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2008 · Apple

The 2008 MacBook Air: the laptop pulled from an envelope

Last reviewed 5 October 2026

Steve Jobs introduced the MacBook Air at Macworld in January 2008. Its compromises looked radical then and became normal for laptops.

The launch

At Macworld San Francisco in January 2008, Steve Jobs took the MacBook Air out of an inter-office envelope to show how thin it was. It had a 13.3-inch screen, an aluminium case and a wedge-shaped profile.

What it left out

To reach that size Apple dropped the optical drive, most ports and a user-replaceable battery. There was a single USB port and a fold-down port flap. An optional solid-state drive was offered at a steep premium, an unusual choice for a mainstream laptop at the time.

Reviews praised the design and keyboard but questioned the price, the performance of the low-voltage Intel processor and the limited connectivity.

Its legacy

Later revisions dropped the price and made SSDs standard. Intel’s “Ultrabook” programme in 2011 encouraged other manufacturers to build similar thin-and-light machines. Within a few years no optical drive, flash storage and a sealed battery had become ordinary in laptops.

Sources

  • Apple, MacBook Air press release, January 2008
  • Wikipedia: MacBook Air
  • Contemporary reviews of the first-generation MacBook Air, 2008

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