Thursday, January 24,2008 @ 6:50pm
MacBook Air notes: SuperDrive, 3G modems
Two new facts have surfaced regarding Apple's newly released MacBook Air and its optional SuperDrive that could influence the purchasing decisions of some consumers. The new notebook, which Apple touts as the "thinnest" notebook ever made, is incompatible with USB-based 3G modems, according to Engadget. The small high-speed wireless devices are too large to plug into the MacBook Air's collapsible USB port, preventing their usage without a USB extension cable or a powered USB hub.
Further complicating matters, the optional SuperDrive designed for MacBook Air does not work with other systems, and is only usable with Apple's latest notebook. Standard USB doesn't support the power draw that an optical drive requires, and suggests that Apple has configured its MacBook Air USB port with more power than most standard USB ports.