MacBook Air 2011 - seniors in the ultra-thin world

The MacBook Air (referred to as MBA), the name that resonates with Apple, is a successful model that many companies now have to follow. However, Apple always deserves the name of the leader when it recently launched the 2011 version of this ultra-thin line of computers with many valuable improvements.

The 2011 MBA design is no different from the 2010 life besides the keyboard lights that have appeared and the Thunderbolt port has been replaced for the old miniDisplayPort. The price of the device is still maintained by Apple compared to the old version which is 999 USD for the lowest and highest configuration is 1,599 USD.

Design

The design of the MacBook Air still follows the ultra-thin tradition. However, the thinness of the device does not make it feel weak or rickety because it is made from a solid aluminum block. Both the camera body and the screen are done like that, people get a CNC cutting machine to cut each block of aluminum out according to the previous drawing. Each detail on the machine is meticulously cared for, not redundant nor missing. Apple is still the same, still saving all the time but also giving users the most convenience.

The 2011 version still has only 2 USB ports like the 2010 version, the two ports are evenly distributed on both sides of the machine so it is actually enough to use. The new Thunderbolt connector is added for a much faster transfer rate than miniDisplayPort. However, there are still not many accessories to support this connection, perhaps in the future it will be more popular.

Screen

Macbook Air screen is still the same, with glass layer on the display, not spilling out to the edge like the Macbook Pro series and also less glare than the Macbook Pro. High quality screen with beauty, contrast in OSX interface design makes us a beautiful screen. The frame of the screen is still quite large, this is the worst point on the MBA if you are fastidious, maybe the slim design so the screen border can not be thinner.

With a 13-inch version, the MacBook Air screen has the same resolution as the 15-inch MacBook Pro so you will see sharper images, larger workspace than other machines. As mentioned above, the lack of full-screen mirroring makes the screen of the MacBook Air look outdoors better than the 15-inch or 17-inch MacBook Pro with a mirror cover.

Configuration

In the standard configuration in all versions, the old Core 2 processor was replaced with a power-saving Core i ULV of the Sandy Bridge generation. With the new processor, Apple said the maximum speed increased twice compared to the previous one, but the consequence of relying on Intel is the 2011 MBA to use Intel 3000 integrated graphics chip. $ then all 2011 MBA machines use 4GB of RAM, a huge improvement. However, those who want an 8GB RAM or an SSD option larger than 256Gb are still unresponsive.

Apple said that hard drive speeds increased by a maximum of 2 times, so they were likely to use new drives with speeds of 400-500MBps. The 2011 MBA battery has no change from the previous life, at least according to Apple because it still has 5 and 7 hours respectively for 2 11 and 13 inch versions.

SSD is a strength of MacBook Air because of its fast boot speed, with the combination of 10.7 Lion operating system, the boot time of the machine is only about 20s, the time to shutdown is much faster. Many, only about 5 seconds. In addition, MacOS users often only sleep, not shut down, ie close the screen cover and move, so the SSD hard drive is extremely safe in this case. In addition to quick start up, the software activation speed has also been significantly increased, so it is not natural that SSD hard drives cost many times higher than normal HDD.

Graphics

MacBook Air uses a power-saving Core i ULV processor from the new Sandy Bridge generation, greatly improving performance compared to the older version of 2010. Not only faster in handling heavy applications but in normal task it also shows smooth, smooth. But the downside of the system is the use of Intel 3000 graphics chip, not the previous 320V nVidia. If you want to play games then this will be a limitation to consider.

However, the MBA itself is not a gaming machine, so the graphics chip is mainly used to support the system in applications that support GPU accelerators such as Photoshop or iMovie. Tests show that the difference between these two chips is not large, the number of games supporting 320M without supporting 3000 is negligible on the MacOS platform.

Which machine should I choose?

Many people will be puzzled, so should I use the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro? In fact, the answer depends very much on the needs and work you want to do on your laptop. If you want to be mobile, light on the move, the MacBook Air is a very good choice, but if you want a stronger, more comfortable system to work with, the MacBook Pro takes precedence.

As mentioned above, although the MacBook Air screen has improved a lot, it is not really a high-end panel like on the MacBook Pro. Perhaps Apple still wants a clear hierarchy between the two. So if you're an important monitor, choose a 15-inch or 17-inch MacBook Pro.

The next difference is the graphics chip, last year Apple was forced to use the Core 2 Duo to accompany the NVIDIA integrated graphics chip to increase performance but this year they upgraded to Core i Sandy Bridge with Intel integrated graphics chip. All other components of the MBA still meet the average gaming needs except graphics chips.

Reference configuration: 1.6GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 processor; 2GB 1333 DDR3 Ram onboard memory; 64GB Flash Storage hard drive; Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor graphics card with 256MB.

Reference price: 21,800,000 VND.