Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 128GB Storage, 1.8GHz Intel Core i5) – Silver

About: Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 128GB Storage, 1.8GHz Intel Core i5) – Silver

MacBook Air 2017 Design

The MacBook Air’s unibody aluminum chassis is so iconic that it’s tied in my head to the late 2000s and early 2010s. Back then, it was the new kid on the streets, but now, everyone from Acer to LG is making even thinner metallic unibody notebooks.

MacBook Air 2017 ports

The Air splits its dual USB 3.0 ports between its sides, with a MagSafe 2 charging connector and headphone jack on the left and an SDXC memory reader and Thunderbolt 2.0 port on the right.

MacBook Air 2017 display

The MacBook’s 1440 x 900-pixel screen has aged more poorly than any of its other aspects, lacking full HD and vibrant colors. While the screen managed to emit inky-black tones for a John Wick: Chapter 2 trailer, a wooden chest in the clip appeared more faded than it should have, and a burning house didn’t offer proper glow.

MacBook Air 2017 keyboard and trackpad

The MacBook Air offers a pleasant typing experience, with keys that actually feel like they’re moving — something I’ll never take for granted again. With it, I hit an average of 76 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which isn’t too far from my 80-wpm average. That speed, and the comfort I experienced during the test, is enabled by the 1.4 millimeters of travel in the keys, which require 72 grams of force to actuate.

MacBook Air 2017 audio

Good sound never gets outdated, and the MacBook Air continues Apple’s track record of laptops with sweet-sounding audio, blasting enough volume to fill our medium-size conference room. When listening to Rocky Romero’s “RPG Vice” and Survive’s “Sorcerer” on the notebook, I noted clear vocals, full bass and accurate synths.

MacBook Air 2017 performance

The MacBook Air’s Intel Core i5-5350U CPU and 8GB of RAM enable smooth and speedy multitasking. For example, I saw no slowdown after I split my screen between a 1080p YouTube video and a dozen Safari tabs (including Slack, Google Docs and Giphy).

MacBook Air 2017 webcam

Integrated webcams often provide the bare minimum of quality and accuracy, but the 0.7-megapixel camera in the MacBook Air exceeded my expectations. It not only nailed the purple hue of my shirt but also accurately captured a tiny stretch detail above the D. Of course, it isn’t perfect, as a block of my hair looks like a flat brown patch.

MacBook Air 2017 heat

The MacBook Air still does a good job of dispersing heat. After we streamed HD video on the notebook for 15 minutes, our heat gun captured temperatures on its touchpad (83.5 degrees Fahrenheit), G and H keys (92 degrees) and underside (94 degrees) that didn’t breach our 95-degree comfort threshold.

MacBook Air 2017 software

Our MacBook Air came running macOS Sierra, which brought Siri to the Mac, and it took less than an hour for us to install the recently released High Sierra. Unlike most of the PC laptops we review, macOS features zero bloatware.

MacBook Air 2017 configuration options

We tested the $999 entry-level MacBook Air, which packs an Intel Core i5-5350U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 128GB PCIe SSD and a 1440 x 900-pixel panel.

Bottom line

The MacBook Air may be going gray (well, silver) as it ages, but we still love its long battery life, solid performance and safety-first MagSafe 2 power port. You also don’t have to worry about schlepping any dongles to plug in peripherals. Two downsides, however, are that its display is stuck in the past decade, and it’s up to a pound heavier than competitors.