Filed under: Hardware, MacBook Air
MacBook Air Developer Note
We seemed to have overlooked the MacBook Air Developer Note in all the news at Macworld. This note details exactly what's lurking inside that thin marvel of modern Industrial Design. It also lends credence to reports that the external SuperDrive will only work with the MacBook Air. The Air's USB port is listed as 'high powered,' so it is only logical to assume that this is needed to power the external SuperDrive and at the moment the MacBook Air is the only Mac currently equipped with such a port (this is all educated speculation, but isn't that the best kind?).
Also worth noting: the MacBook Air does have an IR port, but does not come with an Apple Remote. Something to keep in mind if you were hoping to control your MacBook Air from afar.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
matt said 9:13PM on 1-23-2008
I noticed that it comes with mini dvi to dvi and mini dvi to vga adapters. any idea why they chose to include these and not the apple remote?
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tnkgrl said 9:38PM on 1-23-2008
Hmmm... The IR sensor (receiver) is listed in the MBA developer note!
The remote is even sold as an option on the Apple store, not to mention there's a tiny black rectangle on the front right edge of the MBA, near the sleep light: http://images.apple.com/macbookair/images/overview_bigair_one20080115.png
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tnkgrl said 1:16AM on 1-24-2008
Nevermind, I though someone suggested the MBA was missing the IR sensor :)
Alex said 9:43PM on 1-23-2008
Just a guess..but being more of a second computer than your main computer, and given the size, maybe they figured it would usually be "on" people at all times and not far away or on a TV? Or maybe just cutting some costs...
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Ryan Valle said 10:15PM on 1-23-2008
more interesting to me is to note the internal MONO speaker?
mono?! its 2008...sheesh
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Samuel McConnell said 10:28PM on 1-23-2008
Eww, Parallel ATA. That's disappointing...with the optional SSD, you could probably max out SATA2-300. PATA is unreasonably slow for SSD use. That's an odd choice for them to have made.
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Larry said 10:49PM on 1-23-2008
I care less about the mono speakers than the mono mini headset adapter. I bet they are hoping people will ditch wired for bluetooth???
FL said 4:46AM on 1-24-2008
The headphone jack is stereo.
Matt Sayler said 10:01AM on 1-24-2008
1) I agree PATA is weird -- especially given the need for fat connectors and lots of traces on the mobo..
2) The speed of these drives is on the order of 60MB/s for reads and 30MB/s for writes -- quite within PATA specs
Maybe PATA support was builtin on the SBridge and adding SATA would have required another chip (== more space).
varun said 6:31PM on 1-24-2008
PATA - because the drive the Toshiba mini-drive they're using is PATA. Toshiba doesn't - as far as I know - make them using SATA. And given the Toshiba drive's specs, I would say the limitation is likely to be the drive not the interface. PATA is plenty fast enough to chug data from the (relatively) slow Toshiba drive.
Thomas said 10:32PM on 1-23-2008
MacBook Air Computers (January 2008)
The MacBook Air computer introduced in January 2008, based on the Intel Core 2 Duo, has multiple internal USB controllers built into the South Bridge.
The external USB port supports 500 mA at 5 V for 2.5 W.
The external USB port complies with the Universal Serial Bus Specification 2.0. High-speed USB devices are accessed via the Enhanced Host Controller Interface (EHCI) and full-speed and low-speed devices are accessed via the Universal Host Controller Interface (UHCI).
A high-powered Apple keyboard can be attached directly to the external port, and software will enable one of its downstream ports to supply 500 mA of power. The external port also supports the External MacBook Air SuperDrive when it is directly attached.
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aptmunich said 5:34AM on 1-24-2008
Don't the new aluminum iMacs also have high powered USB ports?
I remember there being a report on the USB 2.0 hubs in the new keyboards only powering iPods and USB harddrives if they were hooked up to the new iMacs...
Anyone care to compare the specs on the two?
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Diegus83 said 6:04AM on 1-24-2008
A high powered USB port means it can output a max of 0.5A, all the ports included with all the macs comply to that norm.
Usually, ports in hubs (like the one in the apple keyboard) can't provide that much power, thats why they call the others "high powered".
So this external super drive should work in any mac, well, maybe not in older ones with USB 1.0 due to speed limitations.
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trainmaster32 said 6:34AM on 1-24-2008
I wonder if the high powered USB can supply enough power to the USB EVDO devices to operate at full power. Most come with a Y adapter to pull power from 2 USB ports if needed.
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Jake said 6:35PM on 1-24-2008
For the external drive...
If power is the issue, couldn't you rig the cord so there are two power sources?
Just a thought....
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Benedikt said 11:51AM on 1-24-2008
Although I can't imagine it to be true, the developer note states that in Extended Desktop Mode " ... the maximum external display resolution supported by the MacBook Air is 1280 by 800 at 60 Hz for analog displays and 1280 by 800 at 60 Hz for digital displays."
This would be a real bummer for anyone using > 20" displays.
Apple's specs on the Air website on the other hand state that the maximum resolution on external displays is 1920x1200.
Anyone had a chance to hook up the Air on 24" display?
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Jeff said 8:33AM on 1-24-2008
Isn't the new SuperDrive for MacBook Air possibly only workable with this new device precisely because for Content Control, it is connected to the graphics processor on the north bridge and not connected to the USB controller on the south bridge???
Can anybody say DRM? external B-ray disks?
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Jeff Preboy said 8:35AM on 1-24-2008
Erase that previous post... sorry Micro DVI (video out)
just realized it :(
My Bad
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ST! said 12:17PM on 1-24-2008
Yeh the MBA uses the same GMA X3100 graphics as the MacBooks...which will do 1920 x 1200
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Benedikt said 3:32PM on 1-24-2008
I know. But the limitation might (and I hope it's not) be related to the Micro-DVI port and not the GPU.