Thin is in: Ars Technica reviews the MacBook Air

Everyone knew it was coming—they just weren't entirely sure what, exactly, it would be. The MacBook Air was rumored to have a lot of things—a black (or silver) aluminum case, a multitouch screen, massive trackpad, 12- or 13-inch screen, a solid-state hard drive, the moniker of "MacBook Thin" ("Pro" was optional). The rumors and speculation just went on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on.

But when Steve Jobs took the stage and announced the MacBook Air at Macworld 2008, Apple's ultraslim laptop still managed to take some by surprise. The haters sipped their hatorade while the fanboys sipped their Kool-Aid; the other 98 percent of us were left wondering exactly how the Air fit into our suddenly expanded notebook worldview.