Apple 13-in. MacBook Air: Style and speed

I'm not going to hem and haw: As far as I'm concerned, Apple's new 13-in. MacBook Air is just about perfect.

Usually, when I'm reviewing laptops, I wind up with a variety of caveats that weed out potential buyers for whatever I have in hand. The screen isn't big enough. There's not enough RAM. The processor is outdated. The keyboard is spongy.

I'm having a tough time finding similar flaws in the new Air, which Apple rolled out last month when it released OS X 10.7, better known as Lion. Part of what makes the Air such a great little laptop is Lion. Part of it is the hardware itself. Put those two pieces together and you have a solid nexus of modern OS and top-notch hardware that makes this laptop a real pleasure to use.

And I'm saying this as someone who always -- always -- defaults to a larger screen, aiming for as much high-resolution real estate as I can get. Preferably with the fastest processor available. (Right now, my personal laptop of choice is the top-of-the-line 17-in. MacBook Pro.)

Still, I find myself realizing I'd be fine with the 13-in. MacBook Air I've been using for a couple of weeks now. And as someone who had one of the first-generation Airs, all I can say is: Ain't evolution grand?

The new Air -- I reviewed the larger, $1,299 model -- is cutting-edge stylish, lightweight (less than 3 pounds), speedy (almost twice as fast as its immediate predecessor, thanks to a Core i5 Sandy Bridge chip), well-built (aluminum unibody construction), and a showcase for the new Lion OS. I'm already a huge fan of full-screen apps and swiping back and forth between desktop spaces using Mission Control gestures . With the Air, Apple's melding of desktop OS and mobile iOS really shines.

As a friend noted, "It's like having an iPad with a keyboard."

The Air lineup

There are four models in the Air lineup: Two feature an 11.6-in screen, and two come with a 13.3-in. screen like the Air I'm using now.

Prices start at $999 for the 11.6-in. model with 64GB of storage and 2GB of RAM. If you want a really lightweight, netbook-like laptop, then this is your model. I find the screen size too small, even though the resolution is 1366 x 768 pixels. It's too much like looking through a mail slot.

Because Apple has killed off the old white plastic MacBook, this is now the entry-level model for Apple laptops. If you can live with the screen and limited storage, it's a good choice. Do yourself a favor, though, and bump up the RAM from 2GB to 4GB. (You can't install extra RAM yourself so you have to do this when you buy.) That adds $100 to the cost and edges you closer to the $1,199 model, which includes 4GB of RAM and comes with 128GB of storage.

Fastest Usb Flash Drive - News


(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

If you share my bizarre love for flash drives (or, more likely, you just need extra mobile storage), here's one mighty fine deal: Newegg has the Corsair CMFVY3 16GB USB 3.0 flash drive for $14.29 shipped. That's after applying coupon code EMCKCHH22 at



Apple 13-in. MacBook Air: Style and speed

an external monitor, a hard drive -- or all three. (You can daisy-chain up to six peripherals using the lone Thunderbolt port on the Air.) And it's fast: Double the speed of USB 3.0, Thunderbolt offers up to 10Gbps of data I/O per channel.



Alienware M11x R3
Alienware M11x R3

On the right side are two USB 3.0 ports, two headphone jacks, and a microphone jack. We still say there's room for an optical drive here. That said, the M11x R3 has more than enough power to handle most typical media-crunching tasks.



Reviewed: SanDisk Ultra 8GB flash drive

For a bit more protection other than the standard 'lock' function, the installed SanDisk SecureAccess software also allows the user to store private files in a password-protected and encrypted vault on the USB flash drive. The password protection uses



Ways to cut costs of international phone calls

Something has hijacked my 8-gigabyte USB flash drive, and now my computer cannot recognize or open it. I have tried inserting the drive into other computers, and they also cannot read it, so I know it's not a computer problem. What is the fastest and




Buy Corsair 64 GB Flash Voyager GTR USB 2.0 Flash Drive ...

>>>> Only $116.99 Best Buy Flash Voyager GTR 64GB has it all; Speed, Capacity, Reliability and Convenience. Why wait as you write or read files? With minimum write speeds of 28MB/second, copy your biggest files quickly without waiting. Large 64GB capacity gives you ample room to store up to 300 hours of MPEG-4 movies, or 16,000 MP3 music files or 19,000 six-megapixel pictures. Its durable rubber housing is water resistant and shock-proof, giving you comfort in transporting your files. At nearly 75% smaller than a typical USB hard disk drive, the Flash Voyager 64GB GTR is the most convenient way to transport all your data. See why Flash Voyager GTR 64GB is the fastest, and the most convenient USB Flash Drive.

Ultra-fast: With the Flash Voyager GTR you can Read at 34MB per second and Write files faster with a 28MB per second Durable: No moving parts, shock-proof rubberized housing, and water resistant housing. Convenient: Just plug and go! Ample storage, fast performance for all your storage needs. Compatible: Works with Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux operating systems without the need to install drivers. Backed by Corsair: A respected name with a passion for quality products, and great service and support. Comes with a limited 10 year warranty.


Fastest Usb Flash Drive - Bookshelf

Building the Perfect PC

Building the Perfect PC

The fastest USB flash drives use memory fast enough to sustain USB 2.0 transfer rates (about 25 to 30 MB/s) for both reads and writes. ...

Maximum PC

Maximum PC

VERBATIM The fastest USB 2.0 flash drive we have tested thus far. Tiny yet rugged design. If you are to lose any part of the unit, it will likely to be the ...

PC magazine, the independent guide to IBM-standard personal computing

PC magazine, the independent guide to IBM-standard personal computing

You can pick up a basic 8MB flash drive for $10 at almost any office supply ... U3 flash drives, and small hard drives, all of which use USB 2.0 for fast ...

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, Illustrated Brief

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, Illustrated Brief

One of the fastest ways to move a file is with drag and drop (which uses a ... Attach your USB flash drive to your computer and wait for its icon to appear ...

Microsoft Windows Vista Unveiled

Microsoft Windows Vista Unveiled

Figure 5.2 If you insert a USB Flash drive into your system, SuperFetch can ... That's because most Flash drives contain both fast and slow Flash memory, ...

Everyday Report Directory


What is the fastest Flash Drive? - Flash-Media - Storage
Why is it so hard to find tech specs on actuall transfer rates for Thumb Drives? Everyone Claims "High Performance" "The Fastest" etc, etc. Also, ...

Fastest Usb Drive-Fastest Usb Drive Manufacturers, Suppliers ...
Choose Quality Fastest Usb Drive Manufacturers, Suppliers, Exporters at Alibaba.com. ... Related Searches: fastest usb flash drive 8gb, fastest 16gb flash drive View all ...

2011 Fastest Swivel Usb Flash Drive-2011 Fastest Swivel Usb ...
Choose Quality 2011 Fastest Swivel Usb Flash Drive Manufacturers, ... Home > Showroom > Search : 2011 fastest swivel usb flash drive 208 Products ...

Which one is the Fastest USB Flash Drive 2010
The plug and play facility provided by USB flash drives is their USP. Only the ones who have carried around tons of floppies in the early computing ...

Fastest usb flash drives - Flash-Media - Storage
Hello, if my flash drive is not usb,U3, can i still add a small browser?