“Apple unveiled the new MacBook Air a few days ago and, while similar to the previous generation, it has two significant upgrades under the hood,” James Kendrick writes for ZDNet. “The new Intel Haswell processor with its much-improved graphics is significant enough, but paired with new SSD technology it is enough to get me to open my wallet and buy one.”
“I’ve been using the new MacBook Air heavily since it arrived and it’s the best laptop I’ve ever used,” Kendrick writes. “The fast memory in the Air (1600MHz) pitches in to keep the system performance hopping along. It works with the SSD storage with its upgraded speed to make a noticeable difference in everyday use. These fast components work together with the Intel Haswell processor with its fast graphics to provide overall performance on par with, and at times exceeding, the performance of the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. That is impressive, considering the Pro has a Core i5 (non-Haswell) processor running twice as fast as the Air (2.6GHz vs 1.3GHz).”
Advertisement: Apple’s new MacBook Air. All the power you want. All day long. Starts at $994.
Kendrick writes, “In the short time I’ve had the MacBook Air, it has become clear to me that Apple has created the new standard for laptops. The hardware is the most portable on the market, and the components work together to make the Air an outstanding performer for the price. Providing that performance with 9-hour battery life is a stunning achievement.”
Read more in the full review here.
Related articles:
PC Magazine reviews Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook Air: Astonishing, astounding; Editors’ Choice – June 14, 2013
Engadget reviews Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook Air: Stunning 12+ hour battery life – June 13, 2013
Hands-on with Apple’s new MacBook Air: True all-day battery life – June 13, 2013
Why the MacBook Air didn’t get a Retina display – June 12, 2013
Apple brings all day battery life to MacBook Air – June 10, 2013
As always… Apple leads! The rest will follow.
This might be kind of a tough act to follow, at least for a while. By the time they catch up, if they do, I expect that Apple will be out in front with further refinements and improvements.
Except the others are not capable of following… 🙂 Why…? Because they are all dependent on Microsoft and Windows.
Right. It’s the OS, stupid! Something Consumer Reports never even glances at. True, Apple’s hardware is far superior to the competition, always has been, but it’s the software that makes it a true no-brainer for me, regardless of overall price. In fact, Apple products, in terms of time, energy, and value, are way cheaper than the parasite that is Windows.
I thought it was a 12 hour battery life?
The half a day or all day however you look at it.
The 13-inch model has longer battery life than the 11-inch model.
iLove Apple, AAPL’s moving upward in July after earnings report.
If only Tim Cook and the board would realize that they needed to defend AAPL’s value this week. The engineers and programers did their job. However, Tim and the team high five d each other and believed their job was done.
The patient investors are still looking to have you all do you jobs. It is like running a touch down and not having the foot ball with you.
Apple always made the pudding and let the praise and fanfare speak for itself.
The proof is in the pudding.
What do you suggest they should have done
If the battery life specs are as good as stated and tested now, running Mountain Lion, wouldn’t the battery life improve significantly running Mavericks, considering the various new features added that were promoted as substantial energy savers?
No retina screen on the MacBook Airs, same design as three years ago, with marginal bumps internally. Why even bother reviewing it as a “new” product? It’s the same product they’ve been selling for years. Ho hum. We’re all in a downward spiral until Apple starts to realize that all of their hardware designs have grown stale. The iPhone, iPad, MacBooks, Mac Airs – none of these have been significantly refreshed for years and years now. If you bought an iPhone 4 three years ago and just bought an iPhone 5 today there’s very little difference. Same with all the others. Apple’s offerings have matured and maybe they need some young blood up top to refresh things. The Mac Pro looks like a step in the right direction until you realize that you’ll need a handful of drives sticking out all over it in order to actually use it. I want my computer in my computer, thanks. What’s really sad is that we all know that the iPhone 5S that’s coming out 4 months from now will be exactly the same as the 5 only with a marginally better camera and that one tweak took Apple an entire year to bring to market. These are dark times for me as an Apple fan. I want the Steve magic back. NOW.
I am not opening up my wallet for crappy Intel graphics, want AMD, but I want one anyway.