MacBook Air in the air?

The kids over at 9to5Mac are making the case that Apple's rumored ultra-portable will be dubbed the MacBook Air. Besides all the anecdotal evidence supporting their case, one of their readers discovered a machine identifying itself as a "MacBookAir" in a January 9, 2008 Adium usage log -- 3 days before the "There's something in the air" MacWorld banner was revealed. If true, it's thought that the name could refer to the ultra-portable's weight, WWAN capability, or even Wireless USB support. As odd as the name might sound, just remember how strange we all thought "Wii" was back in the day. Ok, Air is still bad.

Read -- 9to5mac
Read -- week 2, 2008 Adium log in Google's cache

[Justin @ Jan 31st 2008 1:08PM]

For all of those interested in the MacBook Air (or plan to purchase one in the future), there's an online community and message board forming here: MacBook Air Lounge & Forum (http://www.macbooklounge.com/). It looks like it will have a mods & hacks section when the product starts to get tweaked.

[Alex @ Jan 14th 2008 7:16AM]

Sounds like Steve is entering the shoe business

[Ireland @ Jan 14th 2008 8:25AM]

Nike +

[John @ Jan 14th 2008 8:28AM]

Thomas Ricker, you are full of shit. I'm sick of Engadget hating on every Mac rumor just to get "street cred" from the Microsoft fanboys, and then turning around and kissing the ass of every newly-introduced Apple product. It happened with the new Nano, and you all talked shit about how "fat" it was, then when it came out you all loved it. I don't mind your editorial interjections from time to time, but going and saying that a name like "Air" is worse than the fuss that the name "Wii" got is a little excessive.

If this rumor turns out to be true, then Apple's marketing team has made a wise choice. "Air" describes the ultra-portability and the connectivity of the rumored device, while still following their philosophy of introducing new and complex ideas in simpler terms. Furthermore, if you're looking at the competition, I don't see how "MacBook Air" is any worse than, "Dell XPS M1330,""HP Pavilion HDX," "Inspiron," "Latitude," and "ThinkPad."

[timbobsteve @ Jan 14th 2008 8:35AM]

OK MacBoi... settle down. You are a prime example of why Mac users have a bad name. You are on a hair-trigger... it's scary.

[John @ Jan 14th 2008 8:41AM]

timbobsteve, IF YOU DON'T AGREE WITH MY OPINIONS, I'LL RIP YOUR FACE OFF AND FEED IT TO YOU!!!!!!


....just kidding!

[zach rattner @ Jan 14th 2008 8:47AM]

I think the MacBook Air will be geared exclusively towards business executives. After all, its acronym is MBA.

[Mike @ Jan 14th 2008 8:49AM]

Damn you, Thomas Ricker! How dare you have an opinion on the possible name of this product!

[Greg @ Jan 14th 2008 9:17AM]

Excellent point, John.

[derX @ Jan 14th 2008 1:11PM]

John, it is okay to comment on someone's skills as a journalist but it's another to personally attack said person for his opinions.

Personal attacks are childish and, overall, they're just wrong, you stupid face.


[Per usual, jk, but only about the "stupid face" comment, the rest, totaly meant it. Now, calm down, Macboi, and drink a refreshing glass of Windows ChillPill Aid.]

[Juice Daddy @ Jan 14th 2008 7:17AM]

as long as the touch pad has two clickers, I'll be happy

would be pretty sweet if they made it as thin as the new keyboards O.o

[customh @ Jan 14th 2008 10:13AM]

chances are low that it will have two clickers, but you and me both would want it. I'd love to have a mac, but too many school apps require windows, and I wouldnt get a mac for its styling, but the OS, and if I can't use the OS I might as well get more power for my money.

[Juice Daddy @ Jan 14th 2008 9:44AM]

"chances are low that it will have two clickers, but you and me both would want it."

hehe... I can see it now


apple: we're proud to announce a laptop revision featuring two mouse buttons!"

fanboi: oh cool that's the best thing ever invented, so original in every way :D

anyone else: welcome to 1980...



another thought...

what if it's a big iphone?(smaller than lightweight laptop though) maybe more of a leopardish os on it? multi-touch screen...

that would be neat...

[PSM @ Jan 14th 2008 10:42AM]

@ customh:
You could always get a Mac and run Windows in virtualization. Then you could use the Mac OS for all tasks that don't require Windows and have your required school apps running among them. Of course this is not nearly as direct or inexpensive as picking up a $500 Dell or something, but it's a way to avoid having to spend 100% of your time in Windows just because of a few apps. Personally, I don't think you can put a price on that ;-)

[RichardBronosky @ Jan 14th 2008 10:53AM]

I used to think that the Mac portables needed a second mouse button, like the mighty mouse, but then a colleague showed me a feature I had overlooked. Under System Preference>Keyboard & Mouse>Trackpad, there is an option called "Place two fingers on trackpad and click button for secondary click". This combined with the "Use two fingers to scroll" and "Allow horizontal scrolling" and I am a happy PC convert!!

I always hated the middle click button on my Ubuntu ThinkPad. I would click it on accident 50% of the time. I would curse Lenovo for not putting only two buttons instead of three. I can see how hard it is to please everyone. I think that it took Apple this long because they couldn't find the perfect solution. But now I think they have.

Now, I just wish they would round off the front edge so it would be more comfortable to do "mouse" intensive work with the trackpad. If this wasn't company property, I'd take a rasp/file to it.

[The General @ Jan 14th 2008 12:06PM]

Meh. I'd rather have a big single button on just use the two finger click function for right click. I tend to click with my right thumb in the middle of the button, so I'd just end up having the seem between the buttons irritating my thumb, and I'd right click when I didn't need to.

I prefer the single button touch pad.

[Juice Daddy @ Jan 14th 2008 1:02PM]

idk.. I'd rather have a right button instead of having to reach up and push ctrl every time I want to right click...

it would be nice if they'd at least have two sensors under there... like the mighty mouse ~barf~

[Scott @ Jan 14th 2008 2:04PM]

Juice Daddy, did you even read the comments before you? You don't need to hit CTRL, you use one hand with two fingers to right-click on a Powerbook track pad. It's actually a very elegant solution for regular joes and power users alike. I wish my Thinkpad had this option. Having 3 mouse buttons sucks on a sub-notebook.

[rp @ Jan 14th 2008 2:52PM]

Silly rabbits, clicks are for kids. Use keyboard commands, they're
the foundation of Mac OS.

... and back in my day, we had to click and HOLD a menu for it to
drop down. Have you ever tried finding conflicting extensions when
Conflict Catcher is the one causing a conflict? You and your
"macbooks" with their "portability." Back then, a SE was as portable
as it could get! You ever lug a 30lb computer 3 miles in knee deep
snow? Well, neither did I, but it was probably pretty tough.

grumble grumble command-option-g grumble grumble

[Juice Daddy @ Jan 14th 2008 3:27PM]

"Juice Daddy, did you even read the comments before you? You don't need to hit CTRL, you use one hand with two fingers to right-click on a Powerbook track pad. It's actually a very elegant solution for regular joes and power users alike. I wish my Thinkpad had this option. Having 3 mouse buttons sucks on a sub-notebook."

I don't prefer this method so I didn't acknowledge it


heh, why do I care anyways.. I'd plug in a usb mouse before I'd use a trackpad

[Juan @ Jan 14th 2008 7:21AM]

Nike Air!
Awesome...

Oh, wait it's MacBook Air... (oh, I get it...... Not..)

[Ryan Trevisol @ Jan 14th 2008 7:25AM]

The black and red one will be the Macbook Jordan.

[ThePengwin @ Jan 14th 2008 7:18AM]

Hi all

Just giving the obligatory "i dont care" post

thats all

thank you and goodnight

[Peter @ Jan 14th 2008 7:36AM]

I don't own a single Apple product, but I'm still interested in what they get up to... why bother posting a "don't bother" post?

[ThePengwin @ Jan 14th 2008 7:38AM]

@Peter

Sorry, i have nothing better to do with my time :)

[Jagannath A @ Jan 14th 2008 7:22AM]

airport ?

[Brad @ Jan 14th 2008 10:58AM]

Just going way out on a limb here... airport built into a blu-ray drive?

Think about it: People are already a bit upset that the new Mac Pros don't have an HD optical drive. So, you have your Mac Pro sitting on the floor humming away and a separate Blu-Ray drive sitting on your desk, connected via 802.11n. The optical drive would work on battery, a wall plug, or (if you don't mind the extra wire) USB.

This also makes sense for an optical-drive-less subnotebook. It gives users a miniature notebook while still giving the option of an optical drive.

PS: Blu-Ray over Bluetooth would be cool, but bluetooth is nowhere near fast enough until the next rev.

[Arno @ Jan 14th 2008 7:26AM]

Lame name but his Steveness will sell it in such a way that we'll all want one.

[James Ollier @ Jan 14th 2008 7:39AM]

We all hated Mac Pro, Macbook, Macbook Pro names initially didn't we?

[bobbyw @ Jan 14th 2008 7:51AM]

I still hate the name MacBook Pro. Awkward.

[Nomi @ Jan 14th 2008 8:15AM]

I love the macbook naming scheme, it brings the line together. ibook and powerbook were so far off...

[Chad @ Jan 14th 2008 11:06AM]

Mac Pro sucks. Really. Why didn't they go with Tower Mac - to follow PowerMac (since it's the same case as the PowerMac G5 - STILL - after 3 years as an Intel). MacBook makes sense. MacBook Pro is a little awkward, especially when it came out first (about 6 months with no "MacBook" - MacBook Pro seemed stupid.) My Money is on "MacBook Nano" or "MacBook Mini" since they seem to want to keep the naming theme consistant now. Or maybe iMacBook. This, of course, means the so-called "iTablet" would be the MacBook Touch or the Mac Touch.

[ClaMs @ Jan 14th 2008 11:59AM]

@ Chad,

Yes, but if they do have a MacBook Mini, would you also be expecting an iPod Pro??

[monkfishbandana @ Jan 14th 2008 2:18PM]

Why are we all slaying a name that we don't even know to be the real name of the product. That's as stupid as saying "By the by, Sony's new Walkman is going to be call the Sony Gay. What a stupid name. Awesome product, but stupid name. Change it Sony."

We'll see tomorrow, though, won't we.

[Grandalf @ Jan 14th 2008 7:40AM]

I think the name is ok. It's short, easy to remember, and descripes their concept.

[Sageco @ Jan 14th 2008 7:49AM]

Well, maybe this can be a viable competitor to the eee pc.
Hell, i need to buy an ultraportable laptop for when i start uni later this year, maybe this can offer me choice.

[matt @ Jan 14th 2008 2:53PM]

Umm, competitor to the EEE? If apple did something like that it would be at least four times the price. Buy an EEE and have a couple of good weekends :D

[wan @ Jan 14th 2008 7:59AM]

how much max space u can get out of current SSD at the moment?

[shaun @ Jan 14th 2008 8:17AM]

I think they're at 64GB, or maybe 128

[kr @ Jan 14th 2008 8:24AM]

Samsung just announced 128 gigs, i believe.

[roberto @ Jan 14th 2008 9:15AM]

yeah, but currently ssd that are worth of (i mean speed and size) are very expensive. mtron has the fastes around (110m/s read, about 50mb/s write) and a 32gb is like 700$ or so..

[supermeerkat @ Jan 14th 2008 7:59AM]

Why don't Apple employ the Hypnotoad instead of doing all this tedious advertising malarkey? The curtains would be drawn back to display the toad in all his glory, after a minute of so we'd all march off down to the nearest Apple store and Steve wouldn't need to get out of bed.

[Tis---strange @ Jan 14th 2008 8:26AM]

ALL HEIL THE HYPNOTOAD!!!!!

[Trialandterror @ Jan 14th 2008 9:52AM]

All hail the Hypnotoad!
http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/5317/applehypnotoadaw6.jpg

[Galley @ Jan 14th 2008 8:08AM]

I had a dream last night about this rumored "air" device. It was a portable speaker with an integrated AirPort Express.

[dglaz @ Jan 14th 2008 8:17AM]

Putting the name of the product directly in the teaser banner is not clever at all.
Shame on Apple if they release a MacBook Air...shame.

[John Z @ Jan 14th 2008 8:20AM]

MacBook Air? Ah, then it'll come with three girls: one suicidal, one amnesiac, and one just mopey... and a fourth one buried in the legacy layer that has wings and a dead mother.

Oh, wait, sorry, wrong AIR. Wake me for MacBook Kanon.

(Actually, I'm hoping this isn't the only announcement-- I've been waiting on an iPod Touch purchase and hope an upgrade to those gets announced.)

[roole @ Jan 14th 2008 2:45PM]

Are you AIRhead?

[Atanas Boev @ Jan 14th 2008 8:21AM]

Air? Can it be some cheap wireless terminal, with most of apps and files hosted in .mac? They already showd the concept of server app + aqua-ish fronend works nicely, with googlemaps on iphone. Also, Mossberg asked Jobs a question about .mac once, and Jobs was quite upset with "the ship leaking from top"...
Just another wild rumor :)

[Marq @ Jan 14th 2008 8:21AM]

is this it?

http://flickr.com/photos/superfrunny/2192321716/