Apple today released the long awaited ultra-thin MacBook Air laptop. Steve Jobs used this years Macworld event to introduce the svelte 13.3″ laptop to the world. The computer is the world’s thinnest laptop. It’s tapering design is only .16″ thick in some places and .76″ at its thickest point. It is so thin that it can fit in an envelope! The machine features a standard 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB RAM, a 13.3″ LED widescreen display, magnetic latch, built-in iSight, MacBook-like keyboard with an ambient light sensor, multi-touch trackpad and 80 GB hard drive plus all the wireless connectivity you need for $1799.

The big selling point here is the ultra-thin design, but the multi-touch interface that allows you to manipulate object in much the same way as the iPhone but using the trackpad might be the most revolutionary for a laptop.This will undoubtedly spawn many imitations like the iPhone as touch computing is brought to the masses.

Most of the rumors revolve around a new ultra-thin Macbook which we reported on last week. What appear to be a fake photo of an smaller MacBook has already hit the net. While specific details of the machine have not been leaked, that hasn’t stopped anyone from throwing out some wild guesses.

The 12″ model disappeared from Apple’s MacBook Pro product line when they made the last big release. It’s makes sense that they’ll bring back a smaller model than the current 15.4″. And certainly shrinking the form factor a bit seems to be a logical next step regardless. The use of a flash memory drive would seem to be a step in that direction. But what’s up with “There something in the air” slogan? Here’s a few guesses.

In order to further reduce the already thin form factor of the Mac notebook line means you’ve got to deal with various cables and plugs, - ethernet being one of the largest. Those things aren’t going to change size. So removing them from the Book itself might be the only path to shrinking it’s thickness. You would also have to remove the optical drive. Which leads us to the idea of a dock station for the new MacBook ‘Mini’. But nothing like a traditional docking station. The Macintosh News Network has already reported on patent’s filed by Apple that outline some form of multiple purpose docking stating. And we’re taking a leap and thinking that it might end up using inductive coupling to communicate with the book itself. No wires. No connections. Just Air between them. Something in the air indeed.

The picture looks pretty iffy. For one, the smaller MacBook has a gigantic trackpad and button. It also doesn’t appear to have any form of optical drive. Well, it’s least it peaks our imagination for the real thing.

2008’s Macworld Expo runs January 14-18 at it’s usual winter venue - the Mascone Center in San Francisco. Keep those Mac rumor mills workin’.