The Macbook Air does not have a combo port (currently). Just a headphone jack. I used dedicated to mean "includes specific hardware to handle this use case". Sorry for the ambiguity.
The consumer product line continues to have fewer fine-grained controls than Pro products, so nothing has really changed here.
Interesting! The language on the MBP specs says "Combined headphone/line in", whereas the MBA specs say "Headphone port". But you are correct: my headphones register as an audio input on the Macbook Air. I wonder if it's a very specific exception, or just an intentionially undisclosed feature (why?).
I would read "combined headphone/line in" as meaning that it would do full stereo line-level audio if you provided it. The MBA's port only works with four-pin cell phone-style headsets, as far as I know, which do mono over an extra pin while still providing stereo output.
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The 13 inch Macbook Pro, just like the Air, does not have a dedicated audio input. It's one of those mobile phone headphone/microphone combo jacks.
Hold down option and click the volume icon in the menu bar, select "Use Audio Port for: Input"
The ability to switch between input and output suggests it's not a dedicated input port.
The Macbook Air does not have a combo port (currently). Just a headphone jack. I used dedicated to mean "includes specific hardware to handle this use case". Sorry for the ambiguity.
The consumer product line continues to have fewer fine-grained controls than Pro products, so nothing has really changed here.
Not sure if you're correct - look at the specs page [1]... it does support the Apple headset with combo microphone/headphones port.
[1] http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html
Interesting! The language on the MBP specs says "Combined headphone/line in", whereas the MBA specs say "Headphone port". But you are correct: my headphones register as an audio input on the Macbook Air. I wonder if it's a very specific exception, or just an intentionially undisclosed feature (why?).
I would read "combined headphone/line in" as meaning that it would do full stereo line-level audio if you provided it. The MBA's port only works with four-pin cell phone-style headsets, as far as I know, which do mono over an extra pin while still providing stereo output.