X

Apple MacBook Air (Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz

Apple MacBook Air (Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz

CNET Reviews staff

The new MacBook Air looks the same as the original Air, but Apple squeezes a mini DisplayPort connection under the flap that hides the lone USB port and headphone jack.

As with the MacBook and MacBook Pro refreshes, the new MacBook Air ditches the Intel chipset for Nvidia and features integrated GeForce 9400M graphics. It also increases the front-side bus from 800MHz to 1066MHz, while keeping the Core 2 Duo processor offerings roughly the same, though the chips' L2 cache increases from 4MB to 6MB. The default memory is 2GB and you still can't upgrade beyond that, but it's now of the DDR3 variety. A 120GB (4200rpm) hard drive replaces the old 80GB unit, and a 128GB solid-state drive replaces the previous 64GB SSD offering.

The price of the lower-end Air remains $1,799, while Apple knocked $99 off the higher-end model, bringing it down to a still pricey $2,499.