Apple MacBook Air Серия

Unlike the first time around, the SSD Air is the one we’d recommend. Yes, it’s considerably more than its HDD counterpart, but its impact on performance is what makes the second-generation MacBook Air such a pleasure to use. If budget is such a consideration as to make the SSD upgrade impossible, we’d steer you instead to the MacBook, which can now compete (if not best) the Air in style. The Air remains Apple’s niche road-warrior option; now those owners can spend more time battling the competition than their notebook. If you fit the profile, you won’t be disappointed.

Ноутбук чрезвычайно красивый, удивительно компактный и обладающий крайне высокой для столь компактного устройства производительностью в графических приложениях. И, по меркам продукции Apple, весьма недорогой: единственное, что можно купить за те же деньги – это пластиковый MacBook 13, который можно с уверенностью назвать самым неудачным устройством за всю историю этой линейки.

Но вот с автономностью, несмотря на все ухищрения программистов по оптимизации энергопотребления, дела у MacBook Air 11 обстоят не очень хорошо. Было бы здорово, если бы в Apple сделали «утолщенную версию», оборудованную более емким аккумулятором, что-то вроде MacBook Pro 11. Но особых надежд на это нет – в Купертино не любят чрезмерно раздувать модельный ряд. Так что, по всей видимости, придется довольствоваться тем, что есть.

Одиннадцатидюймовая версия ноутбука Apple MacBook Air, побывавшая в нашей лаборатории, оставила сложное впечатление. Обновленная и уменьшенная версия популярного лэптопа, увы, не идеальна, однако, поклонники Apple скорее всего найдут в ней больше преимуществ, чем недостатков.

Ситуация с линейкой MacBook Air мне очень сильно напоминает ситуацию с iPhone. Первая модель была не слишком функциональной, но инновационный дизайн, интерфейс, способ управления сделали свое дело, и аппарат стал культовым. Сейчас iPhone (уже 4-я модель) – один из лучших смартфонов на рынке с максимумом доступных приложений, лучшим «железом», экраном и так далее. С предшественником его роднит все тот же, отлично зарекомендовавший себя, интерфейс и отличный дизайн, материалы корпуса. Но по ощущениям, опыту использования – перед нами совершенно другая модель.

The first Macbook Air, released in 2008, was a computer that could be sold on style as well as processing power. The new model continues that theme: it's a well-designed laptop, thin, lightweight and beautifully engineered. Samsung's Q330 is a Windows laptop with similar processing power, and though it may be less stylish, it's nearly half the price. If you don't need the Mac looks, a cheaper model is better value.

The 11-inch MacBook Air ultraportable laptop is an elegant style statement. It has speedy flash storage, improved graphics and offers 5 hours of battery life. A well-balanced 11-inch premium slim laptop that sells for an attractive price.

On the other hand if you need a Mac for heavy work, the amount you’ll pay for decent upgrades will also get you a much more capable MacBook Pro. The new 11-inch Air is undeniably gorgeous and will win many people over purely for its looks, but is sadly just a bit too underpowered to be recommended wholeheartedly.

With the late 2010 release, the MacBook Air leaves behind its novelty image and becomes a genuine rival to the entry-level MacBook and MacBook Pro. It has a power that belies its on-paper clock speed, a gorgeous screen and with its new battery and energy-saving technology, instant-on convenience. We miss the backlit keyboard, though, and hope it returns in the next generation of MacBook Airs. It's still pretty expensive too, with the range starting at £849 and this particular model costing £999. It might not be a notebook for everybody, but if you want something that's powerful, convenient and portable, it just might be the notebook for you.

As much as the MacBook Air is a beautiful machine, you really do have to think carefully before buying one. There are myriad alternative laptops that are no less portable, and that almost universally offer better specs than the 11in Air. If, therefore, you’re the kind of person that cares purely about what you physically get for your money, this isn’t the system for you. However, if you think value is in more than just the price, have the money to burn, and want an ultra-portable laptop that, as well as being capable of performing all he every day tasks you throw at it, makes you feel satisfied just to have used it, then you should definitely consider an 11in MacBook Air.

The 11in MacBook Air is an impressively slender, lightweight laptop with a large, comfortable keyboard, a bright screen and long battery life. If you can afford it, it’s a good choice if you want an ultra-portable laptop that’s more capable than a netbook. However, the 13in MacBook Air remains our favourite ultra-portable laptop. Although it’s more expensive and is a bit bigger and heavier, it has the benefit of a higher resolution screen, a bigger SSD, faster applications performance and dramatically longer battery life.

Apple MacBook Air 11.6in Ultra-slim, ultra-gorgeous sub-notebook with a class-leading performance - and a big price tag.

All in all, I think Apple really did a great job with their Air. Yes, it does have its flaws, but overall it’s a device you cannot not love. And that’s not just me saying that, but everyone who saw me with it last week, especially the girls in my office. I do think I would like one of these for Christmas, however in my Country the 128 GB version doesn’t go for $1299 like in the States (or even less on Amazon, where it it slightly discounted) , but more like 1500 euro, which is just too much. But I’m still considering it.

An incredible piece of engineering that squeezes just enough power and battery life from the skinniest chassis imaginable

While we tip our hats to that particular class of notebook for sliding prices for compact notebooks south, along with consumer expectations, the MacBook Air makes few of the same concessions in a form factor that no company outside Apple can really contest.

The 11-inch MacBook Air may be portable perfection, but by default it’s not the perfect notebook. It’s slow, the battery doesn’t last all that long under actual use and the screen resolution, although appreciably high, makes things a little difficult to read.

This new MacBook Air review was not easy for us. Don’t get us wrong, Apple’s waif-like laptop is unquestionably gorgeous. It’s thinner than anything else in our manbag, and Apple’s new battery technology gives it a lifetime between charges to shame anything that’s been there before. This really shouldn’t be the only computer you own, but it’s the only one worth considering for life on the road.

A gorgeous and desirable device, but it's the sort of laptop you'd buy for yourself if you won the lottery. Brilliant, but expensive.

While there is something about the Apple/Microsoft dichotomy that seems to bring out the worst in tech aficionados, it's hard to deny that the new MacBook Airs, especially the smaller, 11.6-inch model, have style. Holding one makes it easy to believe Apple's rhetoric about the future of computing: all solid state, no optical drives, no power cycling, standby times and more. Despite the fact that it's pretty, and useful, and even pretty useful, it's still an Apple laptop. That means that buying into the MacBook Air means paying a little Apple tax - especially noticeable when compared to alternatives such as the Alienware M11x or Acer TimelineX 1830T. Still, Apple did well what Apple usually does well: they made a gorgeous computer. In today's increasingly cloud-centric world, that might just be enough

The 11-inch dynamo, the smallest and lightest laptop in Apple history, the one with the £849 price tag, is quite possibly the most desirable laptop Apple has ever made. The release of the iPad made me wonder if I’d consider a Mac laptop as my constant travelling companion ever again; the release of the 11-inch MacBook Air proves that there’s still plenty of life left in the Mac after all.

One of the things Apple made big deal of at the launch of the new MacBook Airs was their use of flash memory, which provides weight, size, and performance benefits over hard drives. While a fair degree of this was rhetoric, what was clear from our quick play is that despite a relatively slow CPU, the 11.6in Air felt really snappy. While it certainly won't be replacing your desktop for gaming and video editing tasks, it felt more than adequate for day to day activities.

I really like the form factor of the 11-inch MacBook Air. It's great to carry around. It's like an iPad for people who have to get real work done. I just wish it was faster. If Intel made a 32nm Core 2 Duo, clocked high enough the 11 would be perfect. I guess that’s what Atom is eventually supposed to be, but right now the performance is just too low. Intel appears to have been too conservative with Atom. Perhaps Bobcat and ARM’s Cortex A15 will light a fire under Intel's Atom team.

The new 11.6-inch version of the MacBook Air kills both birds with one stone, as the smallest current Apple laptop (there were 12-inch PowerBook models as recently as five years ago), and also lowering the entry price to $999, coincidentally, the same as the white basic 13-inch MacBook. Apple makes the MacBook Air both smaller and less expensive, creating an excellent ultraportable, but leaving out a few features along the way.

Make no mistake about it, the new MacBook Airs are very good laptops. What they lack in speed and power, they make up for in build quality and big time battery life. Add to that gorgeous displays, solid state storage, and the unquestionably stable OS X, and the concoction makes for a nearly irresistible offering... provided you've got the cash.

Gorgeous design, reasonable power and long battery life - Apple's got it right third time around.

On the surface the MacBook Air looks like an expensive option compared to Apple's MacBook Pro that you get off the shelf. In fact, at a quick glance the difference is over £500, but to be fair, the off the shelf MacBook Pro doesn't come with the flash storage; an optional upgrade that adds £640 to the price tag. Factor that in and the MacBook Pro's pricing starts to become more realistic considering the lack of optical drive and ports like the Ethernet and FireWire. So what you are actually getting is a fair deal, an expensive one agreed, but it's that move to SSD that is the expensive element here, not necessarily Apple just ripping you off. When we reviewed the first MacBook Air in February 2008 we slammed it. Why? Because it was overly expensive and it was too ahead of its time when it came to losing the Ethernet socket; all of that, combined with an average battery life, meant we felt it was a model that was never destined to leave the house.

A strong upgrade for Apple's ultra-portable laptop, but it's still expensive. There's no denying the sheer elegance of the MacBook Air.You're paying a premium for the super-slimline design, but this latest version of the MacBook Air provides much improved performance and battery life that will ensure that it earns its keep when you're travelling.

There's no denying the sheer elegance of the MacBook Air. Its sleek, metallic design leaves most of its rivals in the ultra-portable laptop category looking like misshapen lumps of plastic.

You're paying a premium for the super-slimline design, but this latest version of the MacBook Air provides much improved performance and battery life that will ensure that it earns its keep when you're travelling.

The previous MacBook Air was most comfortable browsing and playing video, but Apple is positioning the 2010 model as more of an all-round machine. Still, the updated CPU and GPU do at least stand a better chance for more mobile graphics crunching. We ran Geekbench on our test unit, an entry-level 11.6-inch Air with the 1.4GHz processor and 2GB of memory, and it scored 2261. That’s actually a couple hundred points less than the previous-gen 1.86GHz Air we reviewed in 2008, though it’s worth noting that model was selling for a huge $2,499 compared to the $999 of today’s version. More importantly, perhaps, is how the CPU and GPU work together, and we have a real-world example to illustrate it. We took a quick day trip in and out of San Francisco this week to meet with HP; knowing that the story was going to be under embargo, we wouldn’t really need a laptop since we woudn’t be processing videos and images until we got back. As such, no need for the usual MacBook Pro, right? The obvious device of choice to take on the road is the iPad.

A peerless ultraportable, but no desktop replacement.

Leave it to Apple to make you feel fat. The 11.6-inch Apple MacBook Air is as beautiful as it is thin. Downsized from the 13.3-inch Air models we've seen in its previous iterations, the 2010 MacBook Air has a deceptive appearance. The 2010 MacBook Air is a gold-standard laptop for demanding users seeking a powerful travel companion or others who want the media punch of iLife.

The SD slot, extra USB, and a staggering increase in battery life make the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch a strong contender in the ultraportable space.

MacBooks are subject to a lot of debate. There are those who think they're amazing with pricing in line with a finish of real quality. The MacBook Air 13.3 inch has a better size/power ratio than the 11.5 inch version. It also gives higher battery life. Of the two Macbook Airs out in 2010, we see this 13.3 inch version as the better choice.

The first MacBook Air will go down in history as one of the most divisive pieces of tech ever created. Either a triumph of design and simplicity or an overpriced, feature-bereft lump depending on your point of view, it split the tech world straight down the middle.The 13-inch Apple MacBook Air is expensive and in many ways restrictive, but a stunning design, great battery life and brilliant ease of use mean this laptop is more than style over substance.

While the 11-inch model will be most attractive if you're looking for the smallest and lightest Mac laptop, those who want to upgrade its drive, processor, and RAM will want to consider its small size versus the slightly larger 13-inch model, which comes equipped with a better set of specs.

I really like the form factor of the 11-inch MacBook Air. It's great to carry around. It's like an iPad for people who have to get real work done. I just wish it was faster. If Intel made a 32nm Core 2 Duo, clocked high enough the 11 would be perfect. I guess that’s what Atom is eventually supposed to be, but right now the performance is just too low. Intel appears to have been too conservative with Atom. Perhaps Bobcat and ARM’s Cortex A15 will light a fire under Intel's Atom team.

Leave it to Apple to make you feel fat. The 13.3-inch Apple MacBook Air is as beautiful as it is thin. This light laptop is so slender, in fact, that you may feel like you're carrying a folder rather than a notebook. And even though the MacBook Air may be sliver-thin, it isn't flimsy or underpowered. The 13-inch MacBook Air's powerful performance, sleek beauty, and decent screen size make it a powerful travel companion for on-the-go users.