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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Z25MN6 - Monday, November 1, 2010 - link
Great review. But I have yet to see a review of the new MBA's that *thoroughly* describes the SDHC port. Specifically, can it, in practice, be routinely used as an auxiliary hard drive? Does the SDHC card fit all the way into the body of the computer (like in a Dell Mini 9), or does a portion of it remain sticking out when inserted (like a Dell Mini 10v), leaving it vulnerable? Spare SDHC cards are trivial to carry, and terrific for expanding a small hard drive. For example, movies or music kept on an SDHC card leave a lot of room for programs on a 64gb internal boot drive. Especially with Snow Leopard cutting down on the amount of hard drive space the OS needs relative to programs, there is a lot of creative use (e.g., Photoshop scratch drive) to which a "permanent" SDHC card can put.jintoku - Monday, November 1, 2010 - link
I couldn't find a way to contact the authors but am wondering if I can reach them this way. There seem to be multiple displays for the new Macbook Air's. In particular for the 13" one there are at least two, with the above two numbers being revealed by going to System Preferences, Display - Color -> opening the default profile, scrolling down to the bottom and looking at the model info.DarkUltra - Monday, November 1, 2010 - link
I wish there were more focus on where and under what circumstances the electrical devices I buy where manufactured. And what impact on the environment is has. And if it uses coltan from african miners that work under very very poor conditions, and support bad militias. There should be a chain of documentation with each product that any online reviewer goes through to see if there are any bad or uncertain/questionable conditions.Please Anand, try to look into it in some of your reviews and write a few words about it. Change the world slowly to a better place :)
jintoku - Monday, November 1, 2010 - link
THANKS IN ADVANCE!jedimed - Tuesday, November 2, 2010 - link
In response to a question about, the SD card DOES stick out. It seems to work fairly well, though I haven't speed tested it as yet.billy_kane - Tuesday, November 2, 2010 - link
iPad was pecfect & MBA11 need a bobcat core apuBreakingStrata - Thursday, November 4, 2010 - link
"If all you do is write, browse the web, write emails and talk on IM - the 11 gets the job done. Ask more of it for long periods of time and I think you’ll be disappointed."Wow. You've just described a $1000 netbook. Granted its nicer looking but also 3x as much. What a joke.
jintoku - Thursday, November 4, 2010 - link
Please provide this information if you have it. I have a question about the review. Thanks.ChunkAhoy - Friday, November 5, 2010 - link
I find that its lacking gaming benchmarks on Mac OS X.i.e. Left 4 Dead, StarCraft 2, Half-Life.
I'd love to see the difference between the 11.6 and the 13.3 in games.
Beside this little detail, this review is great. Thank you :)
jintoku - Friday, November 5, 2010 - link
I'm wondering which display model their Airs had, as multiple ones with apparently discrepant quality are used in each the 11 and 13 inch models...