14 DAY TRIAL // The MacBook Air has quickly become the ideal notebook, despite all its flaws. Worldwide notebook manufacturers are "getting inspired" by its design and hardware configuration, in order to achieve a worthy rival for the Air.
Lenovo and Fujitsu are two of the laptop vendors that yearn at Intel's small Core 2 Duo chip. The tiny processor has been especially designed for Apple's MacBook Air, but Apple forgot to seal the barrel and did not push Intel into signing an exclusivity agreement. If Apple had thought of that before unveiling the notebook's secret, the chip would have become a rare bird on the market (and Intel wouldn't like it that way). Since the CPU is public, Fujitsu and Lenovo might use it to release their own versions of Air to have all its shortcomings corrected.
Intel is reported to have started shipping its wonderfully small CPU to third parties. Lenovo and Fujitsu are sure to include the small 65-nanometer chip into their future Windows-based slim notebooks. The new machines have not been yet announced, and neither Intel, nor the manufacturers wished to comment upon the "incident".
During the Macworld Expo presentation, Intel CEO Paul Otellini alleged that his company had created a new processor upon Apple's request. However, there was no comment or note to say that it was exclusively designed for Apple. All the difference is in the special packaging, and not in its manufacturing process (the chip is built using the 6-nanometer node, and not the newer 45-nanometer process).
The MacBook Air notebook is extremely thin and elegant, but it has its flaws. The "Audrey Hepburn of laptops," as it was called, lacks some vital functions, such as an optical drive, a removable battery and a small hard-disk drive. Both Fujitsu and Lenovo will be able to exploit these shortcomings and come with their own improved ultra-thin laptop PC.