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Apple 13″ MacBook Air

Last updated: August 5, 2023


The MacBook Air has narrowed the gap between itself and the MacBook Pro in recent years. It features impressive power and portability, as well as a long battery life.

Apple 13″ MacBook Air
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We looked at the top Laptops and dug through the reviews from some of the most popular review sites. Through this analysis, we've determined the best Laptop you should buy.

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Product Details

Key Takeaway: Impressive power, while remaining incredibly portable. Long battery life.

In our analysis of 108 expert reviews, the Apple 13" MacBook Air placed 9th when we looked at the top 12 products in the category. For the full ranking, see below.

From The Manufacturer

The new MacBook Air is up to 2.5x faster than before. It features the latest Intel Core i5 dual-core processor, high-speed Thunderbolt I/O, a backlit keyboard, and OS X Lion, the next major release of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system. MacBook Air also comes standard with flash storage, so it boots up in seconds, launches apps quickly, and wakes from sleep in an instant. And a long-lasting battery powers MacBook Air for up to 7 hours and offers up to 30 days of standby time. All in a durable unibody design that’s thin, light, and ready for anything.

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Expert Reviews


What reviewers liked

Now that it uses current-gen Intel CPUs, the MacBook is definitely a viable everyday laptop, rather than a specialty product--its performance was very close to the 2011 13-inch MacBook Pro in most of our benchmark tests, and its battery life similarly excellent.
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Frankly, compared to most modern laptops, the MacBook Air is woefully out of date, but it may still be worth it for anyone that needs long battery life and a ton of storage.
- Tech Radar
The trackpad is perfect for selecting text, dragging windows, or using multitouch gestures.
- Digital Trends
• Among the faster models we've tested • Has a very long battery life • Better than usual sound • Comes with a fast, more-efficient solid-state drive
- Consumer Reports
It’s fast enough for the things that most people use a computer for—browsing, working on documents, and light photo editing—and it has an excellent high-resolution screen, a great trackpad, enough battery life to last most people through an eight-hour workday, and a (relatively) reasonable price.
- New York Times Wirecutter
They're backlit and they have significantly greater travel than those on the newer Apple keyboards, but at the expense of much less stability.
- PC Magazine
In addition, you get more up-to-date processors running the show and up to 16GB of RAM – a clear improvement on the 8GB maximum seen in the previous generation.
- Trusted Reviews
The MacBook Air may be going gray (well, silver) as it ages, but we still love its long battery life, solid performance and safety-first MagSafe 2 power port.
- Laptop Magazine

What reviewers didn't like

There's been some concern that Apple lists the MacBook Pro models on its Web site as having an SDXC card slot, for high-capacity SD cards, and only lists the card reader on the Air as an SD card one.
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For the most part, the MacBook Air pretty much looks the same as it has since 2010, and there don’t appear to be any changes in tow, either. That’s a shame, especially because we’re starting to see a ton of bezel-less laptops with smaller footprints and high-resolution displays that put the MacBook Air in its place.
- Tech Radar
However, our tests found it was still a bit sluggish for more demanding tasks like watching videos on a secondary 4K monitor.
- Digital Trends
• No optical drive • Battery is not easily removable • Comes with only 3 months of tech support
- Consumer Reports
As mentioned above, current MacBook models use USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 for all connectivity, including power. This means that if you have any hard drives, scanners, printers, thumb drives, or card readers that use USB Type-A ports, you need a hub or adapter
- New York Times Wirecutter
Two USB Type A ports and a dedicated charging jack seem downright luxurious by comparison, especially if you need to plug in older peripherals.
- PC Magazine
Force Touch, a setting that lets you tap gently on the trackpad instead of clicking down, is turned on by default. Personally, I’m not a fan, as I find that it’s easy to mistakenly click on links when browsing the web.
- Trusted Reviews
Two downsides, however, are that its display is stuck in the past decade, and it's up to a pound heavier than competitors.
- Laptop Magazine

Laptop Rankings

HP 15.6-Inch HD Touchscreen Premium Laptop

1. HP 15.6-Inch HD Touchscreen Premium Laptop
Samsung Chromebook 3

2. Samsung Chromebook 3
Apple MacBook Pro, 15″ Retina 16GB

3. Apple MacBook Pro, 15″ Retina 16GB
Acer Chromebook 11, 11.6″

4. Acer Chromebook 11, 11.6″
ASUS Water Resistant Chromebook, 11.6″

5. ASUS Water Resistant Chromebook, 11.6″
Google Pixelbook

6. Google Pixelbook
Microsoft Surface Pro (5th Gen), 256 GB

7. Microsoft Surface Pro (5th Gen), 256 GB
HP Spectre x360

8. HP Spectre x360
Apple 13″ MacBook Air

9. Apple 13″ MacBook Air
ASUS ZenBook 13.3″ Ultra-Slim Laptop

10. ASUS ZenBook 13.3″ Ultra-Slim Laptop
Acer Aspire

11. Acer Aspire
HP Spectre x2

12. HP Spectre x2
View our Laptop buying guide for in-depth advice and recommendations.

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