On the heels of another impressive quarter, Apple today launched Mac OS X Lion and revamped a good portion of its product line. The MacBook Air was among those and now sports new processors, high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology, a backlit keyboard and the aforementioned Mac OS X Lion.
“Portable, affordable and powerful, MacBook Air is the ultimate everyday notebook,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “MacBook Air features our most advanced technology and is an ideal match for Lion, especially with its new Multi-Touch gestures, full-screen apps, Mission Control and Mac App Store.”
The MacBook Air available in 11- and 13-inch models with Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processor options, and SSD storage options starting at 64GB and running up to 256GB. Apple also reinstated the backlit keyboard that appeared on the first generation MacBook Air but disappeared in the second generation.
The new MacBook Air is already available for order. Prices start at US$999 (CA$999) for the 11-inch model with a 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 2GB RAM, and a 64GB SSD. The base model option top out at US$1599 (CA$1599) for the 13-inch model with a 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD.