Apple MacBook Air user reviews (13-inch, Summer 2012)

Pros Sleek, simple design. USB 3.0 update makes a smaller SSD less of a problem because you can use any of the hundreds of external drives for storage. Battery life is truly all day. Looking forward to OS X 10.8 for added software features.

Cons The only thing that I can't stand about apple products is the premium price. $1200 for the base 13" model is a lot of money for an entry level laptop. That said, the price to pay for having everything just work is worth it in the end.

Summary I've owned each generation of the Macbook Air, save the original 2009 version. In April I sold my 2011 Air to buy the new iPad and an older MBPro. Thought it would work and I was wrong. Thankfully I was able to resell both and buy the new Air. This is definitely a spec bump from the 2011 version, but I can't say enough about the USB 3.0 ports. As someone who does a lot of video editing on the go for school, having a 1TB external HD that transfers 10x faster than USB 2.0 is a huge convenience . The Air, in my opinion is apple's best laptop(if you don't throw down 2200 for the new MBPro 15"). If you don't have last years 2011 MBA and you're looking for a great portable machine, the 2012 13" Air is for you...

Pros It is lightweight, thin, fast start up time, very long battery life and charges very fast. I love Apple's trackpad and backlit keyboard. OSX is great. Good screen resolution, doesn't hurt my eyes reading online books anymore.

Cons None. I thought I will miss not having a optical drive but I don't. I realize that I rarely use it. The only time I can see it being a problem is when I travel and have to have an external dvd player to watch movies.

Pros Light weight & portable, Fast, Drool Worthy, Amazing build quality, intuitive OS, exceptional Battery life, USB 3.0 rocks, Fast boot/shutdown, great screen/graphic quality,

Cons Why did I wait so long to switch from PC to Mac. So what that I needed a couple of new pieces of software. Worth the change

Summary I have been a Windows PC man since the days of DOS and always prided myself on my ability to tweak and customize PC's. If you want a ultra book that is easy to use, state of the art, and doesn't require you to be a techno-geek to use, get the MacBook Air. I own i7 HP Elite desktops, HP dv-7 & 9 laptops all running solid state drives (upgraded myself) and this Air absolutely meets my needs for both work and travel. It just works. Apple is light years ahead when it comes to the simplicity of connecting to wireless networks or devices. Download software or applications and they just work; no tweaking or crashing. When you get the extended warranty you get 3 years of live technical support, but I doubt you will ever need it. Whether you're an experienced computer user like myself or your looking for your first laptop, you will not be disappointed with this MacBook Air. The 256GB SSD is plenty big. I have most of my files in SugarSync or Dropbox so I can share across all of my systems. I have a 64GB iPad 4th Gen for my movies and my iPhone for my music. The shared experience across all of these devices is simple and simply amazing. If your on the fence, pull the trigger; you won't be sorry.

Pros Light
Durable
Backlit
Good multitasking
Great for basic gaming
Easy-to-use graphical interface
Good battery life
Better screen resolution than Macbook Pro's

Cons Vulnerable to dents and scratches
Low quality front camera and doesn't look like 720p
Speakers are softer than 15 inchers
Annoying charger
Lacks ports
Lacks 15" model
Extremely pricey compared to others
Low screen resolution compared to others

Summary This year's Macbook Air is one of the best I've seen performed. The only thing that bugs me is the charger that is point front-first rather than last year's left/right pointer. The price also really annoys me as you could get a i7 processor Ultrabook like Vizio for about the same price, but that is normal for Apple. Great for work, play and internet browsing. Good battery life. This is definitely an Ultrabook recommended for students. And using it for 5 years shouldn't be an issue.