The 2011 MacBook Air (11 & 13-inch): Thoroughly Reviewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 28, 2011 3:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Apple
- Mac
- Intel
- Sandy Bridge
- MacBook Air
- Laptops
A New Boot Camp
One thing that always bothered me about the 2010 MacBook Air was while Apple gave you a USB stick with OS X on it, you still needed to use an external optical drive to install Windows. By default Boot Camp wouldn't let you install Windows 7 off of a USB stick or external USB hard drive. Of course with some extra work you could do this on your own, but it's something that Apple should've made easier from the start.
With the 2011 MacBook Air, Apple did just that.
The Airs ship with a slightly newer version of Lion with an updated Boot Camp Assistant. Here's what Lion's default BCA looks like on a system with no optical drive:
And here's the new screen for the MacBook Air's build of Lion:
Boot Camp now asks you for a Windows 7 ISO and will automatically create a bootable USB drive for you. Here's the folder structure of the result:
I gave Boot Camp an Intel X25-M G2 connected to an Apricorn SATA to USB 2.0 adapter (a great way to quickly install an OS). Note that the BCA will also download the latest Windows Support package from Apple and include that on your USB drive. The total space required is just over 4GB, so all you really need is an 8GB USB stick and you're good to go.
Installing Windows 7 on the MacBook Air is painless, especially when you've got all you need on a single USB drive. But what about performance and battery life?
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darwinosx - Saturday, July 30, 2011 - link
There is barely any difference between Elitebook models to talk about. Nor is there anything particularly special about them. Just another Windows clone made and supported a little better than what HP sells at Best Buy. Given that, it was covered quite well.OCedHrt - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
This is so last year. This is not even what I got in my Sony Z last year. For $1600. 2.4 ghz i5 (520m), GT 330M in 3 lb chasis with internal dvdrw. And that was bottom of the line. Not to mention I got mine from MSFT with 40% off.This year: http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Ca...
Of course this one costs way more, but still worth a though.
beginner99 - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
lol yeah. Sony is the only brand that has even more ridiculous pricing than Apple. You say it yourself 40% off. And in this case I say apple's pricing is very competitive and I'm an "apple-hater". Never owned a single device from them, not even an Ipod.The new base model Vaio Z will also be about 40% more expensive at half of the SSD capacity.
Anyway, I would have already bought it, if it was a windows system.
Johnmcl7 - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
I wouldn't say Sony's pricing is ridiculous as you're paying for absolutely cutting edge tech whereas with Apple . The previous Z series may have been pricey but it featured a 13.1 1080p screen (genuine 1920x1080), up to an i7 dual core processor, quad SSDs in RAID 0, dual graphics graphics cards (one integrated, one discrete), blu-ray writer which even Apple's 17in machines couldn't match but was smaller and lighter than Apple's 13in machines.I have the Vaio from the previous generation (Z5) which has a C2D 3Ghz processor, 13.1 1600x900 screen, dual 128GB mSSDs in RAID 0, blu-ray writer and integrated & discrete graphics cards which again Apple didn't offer anything even remotely comparable. Speccing up a Macbook to the maximum level put it far above the Vaio in cost but far below in spec with just a 2.6Ghz processor, DVD burner, single graphics card and low resolution screen.
John
darwinosx - Saturday, July 30, 2011 - link
Kids, read the review and learn something before commenting. No Sony has this proc in it yet. Also learn something about cpu speed in different processor models. Finally try to understand that this laptop is meant to be super thin and lightweight which the Sony is not. It is also top quality construction support and uses a modern OS.OCedHrt - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - link
The sony from last year is nearly the same weight at 3.1 lb with an internal optical drive and the new one this year is much lighter at 2.5 lbs with external.The Sony Z specifically do not use ULV processors for maximum performance:
Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor (2.30GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.90GHz
Intel® Core™ i5-2540M processor (2.60GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.30GHz
Intel® Core™ i7-2620M processor (2.70GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.40GHz
The base processor already matches the top of the line Air processor in turbo and far exceeds it in other conditions.
So to recap: Sony Z from last year (Z11-Z14) is already super thin and light weight at significantly faster performance for same cost, and sometimes cheaper when Microsoft Store has a crazy sale.
Sony Z for this year Z21 is even thinner and lighter at even faster performance for a slight premium. Remember the lowest Z performs better than the fastest Air. $1969 vs $1599 gives you an external dvdrw and discrete graphics and usb 3.0. That's not a bad deal at all.
Keep in mind the fastest Z will kill the Air in performance all in the same chasis. And battery life from reviews indicate the new Z is on-pair with Air (4+ hours with a movie playing continouously).
OCedHrt - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - link
$1600 was not 40% off. I got mine for $1100. $1600 is the retail price at B&M for the entry level model that I outlined (with 64gb x2 SSD).ViRGE - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
Looking at the specs, something doesn't make sense. They're using 35W TDP processors and claiming better battery life on a smaller battery than the 13" MBA. The math doesn't add up on that one.KPOM - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
Might Sony be including the optional "sheet battery" in that time?ViRGE - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
Nope. They break that out separately.