Steve Jobs’ Macworld 2008 keynote

Apple fanatics were hoping for some exciting news at Steve Jobs’ keynote to open Macworld 2008. Negative types figured nothing could compare to last year’s unveiling of the iPhone.

Dummies.

Steve today took the cover of the new MacBook Air, a laptop so thin it fits in an envelope. At just three-quarters of an inch thick, the new portable computer is as thin as two iPod Touches. That’s awfully thin.

The MacBook Air weighs only 3 pounds, sports a full-size keyboard (my sausage fingers are grateful), and a 13.3-inch backlit display with built in camera. The track pad mirrors the iPod Touch and iPhone interface, which means more control over the desktop.

There is no optical drive in the Air, though. It installs software by borrowing a DVD drive from another computer on the network.

It borrows the drive.

If you don’t have a drive for it to borrow, you can always get a USB SuperDrive to hook up to it.

You’ll only have to make two decisions one decision after deciding - as I did - that you need a MacBook Air on your desk. You can have a 1.6 or 1.8 GHz processor (Intel Core 2 Duo) and you can have either a 80GB hard drive or a 64GB solid-state drive (although the solid-state drive looks to add more than $1,000 to your sticker price).

It seems there are only two configurations at this point. the 1.6 GHz processor comes with the 80GB hard drive and is listing for $1,899. The 1.8 GHz processor ships with the 64GB solid-state drive, and costs $3,248. But this is the model that is only 0.16 inches thick. Further research reveals that at its thickest point, the Air - regardless of configuration - is 0.76 inches, but the computer tapers down to 0.16 inches at the edges, giving the system a knife-edged look.

Only drawback at this point is that users can’t change the battery, so you’d better stay close to a power source if you’re going to be using your Air for more than five hours.

Here are some other tidbits that Jobs thrilled us with:

• Time Capsule, an Airport Extreme base station with a 500GB or 1TB hard drive, to allow for easy Time Machine backups
• iPod Touch owners in Canada who wish they could have some of the iPhone features now get them: Mail, Maps, notes, stocks, weather updates are all enabled for the Touch
• iTunes 7.6 now offers movie rentals from all major studios. If you live in the U.S. Canadians have to wait. Again.
• Apple TV Take 2 doesn’t require a computer, but connects to your network itself and enables users to get digital movie rentals from iTunes (again, only for U.S. customers)
• Anyone purchasing a DVD distributed by 20th Century Fox will automatically get an iTunes Digital Copy of the film. By inserting the new DVD into your computer, you enter a code and get an automatic download - to your iTunes - of the same film. Then you can watch it on your computer or even transfer it to your iPod. The first release to include this feature is the Family Guy Star Wars spoof, Blue Harvest

All in all, a good day to be a Mac fan. Hope you’ve got lots of money.

Anything in today’s Jobs keynote that got you excited? Pissed off? Let us all know in the comments.