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But it does have something to offer, “if you’re someone who values portability over performance. With a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo in the 11.6in Air and a 1.86GHz chip in the 13.3in model, neither Air is a powerhouse. But neither was the original, 1.6GHz machine, and that was eminently suited nonetheless to word processing, basic photo editing, media playback and app development. I know, those are all tasks I put mine too. I even played Halo on it.”
“The Intel graphics was always the original Air’s failing performance-wise, and so the Nvidia graphics, as they did with subsequent revisions of the first model, will go a long way to balancing the relatively slow CPU speed and the use of the old chip,” Smith reports. “I should point out, though, that none of the other 11.6in notebooks on the market have a Core 2 Duo inside… The 11.6in Air had no trouble running 1080p video – not something you can say about even the newest of Atom-based netbooks with Intel graphics.”
Smith reports, “Yes, there will always be a comparably sized machine that’s cheaper and/or more featured than the 11.6in Air, but you’ll be hard pushed to find one as good looking and a sheer bloody portable.”
Full review here.