Remote Disc supports booting over a network, so the Air can boot from its installation DVD in another computer's drive if Remote Install Mac OS X is running on that computer. Either option can also be used to reinstall the system software from the included installation DVD. To read optical disks, users could either purchase an external USB drive such as Apple's SuperDrive or use the bundled Remote Disc software to access the drive of another computer wirelessly that has the program installed. It was Apple's first notebook since the PowerBook 2400c without a built-in removable media drive. It was also Apple's first computer with an optional solid-state drive. The MacBook Air was the first subcompact notebook offered by Apple after the 12' PowerBook G4 discontinued in 2006. Since the release of Snow Leopard, the trackpad has also supported handwriting recognition of Chinese characters. It also featured an anti-glare LED backlit display, a full-size keyboard, and a large trackpad that responded to multi-touch gestures such as pinching, swiping, and rotating. It featured a custom Intel Merom CPU and Intel GMA GPU which were 40% as big as the standard chip package. The first generation MacBook Air was a 13.3' model, initially promoted as the world's thinnest notebook at 1.9 cm (a previous record holder, 2005's Toshiba Portege R200, was 1.98 cm high). Steve Jobs introduced the MacBook Air during Apple's keynote address at the 2008 Macworld conference on January 15, 2008. 4.2 Boot Camp-supported Windows versions.2.2.1 Comparison with iPad and netbooks.

The Intel-based MacBook Air was discontinued in November 2020 following the release of the first MacBook Air with Apple silicon based on the Apple M1 processor. The third generation was released in October 2018, with reduced dimensions, a Retina display, and combination USB-C/ Thunderbolt 3 ports for data and power. Later revisions added Intel Core i5 or i7 processors and Thunderbolt. Apple released a second generation MacBook Air in October 2010, with a redesigned tapered chassis, standard solid-state storage, and added a smaller 11.6-inch version. The MacBook Air was introduced in January 2008 with a 13.3-inch screen, and was promoted as the world's thinnest notebook, opening a laptop category known as the ultrabook family. Since then, the original MacBook's discontinuation in 2011, and lowered prices on subsequent iterations, made the Air Apple's entry-level notebook.

The Air was originally positioned above the previous MacBook line as a premium ultraportable.

The Intel-based MacBook Air is a discontinued line of notebook computers developed and manufactured by Apple Inc. March 18, 2020 23 months ago ( ) (last model).January 29, 2008 14 years ago ( ) (first model).

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