The Macbook air is available in two LED screen sizes 11-inches or 13-inches.It features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor,nVidia GeForce 320M graphics,flash-based hard drive,WiFi-n,Bluetooth and a multitouch trackpad.
Spec Data
Type General Purpose, Media, Ultraportable, Business
Operating System Mac OS X 10.6
Processor Speed 1.4 GHz
Processor Name Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400
RAM 2 GB
Weight 2.3 lb
Screen Size 11.6 inches
Screen Size Type widescreen
Graphics Card nVidia GeForce 320M
Storage Capacity (as Tested) 128 GB
Networking Options 802.11n
Primary Optical Drive External
The width and depth of the MacBook Air (11-inch)—11.8 by 7.5 inches—are no different than what you'd get with Windows-based laptops like the Asus UL20FT-A1 ($630 direct, 3 stars) and Acer Aspire 1830T-3721 ($700 street, 4 stars), but what Apple shaved off in terms of thickness makes the other two look like giants. It's hard to gauge how shockingly thin it is until you pick it up, cradle it, and put it against the thinnest thing you can find in the room. It stands as the tall as the iPhone 4 at its thinnest part: The front bezel, which measures a mere 0.11 inch, is actually not that much thinner than the back of unit (0.68 inch). It's thinner, without a doubt, than any current netbook in the market. The 11-inch MacBook Air's razor-thin frame is triumphantly proportional to its weight, as its 2.3-pound frame is easily lighter than the Acer UL20FT-A1 (3.3 pounds), Acer 1830T-3721 (3 pounds), and Dell Inspiron M1010z (3.4 pounds).
The aluminum is unyielding, almost ruggedized. The screen, for instance, isn't as susceptible to flexing as that of its Windows-based counterparts.
New Screen Size, Resolution
The MacBook Air's 11.6-inch widescreen is not the only first for Apple; so is its 1,366-by-768 resolution. It's the first Apple laptop to conform to the 16:9 aspect ratio, as is the case with practically every Windows-based laptop nowadays. In a way, it sets the precedent for what's to come (think: future MacBook or a MacBook Pro with a 1,366-by-768 or a 1,600-by-900 resolution). The screen is sharp, and its viewing angles are superb. A bigger screen, however, is always a boon for productivity, which is why there is also a 13-inch MacBook Air, and a 13-inch CULV-equipped laptop, like the Toshiba Satellite T235-S1350 ($630 direct, 4 stars), is readily available.
SSDs Only
Being the thinnest implies certain handicaps, with features being one of them. Although many Apple users are cheering the two USB ports, almost every single 11-inch laptop I've reviewed comes with three. These laptops also have an SD slot (or some kind of multimedia card reader) and an Ethernet port—features you won't find in the 11-inch MacBook Air. In place of Ethernet is 802.11n Wi-Fi, which should be enough for most people. It doesn't have an optical drive, obviously, but you can buy an external Apple SuperDrive for $79. Third-party USB optical drives, like my Toshiba DVD Super MultiDrive, will also work with the MacBook Air.
Performance:
The 11-inch MacBook Air's 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400 is an Ultra-Low Voltage (ULV) processor. The only issue I have with this processor is that it's based on a previous-generation Intel technology. Meanwhile, the Acer 1830T (Core i5-430um) and Asus UL20FT-A1 (Core i3-330um) run on Intel's latest Core processors—also of the ULV variant, but much faster. The two MacBook Air configurations start with 2GB of DDR3 memory; doubling memory to 4GB will cost you an extra $100. Meanwhile, most of the MacBook Air's peers are standardizing on 4GB of DDR3 memory. These two components—processor and memory—were drags on performance.
The tests mentioned here are performed in Mac OS 10.6.4 (Handbrake, Cinebench R11.5, and Adobe Photoshop CS5 have Mac versions). Keep in mind, running performance benchmark tests doesn't dictate whether a particular task can be done; it's how fast it can be done compared with other laptops in its class. In this case, the MacBook Air is not the zippiest laptop. It took almost four times (23 minutes 23 seconds) as long to encode a video than the Toshiba T235-S1350 (6:24). Because the Photoshop CS5 test is memory intensive, the MacBook Air (14:03) trailed against the Asus UL20FT-A1 (9:31) and Toshiba T235-S1350 (11:28).