On the left, there's one of these USB sockets, along with the Magsafe power connector and a headphone socket. Pressing the button doesn't feel like it's going very far, but that doesn't seem to a problem at all. This is something of a surprise in some ways, because the key travel isn't huge on this laptop. We found our typing rate and accuracy were much improved on the Mac. It might sound stupid, or a small point, but these two things have a huge impact on the usability of the laptop. The Dell has slightly squashed keys - it's a smaller laptop, because the screen ratio is different - while the Mac has a much longer wrist rest, and the trackpad is much taller. The first thing we noticed about the MacBook Air 13-inch is that, at least compared to the Dell XPS 13, it's a much nicer machine to type on. This is no doubt something to thank Apple for. Rumours are, Windows 8 will be a similar price for upgrades, but this is the first time Microsoft has sold its OS for such a reasonable price. Plus, even when the next update comes out, you won't need to cough up much more than £25 to upgrade. Everyone buying the new Air will get a voucher for the next version of OS X thrown in, so there's no need to wait for that operating system to go on sale to buy your Mac. Apple it seems, is starting for the first time ever, to look like a comparative bargain.Ĭost of ownership seems reasonable too. Certainly, all of the Ultrabooks worth owning cost at least this much, many of them come in at higher price points. We have to say that - while no one would say £1000 is cheap - for this kind of machine, with this kind of power, it's very reasonable.

You can opt to install 8GB in the Air, but you have to do it when you buy the machine there is no way to add RAM later. The Air is faster - it uses 1600mHz RAM, while the Dell uses 1333mHz although both have the same capacity. Compared to a Dell XPS 13, it's also pretty reasonable value for money. We tested a 13-inch 1.8GHz Core i5 model with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. The stuff you love about the old machine is still here, but this has to be the best Air ever. The new Air features lots of tweaks to the hardware, better graphics, faster RAM and more processor options. A tough task when there was nothing wrong with the last lot.īut technology does move on, things become easier, cheaper and more compact. This year then, it's got to fight to make its new generation of machines better.

The MacBook Air reached such impressive heights last year, with just about the best computer hardware on the market, and with more than enough features to keep even demanding users happy. (Pocket-lint) - To some extent, Apple has made a rod for its own back.

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