PC World recently pit the new MacBook Air 2010 refresh models against similarly priced laptops and found that both lagged considerably behind their competitors, like the Alienware M11x and HP Envy 14. On the plus side, “the 13-inch Air does have some advantages, though: it’s lighter, lasts longer on a single charge (6-plus hours compared with the Envy 14’s 4.5), and comes with 128GB of flash storage (upgrading the Envy 14 to a 256GB solid-state hard drive, the only SSD choice that HP offers, costs $525).” Continue reading for video reviews of both models. Click here for the first picture in the gallery.
But this much seems clear from our testing: If you want a reasonable amount of performance in a small package and you don’t mind paying for it, the Air’s a good choice. If you’ve got around $1200 to spend and speed is your biggest priority, look to a Windows 7 machine instead.
[via PCWorld – Macworld – Arstechnica]