Don't call the MacBook Air a netbook: Steve Jobs will slice you with it, ninja-Frisbee style. Assault by turtleneck-loving CEOs aside, the new Air is designed to hang in the category of cheap, low-power consuming netbooks. But can it justify its thousand-dollar price tag? Not really.

Apple's previous MacBook Air, an ultraportable laptop designed primarily for travelling, was widely criticised for its high price and lack of features. Apple has responded with an upgraded version of the MacBook Air; like most Apple products, it once again features a superb design that is marvellously thin and light, but it now comes with fast, flash-based storage, a full size keyboard and trackpad, and a claimed standby battery life of up to 30 hours.

Apple's latest MacBook Air still lacks replaceable components, still has an annoying glossy screen and remains relatively expensive. However, its performance upgrades with new Core i5 processors give it the extra grunt previous models were missing. Combined with a superb design and great battery life, the MacBook Air is an excellent notebook for any user after a combination of speed and portability.

Excellent performance; Superb design; Great battery life;

RAM isn't replaceable; No matte screen option; Still pretty pricey;

The 11-inch MacBook Air has been on a tear ever since it first debuted back in October of 2010, combining a razor-thin design with instant-on responsiveness for an affordable price.

Comfortable backlit keyboard; Faster Core i5 processor; Very thin and light; Flash memory helps machine wake instantly; Bright display with wide viewing angles; Thunderbolt support

Below-average battery life; Starting configuration has only 64GB of storage; No SD card slot

Apple's recently launched MacBook Airs (11- and 13- inch) are the successor to Apple's MacBook Airs that debuted in October last year. The previous generation 11-inch MacBook Air was the slimmest, smallest and the most portable laptop ever made by Apple.

Apple's dinkiest and most desirable ultraportable is also its most affordable, but is it a false economy? Alan Lu finds out in our review.

Last year we reviewed the MacBook Air 11-inch (late 2010). Almost 10 months later, Apple has rolled out an update to the Air, the MacBook...

Blazing fast performance; same lightweight and chic design as with the previous Air model; excellent value; now with backlit-keyboard too; perfect for laptop serious travelers and those always on the go; super responsive – and did we mention how fast it is!

Base $999 configuration only comes with 2GB of ram; lacks SD card slot; we're not sold on Thunderbolt yet

If there's one complaint we have with Apple and the 2010 MacBook Air it's that Apple didn't release the notebook earlier. If it had been been available just a month before I probably wouldn't be typing this review from a MacBook Pro.

The refresh of the new 11.6″ and 13.3″ Macbook Air last July 2011 has introduced more powerful Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors into the line-up. I got the 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD Core i5 Macbook Air 11.6″ to test out. See full review after the jump.

Last October, Apple's 11-inch MacBook Air debuted. The tiny, slim ultraportable was the smallest laptop Apple had ever made. Its combination of size and power earned it a four-star review, with caveats: it had a last-generation Core 2 Duo processor, lacked a backlit keyboard and omitted an SD card...

Dramatically faster than last year's version; Backlit keyboard; High-speed Thunderbolt I/O port

Entry-level Air still has the same limited fixed flash storage and RAM as last year's version; Still no SD card slot; Ethernet port or 3G wireless option

Netbook? No thanks. The smallest and cheapest notebook that Apple currently has to offer is called the MacBook Air 11. It weighs in at less than a kilogram and is just 1.7 cm at its thickest point. On the outside: an aluminium unibody case.

Low weight and small size; Outstanding aluminium case; Very good input devices; Keyboard backlighting; Very good application performance; This is exactly what an "entry-level" model should look like

Not so many ports; Reflective display; RAM is soldered down