Once you begin to use more of the hardware, you’ll find the system drops its life expectancy until the next charge.
It’s hard to say how much, mind you, though with an six hours left, a one hour game dropped us to what Apple said should have two hours left. That’s enough to tell us that you’ll get better battery life when you’re not gaming, a statement that’s true of pretty much every laptop we’ve ever tested.
Sufficed to say, the Air has a battery that – provided you’re writing, listening to music, or watching movies – will survive a flight overseas.
Most of the parts of this computer haven’t changed, though, and while there’s now dual microphones for video conferencing, it’s still mostly the same machine.
As such, the keyboard is one of the best there is (we typed this review on it) and the mouse is another lovely Mac multitouch trackpad. If you’re anything like us, you’ll want to switch off natural mouse movement quickly, but once you’ve done that, this is an excellent input experience.
It’s hard to be critical of such an excellent piece of computing, but we’ve found a way. This is what we do, after all.
The criticism comes down to the competition the MacBook Air has, and while Apple initially led the Ultrabook charge, it doesn’t quite have the edge in screen quality in this area.
Unfortunately, this year’s MBA hasn’t received a bump in screen technology in the way the battery and processor have improved, and as such you get mediocre viewing angles and a resolution that is better on many competing ultra-light machines.
You can find Full HD 1080p on quite a few other thin and light machines, and so while the 900p res is sort of like a half-way point for HD and Full HD, it still doesn’t quite cut it. Not for us, anyway, since this is basically the same display that appeared in the 2011 MacBook Air.
It’s 2013, Apple. Upgrade this part already.
Granted, the vertical viewing angle is the weakest part of the display package, with even the most minor change in viewing position changing the colour in a way that shows the MacBook Air’s screen obviously isn’t in the same league as the In-Plane Switching displays used in other Apple products.
It’s a shame, too, as Apple has put so much work into perfecting every other part of this machine, and for it to falter at the screen is just so, well, meh.
Conclusion
The saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” has never been more true, and Apple’s tried and tested MacBook Air has merely had a smattering of upgrades, making it the same excellent machine, but with even more impressive parts.
If only the display had received the same attention, we’d be willing to say this machine is “perfect,” but even without an update to the visual front, the new MacBook Air is still an excellent machine.
In essence, it is the lightweight laptop that many a customer is looking for, with a lovely sleek design, strong performing innards, and a battery that lasts longer than any MacBook that has come before it. The price also won’t hold you back, and combined with all the other pluses that make up this computer, it’s an easy recommendation.
