[spinoza2]

The only thing keeping me from going out and getting the new 13" MBA is that I own the 2010 13" model. I consider the one I own close to perfection already, so I can only imagine how much "closer" to perfection the new one is. The backlit keyboard doesn't interest me much, and the performance of my machine is plenty high enough (it runs Photoshop like a charm), so all I can wish for is that the new one will bring the MBA more into the mainstream for others. They're fantastic machines, easily the best of countless laptops I've owned since the 1980s (yes, that's not a typo). The only computers that come close to it in terms of perfection were my NeXTStation computer in the 90s, and my new 27" iMac.

[leehljp]

"And with the addition of Intel Core i5 and i7 processors (the latter for the build-to-order models)"

The perception that this article and other articles puts forth is that the i7 is ONLY build to order. I know of two Apple stores in Dallas that had the i7 model and I bought one at NP Mall. So, while the i7 IS a build to order, that is not the ONLY way to buy them from Apple, more specifically Apple Stores.

[marklouieadame]

venividivici, on 01 August 2011 - 01:59 PM, said:

Boring....

Too overpriced if you consider the competition, including the iPad, iPhone and iPod.

Too little (not enough) if you consider the competition, including the Mac Book Pros.

If everything is in the iCloud or Cloud services, a device like this should not be consider since is not as powerful for photo or editing like the Mac Book Pros, and almost competes with the iPad. 256 GB? How many Pages, Word, Excel Docs do you have that would fill 256GB?

I see existence of an iPad or Mac Book Pro, I see the existence of an iMac. I see the existence of an intermediate product between iPad and Mac Pro more than the Mac Book Air.

make sure you research before you say that it's overpriced here's the statement from ASUS

So we still have the UX21 for this year – hooray! The sad part? Asus announced yesterday that it won’t be able to release UX notebooks with a price less than 1 grand unlike the previous statement of Intel last quarter. The reason? The price on producing such components would mean the company will hinder UX’s specifications to Core i3 only. This means those UX21 notebooks that will be infused by Core i5 Sandy Bridge CPU are expected to hit more than 1,000 USD. Likewise, this puts the $999 Macbook Air 11-inch with Core i5 CPU as users’ cheapest choice if they want a notebook with the same superthin form factor, and a fruit-shaped emblem on its back.

They can't even compete with Apple in prizing they can only produce i3 to lower it to 1K think about it

[bonesb]

venividivici, on 01 August 2011 - 01:59 PM, said:

Boring....

Too overpriced if you consider the competition, including the iPad, iPhone and iPod.

Boring? Balderdash! I'm agreeing with the Ars Technica review, which was far more in-depth than MW's review; the Ars review put the Airs head-to-head with its Windows-running brethren for performance and price-point and the Airs came out as cost-effective as the higher-priced Windows machines. As for competition within the Mac environment, those 3 devices don't run a workstation OS - but the Air is price-competitive to the iPad running 64GB of memory, and I'd take an Air over an iPad any day. Yeah, you're entitled to your opinion, but, whatever...

[kawika]

Great review, Jason! One small note (if it hasn't already been mentioned): The Core i7 processors aren't only in the build-to-order MacBook Air models: They're available SKUs at Apple Stores. I bought a tricked out 11-inch Air (250GB storage, 4GB RAM, 1.8 GHz Core i7) from available stock. Love it. Best notebook I've every had, and I've owned about 15.

[KPOM]

bonesb, on 01 August 2011 - 05:37 PM, said:

venividivici, on 01 August 2011 - 01:59 PM, said:

Boring....

Too overpriced if you consider the competition, including the iPad, iPhone and iPod.

Boring? Balderdash! I'm agreeing with the Ars Technica review, which was far more in-depth than MW's review; the Ars review put the Airs head-to-head with its Windows-running brethren for performance and price-point and the Airs came out as cost-effective as the higher-priced Windows machines. As for competition within the Mac environment, those 3 devices don't run a workstation OS - but the Air is price-competitive to the iPad running 64GB of memory, and I'd take an Air over an iPad any day. Yeah, you're entitled to your opinion, but, whatever...

Ars Technica's review was good, but I think the best, most thorough review was AnandTech's. About the time this review was posted, Anand posted an update to his already-impressive review with additional details about the 11" i7 model. Like Macworld, Anand found that the i7 11" model had similar battery life and noticeably better performance than the i5 model. It's closer on the 13", since the 1.7GHz i5 turbo boosts higher than the 1.6GHz i5.

All in all, though, I fully agree with giving the 11" model 5 mice. I have owned all the MacBook Air models apart from the mid-2009 Rev C (which wasn't much of an update from the late-2008 Rev B ), including briefly the 13" Rev D before settling on the 11" model. That 11" Rev D was very good, but with a lateral move in terms of graphics, a doubling of CPU power, the return of the backlit keyboard, and the available 256GB SSD, the 11" Rev E is as close to perfect as any manufacturer (much less Apple) has come. The only other computer I'd consider (OS aside) is the Sony Vaio Z, which somehow manages to cram a full voltage processor and uses its version of Thunderbolt to make an external GPU available in a package lighter than the 13" MacBook Air.

That's not to say that Apple can't make any improvements or that the 2012 Ivy Bridge model won't be a nice step forward. It would be nice if Apple developed a Thunderbolt Display with a built-in AMD or NVIDIA GPU. That would be a great use of the port, and it would be a more elegant solution for hard core gamers than the Vaio Z's separate module. Hopefully Apple has something like that on the horizon. Ivy Bridge next year will bring USB 3.0 support to complement Thunderbolt, and it will bring better graphics with GPU-enabled OpenCL support (Sandy Bridge sends OpenCL code to the CPU). Those points notwithstanding, this generation is the first MacBook Air that doesn't feel like an ultraportable. It feels like a fast, mainstream notebook that just happens to be ultra portable.

This post has been edited by KPOM: 01 August 2011 - 06:07 PM

[robco]

The Air is a very nice machine that will work well for most users. The update brings much needed power to a great design. Alas, for my needs it doesn't quite fit the bill. I need a dedicated GPU - at least when using it at home. I wish Apple had made a similar solution (they might in the future) that Sony has come up with for their new Z-series. Those are insanely expensive, but you do get a media docking station that has an optical drive as well as dedicated graphics. Unfortunately while the Intel graphics are less crappy than before, they still don't quite measure up to the older NVIDIA chipset. Hopefully AMD will make some further headway with their Llano line and Apple will consider those in future versions.

[leicaman]

When Ivy Bridge comes out next year, with USB 3, I'm probably there. Unless they overhaul the 15" MacBook Pro and force me to justify the extra expense for more horsepower.

Tough choice.

[rottenberries]

too bad mine has a defective keyboard. otherwise i'd be chuffed ....

[Jason Snell]

kawika, on 01 August 2011 - 05:41 PM, said:

Great review, Jason! One small note (if it hasn't already been mentioned): The Core i7 processors aren't only in the build-to-order MacBook Air models: They're available SKUs at Apple Stores.

My understanding is that they're not reliably available at all Apple Stores, and since Apple does not treat them as stock configurations, we refer to them as BTO models. But yes, if you are lucky you can ask about them at your local Apple Store and may find that they are in stock. Which is super smart of Apple.

[Jason Snell]

bonesb, on 01 August 2011 - 05:37 PM, said:

I'm agreeing with the Ars Technica review, which was far more in-depth than MW's review; the Ars review put the Airs head-to-head with its Windows-running brethren for performance

It takes all kinds. In my opinion that kind of testing isn't necessary for a Macworld review, which is why we prioritized testing all the BTO configurations of the Air instead of testing Windows PCs.

I don't see an Ars review, though. Do you mean Anandtech? Great site, but trying to do something quite different -- the same reason why my review of Lion wasn't as long as John Siracusa's at Ars. Different audiences with different needs and different editorial focuses.

[TheHammer610]

I am concerned about the 2GB RAM in the entry level model. The reviewer really did not address that. In my iMac, I am bumping up against the 4GB I have all the time.

[droe1]

venividivici, on 01 August 2011 - 01:59 PM, said:

Boring....

Too overpriced if you consider the competition, including the iPad, iPhone and iPod.

Too little (not enough) if you consider the competition, including the Mac Book Pros.

If everything is in the iCloud or Cloud services, a device like this should not be consider since is not as powerful for photo or editing like the Mac Book Pros, and almost competes with the iPad. 256 GB? How many Pages, Word, Excel Docs do you have that would fill 256GB?

I see existence of an iPad or Mac Book Pro, I see the existence of an iMac. I see the existence of an intermediate product between iPad and Mac Pro more than the Mac Book Air.

To overpriced ! You got to be kidding me. For what it does its underpriced!
I had last years 13" Air (I am a Photographer by trade) and I used Aperture with Nik Plugins and also Pixelmator, GraphicConverter and very little Photoshop) and it ran like a charm and this is with a Nikon D3X thats a lot of pixels to move around even though I do not shoot Raw as much (to much work if you get the shoot right use JPEG. Plus I still shoot a lot of film and get super high quality scans ( I am talking 18- 24 meg files), the Air was plenty fast enough. Plus I sold last hers model on E-Bay with only a 400 dollar loss. The new air is even faster, more than capable for high end photos. I known a lot of photographers that use the air even the 11" and are extremely happy. Apparently you have never used one to pass judgment, no its not as fast as my Macpro (it did get me to buy to OWC flash drives), but its a lot lighter and is more than capable of getting the job done.

This post has been edited by droe1: 01 August 2011 - 08:39 PM

[britographer]

Thunderbolt sounds great! But when will the devices be ready and available? Vapor-hardware like the much ballyhooed USB 3.0 that has also failed to materialize. And no Firewire 800 ports... OK, somebody make a Thunderbolt hub that has USB 3.0 and Firewire 800 ports so that the extra speed is at least usable.