Executive Laptop winner
Apple MacBook Air 13in (2011)
Verdict
A sensational piece of laptop engineering, now boosted by a Sandy Bridge turn of speed to create the ultimate executive laptop
Review Date: 29 Jul 2011
Price when reviewed: £1124
Overall Rating
Alternative products
Sony VAIO Z Series (2011)
A bold, uncompromising redesign and stratospheric price makes for a truly unique ultraportable
Apple MacBook Air 11in (2011)
Ultrathin, effortlessly elegant, and now with genuine power, Apple has fixed most of the flaws in its little marvel
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Comparison
| Product |
Sony VAIO Z Series
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Apple MacBook Air 11in (2011)
|
Apple MacBook Air 13in (2011)
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| Details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part Code | VPCZ21M9E | MacBook Air 11in (2011) | MacBook Air 13in (2011) |
| Review Date | 1 Jul 2011 | 28 Jul 2011 | 29 Jul 2011 |
| Price ex VAT | £1,699 | £833 | £1,124 |
| Price inc VAT | £2,039 | £1,000 | £1,349 |
| Overall rating |
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| Features & Design |
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| Value for Money |
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| Performance |
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| Warranty | |||
| Warranty | 2yr collect and return | 1 yr return to base | |
| Physical specifications | |||
| Dimensions | 330 x 210 x 17mm (WDH) | 300 x 192 x 17mm (WDH) | 325 x 227 x 17mm (WDH) |
| Weight | 1.150kg | 1.080kg | 1.350kg |
| Travelling weight | 1.5kg | ||
| Processor and memory | |||
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2410M | Intel Core i5-2467M | Intel Core i5-2557M |
| Motherboard chipset | Intel HM67 Express | ||
| RAM capacity | 4.00GB | 4.00GB | 4.00GB |
| Memory type | DDR3 | DDR3 | DDR3 |
| SODIMM sockets free | 0 | 0 | |
| SODIMM sockets total | 2 | 1 | |
| Screen and video | |||
| Screen size | 13.1in | 11.6in | 13.3in |
| Resolution screen horizontal | 1,600 | 1,366 | 1,440 |
| Resolution screen vertical | 900 | 768 | 900 |
| Resolution | 1600 x 900 | 1366 x 768 | 1440 x 900 |
| Graphics chipset | Intel HD Graphics 3000 / AMD Radeon HD 6650M | Intel HD Graphics 3000 | Intel HD Graphics 3000 |
| VGA (D-SUB) outputs | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| HDMI outputs | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| S-Video outputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DVI-I outputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DVI-D outputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DisplayPort outputs | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Drives | |||
| Capacity | 128GB | 128GB | 256GB |
| Hard disk usable capacity | 119GB | ||
| Spindle speed | N/A | N/A | |
| Internal disk interface | SATA/300 | ||
| Optical disc technology | External DVD writer | N/A | N/A |
| Optical drive | None | none | |
| Battery capacity | 4,000mAh | ||
| Replacement battery price inc VAT | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Networking | |||
| Wired adapter speed | 1,000Mbits/sec | N/A | N/A |
| 802.11a support |
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| 802.11b support |
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| 802.11g support |
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| 802.11 draft-n support |
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| Integrated 3G adapter |
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| Bluetooth support |
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| Other Features | |||
| Wireless hardware on/off switch |
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| Wireless key-combination switch |
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| Modem |
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| ExpressCard34 slots | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ExpressCard54 slots | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PC Card slots | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| USB ports (downstream) | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| FireWire ports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PS/2 mouse port |
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| 9-pin serial ports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Parallel ports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Optical S/PDIF audio output ports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Electrical S/PDIF audio ports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3.5mm audio jacks | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| SD card reader |
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| Memory Stick reader |
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| MMC (multimedia card) reader |
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| Smart Media reader |
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| Compact Flash reader |
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| xD-card reader |
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| Pointing device type | Touchpad | Multitouch touchpad | Multitouch touchpad |
| Audio chipset | Realtek HD Audio | ||
| Speaker location | Underside | Behind keyboard | Behind keyboard |
| Hardware volume control? |
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| Integrated microphone? |
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| Integrated webcam? |
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| Camera megapixel rating | 1.3mp | ||
| TPM |
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| Fingerprint reader |
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| Smartcard reader |
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| Carry case |
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| Operating system and software | |||
| Operating system | Windows 7 Professional 64-bit | OS X Lion | OS X Lion |
| OS family | Windows 7 | Mac OS X | Mac OS X |
| Recovery method | Recovery partition | ||
| Software supplied | N/A | ||
| Battery and performance tests | |||
| Battery life, light use | 7hr 48min | 6hr 59min | 8hr 13min |
| Battery life, heavy use | 1hr 32min | ||
| 3D performance (crysis) low settings | 32fps | 31fps | 30fps |
| 3D performance setting | Low | Low | Low |
| Overall Real World Benchmark score | 0.66 | 0.56 | 0.58 |
| Responsiveness score | 0.82 | 0.73 | 0.75 |
| Media score | 0.67 | 0.56 | 0.58 |
| Multitasking score | 0.50 | 0.38 | 0.41 |
Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk