Conclusion Get the lowdown
Features How it compares
Performance Real world benchmarks
Differences Technical showdown
Reviews Word on the street
Competition Others to consider
Discussion Answers and opinions

Full specs

Apple MacBook Air 3rd Gen

11.6"
Core 2 Duo 1.4 GHz Dual core
2 GB DDR3-1066
128 GB SSD

older Released September, 2011

I still can't wrap my mind around how thin and light this laptop is, and I love how I can't even feel its weight when it's in my backpack.

Rated 100% by by Eliot-Pooh (May, 2011)

Conclusion Check out the Apple MacBook Air 3rd Gen

Apple MacBook Air 3rd Gen

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga

ASUS G53 Series G53SX

76%

83%

81%

FeaturesView Details

32%

100%

30%

Popularity

30%

63%

82%

PerformanceView Details

90%

78%

ReviewsView Details

SortableScore

First reviewed December, 2011

Features Key features of the Apple MacBook Air 3rd Gen

1.4 GHz

Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400

I love the size and weight of this little guy.

Rated 100% by by David--Chismville (Dec, 2010)

screen size

MacBook Air 3rd Gen11.6"

G53 Series G53SX15.6"

ThinkPad X1 Carbon14"

Finally, one of the best thing I love about the Air is the full size keyboard and the higher quality screen which although does not adds to its performance but makes the Air very comfortable to work with compared to other small size notebooks.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by A.-Llamas--Aurora (Dec, 2010)

But even though it's small, the 11.6" display is crazy sharp and is surprisingly easy to read and write from.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by Andrew-the-Journalist (Apr, 2011)

screen resolution

Apple MacBook Air 3rd Gen

1366 x 768 resolution screen

MacBook Air 3rd Gen 1366 x 768 resolution screen

ASUS G53 Series G53SX

1920 x 1080 resolution screen

G53 Series G53SX 1920 x 1080 resolution screen

ASUS ZENBOOK UX32VD

1920 x 1080 resolution screen

ZENBOOK UX32VD 1920 x 1080 resolution screen

The only thing that made me hesitate a little were claims saying it wouldn't handle 1080p video that well but me for me it handles 1080p HD videos just perfectly.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by tyler (Feb, 2011)

The increased pixel density and the increased contrast makes the text much more readable.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by Paul-C.-Huang--Paul-Huang

cpu speed

0 GHz

Aspire S S73 GHz

MacBook Air 3rd Gen1.4 GHz

ThinkPad X1 Carbon2.6 GHz

3 GHz

The MacBook Air has a 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Dual Core), the original iPad has a 1GHz single core A4 chip (iPad 2 has a 1GHz dual core A5 chip).

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by Tanner-D.-Silva (Mar, 2011)

In short, this thing is darned snappy, even feels faster than my desktop with a higher clock speed.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by nomadhacker (Mar, 2011)

processor

Apple MacBook Air 3rd Gen

Dual core

MacBook Air 3rd Gen Dual core

ASUS G53 Series G53SX

Quad core

G53 Series G53SX Quad core

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

Single core

ThinkPad X1 Carbon Single core

I have a quad-core PC desktop at home and I just sold my i7 macbook pro.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by Alex-the-Ukrainian (Apr, 2011)

With the core 2 dual core processor and flash storage, the Air is quick.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by G.-Ware (Nov, 2010)

memory

0 GB

G53 Series G53SX12 GB

MacBook Air 3rd Gen2 GB

IdeaPad Yoga8 GB

20 GB

I bought the macbook air 13 inch with 4gb ram upgrade and all I have to say is this thing is amazingly fast at basically everything.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by tyler (Feb, 2011)

Better to select the Pro, where you can buy your own drive/RAM and save hundreds over Apple's configurations yet get superior performance and value.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by M.D.C.--The-Franchise

Performance Real world tests of Apple MacBook Air 3rd Gen

3DMark06 CPU

MacBook Air 3rd Gen1,192

ZENBOOK UX32VD7,459

G53 Series G53SX4,912.5

The performance is good enough, so I am unconcerned about benchmarks.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by Paul-C.-Huang--Paul-Huang

SPEED - The computer feels surprisingly snappy for the rather low-end processor speed.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by seraphicD (Oct, 2010)

cinebench r10 32Bit

MacBook Air 3rd Gen2,894.4

G53 Series G53SX13,680.9

IdeaPad Yoga8,516.7

While other parts of the machine are equally as fast, such as the graphics processor, solid state storage, and memory, the processor performance difference is not insignificant.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by Steve-H--books911 (Oct, 2010)

Computer speed is not solely dependent upon increasing processor speed.

MacBook Air 3rd Gen by Tom-A.-Schmitt--schmitta1573 (Oct, 2010)

Our analysis How does it stack up against its top 10 competitors

pros

Lots of l2 cache

3 MB (Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400)
Really fast internal storage

0.1 ms (SSD)
Light

1,040 g
Thin

17 mm
More processing cores

Dual core

cons

Sluggish turbo speed

None
Not much l3 cache

None
Isn't hyperthreaded
Somewhat limited amount of RAM

2 GB
Limited storage capacity

128 GB
Lacks a memory card reader

can't read a camera or phone memory card
Bad CPU benchmark score

11.45
Slow processor

1.4 GHz
Bad 3DMark06 CPU

1,192 (Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400)
Bad cinebench r10 32Bit

2,894.4 (Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400)
Fewer USB ports

2
Slower USB

57 MB/s (USB 2.0)

full specs

Reviews Word on the street

	Rated 89% by 199 users at amazon.com It is fast, it has a really good range of apps, and it is so small and so thin - she can easily get it into her handbag and uses it in cafés or on trains with no trouble. Rated 100% by by John-Everard (Apr, 2011) The SSD brings extremely fast boot up speeds, and just overall speed improvements. Rated 100% by by tar-heel (Mar, 2011) Finally, it's important to note that because of its compact construction you cannot upgrade the RAM, drive capacity, etc. later! Rated 100% by by Shoot-Me--The-Messenger (Feb, 2011)

Rated 89% by 199 users at amazon.com

It is fast, it has a really good range of apps, and it is so small and so thin - she can easily get it into her handbag and uses it in cafés or on trains with no trouble.

Rated 100% by by John-Everard (Apr, 2011)