Testing the MacBook Air 13 "mid-2012 1.8 GHz Core i5 - II

Then comes the resistance tests of the battery on a machine that sees its performance increase. It turns out that we find the values promised by Apple with its 7 am in the best case (in consultation Wi-Fi 25 sites popular with the screen at 50%, says the Apple).

We conducted three tests of independence; each was repeated at least two times to generate an average. The battery had been previously emptied and reloaded block to be calibrated.

The first test is to play a movie HD (1080p H.264 MKV with VLC, brightness at 80% and 50%) maintaining open mail under the mail and Wi-Fi every minute. The MacBook Air has held 5 h 20 m, this is one twenty more than the previous 13 "Core i7.

The second test uses Safari and iTunes, the first reload every 30 seconds our homepage (with Flash installed), while iTunes plays AAC 320 Kbps loop. Brightness and remain on the settings of the first test. The machine is off after 7 h 15 min. This is again an hour and twenty minutes better than the old 13 ".

Finally, we made calibrated least one test, but may give an idea of a fairly standard use of the laptop. He was to work with Wi-Fi open Mail and falling every minute, iA Writer for writing texts, Dropbox syncing from time to time our backup of the document and Twitter, Address Book and iCal open in the background Plan. The brightness was 80%. The battery is empty after exactly 6 hours, the fan was inaudible and the base of the laptop barely heated and often remained cold.

General Considerations

If one asks the question of what gives the screen readability outdoors, this is the result under a cloudy sky. With a brightness of 80% to 100% (as here in the photo, click to enlarge) the content is legible despite reflections. Other small improvements are worth mentioning. For example the webcam that switches to 720p. The sharpness has improved, but where the previous one gave you a little rosy, the new gives you a light tan of the season. Progress is not uniform (but paradoxically, this webcam provides better results than that fitted to the MacBook Pro Retina ...). Like previous generations of MacBook Air 13 ", two speakers are present, and its we felt better on the bass, it is generally less twangy. Not enough to compete with the MacBook Pro 15 ", but there is progress. Other things are immutable since the beginning of the MBA: no standby indicator, no outward indication of the rate of battery charge, and if you need to reinstall Leo, it must be done online or buy the USB dongle sold 59 € (or are preparing to advance your own installation key with the French Lion DiskMaker donationware).

[UPDATE]: we also recall the existence of this utility from Apple.

Conclusion

The price of this second MacBook Air 13 "has increased. If we stick to the basic configuration to 4 GB, it costs 50 € more than its predecessor (the 13" entry level, remained at the same rate, and the second 11 "). In principle we would have appreciated price stability, even if the machine is moving very well. Almost everything has improved a (serious) notch: a faster processor, a much swifter SSD, USB 3, which finally complete a Thunderbolt peripherals still expensive, battery life up, more effective ventilation and those little things are the multitouch trackpad and illuminated keyboard, both still very pleasant to use.

While Intel is trying to establish a framework for the family of ultraportable PC with its concept of Ultrabooks, the Apple machine that inspired the name, continues its momentum from there are already four and a half years! The MacBook Air 13 "is not given, but it appears this version with consistent quality and a good level. His progress will probably not sufficient to justify replacing a 2011 model, but for those who are the MacBook Pro 13 "too heavy (700 g more), this MacBook Air 13" has a lot of points in its favor.