Apple updates MacBook Air and Mac Mini (photos)

Apple's summer 2011 hardware refresh includes updates to the MacBook Air and Mac Mini computers, now with Thunderbolt.

Justin Yu

July 20, 2011 12:17 p.m. PT

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Multitouch

The trackpad on the new Macbook Air is multitouch enabled, meaning you can use its glass surface to gesture and scroll, and the whole thing is a button.

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Keyboard

The keyboard is backlit and can automatically adjust to changes in surrounding light.

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Build

The Air's flash chip and solid-state hard drive allow the hardware to measure less than an inch thin, leaving room for a larger battery with up to 5 hours on the 11-inch model and up to 7 hours on the 13-inch.

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Unibody

The Macbook Air's enclosure and display both feature Apple's unibody design, allowing the chassis to remain wafer-thin.

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Unibody

The Macbook Air's enclosure and display both feature Apple's unibody design, allowing the chassis to remain wafer-thin.

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Thunderbolt

The right side of the body now features a Thunderbolt port in addition to an SD card slot (13-inch only) and a USB 2.0 port. The new Thunderbolt interface can transfer up to 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and works with Apple's new Thunderbolt Display.

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Left-side connections

On the left of both sizes, you'll find an additional USB 2.0 port, microphone and headphone jacks, and Apple's MagSafe power cord.

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FaceTime

Unlike the Nvidia graphics processor found in the last iteration of the MacBook Air, the 2011 models use the Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU that's built into the Core i-series chips.

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Unlike the built-in 3G or 4G broadband options found on many Windows laptops, the MacBook Air still only supports Wi-Fi.

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Thunderbolt

The right side of the body now features a Thunderbolt port in addition to an SD card slot and a USB 2.0 port. The new Thunderbolt interface can transfer up to 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and works with Apple's new Thunderbolt Display.