Macbook Air 13 Icore 7 Short Review

i owned the previous model with 2.13GHZ C2D 4GB RAM. so this is simply a comparison of the 2.

The casing and build quality is the same as before except that this new model includes thunderbolt which replaces the previous mini dvi. i expected a slighter thinner model, but nothing has changed, everything is the same in terms of size. Would have been good if it were 0.64 inch, some new Windows Laptops are just that little thinner like the new Samsung 9 and Sony Laptop.

The screen is excellent as before with the same higher resolution of 1440 by 900. The screen is very bright and crisp clear text and colour.

The trackpad is the same as before but now includes more gestures than before. You have to go to trackpad settings and change it to suit your needs or behave a bit more like snow leopard .

I initially missed the 3 finger swiping back or forward in Firefox and expose, but quickly discovered that you can turn them on through the settings, so that was a great relief.

People will have their differences regarding these new added gestures, I usually use the right bottom hand of the trackpad for right click, but if you select that then you cannot use tap 2 fingers for right click, this is annoying especially in a quite room when I dont want the clicking sound.

The backlit keyboard is back, no idea why it was missing from the previous model. For me there is a difference in comfort and use on this new backlit keyboard then the previous model.

The previous model keyboard was way too flat and flushed to the casing. it was uncomfortable typing for a long time, and worse in the dark room when you could not see the keys.

This new backlit keyboard tackles this issue and now you can see the keyboard in no light or low light conditions which is great. Im sure both Macbook Air models have the same keyboards which means shape, height and finishing. For some reason the new keyboard feels a little lifted and much more comfortable, maybe its me thinking that the backlit has forced the keyboard to raise a millimeter or 2, anyhow its superb.

Im disappointing that the camera is not HD, Apple have not upgraded this and I really wanted a HD camera.

Next the battery. now in my old Macbook Air I got on average 6 hours battery, and even extend it to over 9 hours, or 3.5 hours of pure video playback. I usually have only wifi turned on and brightness full which gives me over 5 hours, and if I reduce brightness then it can extend to over 6.5 hours. if only watching video then its full brightness and wifi on which gives me 3.5 hours or 4.5 if wifi is off.

On my new machine, its only on its second cycle, it gave me with full brightness and everything turned off and video playback of just under 2 hours. With general use screen brightness full and wifi on general web browsing with word I got around 3.45 hours.

On initial impression the battery life is around 20/30 percent poorer than the old Macbook Air. After 2 weeks I will report back on the battery life.

Next its heat and noise. on my old machine continues 7 hours use which included a full Film playback, and also a stream from bbc iplayer, in total over 4 hours of video, plus 3 hours of general use, there is no heat, and the fan did not once come on, the only time the fan came on is when you played a game or encoded a video.

I used to leave my machine downloading over night with wifi on and screen brightness turned off, in the morning after 8 hours, it reported normally around 40 percent battery life left and in its current state reported around 9 hours left, I managed to get around 20 hours of battery with wifi on and screen brightness turned off and the computer downloading continuously for those 20 hours before the battery died.

On this new Macbook Air there is heat after 30 minutes, reminds me of the Macbook Pro's. and after 30 minutes with some web browsing and youtube the fans turn on.

I have realized that when you watch videos online or from the hard drive the computer produces a lot of heat and turns the fans on after only 30 minutes.

i dont know why this machine gets a lot hotter and turns the fans on more frequently than than the previous model.

I have the icore i7 1.8GHZ and have to report that its way faster than the old C2D. In some tasks its twice as fast, especially rendering and encoding videos. In my previous model i had a Toshiba 256 SSD and in this new one i have the Samsung 256 SSD which is faster than the Toshiba.

I have not tried any games yet, so cannot comment on its gaming power.

Some final words. Considering its only the first reaction and initial experience.

The old Macbook Air Late 2010 had great battery life and produced little or no heat over a very long period of continuous use. i wish the new model can replicate this.

i think it may be down to the C2D vs the Icore i7 performance and heat management in the Macbook Air's

The new machines are alot faster but produce a lot more heat and also the battery life takes a hit.

For me if its generally CPU related and you require speed, then tthe new Macbook Air are for you, if your happy with the speed of the old machine then stick with it since it has a slight better GPU.

If backlit keyboard is a deal breaker then upgrade and you would the real Macbook Air as it should be with standard backlit keybaord.

Any questions or comment sure just add or ask.

 

I think it should be noted that the extra gestures come from OS X Lion and are not related to the hardware. The previous MBA model with the C2D processors can have all of the new gestures as well so long as it is upgraded to Lion. On a similar note, it appears that Apple has changed the way GPU hardware acceleration is used in Lion so now programs/plug-ins such as Flash use a lot more CPU power when decoding videos. My MBP was generally quiet even when viewing 1080p Flash content and the fans would only kick on if I had the display shut (operating in clamshell mode). That has now changed as the fans kick on even when watching 360p Flash content as it is all handled by the CPU instead of the Intel HD 3000's dedicated decoding hardware (which consumes far less power and produces a lot less heat). Adobe is working on a fix for that so Flash should be a little better when it is updated.

I also think that Sandy Bridge processors, even the ULV ones, are producing a little more heat than the previous generation and even the older C2D chips used in the last generation MBA. I actually would have purchased a 13" MBA earlier this year but having a backlight keyboard was a deal breaker for me especially since that is something I use on a daily basis. I always thought the 2010 MBA was the odd one out since the previous MBA had it as well (though it was a lot thicker). I am glad Apple added the backlight keyboard back. Now my next purchase (which will be in another ~3 years) will likely be a MBA unless the PC market as a whole (i.e. Windows and Macs) switches to some new type of setup.

 

I do agree with you, I just opened BBC iPlayer, not watching anything but to resume the downloads and the fans kicked in for 3/4 minutes, cpu usage was at 60 percent, and after 3/4 minutes everything is back to normal. On video playback either through web or on hard drive the fans kick in.

Im going to leave it running on batteries tonight, its a full charge. in the morning I will see how much battery it has consumed with wifi on, continuous downloading and screen turned off.

I thought that the new icores are more power efficient than the C2D, if yes then should we not be seeing an increase in battery life?

 

Hardware acceleration for video playback also seems to be absent from VLC though I don't know if it was ever there to begin with. I have noticed an increase in CPU usage when playing back an HD h.264 video so I think it was there before. On a side note, playing back videos in QuickTime hasn't changed as my CPU usage still hovers around 3% for 1080p HD content so you may want to give that a go (and the fans don't kick on there, for me, until about 30-45 minutes and they turn off after a few minutes).

I think in describing the power efficiency of the newer processors (even compared to the last generation i series), Intel is saying that the processors can do more with a smaller amount of power. So that means the new SB i processors can perform better with the same amount of power as the previous generations. So while you are still getting 6-7 hours on a single charge (matching last year's MBA), it is also a more powerful system.