Latest MacBook Air is faster, runs longer, costs less

The now-familiar MacBook Air hasn’t seen a design overhaul in several generations, and the small update to the 13-inch and 11-inch models released in April 2014 does nothing to change that.

The current MacBook Air models differ from the 2013 versions in that the base model uses a 1.4GHz Intel Core i5, an upgrade from the previous 1.3GHz processor. More significantly, the 11.6-inch MacBook Air now starts at $899 (from $999) in the US and at £749 (from £849) in the UK, while the 13.3-inch version now drops to $999 (from $1,099) in the US and to £849 (from £949) in the UK. List prices in Australia are AU$1,099 for the 11-inch and AU$1,199 for the 13-inch model.

We’ve tested the new 2014 versions, and found their performance to be slightly improved. (Some have seen different results, owing to Apple using SSDs from multiple manufacturers in Airs, but our tests all fall in line with expectations from this small CPU uptick.) There’s certainly no reason to upgrade if you have last year’s MacBook Air. Instead, the price cut is the big news here, making this an even more viable option for midprice laptop shoppers.

While the lower price is a plus, the lack of significant performance improvement and the static physical design remind us that the Air is overdue for a more radical overhaul. Balancing out those two factors, our rating remains the same, and the remainder of this review is essentially unchanged from the 2013 version. Both the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Airs are still universally useful laptops that are largely frustration-free, but that also lack some of the latest bells and whistles (edge-to-edge glass, touchscreens, higher display resolutions) you may be looking for.

Like the 2013 Air, this model has an Intel Haswell-generation CPU, and also Intel’s improved HD5000 graphics. It’s still not anything like having a discrete GPU, as in the
15-inch Retina Pro
, but with game services such as Steam and EA’s Origin now being Mac-compatible, it may make some small inroads for OS X gaming.

The 2013 Air also added
802.11ac Wi-Fi
, a new standard that will slowing working its way into wireless routers, as well as Apple’s
AirPort Extreme
and
AirPort Time Capsule
hardware. If you have an 802.11n router, which is a much more likely scenario, this may not help you, but it’s a nice piece of future-proofing.

Battery life remains a big selling point, and when you consider the cost of the base model has come down from $1,199 to $999 in two years, the 13-inch MacBook Air is, despite not being the newest design on the block, still one of the most universally useful laptops you can buy.

PC Geekbox

	Apple MacBook Air (11-inch, 2014)	Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2014)	Lenovo Yoga 2 (13-inch)
Price as reviewed	$899	$999	$899
Display size/resolution	11.6-inch 1,366 x 768 screen	13.3-inch 1,440 x 900 screen	13.3-inch 1,920 x 1,080 touch screen
PC CPU	1.4GHz Intel Core i5 4260U	1.4GHz Intel Core i5 4260U	1.6GHz Intel Core i5 4200
PC Memory	4GB 1,600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM	4GB 1,600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM	4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz
Graphics	1,536MB (shared) Intel HD Graphics 5000	1,536MB (shared) Intel HD Graphics 5000	1,792MB (shared) Intel HD Graphics 4400
Storage	128GB SSD	128GB SSD	500GB+16GD SSHD
Optical drive	None	None	None
Networking	802.11a/c wireless, Bluetooth 4.0	802.11a/c wireless, Bluetooth 4.0	802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
Operating system	OSX 10.9.3 Mavericks	OSX 10.9.3 Mavericks	Windows 8.1 (64-bit)

Design and features

The MacBook Air keeps the same external look as the previous couple of generations, a look that still rivals the newest ultrabooks, although some systems, such as
Sony’s Vaio Pro line
, are getting thinner and lighter without sacrificing much in the way of productivity.

Both the 11-inch and 13-inch versions of the MacBook Air still have the same thickness, ranging from 0.11-inch to 0.68-inch. Spread over the larger footprint of the 13-inch chassis, the 13-inch version still feels satisfyingly thin.

As with previous versions, the rigid aluminum construction makes the Air feel sturdy enough to just throw it in a bag and carry it along with you without a protective case or sleeve, and it’s interesting to contrast the aluminum unibody construction here with the lighter carbon fiber in the aforementioned Vaio Pro. I’d still trust the Air and its unyielding lid more in a throw-in-your-luggage field test.

The backlit keyboard and trackpad are the same as on the previous models, and the trackpad especially remains the standard by which all others are judged. Many other laptop makers have moved to larger clickpad-style touchpads, but we have yet to find a touchpad that comes close to this for multitouch gestures. The pad is again hinged at the top, allowing the entire pad to click down, and we strongly suggest going into the Preferences menu and turning on all of the tapping options for further ease of use.

It will be interesting to see how Apple’s user interfaces develop in the face of both Windows 8, which tries (not always successfully) to reinvent the entire concept of working with a computer OS, and the upcoming
OS X Mavericks update
. For now, flicking around with three-and-four-finger gestures on the MacBook trackpad remains the most seamless way to swap between windows and applications, at least in my experience.

Unlike the 11-inch MacBook Air, the 13-inch screen is still not a 16:9 display. The screen area also lacks the edge-to-edge glass over a black bezel found in the MacBook Pro; instead the screen is, as in previous years, surrounded by a thick silver bezel.

On the positive side, the native resolution of the display is 1,440×900 pixels, which is slightly better than the 1,366×768 you find in many 13-inch laptops, although even midpriced models are quickly switching over to 1,600×900 or even 1,920×1,080, and premium systems are adding higher-than-HD displays.