by , 4:50 PM EDT, July 3rd, 2008

Apple has reduced the Solid State Drive (SSD) option on the MacBook Air from US$999 to US$599 just in time for holiday shopping.

Customers have a choice between a 80 GB Parallel ATA Hard Disk Drive (HDD) at 4,200 RPM or a 64 GB Solid State Drive (SSD). The second option is now $400 less expensive than before.

MacBook Air

Studies have shown that current SSD drives save only a little on battery power and improve only a little on various read/write functions. Even so, the removing the HDD gets the last moving part out of a notebook computer -- something that will appeal to many customers.

In addition, for those who want to upgrade to the 1.8 GHz model, that option will now cost US$100 less. Combined, that's a reduction of $500. Happy holiday shopping to all.