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:
We've built the world's thinnest notebook — without sacrificing a full-size keyboard or a full-size 13-inch display. When you first see MacBook Air, it's hard to believe it's a high-performance notebook with a full-size keyboard and display. But it is.
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.
