Apple's 2010 MacBook Air (11 & 13 inch) Thoroughly Reviewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 26, 2010 10:08 PM EST- Posted in
- Mac
- Apple
- MacBook Air
- Laptops
Final Words
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 11-inch MacBook Air is effectively a $999 netbook from Apple. I call it a netbook because it can do all of the things you could do on a netbook, without any of the performance or quality headaches. You get a great display, a beautiful chassis and much better performance. The problem is that it’s $999.
Granted that’s not all that much more expensive than an iPad with all the trimmings, and much more useful to actually get work done on, but it’s still a lot of money. At $599 or even $699 the 11-inch MacBook Air would be a steal. It would probably do wonders for Apple’s marketshare as well. But at $999 it, like many of Apple’s products, is a luxury item.
For me, I’d have to own the 11-inch, plus a 15-inch MacBook Pro plus my desktop. That’s three machines, plus a smartphone and I’d be set. I’d carry the 11-inch on most business trips, the 15-inch for big shows that I’d have to cover and any heavier work I’d do at home on the desktop. I don’t mind the setup, it’s just a costly setup to have.
Unlike the 11, the 13-inch MacBook Air is far easier to recommend and can actually replace a machine in your arsenal. If you’ve got another machine (e.g. desktop), the 13-inch MacBook Air can easily replace a 13-inch MacBook Pro. You give up some performance but you do get a more portable machine, a higher screen resolution and an SSD for only $100 more than the base MacBook Pro configuration ($200 more if you add the extra 2GB of memory needed to equalize things).
You will get much better battery life on the 13-inch MacBook Pro, but otherwise the Air is actually quite compelling - particularly if you have to carry this thing with you all day. I suspect the decision will be a lot easier once Apple moves the Pro line to Sandy Bridge, but if you’re buying today the race is close.
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iwodo - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
Well i write a 100 word pieces but in the end i deleted it.Netbook is not an defined term anyway, so i wont bother arguging. Every one has different view on that is an notebook ultraportable and what is an netbook.
mcnabney - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
FTA"For me, I’d have to own the 11-inch, plus a 15-inch MacBook Pro plus my desktop."
Ah yes, the $5000 total computing solution.
iwodo - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
I am amazed that on one brought the question up. How could a MUCH faster MBP with faster CPU, and a FASTER SSD. ( Two important factor ) boot up slower then MBA?It even start application quicker then MBP when the SSD inside MBA is like 50 - 70% slower then Sandforce and Intel SSD.
When i read a pieces on techcrunch mentioning that MBA feels just as fast if not faster then MBP when browsing and doing most light weight working, i thought it was an biased review. When Macworld released a test result showing MBA is just as fast as MBP in day to day usage. I thought the the test was not thoughtful enough.
Now Anand has REAL numbers, and number of other reviewing showing the same results. It could not be false. A MUCH SLOWER SSD and a MUCH SLOWER CPU Wins!!!! How could this be possible?
Firmware Optimization? What exactly did they optimized? Why didn't this optimization show up in any of the IOMeter test or other Speed test? The Sandforce and Intel SSD Wins in EVERY SINGLE BENCHMARK test done.
I really hope Anand find this out.
tipoo - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
I was wondering this too. Any insights?B3an - Thursday, October 28, 2010 - link
Yeah can we get an answer on this??iwodo - Thursday, October 28, 2010 - link
No one is putting out the questions? It seems people are more interested in what is bargain priced, what is better value of hardware, and what is an netbook more then the technical aspect of an SSD.blufire - Thursday, October 28, 2010 - link
Keep in mind that the chipset is different. MBA is using the NVIDIA GeForce 320M while the 15" MBP is using the associated Intel chipset.iwodo - Saturday, October 30, 2010 - link
Then it would have effected the outcome of benchmarks. The point is, it didn't. And a MBA SSD still perform the bestpieterjan - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
Why is there an SD card reader? There are a lot of camera's that won't work with SD cards. Replace it with 2 extra USB ports! For those who actually need a card reader: how much does a 9000-in-1 USB reader cost? $15? Or better yet: make it an Apple accessorie at $ 50...crimson117 - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
<blockquote>For me, I’d have to own the 11-inch, plus a 15-inch MacBook Pro plus my desktop. That’s three machines, plus a smartphone and I’d be set. I’d carry the 11-inch on most business trips, the 15-inch for big shows that I’d have to cover and any heavier work I’d do at home on the desktop. I don’t mind the setup, it’s just a costly setup to have.</blockquote>How do you keep all your data in sync across those machines?