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Steve Jobs highlighted its sleekness by sliding it out of an internal office envelope, a piece of showmanship met with gasps, cheers and ultimately applause by the Apple faithful assembled to witness his keynote at the annual Macworld expo.

Weighing in at around 1.4kg, and measuring just 0.76in at its thickest edge, the MacBook Air still manages to cram in a webcam, 13.3in backlit display, 2GB of RAM, 1.6Ghz Core 2 Duo processor and 80GB hard disk, vindicating Jobs' repeated assertions that "it's an amazing feat of engineering."

Those with the inclination can also upgrade to a 1.8Ghz processor, and choose a 64GB solid state drive, though this will add $999 to the price.

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It also comes bundled with a nifty piece of software called Remote Disc, which allows the laptop to wirelessly connect to another machine and "borrow" its optical drive. While this may not be much good on a long train journey, it's nonetheless an interesting addition to the software suite.

Either way Apple will be selling a separate optical drive for $99, though given that the MacBook Air only features one USB port users may find they need it for other things.

The Air also features an impressive multi-touch trackpad, which allows user to manipulate the screen much as they do with the iPhone; using two fingers to rotate pictures for example, or pinching in and out to zoom.

Apple claims the MacBook Air has a battery life or around five hours, and is pricing it at $1,799 with US shipping beginning in two weeks.

Apple didn't give any hints on when it may be coming to the UK.

Click here to find out how the MacBook Air fares against its principal competitor, the Sony VAIO G11.