Power up your ‘Book until the desktop appears on the external display and then close the lid. To used closed lid mode, your ‘Book must be plugged into the AC adapter and connected to an external display and a USB or Bluetooth mouse and keyboard (you might also want to consider external speakers). Cost to have Apple replace the 37 Watt-hour battery out of warranty is $129.Ĭlosed Lid Mode: All Intel ‘Books support “lid closed” (or clamshell) mode, which leaves the built-in display off and dedicates all video RAM to an external display. Like the iPad and iPhone, it does not have an easily replaceable battery. The MacBook Air has an 18-bit glossy display (not the 24 bits you might expect). And there’s no built-in ethernet port if you need ethernet, Apple sells a USB ethernet adapter for $29. There is no FireWire port, but that’s far less necessary with USB 3 and Thunderbolt. You can double system memory to 8 GB for $100 more.Ī few things are missing: The MBA has no built-in optical drive, but you can add an external USB 2.0 SuperDrive for $79. And the keyboard is backlit so you can see the keys in even the darkest setting.Īpple offers a number of build-to-order options for the better model: Upgrade to a 2.0 GHz Core i7 CPU for $150, choose a 512 GB SSD for an extra $300. The native screen resolution remains 1366 x 768. There’s also a 720p FaceTime HD webcam, and the 2013 MBA now includes two microphones for improved sound pickup. (No Thunderbolt 2 for the MBA that’s still reserved for the 2013 Mac Pro, due later this year.) Apple uses the same port for USB 2.0 and 3 to simplify things, while the standard in the PC world is separate ports for each protocol.

USB 3 is over 10x as fast as USB 2.0 and has half the bandwidth of Thunderbolt, which is also included. Like the Mid 2012 MacBook Air, the Mid 2013 version includes built-in USB 3 support. On the WiFi front, these are the first MBAs with 802.11ac wireless support, which is up to 3x as fast as 802.11n and also offers extended range.Īpple hasn’t forgotten performance – the SSDs used this year are up to 40% faster than those in last year’s MBA and about 9x as fast as a typical 5400 rpm notebook hard drive. The new 1.3 GHz i5 edges past the old 1.8 GHz i5 on Geekbench 6632 to 6617, and the new 1.7 GHz i7 bests last year’s 2.0 GHz i7 8176 to 7509. You may wonder how performance compares with last year’s MacBook Air. And with Power Nap, the 2013 MacBook Air can receive email even when it’s asleep. And if you don’t use your MBA regularly, it has 30 days of standby power.īuilt around 4th-generation low-power Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, the Mid 2013 MBA has Intel HD Graphics 5000, a significant step forward from 4000 with up to 40% faster graphics. The 13″ model is now rated at 12 hours in the field, a huge jump from the 2012 model.

The big breakthrough for the 2013 MacBook Air (MBA) is improved battery life.

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