Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the MacBook Air 17 years ago today at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, captivating audiences with a groundbreaking design that set new industry standards.Jobs famously revealed the MacBook Air by pulling it out of an interoffice envelope to emphasize its unprecedentedly slim profile.The original model featured a 13.3-inch display, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and an optional 64GB solid-state drive, which was a rarity for consumer laptops in 2008, in a sleek aluminum unibody design.
It lacked features considered standard at the time, such as an optical drive and Ethernet port.The single headphone, USB, and Micro-DVI ports popped out of a small door on the right of the machine.Jobs said: Seventeen years later, the MacBook Air remains a cornerstone of the Mac lineup, providing the entry-level point for customers who want an Apple laptop.
In 2020, Apple brought its own custom silicon processor to the MacBook Air in the form of the M1 chip, enabling a massive leap in performance and energy efficiency.It completely redesigned the machine in 2022, and added a 15-inch model in 2024.In the first half of this year, Apple is expected to bring its latest-generation M-series chips to the device.
