The new MacBook Airs' introduced tonight at the 'Back to the Mac' event has no optical drive as with the first generation but neither will it have a hard drive. This explains the fact that it can allow instant-on functionality. The latest MacBook Air is the first of a new generation of notebooks that leaves behind mechanical rotating storage in favor of solid state flash storage.

The MacBook Air has memory up to two times faster that is more reliable and 90 percent smaller and lighter.

Both models have a forward-facing FaceTime camera, an Core 2 Duo processor, and Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics.

The new 13-inch model gets 7 hours of battery life, with 30 days of standby time. The new MacBook Air has a full-size keyboard and a full-size glass trackpad as well. The 13.3-inch display is 1440-by-900 pixels, and the model weighs a stunning 2.9 pounds.

The larger model starts at $1,299 or �1,099 for 128GB of storage with a 1.86GHZ processor. Doubling the storage to 256GB will cost you $1,599 or �1,349.

The newly launched 11-inch model has a display resolution of 1366�768 pixels. Just as thin, but is even lighter, at just 2.3 pounds.

The low-end model has a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo and 64GB of storage for $999 or �849. The higher-end model with 128GB (but no other difference in spec) will cost $1,199 or �999.

[via Apple]