As you may know, the MacBook Air uses specially developed Intel Core 2 Duo chips that are much smaller than regular chips. These processors may soon start appearing in other PCs as well. The chips could potentially be used to create competition for “the world’s thinnest and lightest notebook” (which as far we’re concerned is fantastic news - anything that pushes the market and the industry forward through competition is highly welcomed).

Company names weren’t specified, but as of now there are 2 manufacturers already working the design into their next machine.

We look forward to seeing what kinds of portable and lightweight laptops will come out of this, as they will have a hard time competing with the good looks and classiness of the MacBook Air.

That’s right - PCs will soon have the same capabilities as the new MacBook Air when it comes to the trackpad, thanks to Synaptic. They recently announced a new touchpad with support for various gestures including scrolling, zooming, and trackball-like movement. Mark Vena, vice president of Synaptics’ PC business unit, said that we can expect these to hit computers in late March or early April.

My take? Although the technology definitely has the “cool” factor and I would order one on a new laptop, I don’t think this will increase productivity all that much. Scrolling is one of the most common tasks, and we have been able to do that with our touchpads for a long time now. How often do you find yourself zooming in on photos or rotating them? Synaptics is poised to allow you to do that faster, but I don’t mind clicking a button or two to do that now. I am hoping the company dreams up some new uses for this technology that will truly make it indispensable.
Photo: http://www.apple.com/macbookair/features.html

Apple has just announced their new MacBook Air at Macworld, and this thing is absolutely awesome. It’s the thinnest notebook in the world (at .76 inches thick at the top and .16 inches thick at the bottom) and one of the lightest (at 3 pounds). The screen is pretty big for this size and weight at 13.3 inches. The specs are beefy, but so is the price.

For $1,799 you get the following:
1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB RAM
80GB 4200rpm HD
802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1

For $300 you can upgrade to a 1.8GHz processor, and for $999 you get a 64GB solid state HD (nifty, but way expensive).

At these prices, the MacBook Air seems geared toward the rich and famous. Better hope you qualify for a student discount! I think I’ll wait until prices come down before even thinking about buying this laptop, but I’ll definitely be staring at pictures for a long time to come.