Last week we were invited by Apple India to try our hands on the new Macbook Air that has been selling for over a month in the United States and has recently gone on sale in India. Apple’s smaller Macbook had been rumored for quite some time but after playing with, we can safely say Apple’s 11-inch Macbook Air (MBA) is one fully blown computer in a very compact chassis.

The first thing to strike about the new MBAs is its size. It’s ridiculously thin, small and light. Apple engineers have crammed the latest hardware components in Macbook Air’s unibody aluminum enclosure. The unibody enclosure is similar to what we see in high-end Macbooks but the Macbook Air has also managed to carve the display from the same sheet, making it more durable.

Apple says the new Macbook Air is a culmination of what they learned while making the iPad and one thing they’ve adopted from the tablet is its flash storage. The new MBAs do not have a HDD but a NAND flash storage, which allows Apple to further shrink the notebook’s size and also offer improved performance as compared to a mechanical hard drive.

Other notable things we found are a large multi-touch glass trackpad and a full-size keyboard. Both work as intended but one (passable) gripe with the keyboard is that it does not have a keyboard backlight.

As for the performance, the 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM supported the base MBA model well. It managed to load up content quickly with less — or most of the times with no — waiting time. Apple says the smaller MBA can run for about 5 hours on a single charge but we think it’s pretty subjective considering the usage pattern is different from user to user.

The 11-inch Macbook Air starts from Rs.60,900 whereas the larger 13-inch Macbook Air starts from Rs.79,900.

The final announcement at the Back to the Mac event was the unveiling of new Macbook Air models. This is the first refresh of Apple’s thinnest and lightest notebook and the Macbook Air comes in two options – 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch.

The new MBAs feature the same Macbook-esque unibody design, a full-size keyboard, faster processors and flash storage.

The Macbook Air range features Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics, 2GB or 4GB RAM, 64GB, 128GB or 256GB solid-state flash storage, Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1, two USB ports, SD card slot (13-inch only) and a 7 hour battery life.

The 11-inch Macbook Air now starts from $999 whereas the 13-inch MBA starts from $1,299.

Product Page

UPDATE: Apple India have release the Indian pricing of the Macbook Pro Family.

2.26GHz 13-inch Macbook Pro – Rs. 74,000.
2.53GHz 13-inch Macbook Pro – Rs. 93,300.
2.53GHz 15-inch Macbook Pro – Rs. 1,04,900.
2.66GHz 15-inch Macbook Pro – Rs. 1,19,600.
2.80GHz 15-inch Macbook Pro – Rs. 1,41,600.
2.80GHz 17-inch Macbook Pro – Rs. 1,57,400.

Apple initiated the WWDC conference by announcing a revamped 15-inch unibody Macbook Pro. Like the 17-inch version, this MBP too sports a user non-removable Lithium-Polymer battery that promises to give up to 7 hours of runtime and built to last about 5 years or 1000 recharges. The specs include up to 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo processor, up to 8GB RAM, discrete 9600M GT graphics option, up to 500GB HDD and a SD card slot in place of an ExpressCard slot. The 15-inch MBP pricing starts from $1,699 and goes up to $2,299.

Next comes the 13-inch Macbook which also gets an unibody enclosure and up to 2.53GHz C2D CPU, up to 8GB RAM, up to 500GB HDD or 256GB SSD, integrated 9400M chip, same li-polymer battery and the inclusion of FireWire 800 port. Again, the ExpressCard slot has been ditched for a SD slot. Pricing starts $1,199.

Macbook Air got a huge $700 price cut and it now starts from $1,499 giving 1.86GHz C2D proc, 2GB RAM, 9400M GPU and 120GB SSD.

[Via Engadget]

Users wanting ExpressCard slot has a single option, to go with 17-inch unibody Macbook Pro that starts from $2,499.

At a press conference held today in Mumbai, Apple announced the updated range of Macbook notebooks along with the 24-inch Cinema Display. These are the same products which were unveiled by Steve Jobs a few days back. However, one major difference about it is the price. The Indian prices for Macbook and Cinema Display is way too pricey when compared to the US.

Price:

MacBook (2 GHz) – Rs. 79,700 ($1600)
MacBook (2.4GHz) – Rs. 96,500 ($1938)
15-inch MacBook Pro (2.4GHz) – Rs. 1,19,600 ($2402)
15-inch MacBook Pro (2.53GHz) – Rs. 1,49,000 ($3000)
17-inch MacBook Pro (2.5GHz) – Rs. 1,62,600 ($3273)
MacBook Air (1.6GHz) – Rs. 1,07,000 ($2154)
MacBook Air (1.86GHz) – Rs. 1,49,000 ($3000)

24-inch LED Cinema Display – Rs. 60,900 ($1226)

Apple India Store

Steve Jobs revealed the new Macbooks at a press conference yesterday. Apple was pretty proud of their creations which are made from a unibody enclosure giving it more rigidness. Other highlights of these notebooks are the new glass based multi-touch trackpad, Mini DisplayPort, NVIDIA graphic chips empowering the Macbooks and also being compliant to Energy Star standards.

Apple has made the new Macbooks affordable with the price starting from $999 for a decent machine. Macbook Air and Macbook Pros were also refreshed which now sports NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GPU in Air while 9400M and 9600M dual GPUs in 15-inch Macbook Pro. To complement the whole set, Apple also launched a 24-inch LED Cinema Display screen which will sell for $899.

Pricing:

13-inch Macbook: $999 – $1599
Macbook Air: $1799 & $2499
15-inch Macbook Pro: $1999 & $2499
17-inch Macbook Pro: $2799

Apple Store