Since the original Macbook Air, Apple has made some improvements to the ultraportable range. The most recent portfolio (since the second half of 2011) consists of 11-inch and 13-inch versions with Intel Core i5 and Intel Core i7 processors, SSDs have gotten bigger with 128GB and 256GB available. The body has undergone a slight facelift and is now sleeker, the side plugs look amazing and are machined from a solid aluminum body. The screens are beautiful and high quality with resolutions up to 1440×900 pixels. Apple finally made the backlit keyboard a standard issue previously only present on Macbook Pro models. Macbook Air as a whole feels incredibly solid, I don’t think any other ultrabooks tested feel this way, it’s also very light though not as much as some of the ultrabooks.
Apple’s touchpad is a masterpiece and has become my benchmark. The touchpad feels amazing, it’s very precise and all the new iOS-like gestures work great, to the point that after a couple of days of using it I can no longer use the standard 3rd party laptop touchpad. The touchpad is definitely the biggest I’ve ever reviewed and to be that I’m working really hard to find fault with it and aside from a single click, which I personally wouldn’t complain about and this is kind of an iconic Apple feature, this may seem a bit strange for Windows laptop users, but trust me, you’ll get used to it, and if you need a “right click”, just click with two fingers to achieve the same effect! Yes, it knows when you use multiple fingers.
The keyboard is just as good, the decision to have a backlit keyboard was a must, this was missing from the original Macbook Air and if anyone used a Macbook Pro or Alienware laptop before then they know what I’m talking about. The keys are well spaced and a good size and deep enough, the way you use the shortcuts might seem a bit difficult for everyday Windows users (remember the Mac Command key, which essentially does a lot of what ctrl-control would do) So again, aside from a keyboard concept and feature that’s different than what I’d be used to with a Windows laptop, I can’t really find fault with it.
Performance is generally a very strong side of Apple’s Macbook range and the Macbook Air is not a difference. The Core i7 version with a 256GB SSD and 4GB of RAM that I’m reviewing is just fantastic, and coupled with Apple’s latest OSX Lion, everything is pretty much a snap. You can easily run multiple applications without a single throttle. By multiple applications I mean: Photoshop CS6, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, TextWrangler. Skype, iTunes, Mail, Facetime, RDP connection to my windows servers at work and I can launch Xcode, Pages and watch a movie and it still works!
In the last few days of trying to test its limits, I’ve heard fan noise (if you can call it noise) once or twice when I was streaming an HD movie and at that point I decided to turn all the apps on top and switch between them. they. 99% of the time, the Macbook Air is quiet, which is definitely a plus for an ultraportable laptop, and the Macbook Air stays pretty cool most of the time so you don’t burn your lap.
I’m told the 128GB Core i5 SSD model is just as impressive and most of us probably won’t notice the higher performance of the Core i7 model, but if you’re a professional who needs the ultraportable experience and maximum power, the Core i7 is definitely for you. beware of the high price!
Also, at this point, if any of you are concerned that the Macbook Air isn’t good enough for your job, whether you’re a web designer, SEO manager, graphic designer, web developer, app developer, or any other creative profession, do not do it. , Macbook Air is good enough to replace your Macbook Pro in most scenarios and probably better than most Windows laptops you might be using right now.
Battery life is pretty impressive. I’ve managed to squeeze in almost 6-7 hours of average work, which means I’ll be writing this review, prepping some images in Photoshop, browsing and checking bits in other browsers, answering emails and writing code in TextWrangler, and very occasionally FaceTime . or Skype.
Can I mention at this point the brilliant idea that the charger plug or socket is magnetic so you will never damage the plug and if you accidentally pull your Macbook with the charger still attached this will just come loose!
The screen is of very good quality and this is another area where Apple excels the 1440×900 resolution is not the biggest and we did see higher resolution on ultrabooks although none of them had this screen quality which definitely beats any ultrabook. Factory calibrations and contrast greater than 600:1 deliver perfect color depth, beautiful images, and really good, exceptional film quality.
The audio is very average and the speakers are definitely a bit of a disappointment, but if you think about the size of them then you really can’t complain. The only attempt to improve audio on this size of laptop was made by Asus Zenbook UX31e ultrabook by putting in bits from Bang & Olufsen and it worked, but I don’t think it was worth it. If you want to improve the sound quality of your Macbook Air, just get decent external speakers or a good pair of headphones and plug them into the audio output, but don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly usable and no worse than others.
Connectivity, as with any ultrabook, is limited, but I’ve mentioned this in my previous reviews, it shouldn’t bother you unless you insist on using a lot of your legacy gear. The way I see it, the whole thing with connectivity is that times are changing, technology is getting better and the concept of connectivity has also changed, we’re moving to the cloud and most of our devices are networked, that’s why we need a physical connection. between our laptops, ultrabooks, tablets and other auxiliary devices.
The dual band 802.11n wifi is good enough for anything you want to do in terms of networking and if you really insist on having an ethernet socket then buy a USB ethernet adapter. Macbook also features bluetooth 3.0, 2 USB 2.0 ports, and the powerful Thunderbolt port, which is 3 times faster than the latest USB 3.0! On Macbook you will also find SD card reader, headphone/microphone jack, built-in microphone and camera.
High spec models are expensive and there is no other word to describe them. Though if you’re a student you’ll get a nice discount of up to 15% and a free 3-year warranty upgrade, so I guess it makes sense to go for models with slightly better specs. I mention discounts before I mention prices because, in my opinion, buying an Apple Macbook, while a very expensive experience, is a much better investment than any other laptop. To explain, if you buy a standard HP laptop with a slightly better standard spec than today’s average, expect to pay between £500 and £800. Two years later, when you’re ready for an upgrade, this laptop will be worth £200-300. on eBay or £150 cash when you buy a new one from HP… This is a lot of value wiped off the device. Apple Macbooks are different, they tend to hold value better, and given the initial expense two years later, most Macbooks retain more than 50% of their value, so you’ll get most of the money back when you’re ready to go. an update.
Price starts from £1099 for Macbook Air 13 with 128GB SSD and Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM, upgraded version with 256GB but same Core i5 will be £1349. Top spec of Intel Core i7 256GB 4GB of RAM I am using to write this review is £1449.
So just to sum up the prices, Apple Macbook Air is expensive, especially when you look at the higher spec model, but it will hold the value better and get more money than you would from a standard laptop when you’re ready for a new one and Plus. from that, you will usually get a better quality product.
There are many similarities between the Macbook Air and the Ultrabook range promoted by different manufacturers, although technically the Macbook Air is not an ultrabook and we are technically comparing two different products, a MacOSX laptop and Windows 7.
Macbook Air is much more mature and refined than some of the newer Ultrabook entries, but don’t forget that Apple pioneered this kind of portability and Macbook Air has enjoyed a few years of evolution and tweaking, which makes it very, very good and I must say, better than any ultrabook so far. The only ultrabook that comes close at the moment will be the new Dell XPS 13 or the Asus Zenbook UX31e, but the rest of the competition still has a long way to go.
Apple Macbook Air 13 is an amazing product and to answer the question in the title, is it a definitive ultraportable alternative to an Ultrabook? The answer is yes for now.
