Apple courts Greenpeace

Apple’s new ultra-thin laptop, the MacBook Air, weighs three pounds, features a 13.3-inch LED-backlit screen and a full-size keyboard, and measures 0.76 inch at its thickest and 0.16 inch at its thinnest.

The Cupertino-based company has also aimed to slim down the environmental impacts of its newest product. The majority of circuit boards were made without brominated flame-retardents, and the notebooks use PVC-free internal cables, according to Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). The Air consumes the least amount of power of any Mac. Greenpeace, which in fall 2007 criticized Apple for being an environmental laggard, gave the company kudos for removing arsenic and mercury from the MacBook Air but says Apple still has work to do if it wants to be considered an environmental leader.

Introducing the laptop at Macworld in January 2008, Apple CEO Steve Jobs placed the laptop in the context of larger environmental initiatives at the company, which include software-only upgrades for its iPhone, Apple TV, and iPod Touch.

While the Macbook Air may be “greener” than its predecessors, how it will fare with consumers remains to be seen. Tom Krazit noted in his CNET review that for most people the $1,799 MacBook Air forces too many compromises, from the lack of an optical drive, FireWire and Ethernet jack to the battery, which, like those in the iPhone and iPod, can’t be replaced by the user.