Tech Specs

Hardware

Laptop type	Ultraportable
Width	12.8 inches
Depth	8.94 inches
Thickness	0.68 inches
Weight	2.96 pounds
Color	Silver

Software

Operating system	Mac OS X
Notable apps	OS X 10.7 Lion

Display (base)

Screen size (diagonal)	13.3 inches
Display surface	Glossy
Technology	LCD
Backlight	LED
Resolution (X)	1440 px
Resolution (Y)	900 px

Keyboard

Type	Chiclet
Backlit	Yes
Number pad	No

Mouse

Type(s)	Trackpad
Multitouch	Yes
Multitouch points	4

Processor (base)

CPU brand	Intel
CPU family	Sandy Bridge
Model	Core i5-2557M
Cores	2
Clockspeed	1.7 GHz
Turbo clockspeed	2.7 GHz

Processor (max)

Brand	Intel
Family	Sandy Bridge
Model	Core i7-2677M
Cores	2
Clockspeed	1.8 GHz
Turbo clockspeed	2.9 GHz

GPU (base)

Graphics type	Integrated
Integrated GPU brand	Intel
Integrated GPU model	HD Graphics 3000
Dedicated VRAM size	384 MB

Memory

Base RAM size	4 GB
RAM type	DDR3
Base RAM speed	1333 MHz

Storage

Options	Flash Memory (SSD)
Base drive type	Flash (SSD)
Base drive capacity	128 GB
Max. config SSD	256 GB
Card reader	Yes
Card reader support	SD

Audio

Speakers	2

Webcam

Video resolution	VGA

Sensors

Ambient light	Yes

Port options

USB	2
Thunderbolt	1
3.5mm mic / headphone combo	1

Connectivity

Wi-Fi	Yes
Wi-Fi options	802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a
802.11n frequencies	5GHz, 2.4GHz
Bluetooth	Yes
Bluetooth version	4.0

Battery

Size	50 Wh
Chemistry	Lithium Polymer (Li-Po)
Removable	No
Quoted time	7 hr

Benchmarks

PCMarkVantage	10134
3DMarkVantage (IGP)	1748
3DMark06 (IGP)	4195
Just Cause 2	11.32
The Verge Battery Test	6 hours 53 minutes

Recent News

No recent news about Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, mid 2011).

Recent Discussions

• Apple Core

  iOS 7 May Include AirDrop Wireless File Sharing Capabilities

  17 days ago by xtraordinarykid 29 comments

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• 9.0

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  Reviewed by KiwiC (Currently owns)

  December 22, 2011 04:44 pm

  I previously owned a chunky old Vaio, which served me well through Uni, but the Macbook Air has been a revelation for me.
  Design: Nothing else is on par with this for me, bar maybe the Lenovo U300s. Its simple, clean, and feels incredibly well built. Functionally, the keyboard is great for regular use, but as with most laptops i'd opt for a separate keyboard for any lengthy writing. As for the touchpad, everyone raves about it, and rightly so - the big thing for me is I don't notice i'm using it, theres no lag or anything, just you interacting with your stuff. Awesome.
  Software: I never really was super stoked for Lion after using it on an iMac (with a mouse, not touchpad), but now using it on the Macbook Air it really is fantastic, you just can get on with stuff and the OS never seems to intrude. I am, however, a bit underwhelmed by the Mac App Store - its convenient, but alot of the useful apps arent available on it. I dont really like Safari either, not for any particular reason, just Chrome is better for me.
  Battery life is really good, performance is great for what I do (open chrome, word, some games, itunes or 8tracks). Definitely a good laptop to get!

  The Breakdown

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  • Design 9
  • Keyboard 8
  • Touchpad 10
  • Display 8
  • Performance 8
  • Heat / noise 10
  • Battery life 10
  • Software 8

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• 9.0

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  Reviewed by florent (Currently owns)

  December 21, 2011 04:47 pm

  This is my 8th Apple Laptop and SO FAR, the Best Laptop I've ever owned.

  - Good Points:
  Extremely convenient to use
  Good Ratio Portable/Performances
  Screen Resolution
  Very Fast
  Light

  - "Could Be Better" Points:
  Battery Life
  Graphics
  Heat/ Noise
  Webcam

  - Bad Points:
  Seriously None

  - "Missing" Points:
  USB 3

  Final Word:
  Fully Satisfied (& it never happens).

  The Breakdown

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  • Design 10
  • Keyboard 10
  • Touchpad 10
  • Display 7
  • Performance 8
  • Heat / noise 7
  • Battery life 8
  • Software 10

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• 9.0

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  Reviewed by forbore (Currently owns)

  December 20, 2011 10:54 pm

  Ownership: ~3 months

  I bought a MBA in September for college and so far I love it. I have the 128GB build (i5 @ 1.7GHz, 4GB of RAM) and it runs great. The battery lasts for ~ 6 hours with about 8 tabs open in Safari and one other app. This is clearly the best laptop I've owned so far (2006 Macbook, 2009 MBP, and many PCs from Toshiba, Acer, Sony, Compaq, etc...). It's thin and fast, lightweight, and very convenient. I use Photoshop from time to time and it has no trouble handling it. The only things I can say against it are that it can become hot at times (common problem with MacBooks) and although the display looks great, the glossiness can be annoying when using it outside (coffee shop) or need a window.

  Pros:

  - Fast
  - Lighweight
  - Beautiful display
  - Looks great
  - Fast SSD
  - Lion has some really nice improvements over SL
  - Has the thunderbolt interface which although it isn't used a lot, it is still nice to have since it's way more future-proof than USB 3.0
  - Has the SD card slot unlike the 11" model
  - Not "expensive' compared to other "ultrabooks"
  - Internet recovery allows you to reinstall Mac OS X Lion from anywhere should your disk ever get corrupted

  Cons:
  - Small disk space compared to HDDs (but big compared to most SSDs)
  - Back corners are thin therefore they can easily be squished
  - Can cook eggs when playing games of HD videos (or Flash which is why I now use ClickToPlugin to disable Flash in Safari)
  - I seem to be having problems with Wi-Fi connectivity at times but that's maybe a problem with my computer
  - It seemed like the OS had been tampered with when I bought it since there were only about 12 user profile pictures available while there should easily be +30. Since I was also having problems with my battery (would only last 2-3 hours), I decided to wipe the system and reinstall it using the internet recovery system. Fixed everything.
  - Internet recovery can take a while with a slow internet access (had to go to an Apple Store since my internet was too slow and the download would eventually fail)

  The Breakdown

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  • Design 10
  • Keyboard 10
  • Touchpad 10
  • Display 9
  • Performance 9
  • Heat / noise 8
  • Battery life 9
  • Software 9

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• 10.0

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  Reviewed by malstrom (Currently owns)

  December 20, 2011 02:19 am

  This is the best notebook on the market. It has an amazingly thin design, a great keyboard and super high-res display. The trackpad is outstanding. The performance is great. With the i5 version (which I own), I can run Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Final Cut X, Aperture 3 (one at a time) with out any glitches or performance hits. And this is definitely the future of all notebook computers with out an ODD and with solid state memory. I never have had a need for an ODD and I think most people don't. If anyone is on the fence about this product then you should get it. Well worth the money.

  The Breakdown

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  • Design 10
  • Keyboard 10
  • Touchpad 10
  • Display 9
  • Performance 9
  • Heat / noise 9
  • Battery life 8
  • Software 10

  Show the rest of this review and the breakdown