PC Magazine reviews Apple’s 11-inch MacBook Air: Razor-thin, ultralight, ultraportable, gorgeous

62 Comments

Apple Online Store“The MacBook Air (11-inch) ($1,199 direct), Apple’s latest entry into the ultraportable space, is no netbook, even though it’s the closest the company has come to making one. It’s strikingly thinner than the original MacBook Air, with a screen two sizes smaller,” Cisco Cheng reports for PC Magazine. “It will give the latest batch of Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) laptops a run for their money.”

“It’s hard to gauge how shockingly thin it is until you pick it up, cradle it, and put it against the thinnest thing you can find in the room,” Cheng reports. “It stands as the tall as the iPhone 4 at its thinnest part: The front bezel, which measures a mere 0.11 inches, is actually not that much thinner than the back of unit (0.68 inches). It’s thinner, without a doubt, than any current netbook in the market. The 11-inch MacBook Air’s razor-thin frame is triumphantly proportional to its weight, as its 2.3-pound frame is easily lighter than the Acer UL20FT-A1 (3.3 pounds), Acer 1830T-3721 (3 pounds), and Dell Inspiron M1010z (3.4 pounds).”

“It takes a page from the rest of the MacBook family, applying the same gorgeous aluminum to its Unibody chassis,” Cheng reports. “The aluminum is unyielding, almost ruggedized.”

“The reason why Apple chose to stay with a Core 2 Duo was so that it can benefit from a better graphics environment, specifically Nvidia’s integrated one. The Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics chip is the MacBook Air’s one redeeming feature in terms of performance. Though it’s not the kind of laptop you’d bring to a LAN party, it’s a better gaming solution than Intel’s integrated graphics,” Cheng reports. “A better graphics solution also benefits HD playback: I tried several 1080p and 720p high-definition video clips, at high bit rates, and the 11-inch MacBook Air played them beautifully.”

Full review here.

MacDailyNews Take: For those wondering, yes, some things in life are certain, Cheng did list “no SD Card slot” among her review’s “cons.”

Related articles:
Analyst expects 700,000 MacBook Air shipments this quarter – October 22, 2010
The Register hands-on with MacBook Air: Tough to beat for those who value portability & good looks – October 22, 2010
Apple reinvents notebooks with new instant-on MacBook Air models starting at $999 – October 20, 2010

62 Comments

  2. The 11″ model apparently runs for ‘only’ 5 hours, unlike the 13″ model, which can go 7 hours (or more).

    Just came back from the 5th Ave Apple store. The place is packed (as usual), and tables with MBAs are mobbed, three people deep. Everyone is fondling them; it is almost sexual.

    The iPhone activation line had some 40 people in it, but it was moving along swiftly. Checkout registers (some 8 of them open) had a line of about 15 people (also moving swiftly). The spiral glass staircase was full of people, and every other one of those going out of the store had a white bag with a grey image of an apple with a bite taken out…

    Reply

  3. The 11″ model apparently runs for ‘only’ 5 hours, unlike the 13″ model, which can go 7 hours (or more).

    Just came back from the 5th Ave Apple store. The place is packed (as usual), and tables with MBAs are mobbed, three people deep. Everyone is fondling them; it is almost sexual.

    The iPhone activation line had some 40 people in it, but it was moving along swiftly. Checkout registers (some 8 of them open) had a line of about 15 people (also moving swiftly). The spiral glass staircase was full of people, and every other one of those going out of the store had a white bag with a grey image of an apple with a bite taken out…

    Reply

  4. To continue the above (about 5th Ave store), these people are clearly NOT Apple fanbois or sheeple, or whatever windrones like to call them. There were ordinary people, many of them first-time Apple buyers. This definitely ain’t the Church of Jobs, nor are these people there for the sermon.

    Most windrones are unable to recognise and accept that. Majority are in fact still in the first stage (Denial), although some are already in the second (Anger). Unfortunately, they still two more to go (Bargaining, Depression) before they are ready for the final step – Acceptance.

    Reply

  5. To continue the above (about 5th Ave store), these people are clearly NOT Apple fanbois or sheeple, or whatever windrones like to call them. There were ordinary people, many of them first-time Apple buyers. This definitely ain’t the Church of Jobs, nor are these people there for the sermon.

    Most windrones are unable to recognise and accept that. Majority are in fact still in the first stage (Denial), although some are already in the second (Anger). Unfortunately, they still two more to go (Bargaining, Depression) before they are ready for the final step – Acceptance.

    Reply

  24. I have a hard time believing that a serious photographer is going to use a MacBook Air for field work or even in-studio production. Therefore the piss-N-moan about the missing SD card slot is pointless.

    Reply

  25. I have a hard time believing that a serious photographer is going to use a MacBook Air for field work or even in-studio production. Therefore the piss-N-moan about the missing SD card slot is pointless.

    Reply

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