Apple MacBook Air review (13-inch, mid 2011)

ThisIsMyNext: "The original MacBook Air was more of a status symbol than a computer. Sure, it was a functional laptop that could glide into a manila envelope, but the $1,799 laptop was, by and large, a secondary machine — it trailed behind other ultraportables in performance, lacked some essential ports (it only had one USB port and there was no SD card slot), and packed a small and slow hard drive. For most, the sacrifices were just too many to justify for the high price. If I think back, they were actually pretty rare to see out and about, and when I would spot one, I can remember thinking “that guy must have a nice car, too.

The Air is now stuffed with a fresh dual-core Core i5 processor (there’s an i7 option too), a glowing keyboard, and a new Thunderbolt port. And it boots Apple’s brand new Mac OS X Lion (10.7), which we’ve already deemed pretty great. Yes, it physically looks the same and those may seem like just minor spec updates, but the additions change a heck of a lot more than you’d think. Read on after the break for my full review."