If you like your ultra thin Google Pixelbook or any ultra thin laptop for that matter, you have in part to thank Steve Jobs and Apple. 10 years ago today, Apple introduced the Macbook Air. It was a radical departure from what laptop design, including Apple themselves, had been to that point. Sporting a single USB-A port, headphone jack and power connector, the Macbook Air ditched all the conventional things at the time like a DVD drive and spinning hard disks internally. It also introduced a multi-touch touchpad.
Instead, Apple moved to SSD drives internally and ditched the DVD drive altogether, seeing a future where they simply wouldn’t be needed. They were right as we know now ten years on but at the time, it was radical thinking.
On the back of the release of the MacBook Air, the Steve Jobs led Apple began working on trimming down the full lineup of laptops they offer and that has continued up to today where the latest Macbook have a single USB-C port.
Ultimately following Apple’s lead, other manufacture began working feverishly on ultra thin, lightweight laptops. A plethora of them hit the Windows PC market within the first couple of years after the Air’s introduction and you can follow that thinking all the way up to the new Google Pixelbook that is available today. Indeed the Pixelbook is one of the thinnest laptops you will find on any platform and it has, in part, to do with the vision Jobs and Apple had 10 years ago.
Of course, one could argue that at some point, someone besides Jobs and Apple would have ditched the DVD drive and shrunk down the size of laptops. And you would be right of course. That is the natural progression of technology. But the fact remains that Apple 10 years ago set up the standard to be followed. It was a time where, personally, I think was at their zenith of creativity and innovation and the MacBook Air was a great example of it.
Want to see the original launch event of the MacBook Air by Steve Jobs? You can watch the video below.
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