FAQ: Everything you need to know about the MacBook Air

Computerworld - When Apple Inc.'s CEO Steve Jobs pulled the MacBook Air out of an interoffice memo envelope -- nice touch, that -- the crowd at Macworld Conference & Expo oohed and aahed. And applauded. And some even did your basic shout-out.

What got them excited was the thinnest Mac ever, and Apple's first real entry into the so-called subnotebook market. But just what is the MacBook Air?

A bunch of questions popped up almost as soon as Jobs whipped the 3-lb., aluminum-clad MacBook Air out and held it aloft. Here are the answers.

View more news from the Macworld Expo.

What's the difference between the MacBook Air and the other models in the MacBook Line? This is easy. Price: The Air costs about $650 more than a faster MacBook when the latter is tricked out with 2GB of third-party RAM. The thickness of the case: The Air is a wood shaving compared to the MacBook. The pieces inside: The Air is missing several -- with an optical drive and Ethernet port but two pieces -- but it gains others, including a multi-touch trackpad. The weight: The Air tips the scale at 3 lb., while the similarly-sized MacBook weighs 5 lb.

Is the Air really the world's thinnest notebook, as Jobs claimed? It appears so. Just 0.16 inches at its thinnest -- which is where, we assume, Apple put the tape measure -- the Air beats the minimum thickness of rivals by wide margins. The Sony Vaio TZ, for instance, is 0.8 in. at its thickest, while Dell's Latitude X1 is an even bulkier 1 in. thick. Even the Asus Eee is thicker. In fact, the thickest part of the Air (near the hinge) is thinner at 0.76 in. than the thinnest part of the Sony Corp., Dell Inc. or Asus Computer International Inc. models. Jenny Craig would be proud.

The MacBook Air is only 0.75 in. thick at the hinge.

What processor powers the Air? That was a bit of a mystery on Tuesday, when Apple and Intel merely hinted at its identity, saying only that the Core 2 Duo inside was 60% smaller than the standard package. Buyers have two choices: The stock 1.6-GHz processor or the slightly faster 1.8-GHz version that costs $300 more. Jobs and Paul Otellini, Intel's CEO, shared the stage for a few moments, but neither talked chip details. They didn't specify the exact processor, whether it is part of Intel's announced road map or even whether it's one of the new 45-nanometer products or an older 65nm processor.