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Apple unveils world's thinnest notebook computer

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs on Tuesday unveiled an ultra-slim MacBook Air laptop computer that he billed as the world's leanest laptop.

In trademark theatrical style at the Macworld Expo opening in San Francisco, Jobs slid the laptop from a brown envelope typically used for inter-office mail. A packed audience of notoriously cultish "Macintosh faithful" whistled, hooted and cheered. "It's the world's thinnest notebook (computer)," Jobs said with a smile. "We went out and looked at all the thin notebooks out there and tried to distil a best-of-breed."

MacBook Air is a lean wedge-shape, .16 inches thin at the front and .76 inches thick at the rear. Jobs compared it to some of the market's thinnest laptops measuring .8 inches at one end and 1.2 inches at the other.

World-leading computer chip maker Intel shrunk one of its fast dual-core processors by 60 per cent at Apple's urging to fit the power into MacBook Air, according to Jobs. "When we started this project we didn't think it was possible," Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said, briefly joining Jobs on stage. "There were times we sweated over it, but at the end of the day we innovated."

Macintosh computers sales have surged due to what analysts describe as a "halo effect" from the company's trendy iPod and iPhone models. Apple has been aggressively trying to capitalise on the company's cache.' Apple has shipped more than five million copies of its new Leopard operating system for Macintosh computers since it launched in late October, according to Jobs.

"The MacBook Air could kick-start the ultra-portable laptop market," Bajarin said, noting that laptop models already constitute nearly half of Apple's flourishing Macintosh computer sales. "The Air will be a big hit with the Mac faithful but also be something that attracts PC users."

Jobs pointed out that the lean laptops have easily recyclable aluminium casing and electronic components made from non-hazardous materials. The segue was an effort to polish Apple's dim reputation among environmentalists who accuse the company of falling short when it comes to recycling used electronics and using Earth-friendly materials. MacBook Air features innovations inspired by Apple's iPods and iPhone, according to Jobs.

For example, the compact hard drives in the laptops are the kind used in iPods, while touch pad controls in the computers mimic touch-screen "gesture" capabilities in iPhones. "We learned from the iPhone and put it in our other computers," Jobs said.

MacBook Air notebooks weigh three pounds and have battery life of five hours. The ultra-lean laptops are priced at 1,799 US dollars and will begin shipping in two weeks, Jobs said.

Notebooks with a local Singapore flavour!!!

Consumers now have a new homegrown notebook brand to choose from. Axioo International has unveiled two notebook ranges — the Zetta Ten and the Zetta Tec.

The Ten series, with prices starting at S$1,299, is billed as an affordable range of notebooks and sports 1GB of memory and 120GB of storage. The more advanced Tec series has 2GB of memory, 160GB of storage, Bluetooth and a fingerprint scanner. Prices for this range start at S$1,799 and consumers have a choice of three colours — blue, yellow and black.

Both 13.3-inch notebooks feature Intel Core 2 Duo processors running at up to 1.66GHz and are preloaded with Windows Vista Home Premium. A built-in webcam and a 4-in-1 memory card reader is part of the standard package. And for local flavour, Axioo teamed up with local video and imaging software developer EyePower Games to develop an application that allows consumers to customise their video chats with visual effects in the MSN Messenger instant messaging client.

"We are ready to take innovation in the notebook market to the next level by working with the local pool of developers, building products that can be marketed globally," said Mr Stephen Lim, Axioo's managing director. Set up in August last year, Axioo is establishing its regional base in Singapore with an initial investment of S$3 million. It officially opened its office facility and manufacturing unit earlier this week and plans to set up its research and design facility here by the fourth quarter.

The company plans to expand to foreign markets such as Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Australia, South Africa, India and Russia "in the next couple of years", Mr Lim said.

---V.Surya