The 13.3" MacBook Air Laptop Computer (Early 2015) from Apple is an ultraportable notebook computer with a thin and lightweight design. Apple's engineers have leveraged the lessons they learned in designing the miniaturized iPad and applied them to the design of this 2.96-pound computer.
To say that the Air is svelte is all at once stating the obvious and understating the truth. The system is defined by its unibody aluminum enclosure. At its thickest point the computer is only 0.68" -- it tapers down to 0.11" at its thinnest.
The system is loaded with 256GB of flash storage rather than an old-fashioned hard drive. Flash storage doesn't just give you a lighter, thinner computer. It also allows for impressive battery life -- up to 12 hours of web browsing and 30 days of standby time.
The MacBook Air is housed in an aluminum unibody enclosure, which is as strong as it is light. Because it is cut from a solid block of aluminum, the housing is stronger than those found on laptops built via traditional means.
At 13.3" in size, the 16:10 display features a native resolution of 1440 x 900. It features a glossy finish and LED backlight technology for enhanced image quality and energy efficiency.
Computers in the MacBook Air's weight class are most often classified in the "netbook" category. Netbooks typically feature less-than-full-size keyboards, cramped trackpads, and low-powered CPUs. Not so with the MacBook Air. This computer features a standard-size backlit chiclet keyboard, the same as on the larger computers in the MacBook line. It also has a large multi-touch glass trackpad, giving you full control over your computer -- without sacrificing ergonomics.
The computer is powered by a dual-core 5th-gen, low-voltage Broadwell 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5 processor and has 4GB of 1600 MHz LPDDR3 RAM. Graphics are provided by integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000. The computer features all the amenities you expect on a Mac -- a FaceTime HD webcam, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi (also compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0 and built-in stereo speakers.
The MacBook Air comes with a complete suite of digital creativity applications. iMovie will help you edit your home movies, iPhoto will organize digital photos, and GarageBand allows you to compose original music.
The Macbook Air also provides three apps to keep you productive. Pages allow you to make creative word documents. Numbers helps you make spreadsheets more visually insightful. Keynote allows you to create a powerful presentation, complete with animated charts, interactive tables with cinematic effects and transitions.
This MacBook Air comes preloaded with the user-friendly Mac OS X operating system. The Mac OS X features Time Machine backup, which automatically backs up system data to an external hard drive. It also features natural scrolling, the Launchpad application launcher and support for full screen applications. Mission Control combines the functionality of Dashboard, Exposé, and Spaces -- giving you a bird's eye view of everything that is happening on your computer.
The Auto Save feature on the MacBook Air ensures that you won't lose data, even when you forget to save a file. The OS tracks different versions of your documents, so you can go back to a previous draft of a document with ease. AirDrop makes it easy to transmit files wirelessly between computers, even if there is no central Wi-Fi network available. The revamped Mail application takes full advantage of modern widescreen displays.
And of course, you can expand the functionality of your computer system by browsing through the multitude of productivity applications, games, and other software that is available for purchase from the Mac App Store. Because the software in the store is curated by Apple, you can be sure that it is free of malware and safe to use. And, like the iOS App Store, you'll automatically be notified when updated versions of your favorite programs are available for download.
And Mail looks as great as it works. It makes full use of your display with a gorgeous widescreen view featuring a full-height message and a message list that includes snippets. With Conversations, messages from the same thread appear in an elegant timeline showing each communication as it was sent while hiding redundant text