MacBook Air 2011

There comes a time when that giant, corporate-issued laptop stops fitting into your lifestyle. When dragging around a Kensington roller case just won't do. When you start to hear the siren lilt of something thinner, lighter, and maybe a bit more alluring. For years the MacBook Air has been that svelte temptress hollering your name, but it's always been a bit too slow -- all show and no go. It didn't have the power and the longevity to make it a serious contender for your serious affections.

No more. With its latest refresh, Apple has taken what was once a manilla-clad curiosity and turned it into a legitimate machine, not just a sultry looker. Good thing, too, because the death of the plastic-clad MacBook means the Air is now Apple's entry-level portable. Weary traveler looking for a laptop that will lighten your load and, it must be said, your wallet too? This might just be it.


The outside of this 2011 refresh of the MacBook Air is virtually indistinguishable from that which came before it. Yes, that means compromises. On the 13-inch model you'll still have to make do with but one USB port on the left and one on the right, but now that latter one is flanked by a Thunderbolt connector, Apple's implementation of Intel's Light Peak standard. This 10Gb/sec interconnect has become standard fare on all new machines coming out of Cupertino, a fact that should help to accelerate the so-far tardy uptake in support from accessory manufacturers.

The 11-inch model is likewise emblazoned, but sadly has still not been granted an SD reader, something restricted to the bigger 13. On the left you'll find a 3.5mm headphone jack, the MagSafe power connector and... nothing else. All other ports have been deemed unnecessary by Apple's designers and therefore relegated to myriad USB adapters for things like Ethernet -- though if you start relying on those you'll likely need to start packing a USB hub as well.

Like before, the omission of these ports leaves the Air free to pinch down to a delicious taper beneath the keyboard, thin enough to make for a decent cleaver when no proper blade can be found -- or when you just can't be bothered to find one. Even on the fat end it measures a mere .68-inches (17mm) thick. Or thin, rather.


When last we tested an Air, the 13-inch model with a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo processor scored a 2,717 on the GeekBench benchmark. This new 13, configured with the default 1.7GHz Core i5 and paired with 4GB of DDR3 and a 128GB SSD, nearly doubled that: 5,373. No, that won't threaten the full-bore 15-inchMacBook Pro for sheer speed, but double the performance in nine months is a welcome improvement, living up to Apple's 2x promises here, and from what we've seen elsewhere the 11-inch lives up to its 2.5x promises as well.

OS X Benchmarks	Geekbench	Xbench OpenGL	Battery Life
MacBook Air (mid 2011) (1.7GHz Core i5-2557M, Intel HD Graphics 3000)	5373	unavailable	5:32
MacBook Pro (early 2011) (2.2GHz Core i7-2720QM, Radeon HD 6750M / Intel Graphics 3000)	9647	340.1 (Radeon) / 157.78 (Intel)	7:27
MacBook Pro (early 2010) (2.66GHz Core i7-620M, GeForce GT 330M)	5395	228.22	5:18
iMac (mid 2010) (3.06GHz Core i3-540, Radeon HD 4670)	5789	unavailable	n/a
iMac (late 2009) (2.8GHz Core i7-860, Radeon HD 4850)	8312	191.08	n/a
MacBook Air (late 2010) (1.83GHz Core 2 Duo, GeForce 320M)	2717	117.38	4:34

We also threw Windows 7 on there, Boot Camp making it easy, and ran through a further suite of benchmarks to see how it fares there. PCMark Vantage clocked in at 9,484, actually higher than the 15-inch Pro's 8,041 when we tested it, though the Air's 3DMark 06 score was considerably lower thanks to the limited graphics prowess here, just 4,223. So, it's still no gaming rig, but it is the sort of machine you wouldn't think twice about trying to do some serious business on.