Apple 13 inch MacBook Air (Dual-Core i5,1.7GHz,4GB,256GB Flash,HD Graphics)
Product Overview
Apple MacBook Air DualCore Intel Core i5 17GHz with 3MB shared L3 cache OS X Lion 133 diagonal highresolution LEDbacklit glossy widescreen display with support for millions of colours Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared M 50 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Who needs a MacBook Pro now?, By
Nick D. "Historical novel fan" (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Apple 13 inch MacBook Air (Dual-Core i5,1.7GHz,4GB,256GB Flash,HD Graphics) (Personal Computers)
I reviewed the latest 13" MacBook Pro shortly after it came out in February of this year and pronounced it the best 13" notebook computer money could buy. Well, its reign at the top was short-lived and the time has come to hand over its crown to its younger brother, the latest 13" MacBook Air.Using Intel's advanced Core i5 and i7 Sandy Bridge processors the new Air is incredibly powerful. These chips give it more than enough horsepower to comfortably outclass anything other than the early 2011 MacBook Pros. With Solid State Drives, the perceived speed of the new Air is faster than the MacBook Pro. Boot times are lightning fast. The Air only lacks power when asked to perform resource hungry work like digital editing. For all routine tasks, the latest Air demolishes my previous 2010 13" MacBook Pro. It's fair to say that it is all the computer that 99.9% of users will ever need.
Despite all this power, it doesn't get too hot. All in all, it is very easy and comfortable to use. Hard core gamers may bemoan the lack of a discrete graphics processor, but the inbuilt Intel GPU is perfectly adequate and it is certainly no worse than the previous generation of MacBook Pro which was a respectable gaming platform. Call of Duty 4 and Civilization V can both be played without enduring intolerably slow polygonal rendering. Screen quality is excellent.
The 13" Air runs MS Office flawlessly. It's great for surfing the web, watching movies, managing pictures in iPhoto and video chatting. The way in which you can perch it on your lap while sitting on a sofa makes it ideal for writing, reviewing email and doing countless other stuff in a relaxed way. It really makes you wonder why all computers aren't built this way. Since the form factor hasn't changed since 2010, suffice it to say that the Air's ergonomics are peerless.
There are two downsides. One is that the hard disk is only 256 GB in size. I think the minimum acceptable size is now 500 GB and ideally 1 TB or 2 TB. If you own a lot of media, this machine may run out of memory quite quickly. I am very surprised that Apple hasn't made a 500 GB SSD available as BTO upgrade for the Air as it has for the 13" MacBook Pro. I guess this is due to cost.
The other problem is that battery life seems less than the late 2010 model, I got 7 rather than 8 or 9 hours. This is a disappointment, but isn't a deal-breaker. You expect a certain loss in battery life when you get a much more capable chip.
In short, this is a truly great personal computer. It marks the fact that we've now reached a point in time where processor power is no longer dependent on chip size. The latest processors are capable of being squeezed into the thinnest enclosures, allowing small and light machines to perform tasks that only a few short years ago would have required a slab of plastic and metal weighing almost 10 lb. This is progress.
The OSX 10.7 Lion operating system is a work of genius. Launch Control, which enables you to review and launch all Apps via a single click, is a very clever refinement. So too is Mission Control, which replaces Expose and allows you to wade through a mass of open windows and applications to find the one you need. Lion also comes with a new Apple email programme which works well. In Safari, I like the way you can now slide pages with your fingers just as if you were turning pages in a book. Nice touch. Hundreds of other interface tweaks make this a no-brainer upgrade.
I'd go as far as to say that the latest 13" Air is so good, it makes the 13" MacBook Pro redundant. It is definitely the benchmark for future systems to beat. When you get as much power in a machine this slim, the incremental power you get in a 13" MacBook Pro doesn't seem worth it toting around in a machine that weighs so much more.
If you need a new machine now, this is undoubtedly the one to buy.
72 of 80 people found the following review helpful
Best Macbook i've used to date, By
iGlaswegian "Z.S" (Scotland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Apple 13 inch MacBook Air (Dual-Core i5,1.7GHz,4GB,128GB Flash,HD Graphics) (Personal Computers)
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
BEST EVER LAPTOP!!!, By
Daniela - See all my reviews
This review is from: Apple 13 inch MacBook Air (Dual-Core i5,1.7GHz,4GB,256GB Flash,HD Graphics) (Personal Computers)
After using windows all my life I thought it was time to ditch windows 7 and give apple a try. I bought the MacBook Air 13 from a shop, when I saw how sleek and slim it was and how light it was I knew right then I had to have it. After using Dell Inspirion 15 it was a relief to have something so much lighter and tasteful as this laptop. I was also told that it was not necessary to have anti-virus software installed. at the moment I'm not using anti-virus software however, I will be installing one shortly as it is better to be safer that sorry especially when you spend a small fortune on this laptop. You also want to be protected by malware and fraud since this is more likely to happen than getting a virus.I was considering getting the MacBook Air 11 inch but when I viewed them in the shop and lifted them up to see how heavy it was, there was very little difference between the two. Also there was only a £100 differences between the 11 inch and 13 inch. So in the end I got the 13 inch MacBook Air as it is always better having more of a screen especially since there was no big difference in price.
Another positive is the battery life. Up to 7 hours is pretty amazing compared to the 1 hour I only got from my dell laptop. But an even bigger surprise was that the battery on the MacBook Air 13 not only lasts up to 7 hours but can last up 11 HOURS!!! Truly amazing! I don't know if this is normal for all MacBooks but this is the case for me.
The processing speed is great and much faster than another laptops I used to use with clear, colourful screen. The Lion operating system is certainly the best operating system I have ever experienced. It is easy and simple to use and understand unlike window (In my opinion).
The laptop itself does not make a sound! It is absolutely silent. No fan sounds or hard drive sounds at all. After using my Dell which makes a lot of noise it is a relief. The MacBook Air does not over heat like other laptops.
And let's not forget to mention the back lit keyboard! This was a main reason why I was considering getting the MacBook Air. It is very handy to have a back lit when typing especially if your environment is dim or just for ease of seeing the keyboard and the individual keys.
The power adapter is small, fairly light in comparison to other laptops and sleek to look at. The bit that you plug into the laptop has magnet on it so there is no struggling in trying to plug it or find where the socket is, especially when it is dim and less likely hood of it to break. Beware though if you have a pet that has a tendency to chew wires that you keep the power adapter in a safe place as the wire is thin and easy to chew into. I have cat that likes to chew anything and I have learnt by past experience to keep everything out of reach from her.
The microsoft office for apple is something you need to get additionally as it does not come already installed. The price was fare and it's actually really good, with it comes many templates. For example you can have a letter template with word and many different cool and professional templates for presentations.
with the light weight, small, slim and sleek design along with the long lasting battery with a certain 7 hours and with my laptop 11 hours makes this the perfect laptop for a student such as my self. I won't have to worry about how heavy it is and banging it about on public transport and can leave my power adapter at home.
I wish I had gotten a MacBook long ago instead of the Dell. I love my new laptop and I'm never exchanging it for anything else!
It is 100% worth buying! I would recommend to anybody.
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