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Apple MacBook Air 13-inch with Retina display (MRE92X/A) review

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch with Retina display (MRE92X/A)

CHOICE Expert Rating

73%
What is the CHOICE Expert Rating?
Good points

Good Points

  • Screen has excellent viewing angles, colours, and luminance
  • Excellent, large touchpad
  • Strong build quality
  • Highly portable
Bad points

Bad Points

  • Glossy screen produces some reflections
  • Keyboard has shallow travel that takes time to get used to
  • Short power cord length
  • Almost two hours to charge to 80 per cent, but then only another half-hour to full charge
  • Slides on desk too easily

Type

Ultraportable
Ultrabook
Tablet mode
Operating system
macOS

Recommended products

Recommended
Not recommended
Recommended for tablet use

Test results

CHOICE Expert Rating
73%
Performance score
59%
Tablet use score
N/A
Ease of use score
80%
Battery life score
65%
Display score
85%
Audio score
60%
Wi-Fi score
78%
Storage write-speed (MBps)
971
Storage read-speed (MBps)
2028
Wi-Fi speed (MBps)
40
Average battery life – heavy usage (hours)
6:13
Charging time to 80% full (h:min)
1:56
Expert tester comments
The refresh of the MacBook Air brings it into the modern world with a high-resolution Retina-class (2560 x 1600 pixel) display at last, that gives excellent detail, colour reproduction, and viewing angles. Though the exterior looks similar to the model it replaces, this is a major rework for Apple's iconic wedge-shaped ultraportable. The 13.3-inch screen now has much narrower screen surrounds, making the laptop appear smaller in size. It also has Touch ID fingerprint recognition (via specialised T2 chip) for security and Siri control, plus two high-speed (40Gbps) Thunderbolt 3 ports for plugging in power and USB-C plug devices, and a 20% larger force-touch trackpad, 720p FaceTime HD camera and three-microphone array. Note: This laptop's performance is not directly comparable to current products due to it being tested with an older version of our benchmark.

Sustainability

Shop Ethical rating
D
Warranty (years)
1
Replaceable battery
Not collected
Replace/upgrade RAM
Not collected
Slots for additional RAM
Not collected
Replace/upgrade storage
Not collected
Slot for additional storage
Not collected
Replace/upgrade Wi-Fi
Not collected
Country of origin
Not collected

Related products

Availability
Discontinued model

Cost

Price
$2,149.00

Specifications

Screen size (inches)
13.3
Native screen resolution (pixels)
2560 x 1600
Processor (CPU) type
Intel Core i5-8210Y
CPU frequency (GHz)
1.6
RAM (GB)
8
Video graphics type
Intel UHD Graphics 617
Storage capacity (GB)
256
Available user space (GB)
227
Storage type
SSD
Wi-Fi version
5
Weight of laptop (kg)
1.2
Weight of power supply (kg)
0.2
Size (mm, H x D x W)
16 x 212 x 304

Features

Screen finish
Glossy
Touchscreen
USB-C
USB 2.0 ports
0
USB 3.0 ports
0
USB 4 as USB-C port
0
USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 1 or 2, not Thunderbolt 3 or 4) ports
0
Thunderbolt 3 or 4 (as USB-C) ports
2
SD card slot (full-size)
SD card slot (micro)
HDMI port
Gigabit ethernet port
Rear camera
Backlit keyboard levels of brightness
16

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