Prepare yourself for a fun filled day riddled with Apple product launches. After botching the new MacBook Air release date last week, we’re back for redemption. The new 11-inch MacBook Air is now live in the Apple Store for £849 (inc VAT) and comes standard with a 1.6 GHz Core i5 processor, 2GB of memory and 64GB of flash storage. Ready for the full scoop? Let’s begin.
It should come as no surprise the the new 11-inch MacBook Air ships with OS X Lion. Cosmetically the 2011 MacBook Air remains unchanged in height, still ranging between 0.3 and 1.7 cm. Width has increased a every so slightly, up from 29.95 cm to 30 cm while depth is still 19.2 cm. The weight of the 11-inch model is now 1.08 kg, up from 1.06 kg and battery life is rated at up to five hours.
Flip open the lid of the 11-inch MacBook Air and you’ll be greeted with a new backlit keyboard which features built-in sensors that detect changes in the ambient lighting, adjusting both keyboard and display brightness automatically. Like the rumors suggested, Apple has included a single high-speed Thunderbolt I/O port which pairs nicely with the new Thunderbolt display (also announced today).
Now it’s time for the meat and potatoes of the 2011 MacBook Air refresh, the processors. Both 11-inch models comes standard with 1.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 chips with 3MB shared L3 cache. An optional dual-core 1.8 GHz Intel Core i7 with 4MB shared L3 cache is available for built-to order (BTO) units. One subtle, yet extremely important change is that the £999 model comes standard with 4GB of memory. The previous generation only offered 4GB as an upgrade in BTO units.
Leading into today’s release, word on the street was 128GB of storage and 4GB of memory were standard configurations so you can understand our surprise when we saw the baseline 11-inch £849 model offers the same 2GB/64GB as its predecessor. The only difference is that instead of 1066MHz DDR3 memory, the new models use 1333MHz. A second shocker was the lack of a FaceTime HD camera which might be due to the change from Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics to Intel HD graphics 3000.
One tidbit of technical detail which seems to have flown under the radar in other coverage is the 2011 models features Bluetooth 4.0 and not Bluetooth 2.1+EDR like the previous generation. Wi-Fi connectivity remains compatible with standard 802.11a/b/g/n and the 11.6-inch high-resolution LED-backlit glossy widescreen display is still perfectly crisp with its native 1366 by 768 pixel resolution.
Both 11-inch MacBook Airs are listed as in stock and dispatched within 24 hours. If you’ve been patiently holding off on purchasing a MacBook Air, it’s officially go time so have at it. Anyone else placing an order today?
Out Now | Apple | £849 and up
