mac book air

The MacBook Air was Apple's worst kept secret since, well, last year's Macworld and the launch of the iPhone. And boy, did Jobsy make us wait – only after wearing us down with iPod Touch firmware announcements did the world's thinnest notebook finally slip out from its manila envelope.The Air is 19.4mm at its thickest point, tapering down to an incredible 4mm at the front. Its outrageous profile isn't obvious until you pick it up, when it feels like you're just carrying a screen. Only Sony's now discontinued X505 ever felt as light in the hand.The good, the bad and the screenIn terms of what it can actually do, the MacBook Air is a mix of exciting innovation and big compromises. On the good side, its trackpad includes some of the multi-touch gesturing seen on the iPhone. It doesn't feel quite as intuitive as the iPhone, but improves navigation in apps like iPhoto no end.The screen is a 13.3in LED-backlit number – the same size and resolution as the bigger MacBooks – and the keyboard, rather over-excitedly described as "full size" by Steve Jobs, is illuminated to help when you've run out of lightbulbs. The Air also has decent grunt under the bonnet, with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB memory and an 80GB hard-drive, which can be replaced by a 64GB solid-state drive (for a hefty premium).

Pros Thin, light and gorgeous. Innovative wireless hijack of optical drives
Cons No Ethernet or FireWire. Only one USB port. No optical drive