Specifications
Processor: Dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-5250U, RAM: 4GB, Size: 325x227x17mm, Weight: 1.4kg, Screen size: 13.3in, Screen resolution: 1,440x900, Graphics adaptor: Intel HD Graphics 6000, Total storage: 256GB SSD
The 13-inch MacBook Air hasn’t changed a lot in the last few years, with only a processor swap really defining each subsequent model. While it's possible to argue that changing a winning formula is foolish, the market has become more competitive than ever, and a laptop costing a hair under £1,000 really has to prove its worth.
The keyboard is unchanged from last year’s model, keeping the same
black, island-style keys. Response is lively and there’s a reasonable
amount of travel. As always, Apple has managed to provide one of the
best laptop keyboards there is, and it’s easy to type quickly and fast
with this laptop.
The touchpad is also unchanged, meaning it doesn’t benefit from Apple’s new Force Touch hardware. That’s not to say the old touchpad is bad; it’s still incredibly responsive and is as yet unmatched by even the best touchpads on Windows-based laptops, but we’d have liked the new technology here.
As with last year’s model, you get the best in wireless with 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4. There’s no Ethernet port, although you can buy a Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adaptor for £25 of a USB3 adaptor for £17 if you need to connect to a wired network.
Other than wired networking you get all the ports you’d expect from
an ultraportable laptop, with two USB3 ports, a 3.5mm headset jack, SDXC
card reader and a Thunderbolt 2 port. Thunderbolt 2 is new for 2015,
with 20GBps of bandwidth available to devices instead of 10GBps. This is
enough to work with 4K video files from an external hard disk, but if
you have such enormous performance demands the more powerful MacBook Pro
makes more sense.
The fifth-generation Broadwell processors are all incredibly power efficient. The MacBook Air lasted an incredible 16h 34m when scrolling through a web page and playing a 10-minute HD video every half hour. If you don’t always have ready access to a charger, this is one perk that’s hard to replicate with the MacBook Pro.
Gaming performance is fairly capable, with the integrated Intel HD Graphics 6000 producing an average frame rate of 27fps in our 1,280x720 Dirt Showdown benchmark. If you’re happy to turn down your graphics settings and resolution, light gaming is well within the MacBook Air's reach.
The model we had on test was a little short of RAM; 4GB of LPDDR3 SDRAM is the minimum we’d expect from a laptop costing this much, and you may find yourself running low if you have lots of browser tabs, documents and emails on the go all at once. You can upgrade to 8GB at purchase for £80, but the RAM is soldered onto the board so you can't add more later. Once you've made a choice you'll need to stick with it.
This year, Apple claims to have doubled the performance of its flash storage. To check its claims, we ran the Blackmagic SSD benchmark on our machine and compared it to the 2013 Air, which has the same SSD as last year’s model. Indeed, write speeds were significantly higher at 1,216Mbps compared to 630Mbps and read speeds were clocked at 1,400Mbps over last year's 715Mbps.
The new Split View mode makes it easy to place two apps side-by-side, such as using Messages while browsing in Safari, and extra horizontal screen real estate here would have made things much more comfortable. If multitasking is going to be a big priority, the MacBook Pro's generous screen will be better placed to take advantage of El Capitan. There's now also the new 2015 model MacBook, which similarly has a much higher resolution screen and a brilliant design.
The 13-inch MacBook Air hasn’t changed a lot in the last few years, with only a processor swap really defining each subsequent model. While it's possible to argue that changing a winning formula is foolish, the market has become more competitive than ever, and a laptop costing a hair under £1,000 really has to prove its worth.
DESIGN AND BUILD
Keeping the chassis design the same is one piece of consistency we can't really complain about. The aluminium shell is as light (1.4kg) and as thin (17mm) as ever, and this is a large part of what makes the MacBook Air such a desirable laptop. The tapering edges make the front end just a couple of millimetres thick, making it a genuinely attractive and impressive piece of kit. The touchpad is also unchanged, meaning it doesn’t benefit from Apple’s new Force Touch hardware. That’s not to say the old touchpad is bad; it’s still incredibly responsive and is as yet unmatched by even the best touchpads on Windows-based laptops, but we’d have liked the new technology here.
As with last year’s model, you get the best in wireless with 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4. There’s no Ethernet port, although you can buy a Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adaptor for £25 of a USB3 adaptor for £17 if you need to connect to a wired network.
PERFORMANCE & BATTERY LIFE
Don’t be mistaken, though, the 2015 13in MacBook Air is no slouch. It has a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-5250U processor, which while not exactly potent, is still able to carry you through modest tasks with relative ease. Web browsing, document editing and light photo editing certainly aren’t beyond the reach of this machine, although the latter will be a trifle slower if you’re working with large images. We recorded results of 72, 49 and 33 in our image editing, video conversion and multitasking benchmarks respectively, with an overall score of 45. If you want a bit more performance, the 2.2GHz Core i7 chip costs an extra £130.The fifth-generation Broadwell processors are all incredibly power efficient. The MacBook Air lasted an incredible 16h 34m when scrolling through a web page and playing a 10-minute HD video every half hour. If you don’t always have ready access to a charger, this is one perk that’s hard to replicate with the MacBook Pro.
Gaming performance is fairly capable, with the integrated Intel HD Graphics 6000 producing an average frame rate of 27fps in our 1,280x720 Dirt Showdown benchmark. If you’re happy to turn down your graphics settings and resolution, light gaming is well within the MacBook Air's reach.
The model we had on test was a little short of RAM; 4GB of LPDDR3 SDRAM is the minimum we’d expect from a laptop costing this much, and you may find yourself running low if you have lots of browser tabs, documents and emails on the go all at once. You can upgrade to 8GB at purchase for £80, but the RAM is soldered onto the board so you can't add more later. Once you've made a choice you'll need to stick with it.
Storage, Display and Conclusion
STORAGE
The £849 base model gets 128GB of PCI-E solid-state storage, while our unit had 256GB. This should be enough for most, but if you work with big files you might be tempted to shell out on the 512GB option (an extra £249), or buy a Thunderbolt hard disk.This year, Apple claims to have doubled the performance of its flash storage. To check its claims, we ran the Blackmagic SSD benchmark on our machine and compared it to the 2013 Air, which has the same SSD as last year’s model. Indeed, write speeds were significantly higher at 1,216Mbps compared to 630Mbps and read speeds were clocked at 1,400Mbps over last year's 715Mbps.
DISPLAY
The MacBook Air's display was showing its age in 2014, yet here we are a year later, still subjected to a1,440x900 pixel TFT panel with poor viewing angles, low 683:1 contrast, poor colour coverage (70.2% of the sRGB colour gamut) and motion blur when scrolling through documents. It’s bitterly disappointing to see no improvement, especially when you consider the £999 MacBook Pro with Retina display has a 2,560x1,600 panel with great performance. At least the screen on the Air is bright at a little over 300cd/m2, but that’s about its only saving grace.CONCLUSION
Given that the entry level MacBook Pro with Retina Display is just £150 more than the basic MacBook Air, the Air finds itself in an awkward position. It can still hold its own, though: the extra battery life compared to the MacBook Pro is a genuinely tempting prospect, as is the 200g difference in weight. We just wish the screen was better: 1,440x900 pixels in 2015 simply isn't enough. This will especially be the case later this year when the El Capitan OS X update arrives, bringing some welcome changes to the operating system. One of which, Split View, will leave the MacBook Air's 1,440x900 resolution display feeling a little cramped.The new Split View mode makes it easy to place two apps side-by-side, such as using Messages while browsing in Safari, and extra horizontal screen real estate here would have made things much more comfortable. If multitasking is going to be a big priority, the MacBook Pro's generous screen will be better placed to take advantage of El Capitan. There's now also the new 2015 model MacBook, which similarly has a much higher resolution screen and a brilliant design.
| Core specs | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-5250U |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Memory slots (free) | Soldered memory |
| Max memory | 8GB |
| Size | 325x227x17mm |
| Weight | 1.4kg |
| Sound | Cirrus Logic 4208-CRZ (3.5mm headset jack) |
| Pointing device | Touchpad |
| Display | |
| Screen size | 13.3in |
| Screen resolution | 1,440x900 |
| Touchscreen | No |
| Graphics adaptor | Intel HD Graphics 6000 |
| Graphics outputs | Thunderbolt 2 |
| Graphics memory | Shared |
| Storage | |
| Total storage | 256GB SSD |
| Optical drive type | None |
| Ports and expansion | |
| USB ports | 2x USB3 |
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| Networking | 802.11ac Wi-Fi |
| Memory card reader | SDXC |
| Other ports | 1x Thunderbolt 2 |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Operating system | Mac OS X Yosemite |
| Operating system restore option | Restore partition |
| Buying information | |
| Parts and labour warranty | One year RTB |
| Price inc VAT | £999 |
| Details | www.apple.com |
| Supplier | www.apple.com |
| Part number | MJVG2B |
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