I am trying to fine out if my new MacBook Air can play cd/dvd and burn cd

New Macs do not come with a built in burner/player. You would need an external CD/DVD player/burner; with that you can play them using the built in dvd player app. If you want to burn homemade movies, you'd need an app to do so in order to play them on a stand alone player. You can use Finder/Disk Utility to burn some, but for movies, you'd need an app. Finally, Apple does not have support for blu ray, so you'd not only need the software app, but a blu ray burner as well.

Hello rhin-kc,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. You can look up the specs on your new MacBook Air by locating the built-in user guide. The steps to do so are found in the Apple Support article: Find the user guide for your Mac - Apple Support

•On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Settings, then choose Help > User Manual.

We hope this helps you.

Feel free to reach back out if you have any questions.