Or even between Haswell and Ivy Bridge, except for that ridiculous battery life.When it first launched we were highly sceptical of the MacBook Air, as it was underpowered and over styled. Since they both run the same 1.3GHz Core i5 Haswell processor with 4GB of RAM, there’s no obvious difference between sizes, either. But it's basically identical in everyday use - it's fast and smooth, though there's the occasional stutter and scrolling jump - and nearly equal in GeekBench scores as well (6,113 on the current model). Performance is otherwise roughly what I expected - very slightly better gaming and graphics performance, and better compatibility with the latest Wi-Fi standards thanks to a small upgrade from Apple. Both are class-leading numbers, except when compared to the larger Air and its astonishing 13-plus hours of longevity. In Chrome, that number was 8 hours, 51 minutes. I got 10 hours, 23 minutes on the Verge Battery Test, which cycles through popular websites and high-res images at 65 percent brightness, while in Safari. Of course, at 0.68 inches thick (the same as the 11-inch) and 2.96 pounds, the large model isn’t exactly my old E1505.Ĭlass-leading battery life, but Apple already broke that curveĮven battery life is great without being quite as good as the larger Air. And it is small, noticeably more so than the 13-inch Air. That’s its advantage, really its sole reason for existence - it’s small. The 11-inch Air weighs six-tenths of a pound less than the 13-inch model, and would fit inside the larger machine with an inch or so to spare on either side. I still love the wedge design, and there are few things I’d like Apple to change about the Air’s hardware. (I can’t say I had a problem with audio before, but the new setup does cancel out ambient noise impressively well.) For all intents and purposes the 11-inch model looks the same as always, with black keys and accents on a silver body.

The one miniscule change is the same between models: there’s a second microphone on the left edge, designed for noise cancellation. As Nilay mentioned in his review of the larger model, there’s really nothing aesthetically new with the latest Air.

Apple macbook 11 inch