Core i5 MacBook Airs Approaching Laptop Perfection?

Macworld’s Jason Snell notes that with the new MacBook Air models Apple released last month, the MacBook Air has arrived as an anchor product in its Mac lineup – the laptop OS X Lion was designed for. Snell derives the distinct impression that it’s only a matter of time before all Mac laptops look like the Air.

Snell reports that the price leader $999 11-inch Air, powered by a 1.6GHz Core i5 processor, tests at 1.7 times as fast than the previous $999 model on the same set of processor and storage-focused tests, and on the HandBrake encode test it was 2.4 times as fast, although the switch to Intel HD Graphics 3000 IGPUs in these latest models from the Nvidia GeForce 320M chipset in the preceding models is a mixed story performance-wise. with performance of the 2011 MacBook Air’s graphics subsystem “all over the map.”

On the other hand, Snell observes that the Airs now being equipped with a Thunderbolt I/O port changes everything – connection technology vastly superior not just to USB, but to FireWire and eSATA as well. Fast hard-drive transfers, gigabit Ethernet, FireWire compatibility – all of these features are now just a Thunderbolt adapter or three away from being available to MacBook Air users. He notes that with Apple’s just-announced 27-inch Thunderbolt display. you get a Facetime HD camera, three USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 800 port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a Thunderbolt port on the back. Plug its Thunderbolt cable into one of these new MacBook Air models, and you essentially convert the laptop into a Core i5-powered desktop computer complete with fast network connection, fast storage, and an array of expansion ports – the old PowerBook Duo concept updated for the 21st Century, and done better than the old Duos.

Snell thinks the pick of the litter is the base 11-inch Air is the real winner here, and while it might not be the perfect computer, but it’s as close to perfect as Apple’s ever come in his estimation.

I think that calling a computer with a 64 GB (about 48 usable) storage drive and just 2 GB of hard-soldered, non-upgradable RAM “perfect” is just a wee bit extravagant. The new Airs are indubitably among the beat laptops Apple has ever made, but perfection still eludes them by a substantial margin.

For the full review visit here:
http://macw.us/q6ixVt