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
The Screen: Very Good
Many netbooks and notebooks have shipped with 11.6 inch screens. They deliver a good balance between screen size and portability. But the 11.6-inch displays we’ve encountered in the past have been crap. It’s not rocket science, but rather a matter of cost. The majority of users will pick a cheap, bright, glossy display over something with better viewing angles, higher resolution or more accurate colors. And when you’re competing mostly based on price, it’s tough to make a decision that won’t increase sales (I’d argue that it makes the most important part of your customers happier but then again, I don’t run Acer/ASUS/Dell/Gateway).
Apple opts out of low margin competition. The cheapest MacBook Air starts at $999. You pay a premium, and part of that premium goes towards the best 11.6-inch display we’ve ever tested.
Most 11-inch screens don’t get very bright and have sub-par contrast ratios. The 11-inch MacBook Air has neither of these characteristics. It’s 127% brighter than the Alienware M11x R2 and has twice the contrast ratio of anything in its class. It’s not the most amazing display we’ve ever seen, but it’s way better than the majority of what’s out there. In actual use it does look good. The contrast ratio in particular sells the display.
The 13-inch panel is pretty close in performance. The max brightness is a bit higher and black level a bit lower. The resulting increase in contrast ratio is appreciable. For the most part you don’t make any quality tradeoffs when going with one MBA over another. It just boils down to screen size and resolution.
Both the 11 and 13-inch MBAs use TN panels, but they are better than your standard TN panel. Viewed above center the display washes out, viewed below center the display gets very dark.
The dark underside of TN panels
Color reproduction is above average, but not quite as good as the 15-inch MacBook Pro we reviewed earlier in the year.
Color gamut isn’t very impressive at all. It’s in line with what you’d expect from a panels of these sizes though.
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deslock - Thursday, October 28, 2010 - link
Thanks Anand & Vivek for the detailed and interesting review. I hope you post a followup with more info on how Apple was able to get this level of performance out of the hardware (vs other similar SSD-equipped machines). Also I'd like to see a long term test of performance (because of the lack of TRIM), or perhaps additional testing showing just how effective the new MBAs are with GC.Oscarcharliezulu - Thursday, October 28, 2010 - link
Thanks for a great, detailed review that doesn't gloss over any point. I've read as many reviews as I can find and many gloss over or just take things as a given - not much more useful than the Apple web site. Your review was detailed in all the right areas. I know where I will be disappointed and where I will be happy. No surprises thanks to your review.I think for a business user (web + mail + Word processing + presentations + lightweight spreadsheet) the Air's may be pretty good - finally great battery life (with wifi active) so I can go out to a customer and work off battery all day without carrying an extra battery or carrying the AC adapter.
Pity about the price - once you tick the options the price becomes ridiculous when you compare to mainstream laptops. I will have to stick to a base model + 4GB ram, and wait to upgrade the SSD later (someone is sure to come up with an upgrade).
And graphics - for ultraportables its good, but the higher end pro's etc really need a lot more grunt - we should be able to play games at High at native resolution.
pmeinl - Friday, October 29, 2010 - link
Just stumbled across an SSD 256GB upgrade kit for the 11.6":http://www.photofast.tw/products/GM2_SFV1_Air.html
It includes an USB adapter for using the orginal SSD as portable storage.
mutatio - Friday, October 29, 2010 - link
Anyone else hear this thing screaming for Fusion in it? If AMD can finally get their power specs in line to be competitive with intel the 11" would be one smoking little monster if Apple bites at it. :-)63jax - Friday, October 29, 2010 - link
don't hurry to change your mac's, just wait for AMD to release their Fuzion chips and then we will have the perfect Mac's. i know i will...Norrah - Saturday, October 30, 2010 - link
I would really like to see how an older Macbook Air (rev c) with an aftermarket SSD would hold up against the new.. performance wise!I need the last kick, if i am to go for the new.
jorjitop - Saturday, October 30, 2010 - link
I think that there is another factor you missed which makes a difference to the relative performances. That is, the 11 inch has a 800 Mhz front bus, while the 13 inch has a 1066 Mhz front bus. In my experience, this makes a noticeable difference to performance.Brooklynzoned - Saturday, October 30, 2010 - link
Both models are 2010, Both machines are running Window's 7. Both Machines Score a 5.3 out of 7Apple Macbook Pro with a 2.4 8G Ram with a Seagate XT Hybrid....Scored 5.3
Apple Macbook Air with a 2.13 4G Ram with the 256 SSD Flash......Scored 5.3
Dell Adamo Onyx With a 1.4 4G Ram with a 128SSD .....................Scored 3.2
Funny thing is the Macbook Pro has a video card with 256 dedicated memory
the macbook air has shared video memory.... and scored higher in the 3D
Brooklynzoned - Saturday, October 30, 2010 - link
Battery Life Amazing,Speed,, Oh Yeah this baby moves.... N quick.. Faster then my Macbook Pro
its crazy how fast it starts up... not from sleep but from a full shutdown and startup. Fast...
The Macbook Air is The future of what a Notebook Should be.
ioannis - Sunday, October 31, 2010 - link
Anand,on page "The 13", the captions at the top seem to suggest that you are comparing the 13" MBA with 15" MBP, while the text suggests otherwise (13" MBA vs 13" MBP, which makes more sense).
thanks