release notes available here.

This update fixes several issues to improve the stability of MacBook Air computers.

MacBook EFI Firmware Update 1.2 - 1.8MB

This update fixes several issues to improve the stability of MacBook computers.

After the firmware is successfully applied to your Mac, your Boot ROM Version will be:

MB31.008E.B02

MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.5 - 3.1MB

This update fixes several issues to improve the stability of MacBook Pro computers.

After the firmware is successfully applied to your Mac, your Boot ROM Version will be:

MBP21.00A5.B08 or MBP31.0070.B07

iMac EFI Firmware Update 1.3 - 1.6MB

This update fixes several issues to improve the stability of iMac computers.

After the firmware is successfully applied to your Mac, your Boot ROM Version will be:

IM71.007A.B03

Firmware Restoration CD 1.6 - 30MB

The Firmware Restoration CD can restore the firmware of an Intel-based Macintosh computer.

The SMC Update fine tunes the speed and operation of the internal fan.

iPod shuffle Firmware 1.0.4

The iPod shuffle firmware 1.0.4 delivers enhanced support for the new 2GB shuffle as well as fixing unspecified bugs.

The new drives are expected to be 2.5-inch drives as well as 1.8-inch, the latter being compatible with the MacBook Air.

Intel’s NAND chief Troy Winslow also told News.com that the new Intel drives will boast transfer rates far superior to any existing offers.

With new competition, drive speeds will jump. Currently, the fastest SSDs from companies like Samsung approach 100MB/second for reading data. “What I can tell you is ours is much better than that,” Winslow said. Hard drives typically read data at about half this speed

The chief also added that the entire product line will include SATAII interfaces, delivering up to 3Gbps.

Finally the price of SSDs is expected to drop considerably over the next few years. It costs upwards of $1000 to use an SSD in a notebook these days but by 2010 this price could be reduced to just $200.

“Price declines are historically 40 percent per year,” said Winslow. “And in 2009, a 50 percent reduction, then again in 2010.

Finally Winslow highlighted the increasing role SSDs are playing in the server market due to the ability to accelerate performance more than sixfold when compared to even the highest performing traditional hard drives.

Winslow said that Intel recently did a video-on-demand demonstration where it streamed 4,000 videos simultaneously. Just to do the streaming (not to store the video), it took 62 15,000 RPM (very high-performance) hard drives, he said. “We were able to replace those 62 hard drives with 10 SATA (SSD) technology drives,” he said.

When the MacBook Air was released in January this year it was widely considered to be a very niche product and likely to head down the same road as the Cube. But Ars’ investigations show that initial sales of the Air are very promising.

The site first quotes that the online Apple store in some markets is predicting 5-7 business days for MacBook Air deliveries; Amazon is also reporting to be shipping orders on or after March 16th.

One Best Buy source told the site that stock has been pretty thin.

Moving onto brick and mortar stores, the site found out that Apple stores around Boston garnered a motto over the weekend: “no Air for you.”

Apple Stores in Cambridgeside, North Shore, Burlington and Natick were completely out of stock with employees from some stores stating that demand has been “extremely high” with some customers paying extra for the SSD model which remains in stock at most locations.

Reports from flagship stores in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles state that the Air is out of stock but is coming in on a daily basis.

Even at the flagship store on Regents Street, London stock is said to be selling out the moment it is in.

Apple is currently offering a MacBook Air stock checker for Apple Stores across America for those not willing to take a chance of just turning up at their local store.

Mtron’s new SSD with Single Level Cell (SLC) Flash memory supports PATA (ZIF-type) interface and has a maximum reading speed of 120MB/s and writing speed of 100MB/s, which is more than 6 times faster than the current 1.8 inch HDD. Therefore when it’s used in laptop PC and UMPC, it delivers much faster performance than desktop. Mtron also released 1.8 Inch SSD with Multi Level Cell (MLC) Flash memory, which provides maximum memory capacity of up to 128 GB along with a maximum reading speed of 110 MB/s and writing speed of 40MB/s.

It is unknown at this time whether Apple will add this drive to the MacBook Air build-to-order system but the drive will certainly be capable of adding to a MacBook Air.

Pricing for the drive is not currently available.

Michigan Avenue Apple Store, Chicago sets up the MacBook Air displays

All Apple Stores across the U.S. are expected to have MacBook Air units on display starting today (Friday 1st) but many do not have stock to begin selling.

Mac Rumors posts photos of some Apple Stores setting up displays and MacBook Air units .

Finally, iFixit has posted a very detailed disassembly of the MacBook Air, during the process iFixit noted the following:

• Hard drive swap is possible
• iFixit expects 3rd party batteries will be available soon

UneasySilence.com offers a nice selection of unboxing photos of the MacBook Air.

Ars Technica has also received a MacBook Air, and compliments Apple on the slim packaging.

Over at Mac Rumors discussions are picking up as some Apple Store begin to put MacBook Air units on sale, one user has managed to get some hands on experience with a SSD model; something even the media have been unable to so far.

The support reveals the methods users will need to use when troubleshooting their brand new MacBook Airs.

Due to the battery being sealed in Apple has had to come up with a solution to reset the SMC; simply by holding the power button.

The support site all reinforces disappointments about the capabilities of the Remote Disc function, the feature cannot be used to play DVDs or CDs; a support document confirms that a USB CD or DVD drive is absolutely essential for Boot Camp: though the Air can boot or install Mac OS X over a network, neither Windows XP nor Vista can recognize anything but a USB drive.

Apple also cautions those wishing to install Mac OS X over a wireless connection that the process won’t work with WEP encryption. Owners must either use WPA or switch off security altogether to install the software.

Other discoveries made in support articles are:

• Some audio devices may not fit the headphone jack due to the small space of the swivel out hatch.
• Using the ethernet adapter is recommended when using the Migration Assistant.
• In hot conditions the MacBook Air throttles or stops one CPU core to reduce heat, possibly causing 3D performance issues.
• Apple has published a user guide (PDF) noting that the systems mono speaker is under the keyboard and the display should not be opened past 125-degrees.

In the press release Apple also wrote that the Apple TV update which was announced two weeks ago at Macworld has been delayed another two weeks.

Apple also announced that the new Apple TV® software update, which allows users to rent high definition movies directly from their widescreen TVs, is not quite finished. Apple now plans to make the free software download available to existing Apple TV customers in another week or two.

The units are the standard 80GB, 1.6GHz model, Gizmodo, Engadget and Macworld have so far received theirs.

The innards of a MacBook Air

Some early notes from across those sites:

• Gizmodo offers many size comparison images of the MacBook Air
• Remote Disk limitations; can’t play DVD media, can’t burn a CD, can’t listen to a music CD
• Engadget offers benchmarks against MacBook, MacBook Pro, and iMac.
• Gizmodo offers further “real world” benchmarks
• Common USB 3G modem fails to fit in MacBook Air

Gizmodo is the first site to open up the MacBook Air, offering a video and a selection of images.

Wall Street Journal (Walt Mossberg):

• beautiful, amazingly thin computer, but one whose unusual trade-offs may turn off some frequent travelers.
• It’s impossible to convey in words just how pleasing and surprising this computer feels in the hand. It’s so svelte when closed that it’s a real shock to discover the big screen and keyboard inside.
• while the MacBook Air will be a perfect choice for some travelers, I can’t recommend it for all.
• In my standard battery test, where I disable all power-saving features, set the screen brightness at maximum, turn on the Wi-Fi and play an endless loop of music, the MacBook Air’s battery lasted 3 hours, 24 minutes. That means you could likely get 4.5 hours in a normal work pattern, almost the five hours Apple claims.
• But the MacBook Air has another downside: its screen height. Because of the larger screen, the lid stands higher when opened than on most other subnotebooks. So it isn’t as usable as some competitors when the seat in front of you in coach on a plane is reclined.
• If you value thinness, and a large screen and keyboard in a subnotebook, and don’t watch DVDs on planes or require spare batteries, the MacBook Air might be just the ticket.

Newsweek (Steven Levy):

• The Air is a lithe sheath of aluminum so slim that it can slide under my office door.
• Did I mention that it’s really skinny? When I slip it in the sleeve of my backpack where my six-pound MacBook Pro usually travels, the pocket still looks empty.
• The Air shines most, of course, when it’s out in the open–on an airplane seatback tray, on a conference table, beside your latte in a Starbucks and on your lap when you’re sprawled on the sofa.
• Bonus: the Air doesn’t run as hot as Apple’s other laptops–it’s actually possible to work for an hour with the device on your lap without the feeling that your fertility is at stake.
• These omissions are troubling–especially to someone in a down-turning economy deciding whether to spend a premium sum for a computer with subpremium storage. Still, simply using the MacBook Air, as I’m doing right now in writing this review, is rather copasetic.
• The things that Apple left on were the ingredients for a quality computer. And did I mention how thin it is?

USA Today (Ed Baig):

• The skinny — the word can’t be emphasized enough —
• But with too few ports, a sealed battery that you can’t replace on your own and no built-in CD/DVD drive, Air is not the ideal laptop for everyone.
• And while battery power is impressive, it pooped out in my tests well short of the best-case, five-hour scenario Apple has been touting.
• As with all new Macs, Air has the latest virus-resistant OS X Leopard operating system. (It puts Windows Vista to shame.)
• Air does not come with the built-in ability to connect to a speedy wireless data network run by various cellular carriers. Jobs told me last week that Apple considered it but that adding the capability would take up room and restrict consumers to a particular carrier.
• Air’s battery life is decent. I got about three hours and 40 minutes as I surfed the Web, used Remote Disc and wrote. The battery died an hour sooner when I watched The Cooler, but I made it through the movie. On a long flight, it would be nice to carry a spare, but unfortunately you can’t replace a battery yourself.

The first unboxing photos of the MacBook Air have appeared on a photo sharing website, the images appear to have been take at some Macworld 2008 related event in Japan.

The models they have on display seem to have arrived in the retail packaging.

The selection of images also show the Mini-DVI connector, comparison to slim Sony VAIO and some Time Capsule photos.

During Apple’s demonstration of the MacBook Air at Macworld 2008 they dubbed a new feature called “Remote Disc”, this allows for discs to be accessed in another optical drive over the network from the MacBook Air. Included with this functionality is the ability for the MacBook Air to wirelessly boot off of a Remote Disc shared drive.

MacRumors adds that Mac OS X 10.5.2 is likely to add wireless booting to all Macs according to their sources.

Using a size-0 philips screwdriver the process of replacing the battery is described as follows:

Once flipped upside down, the MacBook Air’s bottom cover is easily unscrewed and removed, providing immediate access to the battery cavity. From there, the battery can be unscrewed from the chassis with the same screwdriver and unplugged from the circuit board with a simple tug — it’s not soldered to the board.

Apple is charging $129 for battery replacements and the entire process should take 5 working days.

But this latest development is likely to aspire many companies to begin selling batteries separately.

Well finally the latter two questions appear to have been answered, DigiTimes notes that Quanta is manufacturing the MacBook Air units.

Apple, which has just introduced its new MacBook Air, will outsource corresponding assembly orders to Quanta, according to industry sources. Total sales contribution from Apple is expected to surpass 20% this year on an estimated volume of 6-8 million units. Quanta is expected to be the key notebook OEM for Apple in 2008 as the spin-off at Asustek Computer has prompted Apple to shift its orders to Quanta.

AnandTech has given the processor used in the MacBook Air an in-depth study, at first they emailed Intel and Apple PR but as usual received the usual PR response.

With further investigation, the MacBook Air’s processor is actually based on Intel’s 65 nanometer (65nm) Merom architecture with an 800MHz bus, first released in May of last year

“The MacBook Air uses the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor and Intel 965GMS chipset with integrated [graphics] using a new miniaturized package technology. This new CPU and chipset allows for approximately 60% reduction in total footprint,” Intel explained to the the tech site.

Possibly the most interesting point to come out of the interview was the fact that Apple is not in a contentious relationship with China Mobile.

Jobs sat down with David Pogue and John Markoff for half-an-hour, when speaking of the MacBook Air Jobs said;

“I’m going to be the first one in line to buy one of these,”…”I’ve been lusting after this.”

According to the Apple CEO, designers went through around 100 design prototypes to find the right “form.”

He and Jonathan Ive were worried that they’d be unable to “fit the computer into the package that they came up with.”

When talking of Amazon’s Kindle Steve Jobs simpl stated that it was floored due to the fact that people simply don’t read anymore.

It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”

On Google Android Jobs stated;

“Having created a phone its a lot harder than it looks,” he said. “We’ll see how good their software is and we’ll see how consumers like it and how quickly it is adopted.”

Finally when talking of Bill Gates and his imminent retirement from Microsoft this Summer Jobs said;

“Bill’s retiring from Microsoft is a big deal.” “It’s a significant event, and I think he should be honored for the contributions he’s made.”

Here are a selection of photos of Apple’s Booth at this years Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Apple has a very large table featuring around 40 MacBook Air’s, there are also three tables of iPod touch’s and iPhones as well as desks with Apple TV units on and some Mac Pro’s.

View the gallery

After the Macworld 2008 keynote presentation Steve Jobs showed of the MacBook Air to press and we caught some celebrities on film.

View the gallery

Apple’s Steve Jobs shows off the MacBook Air, refreshed Apple TV, iTunes Movie Store Rentals and the latest iPod touch and iPhone software at the 2008 Macworld Keynote.

View the gallery

MacBook Air

The MacBook Air is the world’s thinnest notebook. MacBook Air measures an unprecedented 0.16-inches at its thinnest point, while its maximum height of 0.76-inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks. MacBook Air has a stunning 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. MacBook Air 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 1.8-inch hard drive, and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi technology and Bluetooth 2.1.

“We’ve built the world’s thinnest notebook—without sacrificing a full-size keyboard or a full-size 13-inch display,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “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 vibrant 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display that is energy efficient, 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. MacBook Air features a full-size keyboard design in a sleek and durable aluminum enclosure. The backlit keyboard makes it ideal for dimly lit environments such as airplanes, studios or conference halls, and a built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the brightness of the keys as well as the display brightness for optimal visibility.

MacBook Air delivers up to five hours of battery life for wireless productivity and includes AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi networking, which delivers up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g. Apple’s Migration Assistant software now enables users to quickly transfer files, applications and preferences from your old Mac to MacBook Air right over your wireless network.

MacBook Air users can buy the companion MacBook Air SuperDrive, a compact external drive designed for MacBook Air, for just $99. The MacBook Air SuperDrive is powered by MacBook Air’s USB port, eliminating the need to carry a separate power adapter. Many MacBook Air users will not find a need for an optical drive now that they can wirelessly rent movies from the iTunes Store, wirelessly backup files with Time Capsule and access the optical drives on remote PCs or Macs to wirelessly install software applications on MacBook Air.

MacBook Air is powered by Intel Core 2 Duo processors running at 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz, and includes as standard 2GB of memory and an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive. An optional 64GB solid state drive contains no moving parts for added durability. Every MacBook Air includes a micro-DVI port so users can connect to Apple’s gorgeous 20-inch or 23-inch Cinema Displays to extend their desktop or connect to projectors and other displays via DVI, VGA, Composite and S-video adapters. MacBook Air includes USB 2.0 for plugging in peripherals or charging an iPod or iPhone™, a headphone jack and Apple’s acclaimed MagSafe Power Adapter designed especially for mobile users.

MacBook Mockup

A source disclosed to the blog that the MacBook (not Air) is a tapered design, thicker at the top behind the screen, thinning towards the edges.

“It’s unbelievably thin,” said the source.

The MacBook is said to be aluminium and glass, the blog has posted mockups based on the information they recieved.

One commentor on World of Apple has pointed us to a page which purports to have screenshot of the MacBook Air specifications page on Apple.com

The blog posting reads:

With MacWorld just a few days away… we were watching the Apple Store website, and our vigilance paid off.

Having “been there done that” we quickly took a screenshot. SNAP. And good thinking too. All gone 23 minutes later.

Admin Street1: 303 Second Street
Admin Street2: Suite 800N
Admin City: San Francisco
Admin State/Province: CA

‘macbookair.com’ is currently showing as a private WHOIS record so is not showing any address but ‘macbookair.us’, ‘macbookair.biz’, and ‘macbookair.info’ all show the above address as well as:

Billing Street1: 1 Infinite Loop
Billing Street2: Mail Stop 3-TM
Billing City: Cupertino
Billing State/Province: CA
Domain Registration Date: Fri Jan 11 22:49:59 GMT 2008

MacBook Air?

One particular commentor on 9to5Mac points at a Google cache record of a computer named “MacBookAir” documented in Adium’s usage logs.