#MACBOOK 11 INCH VS 13 REVIEW PRO#
#MACBOOK 11 INCH VS 13 REVIEW PC#
#MACBOOK 11 INCH VS 13 REVIEW BLUETOOTH#

Performance and battery lifeĪs usual, we're testing the base-spec 13-inch MacBook Air, the one most consumers are likely to buy.

#MACBOOK 11 INCH VS 13 REVIEW BLUETOOTH#

It'll certainly do in a pinch, but you'll want to make use of that 3.5mm jack (or, indeed, a Bluetooth connection) to enable something with a bit more acoustic range. Still, it's hardly an ideal machine for music playback, with flat, bass-free renditions of all your favorite music.

The Air's built-in speakers are capable of getting impressively (and uncomfortably) loud if cranked all the way, so hearing a concall from across a room won't be an issue. Color reproduction is spot-on and the LED backlighting is both good for your battery and the environment. Viewing angles are as good as ever and brightness does not disappoint. Still, this remains a great-looking LCD, making the most of its 1,440 x 900 resolution. It's no Retina, a fact that can be confirmed with a quick glance. The sensation of dragging a finger across the matte glass is as good as ever and the responsiveness is perfect for executing all of the many and myriad gestures that OS X has on offer. That design is retained in 2013, leaving a keyboard that not only has great tactility, but also has a very broad and comfortable layout.Īlso broad and comfortable is the glass trackpad, which, along with the keyboard, remains one of our favorites. In 2011 the MacBook Air finally received backlit keys with what felt like a slightly springier feel than before, making an already great typing experience even better. Neither the keyboard nor the trackpad have changed this year, but that's a good thing. That said, with the new 802.11ac support, maybe you won't need that Ethernet adapter after all. So, if you're a current Air user who packs a USB hub and Ethernet adapter wherever you go, that won't be changing this year. Look very closely next to that and you'll marvel at the one, single, solitary external difference compared to last year: a second hole in the side for the integrated microphone, intended for active noise cancellation.Īnd that's it. Move over to the left and you'll find the MagSafe 2 connector, a second USB 3.0 port and a 3.5mm headphone / mic jack. On the right, you get a USB 3.0 port flanked by Thunderbolt on one side and an SDXC card reader on the other. There's still just the one color option, the matte, raw-aluminum color that looks clean and lovely out of the box, but, as we've seen, can be scratch-prone. It also retains its impressive overall feel, with a very stiff chassis that does not flex and a keyboard tray that can stand up to the most vigorous of typists. Though its thin-and-light crown may be long gone, the Air is still a very sleek device, the sort that may leave you peeking in your bag one more time before you leave home to make sure you didn't forget your laptop.

#MACBOOK 11 INCH VS 13 REVIEW PRO#

These specs were nothing short of amazing a few years back, but today, devices like the Samsung Series 9 and Sony VAIO Pro 13 manage to be even thinner and even lighter. It's 12.8 inches wide, 8.9 inches deep and weighs just a hair under three pounds (1.35 kg).

This 13-inch MacBook Air maintains its wedge-shaped profile, a maximum of 0.68 inch thick at the back tapering down to a 0.11-inch terminal edge at the front. Is this the result of priorities being committed elsewhere? Or, is it simply a case of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'? We'll let the reader decide on that front, and while we tend to lean toward the latter option, the net result is the same: we won't spend an awful lot of time describing this now-familiar machine.

#MACBOOK 11 INCH VS 13 REVIEW PC#

That's in part because of the success of the MacBook Air - we see them popping open on trains and airplanes all the time these days - but largely this is thanks to Apple not significantly revamping the design for nearly three years, a period over which we've seen radical changes on the PC side of things. What once was a fresh and exciting design has now, it must be said, become rather familiar. Is the unchanged design the result of priorities being committed elsewhere? Or, is it simply a case of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'?

Macbook 11 inch vs 13 review