Hey guys, this is Austin and today I’m here with
a review of the MacBook Air 11”.
This is the latest
2011 model and the one I have here has the 1.6GHz
Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid
state drive.
Take a look around the Air and you’ll
see it is unlike most other laptops with a razor
thin design and tiny footprint.
What I found most
impressive is just how usable the 11” Air is.
It
features a full sized keyboard, impressively large
trackpad and bright 11.6” screen.
Inside you’ll find
a new dual core Intel Core i5 clocked at 1.6GHz.
Don’t let the low clock speed fool you, the Air
is actually quite respectably fast.
It can Turbo
all the way up to 2.3GHz and features Hyperthreading
which lets OS X see it as a quad core CPU.
Ordinary tasks
like web browsing are right on par with my 4GHz quad core
Windows desktop and even when you get to heavy lifting
like video editing and gaming the Air can keep up.
I work with video all day and while I still go to my
editing rig most of the time I’ve used the Air to edit
some high definition videos and have been quite
impressed with how well it handles it.
You probably
won’t want to spend your days editing in Final Cut
with this but it certainly will work in a pinch.
Gaming performance is a bit less impressive but
certainly doable.
Even newer titles like Starcraft 2
can run without a problem as long as you don’t mind
turning the graphics down.
The secret sauce behind
this performance in a laptop that’s largely thinner
than the iPhone comes down to a few key components.
The Ultra Low Voltage Core i5 is a big part, as are
the integrated HD 3000 graphics.
However the real
kicker as to why the Air is so snappy is
the Solid State Drive.
If you aren’t familiar with what a SSD is I’ll be brief.
Most computers use a spinning hard drive which while
typically gives you more hard drive space are just
flat out slow.
A solid state drive is just a collection
of chips which not only are vastly faster but also are
less prone to being destroyed by something like
dropping your laptop.
Tech jargon aside, this makes the
Air absolutely snappy.
It boots and wakes up from sleep
in seconds and applications load in a fraction of the
time that a normal laptop would take.
I’m a huge proponent
of solid state drives and very glad to see Apple including
one on the Air.
Battery life is also quite impressive for
an 11” laptop.
Under a light load with simple web browsing
you get around four and a half hours out of a charge and
with very intensive use such as video editing or gaming
you’re looking at something more like two and a half
hours.
The 11.6” display is impressive in several ways.
It sports a resolution of 1366x768 giving it a very high
pixel density.
Text and graphics really pop and in
addition the brightness and clarity on the panel are good.
The keyboard is the exact same size and layout as on the
MacBook Pro.
It’s among the best laptop keyboards I’ve
used with decent throw and nice spacing.
New with the
2011 model is backlighting which is adjusted with the F5
and F6 keys and makes using the Air in darker places much
easier.
I can’t say enough about the trackpad.
It takes up
as much surface area below the keyboard as possible without
getting in the way of the palm rests and works well with
the new gestures included in Lion.
Unfortunately it's not all good.
The webcam is only VGA
quality and while you can see it's not awful, I do have
very good light here, in general it is not even going to
compare to the FaceTime HD cameras on the
MacBook Pro and the iMac.
Taking a closer look around the computer on the left you’ll
find the MagSafe power adapter, a USB 2.0 port, headphone
jack as well as a microphone.
On the right you’ll find the
second USB for a total of two as well as the new Thunderbolt
port for connecting high speed accessories as well as
doubling as a Mini DisplayPort for an external monitor.
Even with a close look at the sturdy all aluminum
construction you won’t even notice the exhaust until you fire
up the Air.
Cleverly hidden in the hinge is where hot air is
released from the chassis and only when you really get the
Air doing something strenuous does the fan become
noticeable at all.
The laptop does get uncomfortably
hot at these times though.
One question I’ve been asked quite a bit is how the 11”
form factor works.
While everyone’s tastes are different
I’ve found myself loving it.
It’s still large enough to
get work done without straining your eyes but it gives
you a highly portable design.
If you’re looking for a
computer to stand in as your main machine the 13” probably
would be a better choice but if you have another computer
or want something more portable the 11” is absolutely great.
After seeing generation after generation of MacBook
Airs come and go this was the one that finally got me to take
the plunge.
This model retails for $1199 and is really the
only base configuration I can recommend.
There is the option
to go down to 2GB of RAM and a 64GB SSD for $999 however
unless you plan on using the Air like a netbook you would be
better off to spend the extra money as upgrading it yourself
would be more expensive for the SSD and nearly impossible
with the RAM.
Using the Air for the last month has been an
interesting experience.
For me it has been the right blend of
performance, superb design and form factor that makes it an
excellent secondary machine.
If you are in the market for
a laptop and the price doesn’t put you off I highly recommend
at least trying out the MacBook Air.
It’s easily the best
laptop I’ve ever used.
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