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Apple MacBook Air 13.6-inch (A2681) review

Apple MacBook Air 13.6-inch (A2681)

CHOICE Expert Rating

74%
What is the CHOICE Expert Rating?
Good points

Good Points

  • Very good keyboard
  • Excellent touchpad
  • Very good screen luminance
  • Excellent viewing angles
  • Very good screen
Bad points

Bad Points

  • Lacks HDMI
  • Lacks an SD card slot
  • Can not replace or upgrade components (battery only)
  • Long time to charge to 80 per cent
  • Short power cord

Type

Ultraportable
Ultrabook
Tablet mode
Operating system
macOS

Recommended products

Recommended
Not recommended
Recommended for tablet use

Test results

CHOICE Expert Rating
74%
Performance score
60%
Tablet use score
N/A
Ease of use score
81%
Battery life score
72%
Display score
83%
Audio score
65%
Wi-Fi score
79%
Storage write-speed (MBps)
1394
Storage read-speed (MBps)
1516
Wi-Fi speed (MBps)
69
Average battery life – heavy usage (hours)
5:56
Charging time to 80% full (h:min)
2:15
Expert tester comments
Apple's MacBook Air is comfortable to use, provides fast performance, and contains a very good screen. It's an ideal candidate for a portable laptop that can be packed into a bag and taken to the classroom of office. It doesn't have as many ports and slots as the MacBook Pro, and it also can't be charged as quickly u002du002d it was slow to charge up to 80 per cent.

Sustainability

Shop Ethical rating
D
Warranty (years)
1
Replaceable battery
Replace/upgrade RAM
Slots for additional RAM
Replace/upgrade storage
Slot for additional storage
Replace/upgrade Wi-Fi
Country of origin
China

Related products

Availability
Tested model

Cost

Price
$1,299.00

Specifications

Screen size (inches)
13.6
Native screen resolution (pixels)
2560 x 1664
Processor (CPU) type
Apple M2
CPU frequency (GHz)
3.46
RAM (GB)
8
Video graphics type
Apple M2
Storage capacity (GB)
256
Available user space (GB)
218
Storage type
SSD
Wi-Fi version
6
Weight of laptop (kg)
1.2
Weight of power supply (kg)
0.17
Size (mm, H x D x W)
14 x 215 x 303

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
10

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