The new MacBook Air: Lighter Than Ever

“What would happen if a MacBook and an iPad hooked up?” asked Steve Jobs, Apple’s Chief Executive, at an audience at its Cupertino, California campus.

The result is a pair of laptops 0,60 inches thick. They use flash memory for storage instead of mechanical hard drives, just like the prior Air that Apple had last updated in October 2008.

Jobs said the two new Airs can stay asleep in standby mode for 30 days, with active battery life of five to seven hours.

This time, Apple thought about the screen size, that’s why the new Air comes in a 2.3-lb. model with an 11.6-in. screen (starting at $999 with 64 gb of flash storage), and a 2.9-lb. version with a 13.3-in. screen ($1,299 and up).