Excellent device in almost every way!

The processor is indeed only 1.3GHz. clocked, can at need but be overclocked to 2.6GHz via Turbo Boost. Despite everything, the device is a bit slower (to 5%) as the pre-production model. However, this is in view of the total battery life to get over (pre-production model only 7 hrs.).

The SSD storage almost reminiscent of a superfast RAID solution. Read about 700MB and 500MB write good. Because normal SSD does not come with. Made possible by the PCI 2.0 port to which the storage is attached. Normal SSD are otherwise only connected to SATA3 and reach a maximum of 500 MB / s. (Read).

The screen dissolves only 1440 * 900. An under-Average number of resolution for such a high-priced device. A half star goes for flutes dear Apple :-)

After all, the resolution goes well with the HD5000 graphics unit, because that is really fast for an integrated graphics chip. Well, current 3D Kracher run only in low details but otherwise, the graphics unit much represent. In 3DMark 06 6000 points in combination with the low-power 1.3 GHz processor are really fantastic.

The feel is outstanding. A big test portal for notebooks criticized the declining quality of the housing. I could not tell which. The device is absolutely verwundungssteif. Under pressure it insensitive. Only the housing warps with extreme temperature fluctuations, so that can tilt the device on the table minimum. The hinges are a little too light for my taste. Otherwise, the gripe is of the highest level!

The biggest point of criticism is, however, as with all Apple devices, the high temperatures inside. Under Prime95 (Full load) the CPU temperature reaches 98 degrees !!! after 10 min.

Guilt is to discreetly set fan control of Apple. The fan turns on only when the unit reaches 100 degrees CPU brand. If you consider that the i5 Haswell should be switched off at 100 degrees, then this is definitely too high.

Update 02:07:13: Temperatures to fast even at "half-way" graphics-intensive games at once on the 100 degree mark. Once the Grafkieinheit working temperature there technically is no stopping. The processor responds after a few minutes with a halbigen shutdown (Throtting). On top of the hate Well processor hotter, as its predecessor, with Ivy Bridge. I can fully confirm. 1 star withdrew.

Conclusion: The MacBook Air does have a lot of computing power, but this power is not permanent retrievable because relatively quickly using the Throtting. It is definitely a device for word processing, Internet and a bit more. If this is the case, then you will be happy with the part :-)

So what remains? A great device that will hopefully last many years. 3.5 of 5 stars are fair.