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Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, Summer 2012)

Manufacturer: Apple Part number: MD231LL/A

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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$1,099.00 - $1,199.00 at 7 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
4.0 stars Excellent
Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 18 reviews

Jun 2012

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Accessories; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: This year's MacBook Air opts for gradual improvements rather than anything revolutionary, but lowered prices continue to make it the go-to mainstream recommendation for any MacBook owner-to-be.
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store	customer rating	inventory	tax & shipping	price
	See store profile	In stock Get free shipping on orders over $25!	Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price	$1,129.99 Shop now as of 05/25/2013
PREMIER SOURCE of cutting edge electronics since 1973.	See store profile	In stock FREE $60 Essent Acsrys. Auth APPLE Dealer.		$1,099.00 Shop now as of 05/24/2013
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	See store profile	In stock		$1,149.00 Shop now as of 05/25/2013
MacMall	See store profile	In stock		$1,129.98 Shop now as of 05/25/2013

*Total price for the Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, Summer 2012) are estimated and may vary slightly based on exact tax, shipping, manufacturer rebate or any sale/promotion on the merchant site.

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CNET editors' review

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Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 18 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 18

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10 stars

"This might arguably be Apple's best notebook ever"

by calilicious on July 25, 2012

Pros: Outstanding battery life
Incredibly fast
More-than-adequate graphics
Perfect screen resolution
Thin and light
Durable
Unbelievably fast boot and shut down times
Great webcam

Cons: Pricey
Aluminum (as with all apple notebooks) is easily smudged and dented

Summary: Out of everything Apple has ever done, engineering a notebook to be this thin and light has to be in Apple top ten list, if not #1! This Macbook has ...

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Summary: Out of everything Apple has ever done, engineering a notebook to be this thin and light has to be in Apple top ten list, if not #1! This Macbook has a great battery, screen, SSD, weight,webcam, processor, graphics... ect. The only downside is its pricey and easily smudged.I cannot recommend any other laptop over this because it is just so perfect, inside and out! Apple is going to take over the computer market if it can make all of its products more like the Macbook Air!

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5 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 stars

Best Air Yet...

by mxidis88 on June 25, 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. ...

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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...

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3 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 stars

Best Laptop that I have owned. My first Apple computer.

by nburnett1 on February 25, 2013

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.

1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 stars

Mind Blowing, My First Mac

by palares on February 15, 2013

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 ...

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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.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

The greatest Air yet.

by Comediatic on September 16, 2012

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 ...

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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.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

3rd Mac Laptop. Best. One. Yet.

by FrattyLight on April 11, 2013

Pros: Extremely fast bootup/shutdown (SSD), Beautiful design, Greatest CPU:ThinLight ratio ever

Cons: Battery Life could be better. Aluminum is subject to denting

Summary: FIrst review ever:
This laptop is amazing. I'm running bootcamp (hence my storage issues) and its the best windows experience I've ever had. OS X and the Macbook ...

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Summary: FIrst review ever:
This laptop is amazing. I'm running bootcamp (hence my storage issues) and its the best windows experience I've ever had. OS X and the Macbook Air really compliment one another. Boot time is extraordinary.

Updated on Apr 11, 2013
I didn't mention the hard drive space. Definitely needs more. Because of bootcamp, I'm a little cramped and will hopefully be making an upgrade soon.

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8 stars

Three is a charm

by me2nyc on October 23, 2012

Pros: Fast SSD
Quick performance
Build quality
Backlit keybaord
Thin and light

Cons: Lacks raw power
Soldered parts
Pricey for some options
Weird big box store options

Summary: I sold my recent iMac because I never used and I decided between three computers.

Macbook Pro 13" Retina
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
8GB
128GB
Intel 4000
$1700...

Read more

Summary: I sold my recent iMac because I never used and I decided between three computers.

Macbook Pro 13" Retina
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
8GB
128GB
Intel 4000
$1700

Macbook Pro 13" i7 Edition
2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i7
8GB
750GB
Intel 4000
$1500 ($1240 open box)

Macbook Air 13"
1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
4GB
256GB
Intel 4000
$1500

Macbook Air 13" i7 Edition
2.0GHz Intel Dual-Core Core i7
8GB
256GB
Intel 4000
$1700 ($1450 refurbished)

First got the MBP open box for $1240 and just hated the size and weight. Went to Best Buy and got the MBA 13" i5 edition but was hesitant on the 4GB. Saw the i7 8GB 256GB MBA 13" refurbished and was sold!

I highly recommend refurbished. Same great 1 year warranty. Comes in perfect condition besides original box. Save hundreds of dollars!

I thought of Macbook Pro but for $250 more, I would be loosing 128 in memory and gaining half a pound in weight. The Retina is a great computer and wows but is un needed for the most part. I would have rather scene a MBP slim but with quad core.

Overall 13" has right balance of speed/quickness,durability and etc. If you need raw power go with the MBP line but if you just doing streaming video and basic stuff the MBA is perfect.

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9 stars

An ultra book that is versatile

by AntoniusIriawan on August 16, 2012

Pros: 1.Sexy, Thin and Portable
2.Ultra high performance, yet still has a great battery life ( I am not joking, this machine is very capable)
3.Great OSX

Cons: Value, at the same price, I could have the macbook pro with more horsepower, more Ram, more space for entertainment, and more ports.
5 stars

Great laptop, but taking price into account...

by il2117 on August 14, 2012

Pros: These are obvious
- light
- easy to carry
- sleek and simple

Cons: First one is obvious
- way overpriced
- overheats

Summary: This is great engineering. It generally works great and is ultra-portable. However, I would never buy it for myself, as this one was a gift. The price is just not ...

Read more

Summary: This is great engineering. It generally works great and is ultra-portable. However, I would never buy it for myself, as this one was a gift. The price is just not justifiable, and the rating I gave it takes that into account, since price is important to me (but may not be for others).

One minor problem is that it overheats somewhat easily (opening lots of tabs. or just opening itunes, another app, and watching a video).

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1 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 stars

Seriously overpriced hardware with poor software.

by Abominabl31 on January 27, 2013

Pros: None that offset the price of this model compared with equivalent or superior Windows products selling for a fraction of the price.

Cons: Extravagant price tag
Oversimplified hardware design
Mac OS X Mountain Lion has grown long in the tooth both from a usability and features perspective.

Summary: Let's admit it - some folks are hooked on Apple products. Who can explain it? I'll not judge. If you're a user that HAS to have Apple, ...

Read more

Summary: Let's admit it - some folks are hooked on Apple products. Who can explain it? I'll not judge. If you're a user that HAS to have Apple, this review isn't for you (why are you reading reviews?). If you're like me though and once considered switching from another platform, then read on and I'll tell you why I've had a bad experience and feel taken advantage of.

I use this model for work and I've owned an older MacBook Pro for six years. I also have a Sony Vaio running Windows 7 and an Android Nexus 7. I've got exposure to multiple platforms let's say :) My beef with the MacBook Pro is that for a product that costs FOUR TIMES as much as my Sony Vaio it has a fraction of the features.

My $700 Sony Vaio may only impress my friends who can do feature and financial match, but has TONs of useful features I wish my MacBook Pro had. Let's list them:

1. Windows 7: I could go on at length why I prefer Windows 7 to Mac OS X. Each Mac OS X upgrade seems to remove features such a the 'rename file' menu option or the ability to auto-size columns in the finder. Windows just keeps getting better. I really dig how in Windows I can actually do things like usefully stack or tile my open windows. That 'Maximize' actually makes a window fill my desktop reliably (Mac OS X's 'Zoom' is very unpredictable), and that the task bar lets me access both open applications and their individual windows.

2. Display: For a fraction of the price, my Vaio's display is just as bright an crisp an my MacBook Pro's

3. A two-button trackpad: I've really tried to like Apple's new trackpads. I have! But in the end they just don't help me do what I want to do better. Instead of a right click button that just works, the 'two finger tap' or 'CTRL-Tap' just make it hard to access content menus in Mac OS X. And having the trackpad and click button integrated makes it almost impossible to repeatedly tap the same place twice. On my $600 Sony Vaio, these tasks are a breeze and I was able to afford plane tickets to Hawaii :)

That's just a start of a very long list of reasons why you'd get so much more for you money than by throwing it away on Apple's out-of-date brand name.

Be open-minded and really do some hand-on comparison. Don't let your friends pressure you into getting gypped!

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0 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 18

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Apple
Part number: MD231LL/A
Description: Sure, MacBook Air is unbelievably thin and light. But they also designed it to be powerful, capable, durable, and enjoyable to use, with enough battery life to get you through the day. That's the difference between a notebook that's simply thin and light and one that's so much more.

General
Packaged Quantity 1
System Type Notebook
OS Provided Apple Mac OS X Mountain Lion
Notebook type 13-inch
Processor / Chipset
CPU Intel 3rd Gen Core i5 1.8 GHz
Max Turbo Speed 2.8 GHz
Number of Cores Dual-Core
Cache L3 cache - 3 MB
64-bit Computing Yes
Features Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0,
Integrated memory controller
Memory
RAM 4 GB
Max RAM Supported 8 GB
Technology DDR3L SDRAM
Speed 1600 MHz
Storage
Hard Drive 128 GB,
SSD
Optical Drive None
Hard drive type Solid state
Environmental Parameters
Min Operating Temperature 50 °F
Max Operating Temperature 95 °F
Humidity Range Operating 0 - 90% (non-condensing)
Display
Type 13.3 in
LCD Backlight Technology LED backlight
Max Resolution 1440 x 900 ( WXGA+ )
Widescreen Yes
Image Aspect Ratio 16:10
Features Glossy
Audio & Video
Graphics Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000
Memory Allocation Technology Dynamic Video Memory Technology 5.0
Camera Yes
Capture Resolutions 1280 x 720
Sound Stereo speakers , Microphone
Input
Type Backlit keyboard,
Trackpad
Keyboard Layout English
Features Ambient light sensor,
Multi-touch touchpad
Communications
Wireless 802.11n,
Bluetooth 4.0

Battery
Technology Lithium polymer
Capacity 50 Wh
Run Time 7 hour(s)
AC Adapter
Voltage Required AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )
Output 45 Watt
Connections & Expansion
Interfaces 2 x USB 3.0,
Headphone output,
Thunderbolt
Memory Card Reader Card reader ( SD Memory Card )
Software
Software Included Apple iCal,
Apple QuickTime,
Apple iTunes,
Apple Spotlight,
Drivers & Utilities,
Apple Address Book,
Apple iLife '11,
Apple Safari,
Apple Mac App Store,
Apple Launchpad,
Apple Mission Control,
Apple FaceTime,
Apple Time Machine,
Apple Quick Look,
Photo Booth,
Apple Mac OS X Mail,
Apple Versions,
Apple AirDrop,
Apple Auto Save,
Apple Resume
Miscellaneous
Case Material Aluminum
Localization English
Dimensions & Weight
Width 12.8 in
Depth 8.94 in
Height 0.68 in
Weight 2.96 lbs
Manufacturer Warranty
Service & Support 1 year warranty
Service & Support Details Limited warranty - 1 year,
Technical support - Phone consulting - 90 days
Sustainability
ENERGY STAR Qualified Yes
EPEAT Compliant EPEAT Gold
Greenpeace policy rating (Nov 2011) 4.6
Greenpeace policy rating (Nov 2012) 4.5

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