The Apple MacBook Air now comes with the latest Ivy Bridge processor and other improvements which made it even better. It is definitely one of the best ultrabook in the market. All the focus was grabbed by the Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display when it was introduced in June last year. Even though, the MacBook Air was able to show its presence with some major updates. It is now more comfortable to use and even faster. Let’s find out about this device in detail.

Performance

The Apple MacBook Air 13in is powered by the Intel Core-i5-3427U processor clocked at 1.8GHz. During the standard FEAR game test, the MacBook Air recorded the outstanding 29fps, while the Ivy Bridge laptops and Sandy Bridge models recorded 27fps and 17fps respectively. The memory of the MacBook Air has been attached to main logic board, so it can’t be upgraded. But now the company has made the standard quota of 4GB for both 13in and 11in devices. With extra $126, you can build-to-order the model of 8GB.

The memory has been upgraded from 1333MHz to 1600MHz. The MacBook Air recorded the score of 132 points in WorldBench 6 test because of the upgrades in memory and processor. This is about 8% faster than the previous version of MacBook Air and lot more fast for any ultrabook.

The overall performance of the system was fine and it scored 4497 points on FuturemarkPCmark 7 test. In specialized tests, it scored 11,234 in computation, 7572 in Creativity, 3392 in Entertainment, 3781 in Productivity and 4380 in Lightweight test. The score of 7903 points was seen in the Geekbench test. The 50Wh lithium battery of MacBook Air lasts for 5 hours, which is amazing for an ultrabook.

Features

The body design looks much similar to the previous version. Like the older MacBook Air it also features the sculpted one-piece aluminum casework. However, the movement of ports from left to right and the revision to MagSafe 2 for power connector are among changes. MagSafe 2 is the same magnetic and electric safety cable that used magnets to keep the charging plug held in place. But it is slightly smaller than the previous version. It has been designed to meet the needs of smaller notebooks. So, we can say that different versions of MacBook will be introduced in coming years.

The built-in camera into screen bezel is not so visible. It is now popularly known as a FaceTime HD camera. It allows calls over video conferencing system of Apple and Skype. It can offer the quality video with the resolution of 1280 x 720-pixel size. The cooling fan also has been tweaked little in the new version. An asymmetric-blade fan has been used to minimize resonance in the MacBook Air just like the Retina MacBook Pro. Because of this, we hardly hear any sound coming out from the MacBook Air. It operates extremely quietly. It is most probably the quietest ultrabook in the market right now.

Author Bio: Harold Peterson is a tech blogger with many years of experience. Learn more about the MacBook Pro with Retina display directly from him.