Product Description

The MacBook Air is getting a little old right now but we thought we'd revisit this classic as it's still hard to beat for what it does. Like all MacBooks, the Air has a crisp and vivid LED backlit screen, offering top-quality pictures while not being a huge drain on battery life. At 13” (32.5cm) across the screen it is one of the larger ultraportable screens out there – and it does this while managing to be wafer-thin. Apple appear to have really gone all-out to make the MacBook Air as portable as possible while not scrimping on quality. Dell’s Adamo XPS is even thinner, but doesn’t match the quality on offer here. Unfortunately, the finish is glossy so beware those who like a lot of light around or like to work al fresco.

Hardware comes in two options; the entry level has a 1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive; the higher spec raises the game to 2.13GHz and a 128GB solid-state drive. The latter starts up somewhat quicker given the nature of the drive; even so, the drive is smaller than hard drives you get on netbooks a quarter of the price. The upshot is that Macs are generally faster due to the absence of Windows.

Connectivity comes from 802.11n WiFi, plus a USB Ethernet adaptor if you need to make a physical connection. That said, doing so uses up the only USB slot the Air has – other Apple gadgets connect wirelessly to MacBooks but digital cameras and competitor products don’t, leaving them to fight over which gets the connection first.

The Air comes with a full-size, well spaced keyboard which comes across as well built and responsive, with a backlight for those working in the dark. Battery life, though, isn’t great, lasting less than three hours under normal usage.

Overall, the MacBook Air is unmatched in terms of envy-provoking design as something to show off over a cup of coffee, however when it actually comes to value for money the Air, like many Macs, comes up rather poorly. It is one of the best ultraportables out there, but with the rivals coming in far cheaper you may feel a little cheated.

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