Mac > All Reviews > Hardware > MacBook Air (2011) review

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 MacBook Air (2011) review

Apple's thin and light notebook updated for a new year

11-inch and 13-inch Apple MacBook Air (Late 2010)

Manufacturer: Apple
Manufacturer: Apple
Pros: Backlit keyboard; i5 processor; flash storage; Thunderbolt port; small and light; cheapest Mac laptop
Cons: Slightly heavier than previous model; flash storage limits capacity; Mac OS X Lion only (won’t run PowerPC apps); Intel graphics
Price:
- 1.4 GHz 11-inch MacBook Air with 2GB of memory and 64GB of flash storage starts at a suggested retail price of £849.00 inc VAT (£722.55 ex VAT) with a 128GB model for £999.00 inc VAT (£850.21 ex VAT).
- The 1.86 GHz 13-inch MacBook Air with 2GB of memory and 128GB of flash storage starts at a suggested retail price of £1,099.00 inc VAT (£935.32 ex VAT) with a 256GB model for £1,349.00 inc VAT (£1,148.09 ex VAT).
We rate this 5 out of 5.Star rating:

Macworld Buying Advice

The MacBook Air has never been a laptop for everyone. It began as a niche laptop for a tiny sliver of the population, but in the intervening three years there's been a sea change. Today, most people in the market for a Mac laptop should seriously consider the MacBook Air. Sure, there are some people for whom it's a poor fit, but I suspect they are increasingly the exception and not the rule. There's a reason Apple's marketing slogan for this version of the Air is "The ultimate everyday notebook."

At just a hair below three pounds, the 13 inch MacBook Air will probably hit the sweet spot for users accustomed to larger computer screens. But for my money, the 11 inch Air is the real winner here. At £849, it's now holding down the low price end of the Apple laptop market. It will almost certainly be the laptop of choice for students, and they'll love its light weight and small size.

Upgrade it to an i7 processor with 4GB of RAM and a 256GB hard drive, attach it to an external display and peripherals via its Thunderbolt port, and you've got a tiny system with an amazing amount of power. The 11 inch MacBook Air might not be the perfect computer, but it's as close to perfect as Apple's ever come.

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