Take the MacBook Air, shrink the screen down an inch, slap in some netbook components, and load it up with Windows 7 Release Candidate and — drumroll, please — you’ve got the iiView A2 out of Singapore. Oh, and lower the price to $468. That’s kind of important there.

Will we ever see this machine in the US? Maybe. Probably not. But it’s got a nice look reminiscent of the MacBook Air, which is basically a really expensive netbook (I’m gonna get flamed for that one).

According to CNET, “the design is so similar that even the monitor-out and USB port are hidden within a flip on the side.” Other features include:

• Atom 1.6GHz processor
• 2GB RAM
• Intel 945 chipset
• 12.1-inch 1,280 x 800-pixel resolution
• 320GB HDD
• Two USB ports, mini-HDMI port, 2-in-1 headphone/mic jack
• 802.11b/g, 10/100 Ethernet
• Six-cell battery
• Windows 7 RC1 with Vista Home Premium license

iiView’s CEO says that the netbook will come with Windows 7 RC1 preinstalled for performance reasons. The Vista license will allow users to upgrade to the retail version of Windows 7 when it comes out this fall, though.

The iiView A2 is expected to go on sale in Singapore next week for $699 (Singapore dollars), which is roughly $467.78 in US dollars.

[CNET Asia via Wired]

MacMall.com has a $200 rebate on Apple’s netbook, the MacBook Air, bringing the price down to $999 if you’re diligent enough to fill out and send in those rebate forms.

The particular model featured has a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive. Of note, the $200 rebate applies to most other Apple notebooks sold at MacMall and is good until the end of the month.

Apple 13.3″ MacBook Air 1.6GHZ 2GB RAM 80GB Hard Drive MB003LL/A [MacMall via dealnews]

The external battery/charger costs $350, but you’re also going to need a modified 45W MagSafe charger that costs an extra $100. Or you can send in your existing MagSafe and have it modified for $25.

The Li-ion polymer battery weighs 1.2 lb and is good for 1000 charging cycles.

Product Page (The page doesn’t reflect the new charger)

Dell is hinting at a tiny laptop line called Adamo which might be some sort of boutique line or actually be the name of a new, ultrathin laptop that will give the MacBook Air a run for its money. Ashlee Vance at NYT writes:

But most telling of all might have been the reaction of Michael Tatelman, Dell’s vice president in charge of consumer sales and marketing, to my question about whether or not Dell had an Air-like product in store. Mr. Tatelman’s mouth gaped open and his eyes darted away from my face.

The expectation is that the new line will be sleeker and cheaper than the MacBook line and will inject a little class into a traditionally staid and boring Dell line-up. Here’s hoping.

Oh yes I went there!

If you recently (like in the last week) ordered the entry-level Nvidia-equipped MacBook Air then you probably got an e-mail stating that your pretentious little toy is being delayed. It appears they won’t begin shipping for 2-3 weeks if you choose to go with a 120GB SATA drive. But if you go with the 128GB SSD drive the shipping estimate speeds up to 3-5 days.

The MacBook Pro is also being hobbled by delays if you choose to upgrade the hard drive to a 320GB SATA from 1-3 days to 5-7 days. Bummer, dudes.

via AI

Is the MacBook Air overpriced at $2,499 fully loaded? Seventy percent of us here at CrunchGear think so—Apple worshiper Biggs calls it a “great machine,” however—but what do we know? Nothing, apparently, if we’re to believe CNet, which comes to the conclusion that the MacBook Air, compared to other ultraportables, isn’t overpriced at all.

The argument goes: ultraportables writ large are expensive, so to single out the MacBook Air is unfair. The similarly spec’d Dell Latitude E4200, for example, costs $2,495. Same thing with the Toshiba Portege R600, which is even more expensive at $2,999.

That’s pretty much it. Because all these ultraportables, when more or less similarly spec’d, are $2,500 or more, to call the MacBook Air overpriced is dishonest.

But maybe there’s more to it than that. What I think is happening is that we’re confusing the words “overpriced” with “expensive,” using them interchangeably when they have wholly separate meanings.

To some people, say, people with money, the MacBook Air isn’t expensive, but it could still be overpriced. No, $2,500, in and of itself, may not be a lot of money—that is, it’s inexpensive—but you’re still paying a lot for what you’re getting. Plainly, you’re getting a slighter lighter laptop than the less expensive MacBook, but you’re getting less for more money. That makes it overpriced. You’re paying more money for less computer.

That, of course, assumes you put any sort of premium on the portability of your laptop. Let’s say you’re a desktop replacement kind of guy—there’s no way you’d pay $2,500 for a MacBook Air when you can buy, say, an Alienware for that amount of money. Or maybe you’re like me and hate laptops of all shapes and sizes. In that case, not only is the MacBook Air overpriced but it’s also expensive.

Once thought to be wildly overpriced (by me, anyway), the MacBook Air almost seems like an okay deal at $1,349. It’s refurbished, yes, so you’ll have to decide if that’s a big deal to you or not. It still has a one year warranty and you can extend it if you like.

The $1,349 version is the one with the 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB of RAM, and the 80GB hard drive. The 1.8GHz version is also available for $1,499 along with the 64GB solid state drive version for $1,799. Have at it.

Refurbished MacBook Air (scroll down) [Apple Store via dealnews]

To be fair, you don’t have to own a MacBook Air in order to purchase Iomega’s eGo Helium portable hard drive. It is, however, “a perfect match for the new MacBook Air notebook” according to Iomega. It’s even pre-formatted to the HFS+ file system.

The drive itself has 320GB of storage space, weighs less than half a pound, and requires no external power supply. You’ll also get some software included: EMC Retrospect and MozyHome (2GB version), although you’ll have to download it. Oh, and you can get 2GB of Mozy service for free no matter who you are. So not a huge deal there. You’ll get a license for the EMC software, though, which is nice.

It’ll be available in October with an MSRP of $149.99, although it’s currently listed at $142.49 on Iomega’s site (not in stock yet, of course).

Please stop with the manila envelope comparisons!

The upgraded parts will probably suck up the new battery’s capacity, so don’t go looking for extended life, but at least you’ll be able to get more done during those few hours. Expect a new charger as well. I’d still go for a MacBook or MBP over one of these prissy little things, but at least they’re a little less underpowered now.

After you spent all that money on a new MacBook Air, you are probably paranoid about it getting damaged. In fact, you’re so paranoid that a normal laptop case will not suffice — you will also want it wrapped in a sleeve.

Since you are not alone in your paranoia, many companies offer products like the ZeroShock III MacBook Air Sleeve ($27.95 USD). This particular sleeve is composed of high-resistance polyurethane foam and features a low-profile design. Not only that, it’s designed to fit nicely in a separate bag or backpack, so you’re doubly protected.

Now you can safely walk form your house to the coffee shop without a worry. Well… unless you’re using your iPhone without a case. Then you will be paranoid that you’re going to drop that and scuff it up.

Apparently it’s Tuesday Laptop Madness, for Lenovo has announced a new laptop, the ThinkPad X200. It also released the IdeaPad U330, but that’s hardly as interesting.

The Intel Core 2 Duo (2.26-2.40 GHz)-powered ThinkPad X220 is supposed to compete with the useless MacBook Air, and has similar specs. It weighs 2.95 pounds and has a 12.2-inch LCD. As far as storage goes, you can select a standard 320GB hard drive, or pony up for the 64GB solid state drive. Whether or not that has any noticeable impact on your computing performance, there’s conflicting reports.

The usual wireless options are here like BlueTooth and Wi-Fi.

In other words, a tiny, fully functional laptop, just one without an optical drive.

She’ll set you back $1,199 in August when she’s available.

via PC World/Yahoo

Apple has dropped the price of its solid state drive MacBook Air by $500. Now, the useless laptop equipped with a solid state drive can be had for the low, low price of $2,598. That’s with a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

Note that the upgrade price from the 1.6GHz to 1.8GHz has also dropped, from $300 to $200.

Not that solid state drives save you any battery power, mind you.

via AppleInsider

As fun as it would be to run on sunlight (might be handy if you’re a hermit), it’s really just far, far too expensive at this time. The cheapest option is $500 and it will take half a day to recharge your Air. If you have money to burn, you could do worse than a nice, foldable solar charger, but right now the performance isn’t really justifying the price.

Here is a protective apparatus from Agent 18 for your precious MacBook Air, called the MacBook Air Shield. It costs $50 and comes in white, black, or pink. Guess what else?! It allows you to plug stuff into the ports on the side of your MacBook Air and “features an opening for the notebook’s vents to prevent overheating,” which you can see in that U-shaped area of the above photo.

It’s made from “durable polycarbonate” — hard plastic, in layman’s terms. You’ll need to trade in $50 to get one of these, and you can do so at Apple Stores or on Agent 18’s website, although I’ll be damned if I could find it there.

More photos after the jump…

Maybe it’s a “manileather” envelope. Either way, it’s not available yet. [via Akihabara News]

When Devin skewered the MacBook Air some time ago, he was summarily insulted and burned in virtual effigy; we all laughed at him in the chat room. Far from being useless, however, one valid criticism against the MacBook Air was that it wasn’t portable enough. How could Apple leave out built-in EVDO, no one said? Rather than complain about, one Jordan Bunnell took the Apple by its core or some other stupid metaphor and installed his own damn EVDO module. Hello, world indeed!

The man, armed only with a Veriozn USB727 Aircard, a soldering iron, the heart of a lion and the free time of a loaf-about, managed to get the card working as clear as day.

I have zero engineering ability, so I won’t even pretend to re-tell exactly what he did, but all the pictures are dynamic.

Pretty neat, deep and otherworldly cynicism aside.

via MacNN

Lenovo pretty much sums up my opinion of the MacBook air in this very clever, very cheeky parody of that Air commercial you’ve been seeing for the last two months. In it, an Air is taken out of an manila envelope, just as Steve the Great did at MacWorld in January.

Then, all the components it’s missing (optical drive, 3G wireless, etc.) are plugged into a hub, which is plugged into the single USB port. Then it all gets crammed back into the envelope.

It’s a clever way of advertising the X300 ultraportables, laptops we like anyway. They’re not as slick as the MacBook Air, but if it ran OSX, I’d pick one up in a heartbeat.

A gentleman recently won $10,000 for hacking a MacBook Air using an exploit in the Safari Web browser. This was during a laptop hacking contest and it made news all over the Internet.

As it turns out, the exploit he used had been known for a year, it was part of the Perl Compatibility Regular Expressions library, a piece of open-source software included with OSX that many Apple applications use, including Safari.

The developers who manage the PCRE patched the exploit months ago, the patch wasn’t part of OSX updates until late last week, though the latest security update does include the patch.

That means those fearing security problems with their OSX computers need only to update to abate those terrors.