Apple MacBook Air 13' Mid 2013 Haswell Review

Lisa Gade reviews the Apple MacBook Air 13" mid-2013 with 4th generation 1.7GHz Intel Core i7 Haswell CPU with Intel HD 5000 graphics. The 13.3" Air starts at $1,099 US with the 1.3GHz Core i5, 4 gigs of RAM and a 128 gig PCIe SSD drive. You can get it with 8 gigs of RAM and higher capacity SSD drives. It has a 1440 x 900 display, WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0 and a backit keyboard. It has the same design as the outgoing model.

[jalenpettus]

This machine practically saved me with school. I was able to get everything done and I had a great computer. Still saving me now

[mobiletechreview]

We'll have benchmarks in our full written review that will be up in a few days (we'll add the link to the video description). I'm not sure how soon we'll have Windows benchmarks since we're waiting on updated Bootcamp drivers. But the i7 should run Visual Studio fine.

[EtOHEtOH]

Yes! Getting a refurbished Core i7 with a 256GB SSD and 8GBs of RAM! I'm so excited :D

[mobiletechreview]

Yes you can use Bootcamp as soon as Apple updates Bootcamp for the Air (they usually do so within 2 weeks of a product launch).

[kamandor]

I purchased the 1.3 with 4GB RAM yesterday -- I have not had any slowdowns whatsoever with 4GB while performing usual tasks such as web-browsing, word processing, listening to music, Dropbox, chat, etc.

I am absolutely loving my new Air, highly recommend it. I got a solid 10+ hours of heavy use out of my very first full charge. I recharged it this afternoon, unplugged and having been using all evening and night and I still have 50% remaining. The amazing battery life changes how you use it.

[mobiletechreview]

Apps launch faster on the new Air because of the faster PCIe SSD drive. While it makes the machine feel peppy, it doesn't mean it's faster than the Retina for computing tasks.

[datalaforge]

You are a great reviewer. This was very informative. 

[ianwlouw]

I picked mine up yesterday and i cannot tell you in words just how happy i am with the purchase ! It is a great machine and the battery is phenomenal

[mobiletechreview]

The dual core i7 in the Air (and Haswell Sony Vaio Pro for that matter) doesn't generation more heat than the Core i5. It has little effect on battery life as well.

[mobiletechreview]

Yes, the base model would suffice for those tasks, but I'd still lean toward the i7 for $150 more for quicker Photoshop filters and faster sitewide updates in Dreamweaver.

[mobiletechreview]

Windows Ultrabooks tend to be $1, 000 to $1, 500 (with a few being more for the higher end configs). Last gen models get discounted somewhat of course. So the Air is actually priced similarly. Interestingly, the Air with a Core i7, 8 gigs of RAM and a 256 gig SSD is $1, 549, while the Sony Vaio Pro 13 with the same specs is $1, 799.

[mobiletechreview]

We will definitely do a comparison between the MBA 13 and Vaio Pro 13.

[TheConnectionError]

Good Job. Whenever I want to look at reviews for laptops and ultrabooks, your channel is always the best. Keep it Up!

[mobiletechreview]

Do you want light weight or a super screen?

[JerTheGeek]

I'm getting mine on Monday! Had the 11" but decided that I would enjoy more screen space. So excited!

[joseCalderon]

Guys and gals, currently (06/18/14) best buy has a sale and a deal for the current MBA model (early 2014) for college students. After the sale of $100 off to the normal public and adding the $150 off to college students, the price for the 13 inch base model (I5 128GB SSD and 4GB memory) the price would be $811(tax included). Cheers.

[mobiletechreview]

Battery life running Mac OS X is stellar as we noted in the video. With Windows, I wouldn't expect such stunning runtimes since Apple's Windows drivers aren't well optimized.

[mobiletechreview]

That's right, our Core i7 so far is lasting 12 hours for productivity use.

[mobiletechreview]

Yes, Diablo III is pretty demanding, though they did a good job of optimizing it for integrated graphics for the Mac OS X version.

[reluctantkitten]

Really appreciate this review... well done. You went through Diablo 3, video playback, and photoshop.. I don't think you could have made a more perfect review. Exactly what I was looking for.